Sonic.net

enmiller wrote:I tried out the new interface yesterday. I could not figure out how to delete more than one email at a time. I really hope this gets fixed or someone can explain how. Some emails (like from living social) I just want to delete after reading the subject line. I don't want to go through them all one by one.

If you hold down the "control" key on your keyboard and click on mulitple messages, it will highlight multiple messages at once. Once you have everything highlighted that you want to get rid of, hit the 'd' key, the delete key, or click the delete button in the interface.

enmiller wrote: Do you have to use the threads option? I don't like that. I use it at my job and am constantly missing emails.

Not at all. There should be two buttons below the message listing, one that looks like three horizontal bars on top of each other (unthreaded) and one that looks like two cartoon dialog balloons (threaded). Use whichever you prefer. The new webmail should remember your preference from one session to the next.

enmiller wrote: I don't like that the email shows below in a very small screen that I then have to scroll through.

You can disable the preview pane by clicking the downward-pointing-triangle button between the the message listing and preview pane, on the right.

The new email seems like a step backward from the user standpoint. The graphical interface looks very dated and it is just not obvious and easy to use. For instance, I can tell something is a spam just by looking at the sender and subject line in my INBOX list. Why can't I just tick the box and select send to "SPAM" AND "Block Sender" as an option?

Also I am having trouble figuring out basic things that I never had problems doing in the previous versions. Seems like too many engineers and not enough user testing before implementing this new webmail. Its overly complicated, multi-layered and just not intuitive. I have kept my sonic in spite of moving out of Sonoma county 6 years ago, but for the first time and I am considering shopping for a new email provider just because I am finding it so annoying to use. I don't want to have to learn to use my new email with efforts equal to learning new software programs. I have enough of that already since I use alot of graphical and technical software. It's just email, why can't it be simple and have all the tools I need right there and obvious. For instance, I just noticed here I can pick font attributes right above this window yet I cannot see these buttons and format text with ease when writing an email in my webmail. Instead I will have to search help and the forum, far too time consuming, to find where to get this in my settings. It should just be in the menu or the menu bar above the screen when I compose an email, just as it is here.

I continue to be baffled by how I cannot find answers to what is seemingly a common need for email users such as the topic "Archiving Email" which I have searched for. In fact, the interface should have a menu item for this....I can't be the only one that needs to archive old emails into files or PDFs and does not want to open and print each one individually. I did this in the last webmail version but no idea whatsoever.....annoying to have to call tech support on the phone for such a commonly needed function. Why is it not obvious in the menu interface?

What the heck does "Threads" mean in this new interface and why do I need it? Is this common terminology that I somehow have never heard? Sounds like some kind of technical term .....Yet I cannot find basic tools like font size or font style.

Why can't I just create a folder by hitting an icon....going to have to search for "create a folder" brings up a host of complexities completely unrelated to my needs....I need to have a folder where I can put all the emails from my bank or my attorney in one place, just as I do on my computer hard-drive. Seems like a simple everyday task but yet no answer and no obvious menu button for this like there is on my computer.

Guest wrote:The new email seems like a step backward from the user standpoint. The graphical interface looks very dated and it is just not obvious and easy to use. For instance, I can tell something is a spam just by looking at the sender and subject line in my INBOX list. Why can't I just tick the box and select send to "SPAM" AND "Block Sender" as an option?

That's a feature we haven't offered in any mail interface in the past.

Guest wrote: Also I am having trouble figuring out basic things that I never had problems doing in the previous versions. Seems like too many engineers and not enough user testing before implementing this new webmail. Its overly complicated, multi-layered and just not intuitive. I have kept my sonic in spite of moving out of Sonoma county 6 years ago, but for the first time and I am considering shopping for a new email provider just because I am finding it so annoying to use. I don't want to have to learn to use my new email with efforts equal to learning new software programs. I have enough of that already since I use alot of graphical and technical software. It's just email, why can't it be simple and have all the tools I need right there and obvious.

