Email Feature List

Release code names for OSAF:

• Canoga 1.0 => the first release of Chandler (1.0)
• Canoga 1.x => releases of Chandler before the higher ed release
• Westwood => a release of Chandler for higher education
• Pasadena => a future release of Chandler (2.0)
• Blue Sky => envisioned for Chandler in the fullness of time, not scheduled for a release

Key to notes:

• = Well-defined and definitely in Canoga (i.e. minimum feature set)
• Design Issue = Design/UI issue with lots of specifics to email
• General Design Issue = Design/UI issue that solved in general can be applied consistently to email
• Tier-2 Issue = Secondary design issue to be solved when email developer is available
• Debatable Feature = Can we decide if this feature is in/out of Canoga at this time?

Please don't take this list as the literal truth. See StandardDisclaimer for more details.

Individual Email Requirements

feature	osaf release	Notes
_Organizing Messages_
Summary view displaying key email attributes. Attributes can customized and edited (as with other capplets)	Canoga
How do we show messages threads and "thrasks"?	Canoga	Design Issue
How do we group messages into virtual "folders"?	Canoga	Design Issue
How do we search for messages?	Canoga	General Design Issue
How do we filter/categorize messages?	Canoga	General Design Issue
How do we archive messages?	Canoga 1.x	Debatable Feature, General Design Issue
_Receiving Messages_
POP protocol support	Canoga
IMAP protocol support	Canoga
How do we deal with IntrinsicIMAPIssues?	Canoga	Design issue
Support for SSL/TLS	Canoga
Support for SASL authentication	Canoga
Multiple account support	Canoga	Tier-2 Design issue
Manual and automatic message retrieval	Canoga
Low-bandwidth user support (e.g. download partial message or header only)	Canoga 1.X	Debatable Feature, Tier-2 issue
Support for audio and system notifications	Canoga
Auto re-wrap long-lines	Canoga 1.x	Debatable feature, Tier-2 Design Issue
Do we want to (and how?) support intelligent notification (e.g. no notification of junk email)?	Canoga 1.x	Debatable Feature, Tier-2 issue
_Reading Messages_
Form-based view showing message body and key email attributes	Canoga
Show quoted message body appropriately	Canoga	Debatable, Tier-2
Chracter encodings: what character encoding do we support?	Canoga 1.X	General Design Issue (I18N plan)
Recognizer support: "live" URLs	Canoga
Switch message to plain text	Canoga	Debatable Feature
Print message	Canoga
Attachments: inline support for HTML, plain text, images	Canoga
Attachments: open with helper application for other MIME types	Canoga
Attachments: allow saving and deletion	Canoga
Do we support other recognizers?	Canoga 1.x	Design Issue, Debatable Feature
_Addressing messages_
To, CC, BCC addressing	Canoga
Switch persons/accounts on-the-fly	Canoga	Tier-2 issue
Auto-completion of addresses	Canoga	Design-issue (tier-2?)
Well-integrated to contacts capplet	Canoga	Design issue (tier-2?)
_Authoring_
Support for plain text and HTML subset	Canoga
What exact subset do we include (e.g. tables?)?	Canoga	Tier-2 issue
Switch between HTML and plain-text on-the-fly	Canoga
Allow user to add/substract quote level	Canoga	Debatable feature
Inline spell-checking	Canoga
Auto-categorize as draft and auto-save unsent messages	Canoga
Support for templates and stationery	Canoga 1.x	Debatable feature
Support for signatures	Canoga 1.x	Debatable feature
_Replying_
Support for reply-to-sender and reply-to-all	Canoga
Support for reply-to-list	Canoga 1.x	Debatable feature, Tier-2 issue
Quote original message with auto-citing	Canoga	Tier-2 issue
_Sending Messages_
Support for SMTP servers including authentication & SSL	Canoga
Support for multiple accounts	Canoga
Support sending standard MIME attachments	Canoga
Support for forwarding and resending of message	Canoga
How do we support sending Chandler "items" and views as attachments?	Canoga	Design Issue
_Attachments_
How do we support attachments as first-class items?	Canoga	Design issue
_Import/Export_
Support for mbox format	Canoga
? What else?	Canoga	Ecosystem issue
_Security_
What email and HTML features do we allow to be turned off for security reasons?	Canoga	Security issue
_Offline support_
Allow caching of IMAP messages locally	Canoga	Tier-2 issue
Automatically sync with IMAP when online (see IntrinsicIMAPIssues)	Canoga	Design Issue
Queue outgoing messages and automatically send when online	Canoga
Track deletes and other transactions offline	Canoga
Give appropriate but not overwhelming warning when network unavailable	Canoga
_Interactions w/other capplets & rest of Chandler_
Will email be used as a transport for non-end-user communication (e.g. web services and other RPC mechanisms)? If so what are the end-user design issues?	Canoga 1.x	Debatable Feature, Architecture & Design issue
TBD

