Incorrect Reply-To when replying to group emails

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hschlossberg
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Joined: September 28th, 2004, 10:28 am

Incorrect Reply-To when replying to group emails

Post by hschlossberg »

Thunderbird 52.1.1

I'm subscribed to a particular distro group list where replies have always gone to the group's email. About a month ago, it started replying to only the individual sender. The group admin said he hasn't changed anything in years AND looking at the source header for the incoming email, it shows the "Reply-To" as the group email. It seems the only thing that has changed is that Thunderbird is now replying to the "From:" instead of the Reply-To. If instead of 'reply' I do a 'reply all', then it sends to both the From: AND the Reply-To.

Any thoughts on what the Reply behavior might have changed?

Thanks,
Howard
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tanstaafl
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Re: Incorrect Reply-To when replying to group emails

Post by tanstaafl »

It could be a regression bug. See the last comment in https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=918896

I also found https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=524277 - Ignore Reply-To when List-Post is set
hschlossberg
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Joined: September 28th, 2004, 10:28 am

Re: Incorrect Reply-To when replying to group emails

Post by hschlossberg »

Yes, there is a List-Post set the same as the Reply-To. But that second thread you quoted above is from 8 years ago and I've never seen the behavior until about a month ago. I guess that's what would make it a "regression bug", bit it seems strange to me that it would find its way back after so many versions.
aasmund
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Re: Incorrect Reply-To when replying to group emails

Post by aasmund »

It is not a bug. It is a deliberate change. See other thread: http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic ... &t=3030392
hschlossberg
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Joined: September 28th, 2004, 10:28 am

Re: Incorrect Reply-To when replying to group emails

Post by hschlossberg »

Thanks for the cross-reference, @aasmund. It would be great if anyone could provide a good reason for such a change that violates the normal rules of email (i.e. how does the reply-to protocol apply if not to direct who the reply goes to?!). Since I am a part of three such groups to which I might reply multiple times daily, this has become a big problem for me. I'm going to search now for a plugin extension that "fixes" this behavior, but I otherwise fear this may be the last straw that pushes be away from Mozilla/Thunderbird after 20-24 years of use. Sigh.
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tanstaafl
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Re: Incorrect Reply-To when replying to group emails

Post by tanstaafl »

The 52.0 release notes state: "When replying to a mailing list, reply will be sent to address in From header ignoring Reply-to header".

The closest bug report I found was https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=726281 which was In-Reply-To: and References: should be removed from mail saved as Template.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/thunde ... src=search disables reply to list and uses reply all instead. Is that a viable workaround?
hschlossberg
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Joined: September 28th, 2004, 10:28 am

Re: Incorrect Reply-To when replying to group emails

Post by hschlossberg »

tanstaafl wrote:https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/thunde ... src=search disables reply to list and uses reply all instead. Is that a viable workaround?
There's already a reply all button, which sends to both the list and to the individual who sent it. It is the 'reply' button that should work to reply to the proper 'reply-to'. It would be helpful to some degree to have a Reply To List button (I see there is such an option on the context menu, but not in the toolbar), but it would be most helpful for the Reply button (and the CTRL-R) shortcut to just default properly.

If I had my way, I would add a preference for preferred behavior of the 'reply' button/shortcut for groups (options: reply list, reply sender, reply all) and for regular emails (options: reply all, reply sender).
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Eckard
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Re: Incorrect Reply-To when replying to group emails

Post by Eckard »

hschlossberg wrote: If I had my way, I would add a preference for preferred behavior of the 'reply' button/shortcut for groups (options: reply list, reply sender, reply all) and for regular emails (options: reply all, reply sender).
If you open the "Customize" pane of the message header pane toolbar, you'll find four different "reply" buttons:
"Reply", "Reply All", "Reply to List" and, last but not least, "Smart Reply"

Image


"Smart Reply" is my favorite and it's the only reply button I'm using. It behaves like a chameleon and adapts to its surrounding.

