This is really a bug report wrt ergonomics. I’m a little “triggered” by this one.
I mean…
Why on earth would you change the position of a message *while I’m viewing it?
Here’s the situation:
I sort unread messages to the top of the list, so I can stay “on top” of things, as it were.
I typically read a message, then either file it or delete.
But WHILE I’M VIEWING an “unread” message at the top of the list, it’s status changes to “read”,
The status change is fine, but the location should not change until I am no longer viewing it.
Currently, the message pops down intio the read-messages list, almost immediately. After I do something with it, I have to scroll back up to the unread messages, where I have now lost my place.
Done once, not a big thing. Done dozens of times, it’s annoying.
WORKAROUND: With past email clients, changing status to read a second or so after visiting it was fine. That way, If I wasn’t sure whether to delete or save it, it would linger in the unread pile after I moved away from it. For eM, I’m sure there is a setting somewhere that says “change it to unread” after 12 seconds or so.
That will work okay for messages I delete. Most can be read in that time. But for messages I plan to file, I need to move them and the WAIT or manually mark them as unread. Either way, a minor hassle repeated multiple times.
Bottom line: Changing location within the inbox is fine AFTER I’ve moved away from, but not while viewing it.
I’m sure there is a setting somewhere that says “change it to unread” after 12 seconds or so.
There is only a setting to set x seconds “before an email is read” which you can adjust Via “Menu / Settings (Preferences) / Mail / Read”.
To quickly mark an email unread, you can do that by “clicking the round circle” on the far left of the subject which will then changes to an orange circle “Unread” as per example screenshots below.
(Read)
(Unread)
Alternatively you can also “right click on the email” and mark as Unread in the dropdown menu.
If you would like a setting to automatically change messages back to unread after X seconds, then you can submit a Sleekplan suggestion for that via the following page.
Thanks, I’m trying a 15-second delay, for now.
A workaround I hadn’t thought of until your kind reply:
After the message moves to the read pile, click the circle to mark it unread and move it back to the unread list.
Twice the number of clicks of any other email client I’ve used (roughly a dozen, I’d say). But okay,. it is what it is. (Ergonomically, though, in conjunction with common operations like making a list being so difficult, I could not in good conscience recommend eMClient at the present juncture.)
After the message moves to the read pile, click the circle to mark it unread and move it back to the unread list.
Twice the number of clicks of any other email client I’ve used (roughly a dozen, I’d say). But okay,. it is what it is.
If you use the Favourites (Global folders) Unread folder at the top left, you can read any unread message and then change the status back to unread after reading “without having to move them again to the unread list”.
Just make sure you “change the status back to unread after reading” it so it stays in there.
Please note the use of the word “can”.
Most often (as in this case) a sentence of the form, “You can do X…”
refers to extra steps that, in general, should not be necessary.
(And in this case, were not required in any other email client I’ve used!)
Please forgive me for flogging the horse after it has ceased moving, but
putting the onus on the user to do things that really should not be necessary
is a long-standing pet peeve of mine. Suitable design should make them superfluous! :__)
“You can do X…”
refers to extra steps that, in general, should not be necessary.
eM Client “sets a default secs to read messages after reading” in Setting “like other mail clients do”, so it’s then up to the user to adjust that if the default setting doesn’t work for them.
You set it once and that’s it. You don’t go in there all the time.
