Feature request: Save and reuse email templates

[GodfreyJH]

# Feature request: Save and reuse email templates

First, thank you for the continued development of Tachyon. I use it as my primary webmail client and really appreciate the work that goes into the project.

I would like to suggest adding the ability to save and reuse email templates.

In my day-to-day work, I regularly send similar emails, such as meter-reading submissions, requests for updates and routine notifications. Currently, I keep these messages in Notepad++ and a knowledge base so that I can copy and paste them when needed.

It would be convenient to save these messages as templates within Tachyon and insert them into a new email when required.

A simple implementation would be sufficient:

• Save the current message as a template.
• Give the template a name so it can be identified easily.
• Insert a saved template when composing a new email.
• Allow the message to be edited before sending.

Including the subject line as part of the template would also be useful.

This would save time for users who regularly send similar messages and keep reusable email content together with their mail client, rather than in a separate application.

Would this be a possible addition to Tachyon?

Thank you again for your excellent work on Tachyon and for considering suggestions from users.

[kimusan]

Yes, this is doable, and it belongs in a plugin rather than the core, so it can ship without waiting for a release. What you listed is the whole scope I would build: save the open message under a name, pick one while composing, subject included, edit freely before sending.

One decision shapes the rest, so I would rather ask than guess. Where should the templates live?

Option one is Tachyon's own per-user storage. Nothing to set up, nothing new in your mailbox, and the fastest to get working. The templates stay on this install, so they do not follow the account if you ever move it to another server.

Option two is messages in a Templates folder in the mailbox itself, which is what Thunderbird does. Then Thunderbird, your phone and anything else you use see the same templates, they land in your mail backups, and they travel with the mailbox. It costs you a folder in the mailbox and it takes me longer to build.

My own leaning is the mailbox folder, mostly for the backups. You are the one who would use it every day though, so which would you rather have?

One more thing while I am asking: attachments inside a template. I would leave those out of the first version unless you actually need them.

[GodfreyJH]

Hi Kim,

Thank you for such a thoughtful response. I really appreciate you taking the time to consider the implementation and asking for my input before proceeding.

My preference would be Option 2, storing templates as messages in a Templates folder in the mailbox. I agree with your reasoning about backups and portability. Having the templates travel with the mailbox would be a real advantage.

I've actually replaced Thunderbird with Tachyon as my primary email client because I find Tachyon that much easier to use. My main reason for wanting templates is to simplify my daily workflow, as I regularly send similar messages for things such as meter-reading submissions, requests for updates and routine notifications.

I'm happy to leave attachments out of the initial version. For my purposes, the subject and message body are the important parts, and the message can then be edited before sending.

Thank you again for being so receptive to suggestions and for the work you are putting into Tachyon. It's encouraging to see a practical user request being discussed so constructively.

Keep up the excellent work!

Best wishes

Godfrey

[kimusan]

Built, and it stores them the way you picked: ordinary messages in a Templates folder in the mailbox, created the first time you save one. Nothing appears in your mailbox before that. The folder name is a setting, so it can point somewhere else if Templates is already taken on your server.

In the compose window there is a Templates button in the row beside the paperclip. It opens the list of what you have saved, with a name field and a Save button underneath for the message you are currently writing.

Worth knowing how the subject works, because it is one field rather than two. The name you give a template becomes the message's subject, which is also what Thunderbird or your phone shows you when they list that folder. Inserting a template fills the Subject line with that name if it is still empty, and leaves it alone if you have already typed one. Name a template "Meter reading submission" and that is the subject you get each time, editable before sending like anything else.

Insert adds the template above whatever is already in the editor instead of replacing it, so the signature on a new message survives. After that it is a normal draft.

Attachments stay out, as agreed. A template is the subject and the body.

It ships in the next release, as an extension to enable in the admin panel under Extensions. If one combined name and subject turns out to be awkward once you are using it daily, say so and I will split them.