In the case of multiple recipients the button becomes "Reply All" with a drop-down menu containing "Reply All" and "Reply" :

Image


If I'm the sole recipient the button would become simply "Reply":

Image


In a newsgroup the same button will become "Followup" (reply to newsgroup) with a drop-down menu containing "Reply All" (newsgroup and author of the post) and "Reply" (the author of the post):

Image
hschlossberg
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Re: Incorrect Reply-To when replying to group emails

Post by hschlossberg »

Eckard wrote:
hschlossberg wrote: If you open the "Customize" pane of the message header pane toolbar, you'll find four different "reply" buttons:
"Reply", "Reply All", "Reply to List" and, last but not least, "Smart Reply"

"Smart Reply" is my favorite and it's the only reply button I'm using. It behaves like a chameleon and adapts to its surrounding.
Well, "Smart Reply" sounds like a brilliant solution...but I don't seem to have that option (nor the Reply to List option) available:

Image

I'm on Thunderbird 52, Windows 7. Any ideas on why I wouldn't have the Smart Reply option?

Image
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Eckard
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Re: Incorrect Reply-To when replying to group emails

Post by Eckard »

hschlossberg wrote: Well, "Smart Reply" sounds like a brilliant solution...but I don't seem to have that option (nor the Reply to List option) available:

I'm on Thunderbird 52, Windows 7. Any ideas on why I wouldn't have the Smart Reply option?
Your screen shot shows the "Customize" pane for the big mail toolbar on top of the window which indeed does not offer a "Smart Reply" button.
If you pay closer attention to my screen shot you'll see that I'm using the small mail toolbar in the message header pane which is much more ergonomic for me.

Just one more example: if the message has been sent to a list, the same "Smart Reply" button becomes "Reply List" with the additional options "Reply All" and "Reply" in the drop-down

Image
hschlossberg
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Joined: September 28th, 2004, 10:28 am

Re: Incorrect Reply-To when replying to group emails

Post by hschlossberg »

Eckard wrote:
hschlossberg wrote: Well, "Smart Reply" sounds like a brilliant solution...but I don't seem to have that option (nor the Reply to List option) available:

Your screen shot shows the "Customize" pane for the big mail toolbar on top of the window which indeed does not offer a "Smart Reply" button.
If you pay closer attention to my screen shot you'll see that I'm using the small mail toolbar in the message header pane which is much more ergonomic for me.
Ah, thank you. I would not have even guessed there were any buttons over there. I must have hidden mine years ago to remove the clutter. ;-) I now have the smart reply showing, but I obviously now have to train myself to use it. For me, that right-hand area is kind of out of the way to remember and think about in terms of frequently used interface. It would have been the perfect solution for me if this button were available for the main button bar and worked with the standard CTRL-R shortcut.

But it's something. Thanks for your time in pointing it out!

Howard
Kethlak
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Re: Incorrect Reply-To when replying to group emails

Post by Kethlak »

I was so frustrated by this behavior, I wrote an Add-on to restore the previous Reply-to functionality in the latest version. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/thunde ... -reply-to/
hschlossberg
Posts: 24
Joined: September 28th, 2004, 10:28 am

Re: Incorrect Reply-To when replying to group emails

Post by hschlossberg »

Kethlak wrote:I was so frustrated by this behavior, I wrote an Add-on to restore the previous Reply-to functionality in the latest version. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/thunde ... -reply-to/
OMG, thank you, thank you, thank you. I just installed and it works as hoped for!!!
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sadi
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Re: Incorrect Reply-To when replying to group emails

Post by sadi »

Eckard wrote: Your screen shot shows the "Customize" pane for the big mail toolbar on top of the window which indeed does not offer a "Smart Reply" button.
If you pay closer attention to my screen shot you'll see that I'm using the small mail toolbar in the message header pane which is much more ergonomic for me.
Just one more example: if the message has been sent to a list, the same "Smart Reply" button becomes "Reply List" with the additional options "Reply All" and "Reply" in the drop-down
Image
Thank you very much for drawing my attention to the "Reply to List" button which I've added to the main toolbar now as a good solution to this issue.

However, I wonder why I can't customize the Message Header pane. I currently use TB 52.9.1 (64-bit) on Linux and I can only see six standard buttons (Reply, Forward, Archive, Junk, Delete, and Dropdown Menu) and the menu doesn't include such an option either. (I can't see your screenshots either - probably because they've expired)

Any idea please?
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