Workflows [wireframes TBD]

Receiving messages

• File menu: Check mail
• Incoming messages come into the All and Inbox collections
• Incoming messages have a message stamp that is already off the button, users cannot unstamp incoming messages
• Incoming message statii: Unread and Read
• [OI^?] Are we able to display the subject attribute as subject? or do we need to call it about for .4?
• Email_In_Workflow_4.gif:
  

Sending a message

• Create New >> Message (file menu) OR
• Stamp a New item as a Message
• Item lives in Dashboard and Outbox
• Message history status: Draft
• Fill out To: fields, Subject:, Body:,
• Send button is not activated until you fill out the To: field
• Click Send
• Message history status: Queued --> Sent
• Email_Out_Workflow_4.gif: Ignore items in blue for .4
  

Error-handling

• Instantaneous error: Malformed email
• Errors Chandler can detect without involving the SMTP server after the user clicks "Send" (e.g. Headline is empty)
• Dialog appears at the top of the Detail view with error message
• User options: Cancel or Send anyway
• Message history status icon is still Queued

• Nearly-instantaneous error: SMTP server rejects email (e.g. User unknown)
• Errors reported back by the SMTP server immediately after Chandler tries to send it a message.
• Dialog appears at the top of the Detail view with error message: jordanK does not have an account on thisdomain.com
• User options: Cancel, Try again
• post .4: Pulldown to select a different SMTP server
• Message history status icon is: Queued
  • If user selects Try again, message history status icon is Queued
  • If user selects Cancel, message history status icon reverts back to Draft
• If you're still in the All collection, focus switches to unsendable message
• If you've left the All collection, but the All collection is still open in a tab, focus switches to unsendable message in existing All collection tab
• If you've already closed the All collection, Chandler opens up a new tab with the All collection and focus switches to the unsendable message in that tab.

• Error after X days: Delivery failure
• SMTP server accepts the message but the message cannot be delivered to its final destination after its desigmated number of tries (e.g. destination server not online)
• .4: SMTP server will create a separate new "delivery failure" email. No extra work required on our part
• post .4
  • Sent item re-enters Dashboard as "new" item
  • Dialog appears at the top of the Detail view with error message
  • User options: Cancel, Try again
  • Message history status icon is: Queued

• Email_Error_Workflow_4.gif:
  

* Post .4. When we have a status bar: Email_Error_Workflow.gif:

0.4 Target

• Minimum set up for IMAP and SMTP accounts
• Create plain text email
• Send plain text email
  • plain SMTP, no authentication, no SSL
• Receive email from IMAP account into a single collection (In)
  • One account only
  • No authentication
  • No SSL
  • No attachment or MIME type handling
• Simple status messages. See bottom of PreferencesDesignSpec for a start
• Support for sharing invitations. See SharingRevisited
  • Send and receive an email invitation for sharing a collection

• UI Components
  • Preferences for email accounts (IMAP & SMTP). See PreferencesDesignSpec
  • Detail View with Email stamp
  • Summary view customized for email display (really just customized column header in brackets)
  • Status bar displaying email status messages [TBD]
  • OOTB Collections: In & Out

• IP-A status: Likely not to have support for sharing invitations

• Beyond 0.4
  • Multiple account support
  • Discussion items: forward, reply, reply all
  • POP protocol support
  • SASL authentication
  • SSL/TLS
  • Email threads
  • Search
  • auto quoting and rewraping
  • Filters & Spam
  • Smart addressing
  • MIME/Attachment support
  • Rich text, HTML
  • etc. etc.

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See also

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-- ChaoLam - 30 Oct 2003

Multiple account support is listed as Tier-2 for receiving and addressing but it's listed as a Canoga feature for sending - my worry is that without storing the original account during the receive the user will have to remember what account was used so the composition using the proper outgoing account.

-- MikeT - 06 Mar 2004