quickJump feature - Shortcut key to open specified folder in a new TB tab...

[fredstluka]

Axel,

Could you add a new feature to QF: Open specified folder in a new TB tab?

And map a shortcut key to it like with Move (Shift-M), Copy (Shift-T), Jump (Shift-J).

It would behave exactly like Shift-J, except that instead of opening the specified TB folder in the current TB tab, it would create a new TB tab and open the TB folder there.

Currently, to do this, I have to navigate to the desired TB folder, then do whatever I wanted to do there, then navigate back. Or mouse over to the TB folder tree, scroll to find the desired folder, right click and choose "Open in new tab".

I like having it in a new tab because I'm often responding to an interrupt of some sort, going to a different folder temporarily to do something, then resuming what I was doing. When it's in a new tab, I can resume by just closing the tab.

Thanks!
--Fred

[jaysmithgit]

As I understand Fred's idea and his use case, I think his suggestion sounds very useful.

I can see me using that kind of feature because my normal-view folder tree-list is about 3 screens tall and if I have to open and navigate to a many of the particular folders in that tree-list to do something, then my tree-list is about 6 screens tall (I have thousands of folders organized by customer name in hierarchies such as:
customers
a-g
a
adams_joe
b
c
.... etc
h-m
h
i
... etc

A folder such as "b" (in the example above) might contain 50-100 mail folders containing emails. It is a pain to have to close all that up (so I can see what I am doing) to go on to the next task.

Jay

[RealRaven2000]

How about we are using the existing shortcut (Shift+J) to Jump and then the CTRL+click modifier to open a new tab?

This would be very much in sync with the behavior of clicing a QuickFOlders tab + CTRL, which also opens that folder in a new tab.

And I think CTRL+clicking on a subfolder was also supposed to open a new Tab and go there, but it seems that is currently broken:

(for some reason it now opens 2 empty tabs). Might as well fix that one while we are there.

[jaysmithgit]

It depends...

If doing the initial Jump (followed by opening in a new tab) results in visibly opening the container folders in the folder tree -- such that later the opened folder structure will have to be manually closed by the user -- then the method would not be as useful to me.

I was thinking of a method that would not require any manual closing of folders in the tree -- that would not result in any visible changes to the folder tree in the left panel.

[RealRaven2000]

If doing the initial Jump (followed by opening in a new tab) results in visibly opening the container folders in the folder tree -- such that later the opened folder structure will have to be manually closed by the user -- then the method would not be as useful to me.

we cannot break the relationship of display a folder and the tree. This is hard coded into Thunderbird and should not be changed.

What do you need the tree for? I found once I started to not use the tree for

• navigation
• moving or copying mail

my workflow got a lot faster. If you have many folders like me, the tree is something to look at, not to fiddle with. It's a waste of time because it is a very long 2d representation of a tree, which makes it a bad UX pattern.

I was thinking of a method that would not require any manual closing of folders in the tree -- that would not result in any visible changes to the folder tree in the left panel.

If you would like to discuss collapsing tree nodes in some way, that would be another (different) discussion. or maybe scrolling certain folders into view. But we can never look at a folder while the tree has another folder selected. The folder we see (the current folder) is always selected in the tree. Without that all the contextual functionality of Thunderbird that refers to threads within the current folder location breaks down.

[RealRaven2000]

A folder such as "b" (in the example above) might contain 50-100 mail folders containing emails. It is a pain to have to close all that up (so I can see what I am doing) to go on to the next task.

why do you have to manage what lists the tree displays?

• do not use the tree to navigate to folders
• do not use the tree to move emails.

both can be covered by QuickFolders, and you will save a lot of time. this immediately ends all the problems you describe.

You have to accept that the tree can always only display a very small amount of the folders that you are interested in, so you will always be scrolling. The idea of QuickFolders is to give you your own customized views (via folder categories) with cherry picked folders that you determine.

