How would you change it?

If I had any ideas, I would have given them. :)

(This is not "NEEDINFO". NEEDINFO means "I don't understand,
you need to explain better". The issue here is not that you
don't understand what I'm reporting, it's just that none of
us know what to do.)

OK, just moving to low priority.  I don't think it's all that
confusing, but if we actually come up with ideas for making it better,
I'll raise the priority and fix it.

Anna?

One possible fix for this would be to change the label which currently
reads "Specify where to create the folder" to "Parent folder". 
What do you guys think? If I get the go-ahead from both of you, 
I would be happy to make this change. I think that "Parent folder"
would make it more clear where in the folder heirarchy the new 
folder would appear. . .

Here's my idea:

Instead of having a dropdown listbox showing the full
list of folder types, only allow creation of a particular
type of folder when the user is within the context of
that functional area.  So, if I select "File -> New Folder"
or "File -> Go to Folder -> New" or "Action -> Move to Folder
--> New" or "Action -> Copy to Folder --> New" while I am
in the evolution-mail section, the dialog that shows up
could say "Evolution - Create New Mail Folder".

If I am viewing the Calendar, the dialog would be titled
"Evolution - Create New Mail Folder" and would create 
subfolders in Calendar, and so on.

Right now, the main problem is that there is a dropdown list
showing folder types and that list contains types that have 
completely undefined meanings and the user is left attempting
selecting a folder type and then picking a location in which
to create that folder.  The UI contains no smarts about 
automatically creating the right type of folder for the
area of the folder tree that is selected.  This really is bad,
since I am constantly getting "Cannot create the specified folder:
Generic error".  Ugh.

I guess another implementation would be to just automatically
determine the correct folder type, remove the folder type
dropdown list and then let the user create folders whereever
and just "do the right thing."

The right thing would include disabling the OK button when
the user selects a top level folder (or do what the folder
list UI does, and return to the previously selected valid
folder).

In the /local storage, you can create any kind of folder anywhere.
Eg, you could make

+ local
  + Work             [mail]
    + Appointments   [calendar]
    + Coworkers      [contacts]
  + Personal         [mail]
    + Friends        [contacts]
    + Birthdays      [calendar]

So the dialog can't (always) auto-pick the folder type

I could make this a new bug but I think this is close enough to the context here.

You cannot right-click on the "Local Folders" root of the tree to create a new folder.  This makes it difficult to make new top-level folders.  If you think the folder interface is confusing, this problem is even worse--the only way to create a top-level folder appears to be to start the folder creation pop-up, and then manually select "Local Folders" to be the parent.  

For those of us who'd rather not use the little rodent, the same thing should be doable via the menus and k/b shortcut, not just via a right-click.  I would suggest you allow clicking or cursoring to the"Local Folders" line, instead of bouncing the user back to the previous selected subfolder, which is the current behaviour.

Wondering what to display on the right side?  Well, I don't see why you have to display _anything_ right now, but I'm sure someone could come up with a simple text message with some folder-related tips or something.

Sorry about the lack of word-wrap above.  Maybe an Opera issue?

Anyway, here's my two cents about making the interface more clear:

The new folder name and the parent folder selection should
be right next to each other.  Right now the folder type is in 
between, but I think folder name and type are the two most important concepts here, though so far I am only using Evo for mail (waiting for that palm sync!).  

I suspect most other people will also use it for mail though,
so the default folder type (mail) will usually be fine; that's
why I would suggest moving the "Folder type" selection to the
bottom rather than the top.

Hi,

I'm using 12.99. I was about to file a bug on the way to create a new
folder. Basically its very anal in my opinion. Here is what I want.
I'm viewing my inbox and have the "Folders" side menu visable and I
want to create a new local folder called "work" under the "Local
Folders" folder.

My natural expectations/behaviour is to:

1. Right click on the bolded "Local Folders" folder. By right clicking
I expect to get a popup menu of actions to perform on the "Local
Folders". No menu appears, but the highlight briefly moves from my
Inbox to "Local Folders". I'm confused!

2. Hmmm, lets try right-clicking on the white area below, the other
folders. I try this and no pop-up menu. More confused!

3. Lets try right clicking on Inbox. ahh a popup. Okay there is a
create folder option. Unfortunately, I don't really wanna select this
as much as I should as I think this will probably create a sub-folder
inside the Inbox folder. I try it anyway. Ahh, this is what it does
but I don't want this :(

1 and 2 should definately work. 3 works as expected. I was finally
able to create a folder by going to the File menu... And now that I've
done so, I've found yet another bug. I'll go register that too.

Something we should think about for 1.1.

Because of the decision to remap 1.1->1.2 and 1.2->1.4, I'm going to be
moving a large number of bugs around in the bugzilla. You can just
search on 'body contains' 'Because of the decision to remap' and mark
all as read. Please direct all questions about this change to
evolution@ximian.com, not the bug.
Luis

Thomas, I have fixed the right-click thing on "Local Folder" on the
unstable version now.

This works nicely on 1.2 and greater, I think.
Please reopen if someone seriously disagrees