>>Off the top of my head, I would simply reserve a section of the >>folder list for Smart Folders, in between the In/Out Trays and the >>'regular' folders. > >This is not necessarily a good solution, unless the different >characteristics of a smart folder are clearly indicated.
Smart folders should have a different color or icon, or both, like Apple's implementation. I wish the current folder list (and any possible new "smart" folder additions) were user-resortable. It is annoying to have to insert all sorts of odd characters to have the folders I use near the top where I can see them. Would this order be impossible to store somewhere in the PowerMail Exchange format (?). If I had regular folders and smart folders in one list, I would also want an additional icon in the menu bar to show/hide folders and one to show/ hide smart folders. If you don't like to see them, hide them. I don't think anyone who currently uses Apple's apps and wants to move to something more advanced would be thrown by the presence of "smart" folders in their folder list. Or, if the menu bar is not the place, the little bar at the top of the Folder List is wasted space (both separately and in the combined Mail Browser window). Put two icons there to show/hide regular and "smart" folders. Hey, we had the eyeball thing endlessly confusing people... this shouldn't be too painful. ;) The Recent Mail window as a smart folder would be able to open in its own window, like regular folders currently do. Just keep the special keyboard shortcut for it. (Tangential Feature Request: build in some option for keyboard shortcuts for user-defined folders like we have shortcuts for user-defined color of labels? Ten folder shortcuts. Mmmm...) (Tangent 2: I also would appreciate (at least a preference for) the RMW to remember its contents between program restarts.) I first would have thought to make the Recent Mail window to be a tabbed option in tandem with the Mail Browser section next to the Folder List, ala Adobe-app-palette-tabs-style, that you can pull apart or rejoin at will -- but the smart folder thing makes more sense, as has been stated. >>This is the exact reason I'd like to have the RMW integrated into the >>browser too. > >What reason would that be? What are the benefits of this arrangement? >how would things work differently to be better than before? >This have not been demonstrated. Three pane Mail Browser window = Folder List + 2-pane open Folder (whichever is selected in the list). Integrated RMW would replace that 2- pane section of an all-encompassing Folder view with the specific view of the RMW. Keep the Keyboard shortcut to switch between them. That way I can: 1. pull the Mail Browser window out of the way to access that open mail message underneath that I'm writing, or... 2. Windowshade _one_ window (the Mail Brower) out of view to do as #1 or to grab something off the Desktop _instead of having to windowshade two_ (Mail Browser, then the RMW). (I know, Expose yada yada yada, but Windowshade works, IMHO.) 3. I only have to align one window in my tiny iBook screen, not two. I have less chance of clicking between a palette and my document in InDesign or Photoshop and hitting a PowerMail window underneath bringing the whole kit and kaboodle to the front. 4. I tend to click on a slightly overlapping Mail Browser/RMW rather than Ctrl-Cmd-R, a key combo I find difficult to invoke for some reason (I'm right-handed?). It would be easier for me to click a folder in the Folder List than to click the RMW as I am already at the Folder List and the RMW overlaps to the right of my Mail Browser not the left (overlaps right so I can hit the title bar to select. Overlapping left means the close widget is what I'm clicking on, or a something _in_ the window, say a different message than I have selected, etc.) Chris --