You can open multiple Thunderbird tabs and preselect different QuickFolders Categories (read: filter of useful parent folders) and so quickly switch between different overviews by a single click. No scrolling should be required for this. QF keeps track in which Thunderbird tab you are and selects the category for you.

1st tab - Category "daily"

2nd tab - Category "studio"

this way you can switch between different focused views without losing context.

[fredstluka]

How about we are using the existing shortcut (Shift+J) to Jump and then the CTRL+click modifier to open a new tab?

Axel, What I'm looking for is a way to jump to a new TB folder in a new TB tab WITHOUT changing which TB folder is displayed in the TB tab I was in when I hit the shortcut key.

For example, I'm currently in some TB tab, looking at folder XYZ. I get interrupted by somebody and have to go off and do something, but will shortly be resuming what I was doing in folder XYZ.

So, I hit the new shortcut key, type "ABC" and hit Enter. Now, I'm in a newly created TB tab looking at TB folder ABC. I do what I need to do to handle the interrupt, and am ready to resume what I was doing before I was interrupted.

I hit Cmd-W to close the newly opened TV tab, and I'm back to exactly the context I was in when I was interrupted. In the original TB tab. Looking at folder XYZ. Still at the same message of that folder. Still seeing the message in the preview pane if I had been previously. Still scrolled to the place in the message where I was reading when the interrupt occurred. Any text I had selected is still selected. Exactly as if I'd never been interrupted.

I don't like your suggestion of using Shift-J because that moves me to folder ABC in the same TB tab I was using, abandoning all of the context described above. So, I have to remember to navigate back to folder XYZ. It DOES still show me the same message of that folder. But I have to turn on/off the preview pane to match what I had previously. Have to scroll back to the place in the message where I was reading when the interrupt occurred. Have to re-select any text I had selected. Etc.

See what I mean?

--Fred

[fredstluka]

Axel,

I'm also hoping to be able to do it WITHOUT using the mouse to Ctrl-Click or RightClick to open a menu and choose a menu item like "Open in New Tab".

In fact, I'm hoping to be able to do it without using the mouse AT ALL.

Thanks,
--Fred

[fredstluka]

@jaysmithgit, I think Axel is right. What you are requesting is exactly what Shift-J already does EXCEPT that Shift-J not only goes to the new folder, but also opens that folder in the folder tree. He says those 2 actions are tied together by TB and cannot be separated. I think that's a good thing. I wouldn't want to navigate to a new folder and have the TB folder tree NOT be synchronized with that move.

I've just submitted a new feature request #542 that should serve your use case well, I think.

Meanwhile, I'm still hoping Axel will do this one (open in new tab) for my use case.

Though, if he has time to do only 1 of the 2 feature requests, #542 (open in new window) would work OK for me as an alternative to this one (open in tab). It's just a little more overhead to do so. Just as easy for me to use though.

--Fred

[RealRaven2000]

I'm also hoping to be able to do it WITHOUT using the mouse to Ctrl-Click or RightClick to open a menu and choose a menu item like "Open in New Tab".

In fact, I'm hoping to be able to do it without using the mouse AT ALL.

we can see if we also can support CTRL+Enter to pick the first item from the list? that shortcut is currently not in use by Thunderbird.

Shift + J
type something:

hit CTRL+Enter to open top item in a new tab (without changing current tab):

if you need items from further down you can use the cursor keys, then CTRL+Enter to open a tab.

[RealRaven2000]

Here is a test version:

QuickFolders-mx-6.9.3pre15.zip

use the CTRL accelerator for following actions, after a Shift+J (quickJump) search:

• clicking a result from the found list
• pressing enter to select the default (top) item.

To make event handling easier I had to remove inline event handlers first, see #543

---

To install version above download zip file and drag the file into Thunderbird Add-ons Manager (do not extract contents, it won't install like that)

[fredstluka]

Downloaded. Tested. Perfect!

Thanks!
--Fred