Post AxHiKsLCJBooYTI55s by lightweight@mastodon.nzoss.nz
(DIR) More posts by lightweight@mastodon.nzoss.nz
(DIR) Post #AxHfM0OlXK9XyKo5Ka by ensslen@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2025-08-18T04:25:18Z
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I have to say that I strongly dislike Thunderbird. It's poor compared to most of the proprietary email clients I've been made to use. I wish there were better alternatives.Yes, I just complemented Microsoft Outlook. I used to really dislike Outlook. But it has a functional search. And more than a half dozen configuration settings, so that I don't have to reconfigure its search results screen every time I open it.
(DIR) Post #AxHfM26lBEwFH4OjXk by lightweight@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2025-08-18T05:10:05Z
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@ensslen oddly enough, I quite like Mozilla Thunderbird... and harbour a strong disrespect for MS Outlook and its wannabes (like Evolution). In my experience search is a function of the IMAP server that its connected to (assuming you use IMAP)... mine implements a nice search database and I've found it to be quite effective... Not sure about the pre-configuration stuff, as I don't seem to miss it...
(DIR) Post #AxHgLxC9XxJpzVRkR6 by ensslen@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2025-08-18T05:21:19Z
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@lightweight Exact term search is a key feature for me. I can know the subject line of the email i am looking for, and Thunderbird won't show it. I am constantly searching for "NZCCL 2025-07-17 Minutes" and getting back results that include any of the individual terms. That's all minutes, all NZCCL references, and anything with any of the three numbers. Sort by relevance doesn't seem to do anything: It does not promote matches with more than one term.https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1307301
(DIR) Post #AxHgSd2YsbddVe8vxo by lightweight@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2025-08-18T05:22:32Z
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@ensslen that is frustrating. What email back end are you using? Is it POP3 with local mail storage or an IMAP server?
(DIR) Post #AxHh0ZQko79M9xdxmS by ensslen@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2025-08-18T05:28:40Z
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@lightweight, it's all IMAP. I have six email accounts open, a mix of Gmail and Zoho. Sometimes, there's Office365 in the mix, but not for a few months.In any case, usually FOSS is delightful. In this case I'm eating the dogfood.This might be a good time for suggestions of email hosting providers.
(DIR) Post #AxHiKsLCJBooYTI55s by lightweight@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2025-08-18T05:43:32Z
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@ensslen I'd be happy to provide with some services as a trial 🙃
(DIR) Post #AxI1j43eILlgyQKWvo by stephen@microbe.vital.org.nz
2025-08-18T05:56:04.333077Z
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@ensslen @lightweight is this venting post or would a couple of suggestions be ok?
(DIR) Post #AxI1j5JdcO9UsIooUa by ensslen@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2025-08-18T06:50:24Z
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@stephen @lightweight This was mostly a cry for help. Please recommend what you will
(DIR) Post #AxI1j6CaK66XciWh8a by stephen@microbe.vital.org.nz
2025-08-18T09:17:54.631017Z
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@ensslen @lightweight two suggestions when Thunderbird isn't giving something you KNOW is there.1. Thunderbird searches are really searches of a sqlite database that has data about the mail in it (the "index") and that index can get corrupted. So if you have a good idea which folder that message should be in, you can repair the index. Right click on the folder, select "Properties", and in the resulting dialogue box, click the button "Repair Folder." This sometimes fixes things.2. There is a hidden search feature that is more sophisticated! You right-click on the top level folder (eg "steven@example.com") or any sub-folder where you think a message is lurking, and you'll see a "Search Messages" command. This brings up a search dialogue which is quite different to the one you get with ctrl-K/the visible search box. And that dialogue has lots of criteria you can specify, and you can say "any of" or "all of" those criteria to refine your search. And if you search for text, say several words, as one of those criteria, it looks for that text _as a phrase_, as though you had quoted it (don't quote it or it will treat the quote marks as part of what you're looking for). I don't know why this search isn't better exposed in the interface, it's far more powerful. It can be slower though.