TB3 how to save headers with messages via SaveAs

[Scott Nelson]

Hello,

I am using Thunderbird3.0b4 on linux (RHEL 5.4 x86_64)

Does anyone know how to SaveAs the headers with a message being
composed? i.e. when using SaveAs to save a message that I am creating,
how do I have the headers included in what's saved. The various View
options don't impact what's actually saved on disk.

Note that some limited header info is saved with received messages
(Subj:, From:, Date:, To:) but not with messages being composed.

Thanks,

Scott

[JoeS]

I personally don't like the File->save as options that we now have.
Not sure about the headers that you are trying to preserve, but if I'm working on a complex reply and want to save
it as a "work in progress" I use File->send later. That will save it in the outbox intact. Then "Edit as new" when
you want to continue. Saving as Draft has been known to cause problems (might be fixed now in TB3)

--
JoeS Using TB3
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Thunderbird_3.0_-_New_Features_and_Changes
https://developer.mozilla.org/en/Thunderbird/Thunderbird_Binaries

[Andrew DeFaria]

On 11/18/2009 08:50 PM, JoeS wrote:

On 11/18/2009 10:15 PM, Scott Nelson wrote:

Hello,

I am using Thunderbird3.0b4 on linux (RHEL 5.4 x86_64)

Does anyone know how to SaveAs the headers with a message being composed? i.e. when using SaveAs to save a message that I am creating, how do I have the headers included in what's saved. The various View options don't impact what's actually saved on disk.

Note that some limited header info is saved with received messages (Subj:, From:, Date:, To:) but not with messages being composed.

Thanks,

Scott

I personally don't like the File->save as options that we now have.
Not sure about the headers that you are trying to preserve, but if I'm working on a complex reply and want to save it as a "work in progress" I use File->send later. That will save it in the outbox intact. Then "Edit as new" when you want to continue. Saving as Draft has been known to cause problems (might be fixed now in TB3)

The reason why you see limited headers is because you're composing things. How/Why would you expect to see, for example, received lines when the message hasn't even been sent? Other things like MIME content stuff probably are not put together until the message is sent.

--
Andrew DeFaria
I'm trying to figure out why kamikaze pilots wore helmets.

[Scott Nelson]

On 11/18/2009 07:50 PM, JoeS wrote:
>
> I personally don't like the File->save as options that we now have.
> Not sure about the headers that you are trying to preserve, but if I'm
> working on a complex reply and want to save
> it as a "work in progress" I use File->send later. That will save it in
> the outbox intact. Then "Edit as new" when
> you want to continue. Saving as Draft has been known to cause problems
> (might be fixed now in TB3)
>

Thanks JoeS. I'm interested in saving Subj: and To: since I like to
keep those as reference.

I tried saving as draft, but that didn't do what I was hoping to. I
specifically want to get the messages *out* of the thunderbird
infrastructure so that I can do something else with it. Seems that
SaveAs-File does that nicely, I just need it to save more info than it
does presently.

Basically I want it to save everything that I provide, which includes
Subj: and To:. Date: would also be nice also (i.e. the date that the
message was saved to the file).

In looking through the about:config list (a.k.a. Edit | Preferences |
Advanced | General | ConfigEditor) I don't see a variable that seems
appropriate.

Thanks,

Scott

[Randy ®]

This may not be exactly what you're looking for, but you can click
CTRL + U, and it will bring up the full original message, with all
headers. You can then save that as a txt or other file.

[Andrew DeFaria]

On 11/20/2009 06:48 AM, Randy ® wrote:

This may not be exactly what you're looking for, but you can click CTRL + U, and it will bring up the full original message, with all headers. You can then save that as a txt or other file.

I looked and I looked but I could not find a CTRL + U to click on! ;-)

--
Andrew DeFaria
Why does "fat chance" and "slim chance" mean the same thing?

[Scott Nelson]

>
> This may not be exactly what you're looking for, but you can click
> CTRL + U, and it will bring up the full original message, with all
> headers. You can then save that as a txt or other file.

Note quite. We can't do CTRL+U while composing the message (it doesn't
do anything). To do what you describe, we have to send the message,
then open the Sent folder (assuming we told TB to save everything that
was sent into the Sent folder), then do the CTRL+U.

You see the issue... Seems it should be easy to add a couple of fields
to SaveAs so that it does this.

So I looked at the TB3.0b4 source for the requisite routines.
SaveAsFile in mailCommands.js uses messenger's saveAs member function.
But I couldn't find where that saveAs is defined.

Thanks,

Scott

[Nir]

On Saturday 21 November 2009 03:35 AM, Scott Nelson wrote:
>>
>> This may not be exactly what you're looking for, but you can click
>> CTRL + U, and it will bring up the full original message, with all
>> headers. You can then save that as a txt or other file.
>
> Note quite. We can't do CTRL+U while composing the message (it doesn't
> do anything). To do what you describe, we have to send the message,
> then open the Sent folder (assuming we told TB to save everything that
> was sent into the Sent folder), then do the CTRL+U.
>

Not necessarily. You can save it as draft and then do Ctrl + U on that
draft message.

> You see the issue... Seems it should be easy to add a couple of fields
> to SaveAs so that it does this.
>

If you save it as .eml ( Mail files ) and open it in your word editor,
do you find all headers alongwith message body present there?

[Scott Nelson]

It was the two-step process that I was hoping to avoid. SaveAs should
save everything that I typed in (while composing) including the body,
and any header info (To: and Subj:). The alternative, as you described,
is to save it as draft, then select that, then Ctrl+U it.

Seems much easier and more intuitive if SaveAs were just augmented to
save everything that the user typed-in in compose mode.

Do you know where the messenger.saveAs call is in the source code? I've
been unable to find its definition.

[Nir]

I suggested to save whatever you composed as File using
File > Save As > File : Select 'eml' format.

[Scott Nelson]

On 11/24/09 07:42, Nir wrote:
>
> I suggested to save whatever you composed as File using
> File> Save As> File : Select 'eml' format.
>

There is no "Select" in the popup window in TB3.0b4

Are you using an extension, or did I miss a compile option?

Thanks

[Scott Nelson]

On 11/24/09 10:57, Scott Nelson wrote:
> On 11/24/09 07:42, Nir wrote:
>>

>> I suggested to save whatever you composed as File using
>> File> Save As> File : Select 'eml' format.
>>
>

> There is no "Select" in the popup window in TB3.0b4
>
> Are you using an extension, or did I miss a compile option?
>

I have the same issue with TB 3.0rc1. I don't see the selection option
that you mentioned.

Thanks,

Scott Nelson

[Nir]

Sorry, should have checked the available formats in that popup window
before suggesting it to you. Yes, there is no option to save message
along with headers from compose window. Only option is to save it as
draft and then save the draft in eml format. :(

[Scott Nelson]

Can you point me to where the message.saveAs routine is (used by
MsgSaveAsFile when composing)? I'd like to modify it to add the missing
functionality, but I've been unable to find the message classes' saveAs.

Thanks,

Scott Nelson