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Old 11 Apr 2006, 03:59 PM   #1
robmueller
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Updated Notepad on beta

I've updated the Notepad feature on the beta server. Superficially, there's almost no change, but internally there's two changes:

1. It should handle Japanese text pasted into it correctly now (if you have your Options -> Preferences -> Default Charset set to SHIFT-JIS or ISO-2022-JP)
2. When you delete a note, it's kept for 1 week so it can be undeleted by support if needed

For those concerned about privacy, the second part is really no different than the DB backups we do every day at the moment, the only difference is that we've made it much easier to restore rather than having to dig back into the backup snapshots.

If people could just test it out a bit, see I haven't broken anything horribly, that would be great

Rob

Last edited by robmueller : 11 Apr 2006 at 04:13 PM.
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Old 12 Apr 2006, 12:48 AM   #2
kander
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Rob,

Would it be possible to add an option that allows us to archive our notes? I'm thinking along the lines of storing each note in a <notename>.txt file, put these in a .zip and send it to the browser.

That way we'd be able to create our own backups, alleviating the burden on Support even further.

--K
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Old 12 Apr 2006, 02:40 AM   #3
Prognathous
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As the first Fastmail user to break the 100 notes barrier, I can say that using drafts-as-notes is far superior to the original Notepad. And yes, Kander, you can easily backup your Drafts folder, just like any other IMAP folder

Making Drafts the official replacement of Notepad requires a few changes, but would be a very worthy enhancement IMO:

Quote:
Originally posted by Prognathous
I think the current Notepad should be replaced by a drafts-based one. After all, it’s already there; all that needs to be done is a few UI tweaks to make it “feel” more like a notes management tool:

1. Mail-specific fields should be removed from the Compose (Note) screen. No need to hog so much screen space for fields that are never needed.
2. The same logic should be applied to columns in the Drafts folder / Notes list screen.
3. The Notepad link at the top of the screen should remain.
Any chance to see this happen Rob?

Prog.
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Old 12 Apr 2006, 08:15 AM   #4
kander
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Prog,

When writing that previous post there was a little voice in the back of my head whispering stuff about a brilliant idea regarding notes that came up before.. it was just too noisy for me to hear what it was saying. Thanks for bringing it back... IMAP-accessible notes (whether as drafts or not..) still seems a good, logical idea when it comes to accessibility and backupability (is that a word?)

--K
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Old 12 Apr 2006, 08:16 AM   #5
Berenburger
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OK, when we all now make suggestions. Is there some folder/label structure possible to catagorize my notes?
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Old 12 Apr 2006, 03:40 PM   #6
rtfastmail
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Japanese in notepad

It works fine with Japanese text now!
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Old 12 Apr 2006, 04:13 PM   #7
robmueller
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Notes as drafts is a neat idea, and sort of builds on the "using the IMAP server as a DB, folders as tables, emails as rows" idea of turning the IMAP server into a general data store (eg bynari, toltec, etc).

It's something I'll keep in mind...

Rob
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Old 12 Apr 2006, 09:01 PM   #8
ewal
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Hi Rob

I vote for the drafts as notes (or is that notes as drafts) as well. However, while you are still thinking about that please could you enable html in the current notes? Or at the very least allow for automatic recognition of web addresses and email addresses in Notes, much like you have for text only emails.

Many thanks
Edward
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Old 12 Apr 2006, 09:50 PM   #9
Abydos
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Yeh, having the current 'Notepad' link point to a new 'Notepad' folder seems to preserves the best of everything...

- A notepad link available at the top of each FM screen.
- Archive-able notes.
- Hierarchical sub folders.
- imap accessible.
- Recognition of web addresses in notes.
- (A clickable & editable place for storing bookmarks)


Prognathous' UI tweaks above would make it perfect but as far as I can see the only *essential* change would be a 'Save as Note' button in the compose screen..

