TB Delete Attachment Extension ( created !)

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Old Ausdilecce
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Post by Old Ausdilecce »

TriEnt, Each attachment's name gets changed to *erased* [name] ..

Example : original attachment is
bludedog.jpg
new attachment name ( after stripping)
*erased* bluedog.jpg


And you are correct about the attachment being a blank file after stripping is complete ( just the attachment header is preserved.
TriEnt wrote:waiting for others to confirm it's stable enough first


C'mon, you KNOW you wanna test it :wink:

Cheers

Edited for spelling errrors
Raistlin
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Joined: October 28th, 2003, 3:01 am

Post by Raistlin »

For me it's working fine and stable.
I'm keeping local folders anyway so even in the worst case I would only lose a few messages in my inbox.
I've had no problems so far and finally TB does everything I need.
Support is fast and great so all of you out there should at least help in testing.

rgds
Roman
jimmy73
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Joined: May 1st, 2004, 1:25 am

Post by jimmy73 »

TriEnt wrote: [snip]IMHO the paper-clip symbol should stay there. If the XPI replaces each original attachment with a blank file with just the same name & " - removed" appended then that should be just enough.


"Quot homines, tot sententiae". - Everybody likes something else. For me the paper clip symobol without an attachement is blank horror (okay, leave the blank away, that's too much). But good news for you: The XPI does exactly what you want.
Let's see what ausdilecce will cook for us. in his XPI-kitchen :-) .
Old Ausdilecce
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Post by Old Ausdilecce »

I might add some prefs to allow either

1) the end result to be how it is now or
2) total stripping of all attachments, including headers. and just putting a text block at the very bottom of a message with a summary of all removed attachment info.

Before I start adding these, can you guys come up with any more custimzable features that I should add ?

Cheers
Frank
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Eyes-Only
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Post by Eyes-Only »

I agree with TriEnt on this that the paperclip should stay there. I think, for me anyway with my horrible memory, that there should be something there to remind that this letter once contained an attachment. I'm also waiting to install but I'd like to see it be a much easier process than all the copying to extra folders and whatnot. I also understand that you have to make a secondary folder in the trashcan in Local Folders? Unfortunately I use that folder for ALL my deleted mail to go to as I use global filters. I don't even bother with my 10 or so accounts sitting above. ;)

Well, my 2½¢ worth. User mileage may vary of course.

Eyes-Only
"L'Peau-Rouge"

Edit #1: Oups... didn't see that there was a page 2 here. Sorry! Well, I let it stand. ;)
--
"We never know just how much a kind word, or a gesture, will lift the spirits of a person in need and heal them." KDpup-484, LucidPup-511, SM2+/FX4+/TB31+
Old Ausdilecce
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Post by Old Ausdilecce »

Eyes-Only wrote:I also understand that you have to make a secondary folder in the trashcan in Local Folders?


I would not worry about this. The extension ( not YOU ) makes a folder in the trash (temporarily ) in order to separate out the selected message from the rest of the messages in the selected folder. Once the extesion completes, it deletes the temporary folder. It's all done behind the scenes.
You don't have to do anything except select a message and click on the menu item 'Delete Attachment'. the extension does everything else.

As long as you don't have a folder in your trash called 'delAtttemP' that you want to keep, you should be fine.

( I am starting to think it was a bad idea telling people what the extension does behind the scenes. It caused so much confusion. Next time, I just won't tell unless people ask )

TO REPEAT -- All the user has to do is
1) select a message and click on the menu item 'Delete Attachment'.
..............the extension does everything else.

Sorry for the confusion..
cheers
Old Ausdilecce
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Post by Old Ausdilecce »

Can any of you confirm :

If you delete an attachment from a message in a folder that contains another message that is marked as junk. The Delete Attachment process removes the junk status of the one that was marked as Junk ?
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Eyes-Only
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Post by Eyes-Only »

Ah! I see now ausdilecce! Thank you very much for having the patience and taking the time mate to go through all of that and explain it to me. That was really very thoughtful of you! :)

Well in that case then... sounds like something I need to be hurry up now to get for MY T-Bird! I'm so tired of deleting these letters with big attachments just to save room! And thanks for all of your hard work ausdilecce!