You're welcome to continue using Squirrelmail at https://legacy-webmail.sonic.net/. It was left up for exactly this reason (several long-time customers requested it).

Guest wrote: For instance, I just noticed here I can pick font attributes right above this window yet I cannot see these buttons and format text with ease when writing an email in my webmail. Instead I will have to search help and the forum, far too time consuming, to find where to get this in my settings. It should just be in the menu or the menu bar above the screen when I compose an email, just as it is here.

This option is right under the composition section of the settings interface. One of the concerns repeatedly raised was that the interface of a mail client is very complicated if it's to include every feature required by its users. Tucking away the HTML WSIWYG interface got 29 buttons out of the way for people who didn't want them. Once you enable HTML composition, they'll pop up every time thereafter. That really belongs in the help document. I'll add it in just a moment.

Guest wrote: Why can't I just create a folder by hitting an icon....going to have to search for "create a folder" brings up a host of complexities completely unrelated to my needs....I need to have a folder where I can put all the emails from my bank or my attorney in one place, just as I do on my computer hard-drive. Seems like a simple everyday task but yet no answer and no obvious menu button for this like there is on my computer.

By using IMAP you can have your webmail folders and home client folders match exactly. When accessing mail from multiple devices, we strongly recommend IMAP. A folder created in one device will be available in all devices, messages marked as "read" in one will be marked as "read" in all, messages deleted from one will be deleted in all, et cetera.

Guest wrote: What the heck does "Threads" mean in this new interface and why do I need it? Is this common terminology that I somehow have never heard? Sounds like some kind of technical term .....Yet I cannot find basic tools like font size or font style.

Threading takes chains of messages created by replying back and forth and clusters them all together. I've seen a couple of interfaces call them "conversations" over the years, but the most common term is thread. The way messages are displayed in this forum is by thread; somebody makes an initial post, and all replies to that original post (or any post that was a reply to the original post) are shown together in chronological order. If every post in this forum were displayed in the order they were submitted, it would be much more difficult to follow the conversations. The same principle can apply to email messages by toggling threads.

To group messages in a folder by conversation, click the button that looks like two cartoon dialog bubbles. Message threads will appear with triangles next to them indicating whether the thread is currently collapsed or expanded. Clicking the triangle will toggle this for that specific thread. You can expand or contract multiple conversations at the same time using the "Threads" button located at the bottom of the message listing.

To list messages individually, regardless of threading, click the button that looks like three horizontal bars. Both of these buttons are just below the message listing.

Guest wrote: I continue to be baffled by how I cannot find answers to what is seemingly a common need for email users such as the topic "Archiving Email" which I have searched for.

Is this something you do frequently? Kelsey put this on the list of feature requests for the new webmail a while back. Just to be clear, would you want this to convert individual messages to a PDF format and then zip them up into an archive file along with their attachments?

You responded to this question with this answer.

"For instance, I can tell something is a spam just by looking at the sender and subject line in my INBOX list. Why can't I just tick the box and select send to "SPAM" AND "Block Sender" as an option?

That's a feature we haven't offered in any mail interface in the past. "

My question is what is standing in the way of including such a feature here. I am deluged with spam emails on a daily basis. On my aol account, if I designate a message as spam, I never receive a message from that source again. Why can't sonic do this?

Squirell mail had a way to select a bunch of messages and then with one click download a zipped file of .eml files, one per message. With the new Webmail, I only see a way to do it one message at a time, which is not practical. Am I missing something?

No, bulk downloading of selected messages and attachments is a a feature on our roadmap. At this time I'm not able to provide an estimated date for the feature to be added.

Thanks, Kelsey. It's pretty important, I think, for instance if one wants to switch ISPs (I'm not planning to do that!). I was able to use Squirrel Mail to get 100 or so messages and it worked well, so please don't get rid of that until you've added the new feature.

Is mail accessible from the shell somehow? I know it at least used to be years ago.