Possible to edit the subject lines of recevied emails?

[awaresoft]

Is there a way to edit the subject lines of received emails? The reason I would like to do this is so that I have a more descriptive/consistent description of each email and so that my email sorts by subject will sort according to my own descriptions/conventions.

Thanks!
Malcolm

[bplat]

Malcom,

So far I know this isn't possible in the web interface, unless you forward the message to yourself with a different subject line. Would be a good feature to have, though.

Many email clients won't let you do this, either. In fact, the only email client I know that lets you do this is Groupwise. The Bat lets you thread messages by subject line (as well as the more common message ID), and this may go some way to what you want.

-bert

[awaresoft]

Bert,

Thanks for your reply! Outlook allows you to edit subject lines (although this feature is not very obvious). Outlook also allows you to edit the body of received emails. This is very useful if you're storing specific emails and want to remove all the "crap" from the originals so that what gets saved is usable in the future.

Its also nice to be able to delete attachments from messages that you are archiving.

I don't suppose Fastmail allows you to edit the body of email messages or delete attachments for stored emails?

Malcolm

[bplat]

Malcolm,

How do you do that in Outlook (and which version) -- I didn't know that.

Detaching attachments is something that's been requested fairly often, in conjunction with the file storage feature (so you'd be able to store attachments in the file store, rather than as a part of the message), so possibly we'll see that when file storage comes out of beta.

Changing the email body is not something that Fastmail supports, unless you use the Forward to yourself trick. There's only so much functionality you can put in a web interface if you don't want to use Java/Javascript (which, so far I can see, Fastmail doesn't want to rely on).

-bert

[awaresoft]

> How do you do that (edit subject lines) in Outlook

View the message in detail mode (click on it), place your cursor in the subject line, edit away, and then File/Save from the menu. Presto - a new subject line consistent with your personal filing habits.

> and which version (of Outlook)?

Outlook 2000 and above. Maybe earlier versions of Outlook as well?

Malcolm

[bplat]

Ok, thanks.

-bert

[sinan]

Another method is to copy the message to your system, edit it with a text editor, and put it back to the IMAP server. More time consuming, but you don't lose the original headers at least. (sender, date, ...).

[awaresoft]

Does anyone else think they might benefit from being able to edit the following stored message "properties"?

- subject line
- body
- attachments (selectively remove)

I'm trying to move all my email from Outlook to Fastmail's web client. Being able to edit stored message properties is one of the things I miss most.

Am I crazy or is this a reasonable request to add to the Fastmail suggestion box?

Malcolm

[bplat]

You can cetrainly try. To me, they sound like desirable features.

-bert

[snsh]

Forward the email to yourself,
deleting attachments and crap, but
changing the "From" address
to match the original.

[awaresoft]

Snsh,

Thanks for your suggestion but that's a lot of work for could be a simple point, click, edit, and update/save workflow.

Bert,

I checked the FastMail wiki (per your suggestion in an earlier post) and didn't see any mention of the ability to edit subject lines and email bodies. Did see comments regarding better attachment management. I will update the Wiki after this post has fizzled out. I don't want to pollute the suggestion list with ideas that only I find useful! (Well, actually I would like to do this but it wouldn't be too nice)

Thanks for everyone's feedback!
Mal

[elvey]

Good suggestion, IMO.
"Possible to display HTML email as text to suppress remote detection of email reading" too.
Please add 'em to the wiki - I'm surprised they're not there.

[jhs]

With a bit of dran'n'drop you can edit an email with Thunderbird. Simply move the email to the draft folder, edit it, and move it back where you want it.

With OE this trick doesn't work, it doesn't allow you to edit the mail moved to the draft folder.

--
Jan

[fhapgood]

Originally posted by awaresoft
Does anyone else think they might benefit from being able to edit the following stored message "properties"?

This is more than a good idea. Being able to annotate your mail somehow and then order the queue by those annotations is basic to the concept. It amazes me how any email services provider could put file storage or a notepad ahead of annotating on their to do list.

[flashbang]

FM lists this as a "Coming Enhancement". See this link in the specific features screen:

Interface to edit received messages (delete attachments, change subject...

http://www.fastmail.fm/docs/comingenhancements.htm