UI: Accidentally sending emails from the wrong account SOLVED
Hi, I've been using Thunderbird for as long as it's existed from PC to Mac but there's this little problem I've had the whole time which after so many years, I think isn't just as user issue.
I have multiple email accounts, some with clients/employers some for personal and some for my own business. Now here's how the problem occurs. You check your email, and go through each account to see what's important, then you go away. Then you think, "I need to send an email to someone." You come back to Thunderbird and Ctrl+N and start the email and hit send. Then you get a response at the address you didn't intend to send from, why did I get a message from X company?
So yes, I should check the sending address on every email before I send it, which I often do. This doesn't happen all the time, but often enough that it's annoying. I've tried a few things like on one of my receiving only addresses, putting a reply-to so the UI of the email compose box looks different at the top which is enough to usually help me. The worst thing is when you accidentally send from an address and the client's email client logs it as your address and you can never get them to undo it (eg. when I had a work email at a different company and then stopped working there and my freelance client continue emailing the wrong address and complained I wasn't responding, so this has cost me money). Part of me has wondered if I need to seclude work email in a different email client to stop the mix ups.
After having this problem enough, there's a point where you begin to question if the software you're using is supporting you in what you're trying to get done. Any time software makes you feel like you're stupid because you can't use it right is usually a good time to question it's design.
What I'm wondering is, is there a way in the UI to force a choice of sending email address prior to sending? (eg. have no sending email address by default and forces a choice) or have a favicon or some visual aid to let you know that you are in a particular email account within an email compose window? I would actually love to be able to just colour the BG or frame of the email compose window so I know what address I'm sending from.
Has anyone else had this problem and come up with a good workaround?
Modified by Wayne Mery
Chosen solution
There are many add-ons aimed at helping with this issue. I've tried several but have not found any that does the job by itself, so I use three in combination.
Folder Accounts allows you to link a specific identity with each folder. This helps with getting the right identity when creating a new message, particularly if you file messages in folders outside the corresponding account.
Correct Identity helps by using rules to select an identity according to other addresses or domains in a message, so helps with replies.
Identity Chooser allows you to colour the top part of the compose window, so there is a good visual indicator if you start with an inappropriate identity. This might still happen if you have been inattentive to which folder was open when you start composing a message. It also lets you set which identities are made available, so you don't accidentally use an identity for sending when it's there principally as an incoming account. So at work, personal addresses appear with a red coloring, and work addresses with green, and vice versa at home.
There may well be some overlap or conflict between these three add-ons, but it works well for me. I'd suggest you try them one by one.
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Chosen Solution
There are many add-ons aimed at helping with this issue. I've tried several but have not found any that does the job by itself, so I use three in combination.
Folder Accounts allows you to link a specific identity with each folder. This helps with getting the right identity when creating a new message, particularly if you file messages in folders outside the corresponding account.
Correct Identity helps by using rules to select an identity according to other addresses or domains in a message, so helps with replies.
Identity Chooser allows you to colour the top part of the compose window, so there is a good visual indicator if you start with an inappropriate identity. This might still happen if you have been inattentive to which folder was open when you start composing a message. It also lets you set which identities are made available, so you don't accidentally use an identity for sending when it's there principally as an incoming account. So at work, personal addresses appear with a red coloring, and work addresses with green, and vice versa at home.
There may well be some overlap or conflict between these three add-ons, but it works well for me. I'd suggest you try them one by one.
Thanks Zenos! I found Identity Chooser is the best fit for my needs. Hope that it remains operational with Thunderbird going forwards!