À bientôt mon ami!

Eyes-Only
"L'Peau-Rouge"
--
"We never know just how much a kind word, or a gesture, will lift the spirits of a person in need and heal them." KDpup-484, LucidPup-511, SM2+/FX4+/TB31+
jimmy73
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Post by jimmy73 »

Hi ausdilecce!

You asked for any more custimzable features.
* Well, one big point is obviously: should the paper clip symbol stay or not?
* I like the idea of "just putting a text block at the very bottom of a message with a summary of all removed attachment info". That sounds really great for me!!
* Stripping of only one attachement should be supported if a mail contains more.
* The thing with the subject line (possibility to edit it).. Well, haven't played with prefs.js until now. Maybe there is an easier way. For example: right click -> edit subject -> and you rock away?
* For the lazy ones: possibility to save the attachements in a folder first and then they are removed from the mail with just one click.

Okay, these were my 2 cents.

Thanks for your work,
Jimmy73
Old Ausdilecce
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Post by Old Ausdilecce »

Jimmy73 .. that looks like 5 cents worth :wink:
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TriEnt
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Post by TriEnt »

Let me take back my early comment. I DO test, I've been using Mozilla since 1.1 and will do the same with this great tool, which btw it's quite interesting to think why this has never been implemented when it adds so much value. Think of going thumbdrive when 500 MB of e-mail suddenly drops to 100 just because of this tool. So thanks again ausdilecce!

Now for the comments:

1. I still think the paperclip should stay there. The need to have access to the message history (what is it that it originally contained) is I believe far more important than the annoyance of seeing the paperclip in the message list view. After all, what made people ask for this feature was not the issue of having old attachments but their size and the fact that they are either already stored on disk or are obsolete (while the message isn't).

But, we live in a world with different opinions and different tastes, hence if this can be tuned via a GUI checkbox then it should make everybody happy. It should be pretty easy to implement I'd assume.

2. The new (dummy) attachments names should be again tunable via some sort of GUI preference. For example a C-like %s syntax e.g. "Erased - %s" or "%s - deleted". I'd rather vote for the second option because it keeps the original name as the top priority element (think when the attachment window is too tiny and only part of the names is visible. It's important to see the relevant part).

3. While I too thought about adding a footer to the message, with the list of removed attachments, I see some major con's here:
- we should never leave room for someone to think that the original author wrote that. If we alter the message body, one could be tricked and this could lead to trouble (think legal terms). It might be fine with 99% of the people, but others' mileage might vary big time and we certainly don't want that (think corporate users).
- how do we deal with HTML mail? Adding text to a compact fully-formatted page can only break its layout. Unaesthetic. Why bother adding one feature and risking lots of potential bugs.
- how do we deal with a scenario when multiple attachments are deleted one by one at different times. Again, why take chances when we need this simple and efficient.

4. Agreed with jimmy73, we need to be able to remove only one attachment at a time. Actually, that should do it (I think the cases when one needs to remove all 50 attachments of a given message are quite rare), although it doesn't hurt if "delete all" stays there. Just do the same as with "save as" / "save all", and again, it should make everybody happy.

Can't wait to see this turn into a fine final product!

Cheers,
Lf
Old Ausdilecce
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Post by Old Ausdilecce »

TriEnt wrote:Let me take back my early comment. I DO test, I've been using Mozilla since 1.1 and will do the same with this great tool, which btw it's quite interesting to think why this has never been implemented when it adds so much value. Think of going thumbdrive when 500 MB of e-mail suddenly drops to 100 just because of this tool. So thanks again ausdilecce!