Inspired idea!
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Old 12 Apr 2006, 10:15 PM   #10
n5bb
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I also add my vote for notes stored as drafts.
Here is one idea for how to map existing email features to attributes useful to handling notes:
  • Date header == Note creation date/time
  • From header == Personality email address which created the note. If notes from multiple accounts could ever be merged, this would differentiate the creator of each note.
  • Subject header == Subject/title of the note
  • To, CC, and BCC headers == To would by default be set to the same personality email name as From. But if you could add a To, CC, or BCC Fastmail address, the note would be shared with that Fastmail account.
  • Received header == This header could be added every time the note was edited, so you have a record of the editing date/time and who edited the note (if it is a shared note).
  • Edit as New == New notes could be generated cleanly from existing notes with this feature (resetting the Received headers).
  • Archive == Notes could be archived into ZIPs just as emails can be now. Maybe tools such as IMAPSize could be used for incremental local backups also.
  • Attachments == Attachments (PDF files, images, .eml emails, ZIP archives, etc.) could be added or removed to a note.
  • Flags == Any flags (importance, read, etc.) or possible future label tags would be useful for sorting and characterizing notes.
  • Folders == Notes could be sorted into folders just like emails. The existing methods of moving and copying between folders could be replicated for notes.
Bill
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Old 13 Apr 2006, 08:47 AM   #11
Sherry
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Since you can't seem to allow inserting a signature at the end of a reply (instead of the end of the quoted message) or even in the message so you can see it before sending perhaps you can do it with the notepad feature. Right now you can "append" a sig using notepad but I think it would be great to be able to insert notes and sigs at the cursor so they come in during the reply and won't have to be copy/pasted back up where it's needed...

(Rob, see what you get when you make a bit of changes you need tested )

Sherry
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Old 13 Apr 2006, 01:05 PM   #12
n5bb
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Quote:
Originally posted by Sherry
Since you can't seem to allow inserting a signature at the end of a reply (instead of the end of the quoted message) ...
Sherry, Rob fixed this for text editing but not HTML.
Signature insertion on replies using Inline Orig

If this was in the Fastmail Blog or a newsletter, I missed it. Posts from Dec 2005 complain about the signature insertion location: Signature handling

Another common complaint is that the signature isn't visible on the Compose or reply screen. So you can't see on the Compose screen what signature is being sent, and where it is inserted. This is annoying! IMHO, the signature should be automatically inserted (above the original on a reply) for both text and HTML modes.

Bill
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Old 13 Apr 2006, 02:04 PM   #13
Sherry
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Thanks Bill and "sorry" Rob. Must have missed that post or read it at 2am and it didn't sink in.

Sherry
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Old 14 Apr 2006, 04:32 AM   #14
mvpittman
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Any interaction between Notes and the FileStorage would be good. I don't use notes at all now. It'd be cool if I could:

- store notes as text files
- automatically take the first x characters of any text file in a special "notes" folder and make it a note
- use notes when composing e-mail (an "insert note text" button?)
- use note text as a signature
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Old 14 Apr 2006, 06:47 AM   #15
hadaso
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Quote:
Originally posted by n5bb
...
Another common complaint is that the signature isn't visible on the Compose or reply screen. ...
One reason why the signature cannot be inserted before sending is that it can be changed (by choosing a different personality or signature on the compose screen) at any time during composition. So if it's incorporated before composition then you lose the ability to choose a signature. One possible solution can be an action (in the "action" pull down menu?) to "insert signature" that would put it in the text. Then if it is not in the right position the user can drag it to the right poition (or cut&paste). This action then should change the chosen signature on the pull-down menu to "none" (because it is already inserted).

The "Preview" action (available only when composing HTML) should show the signature (i.e., the mail as it will be sent). It should also show some other things it doesn't currently show, such as the list of attachments, and perhaps also other things like the folder the sent message goes to, and all other info a user might want to double check before hitting "send". (I would also like to see the text version generated from the HTML and suppress it or change it if it is too far from the composed HTML, but that's another issue...)
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