GNOME Bugzilla – Bug 638084
can't remove "On This Computer"
Last modified: 2012-02-09 11:32:49 UTC
"when first setting up Evolution Mail (Messaging Menu -> Setup Mail), a user creates a local entry with a custom name. There is a checkbox [User] can tick for "make this my default account". when account setup is complete, and the mails start synchronizing, there is an unexpected Account with all its folders which appears in the folder list on the left: "On This Computer" Before i ask about the purpose of "On This Computer" in Evolution, i'd rather suggest its removal. ..unless of course we want to revert to using a local mail server as Desktop notification system ;) Looking at my Account Tree on the left, i have a complexity that exceeds my comprehension: 1) "On This Computer" - Inbox - Drafts - Junk - Outbox - Sent - Templates - Trash 2) MyGmail - Inbox - an IMAP folder - an IMAP folder - an IMAP folder - an IMAP folder - an IMAP folder called [GMAIL] - All Mail - Drafts - Important - Sent Mail - Spam - Starred - Trash - an IMAP folder - an IMAP folder - Junk - an IMAP folder - an IMAP folder - an IMAP folder - an IMAP folder - an IMAP folder - Trash - an IMAP folder - an IMAP folder 3) Search Folders - Unmatched needless to say, today is the first day i'm actually going through this entire tree without angering myself too much to ever reach the bottom. There should be a way to put folders like "Junk", "Drafts", "Outbox", "Sent" and "Trash" on top just below the "Inbox" folder in my "MyGmail", instead of hosting them under "On This Computer". They also shouldn't be sorted alphabetically, but in sequence of most frequent access. If this is an unknown, then one could employ a technology to track the frequency of usage periodically, say once a week, and re-order the folders accordingly, if the statistical value difference exceeds a certain threshold." originally reported at: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/evolution/+bug/694597
I also find this pointlessly confusing, especially nowadays with everyone using remote accounts for everything. Really, can this "on this computer" no longer be created by default unless someone chooses "local mail" when creating their initial mail account with Evo's setup wizard? Alternately, can it be made removable afterwards?
"On This Computer" serves as a local fallback for outgoing mails in case your remote account can't be reached. It's still needed even if you have no local accounts. You can collapse the tree to minimize it.
he(In reply to comment #2) > "On This Computer" serves as a local fallback for outgoing mails in case your > remote account can't be reached. It's still needed even if you have no local > accounts. You can collapse the tree to minimize it. What's the use case of actually exposing "On This Computer" as a seperate category in Evolution's sidebar? I'm quite confident this Bug needs more discussion before simply closing it would be justified.
(In reply to comment #2) > "On This Computer" serves as a local fallback for outgoing mails in case your > remote account can't be reached. It's still needed even if you have no local > accounts. You can collapse the tree to minimize it. if i collapse the section "On this computer", the items in it become inaccessible. As a user, i don't care whether a mail is stuck on my local computer, or in a remote outbox. The problem i *do* care about is whether the mail was delivered or not. So i would be happy with one "Outbox" item in the list, no more semantic precision necessary. The user shouldn't be exposed to the local/remote intricacies of IMAP, POP or the OSI Layers model. All the user needs to know is that the mail is stuck in OUTBOX, and we surely won't need an extra section in the pane to make it so. Apart from that, the section containing all the remote folders was not entirely automatically populated, the name of the section already was picked by the User, the local user on the local machine, so it is natural to assume that the local user on the local machine, who just configured his local UMA to show him his mail account and allow him to send messages, doesn't need an extra section for "Local" or "On This Computer", and the user also is not primarily interested in knowing if a folder is local or remote. Especially interaction with IMAP folders should feel more hands-on, the whole point of having IMAP is things easier and feel more "at home".
I have been using web access to several of my mail accounts and finally decided that keeping my life in sync just wasn't working. In addition to using IMAP I decided to use Google Calendar and Contacts. Evolution is fantastic in that I can connect to my Google Contacts and Calendar but unfortunately the On this Computer exists for these as well. My search turns up a gazillion references to the removal of same. I understand that Evolution may need to have these to function but could this issue not be solved by a checkbox that said "don't display". Things are changing and Evolution is not evolving to reflect how people want or need to use it.
Thank you for adding "Evolution Calendar" and "Evolution Contacts" to the affected desktop modules (apps). Indeed, the fixing of one obviously close low-hanging fruit often reveils a path of sight to a number of other low hanging fruits nearby. And it is a low hanging fruit, considering that this would mean updating Evolution by a great deal already. The Ubuntu Server Edition could still continue to ship the Server Admin version of Evolution, while the Desktop Release would ship a Unity-integrated flavour of the Suite. Unity doesn't at first assume that you are a server administrator, i guess, at least not on the Desktop .iso
but then again, i'm in the wrong bugtracker to make such statements, as i now realize, oops..
In Evolution 3.4 the "On this Computer" node can be hidden, see bug 667833. *** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of bug 667833 ***