Now for the comments:

1. I still think the paperclip should stay there. The need to have access to the message history (what is it that it originally contained) is I believe far more important than the annoyance of seeing the paperclip in the message list view. After all, what made people ask for this feature was not the issue of having old attachments but their size and the fact that they are either already stored on disk or are obsolete (while the message isn't).


My thoughts exactly. ( I just couldn't explain it as well as you did )

TriEnt wrote:But, we live in a world with different opinions and different tastes, hence if this can be tuned via a GUI checkbox then it should make everybody happy. It should be pretty easy to implement I'd assume.


No, not really. The paperclip toggle is set by TB when it 'sees' attachments. So if one wants the paperclip to go away, *all* indications of an attachment need to go away.

TriEnt wrote:The new (dummy) attachments names should be again tunable via some sort of GUI preference. For example a C-like %s syntax e.g. "Erased - %s" or "%s - deleted". I'd rather vote for the second option because it keeps the original name as the top priority element (think when the attachment window is too tiny and only part of the names is visible. It's important to see the relevant part).


Very good point. that idea is on the to-do list now ( as a tunable pref ).

TriEnt wrote:While I too thought about adding a footer to the message, with the list of removed attachments, I see some major con's here:
- we should never leave room for someone to think that the original author wrote that. If we alter the message body, one could be tricked and this could lead to trouble (think legal terms). It might be fine with 99% of the people, but others' mileage might vary big time and we certainly don't want that (think corporate users).


Absolutely right. This is the issue ( I think ) so soo many comments were made about in the bug filing.

TriEnt wrote:- how do we deal with HTML mail? Adding text to a compact fully-formatted page can only break its layout. Unaesthetic. Why bother adding one feature and risking lots of potential bugs.


Again, absolutely right. There is (almost) NO way to code this to make it work 'correctly'

TriEnt wrote:- how do we deal with a scenario when multiple attachments are deleted one by one at different times. Again, why take chances when we need this simple and efficient.


That was my initial feeling. I really didn't like what it would do to the overall look n feel, nevermind what the coding would have to look like to make it right under all possible circumstances.

TriEnt wrote:Agreed with jimmy73, we need to be able to remove only one attachment at a time. Actually, that should do it (I think the cases when one needs to remove all 50 attachments of a given message are quite rare), although it doesn't hurt if "delete all" stays there. Just do the same as with "save as" / "save all", and again, it should make everybody happy.


The thing I am struggling with at the moment is UI. How would one 'choose' which attachments to strip/delete/save/whatever. Listbox? Listbox w/ checkboxes? prompts ? Ugg. ( think possibility like wanting to delete the 3rd attachment in a message with 10 attachments. Ugg ) I really dont even like TBs own attachment listbox in compose. Any ideas on this ?

TriEnt wrote:Can't wait to see this turn into a fine final product!

Cheers,
Lf


I can't either !
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TriEnt
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Post by TriEnt »

ausdilecce wrote:
TriEnt wrote:But, we live in a world with different opinions and different tastes, hence if this can be tuned via a GUI checkbox then it should make everybody happy. It should be pretty easy to implement I'd assume.


No, not really. The paperclip toggle is set by TB when it 'sees' attachments. So if one wants the paperclip to go away, *all* indications of an attachment need to go away.


I know that's how it works. So yes, if the paperclip should go out, the attachments must go out as well, that's the only way to do it. And then, again, we have the question: do we still keep the list somewhere? how do we do this? Of course, the easiest way is that, if the user chooses to get rid of all the attachments & their traces, then no need to bother anymore. Just zap them and that's it.

Then we'd have three options:
- delete attachment (will replace it with a dummy)
- delete all attachments (do the above in a loop, for all the files)
- zap all attachments (delete everything, create no dummies)

ausdilecce wrote:
TriEnt wrote:Agreed with jimmy73, we need to be able to remove only one attachment at a time. Actually, that should do it (I think the cases when one needs to remove all 50 attachments of a given message are quite rare), although it doesn't hurt if "delete all" stays there. Just do the same as with "save as" / "save all", and again, it should make everybody happy.


