Re: Configuration for mark/unmark unread new messages as old

[Jack <ostroffjh sbcglobal net>]

On 2015.04.14 09:02, José Romildo Malaquias wrote:
> On Tue, Apr 14, 2015 at 07:36:52AM -0400, Peter Bloomfield wrote:
> > On 04/14/2015 05:30:03 AM Tue, José Romildo Malaquias wrote:
> > >
> > > I would like to be able to choose if unread new messages should be  
> > > marked as old. Something similar to the mark_old setting we have in  
> > > mutt.
> >
> > Does Message => Toggle Flag => New not do what you want?
>
> No. This action just adds a header line "Status: O". That is, it sets  
> the status of the message as "Old". The message is considered as old  
> and unread.
>
> I would like to be able to just remove the "Old" status of the  
> message so that it will be considered new and unread.
>
> I also would like to have such configurayion for all folders at once,  
> not just as an action in a given message.
>
> Currently if I use balsa for reading a few of the many new messages  
> in my set of mail folders, and then exit balsa, all those new  
> messages that was not read get the status of "Old". I just want this  
> behaviour to be optional. This way I would have the possibility of  
> not adding the "Status: Old" header line by balsa.
>
> This is important to me because currently I use mutt as my mail  
> client, but I want to partially migrate to a graphical mail client  
> and would like it to be balsa. There are some circunstances where I  
> want to still use mutt. So basically I will be interchangeably using  
> mutt and balsa for reading mail. And I want mutt to see the new  
> unread messages after using balsa as really new, and not as old.
>
> Currently mutt has such configuration option. See  
> http://www.mutt.org/doc/manual/manual-6.html
>
> From its documentation:
>
>    mark_old
>
>    Type: boolean
>    Default: yes
>
>    Controls whether or not Mutt makes the distinction between new
>    messages and old unread messages. By default, Mutt will mark new
>    messages as old if you exit a mailbox without reading them. The  
> next
>    time you start Mutt, the messages will show up with an "O" next to
>    them in the index menu, indicating that they are old. In order to
>    make Mutt treat all unread messages as new only, you can unset this
>    variable.

There does seem to be something odd with Balsa.  If I have a message  
selected, there is a menu item Message -> Toggle Flat -> New (also  
Ctrl-R) but right clicking on the message in the message list includes  
Toggle -> Unread.  These both seem to do the same thing - toggling the  
read status of the message.  Using "Display All Headers" I do not see  
any Status: header line.  Is there really a difference between new/old  
and read/unread?

José - First, you can select multiple messages in the message list and  
toggle the flag on all of them at once.  I know that is separate from  
whether the flag actually does what you want, but as I understand it -  
you just want Mutt to see messages as still unread, after having looked  
at the mailbox in Balsa.  Do you really care whether the messages are  
considered new or old, as long as Mutt sees them as unread?  I can  
imagine some use of having a message be old/unread, but new/read  
wouldn't make much sense.

Jack