The thing I am struggling with at the moment is UI. How would one 'choose' which attachments to strip/delete/save/whatever. Listbox? Listbox w/ checkboxes? prompts ? Ugg. ( think possibility like wanting to delete the 3rd attachment in a message with 10 attachments. Ugg ) I really dont even like TBs own attachment listbox in compose. Any ideas on this ?


Can you do it on right click, the same way Save As/ Save All work? Just add the new items there? [My apologies if it already does that, I still didn't get the time to see it in action.] That way, you don't have to build a list & use checkboxes/prompts/whatever. Just let the user pick the item & then act accordingly. I believe somebody already mentioned this earlier.

Otherwise, a separate window with a listbox with checkboxes should do it. Just show the attachment name (& size, if possible), and leave the user to mark the ones to delete & then press a button to proceed.
jimmy73
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Joined: May 1st, 2004, 1:25 am

Post by jimmy73 »

TriEnt wrote:1. I still think the paperclip should stay there. The need to have access to the message history (what is it that it originally contained) is I believe far more important than the annoyance of seeing the paperclip in the message list view. After all, what made people ask for this feature was not the issue of having old attachments but their size and the fact that they are either already stored on disk or are obsolete (while the message isn't).

But, we live in a world with different opinions and different tastes, hence if this can be tuned via a GUI checkbox then it should make everybody happy. It should be pretty easy to implement I'd assume.


Well, I often search a specific attachement in tons of e-mails. So for me it would be better if I could sort out all mails at one glance that do not contain attachements or do not contain them *anymore*.

TriEnt wrote:3. While I too thought about adding a footer to the message, with the list of removed attachments, I see some major con's here:
- we should never leave room for someone to think that the original author wrote that. If we alter the message body, one could be tricked and this could lead to trouble (think legal terms). It might be fine with 99% of the people, but others' mileage might vary big time and we certainly don't want that (think corporate users).
- how do we deal with HTML mail? Adding text to a compact fully-formatted page can only break its layout. Unaesthetic. Why bother adding one feature and risking lots of potential bugs.
- how do we deal with a scenario when multiple attachments are deleted one by one at different times. Again, why take chances when we need this simple and efficient.


Well, I am (kind of) a lawyer in Austria. A e-mail can never proof something, because it is too easy too manipulate. Dont forget: The mail-files are just plain-text and very easy to edit. There is no judge who would say that an e-mail proofs something! It can only contribuate to a "picture" (apologize my english, I hope you get what I mean).

TriEnt wrote:4. Agreed with jimmy73, we need to be able to remove only one attachment at a time.

Agree-agree!

TriEnt wrote:Then we'd have three options:
- delete attachment (will replace it with a dummy)
- delete all attachments (do the above in a loop, for all the files)
- zap all attachments (delete everything, create no dummies)


That sounds too good to become reality!

ausdilecce wrote:The thing I am struggling with at the moment is UI. How would one 'choose' which attachments to strip/delete/save/whatever. Listbox? Listbox w/ checkboxes? prompts ? Ugg. ( think possibility like wanting to delete the 3rd attachment in a message with 10 attachments. Ugg ) I really dont even like TBs own attachment listbox in compose. Any ideas on this ?


Well, a right-click menu sounds great. Right click on a specific attachement. Possibilities: 1) delete 2) delete all [3) zap 4) zap all].

Just my... 6(!) cents!

Jimmy73
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Post by TechFan »

It is great to stumble into this extension. I will definitely need to try it out. I have been looking into this for the last couple weeks. This will be nice, but what I was really trying to look for was something that can strip out all the embedded MIME attachments. I like to archive my mail, but I see no need to save all the extra bulk. . .have some messages that were 75K before I converted them to text only in Outlook XP and then its size was 15K. . .

Of course, if I was going to strip out the MIME parts, it would be best to be specifying which parts. I will definitely follow the development of this one.

One question that came to mine though. . .will this work properly with IMAP accounts?
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