[Evolution] rfc, different filter interface

[Not Zed <notzed ximian com>]

I use evolution filters to manage my mail, rather than vfolders, and although they work find, they seem clumsy to work with.

I only have two types of filters
 - a whitelist/blacklist of individuals which get moved to a given folder
 - list related filters which get moved to a given folder

So basically each rule applies to 1 folder in a pretty direct relationship.  I then use vFolders (or don't, i have them setup but i never use them) to merge things like todo's and important mails.

If i setup a new mailing list folder, the steps are easy to work out:
 - create a rule
 - create the destination folder from the rule
No problem, pretty simple.  I might have to re-order the rule because i have fallback rules for certain domains and the like, but its pretty simple.

But if i need to change the rule later, or modify it, i have to go to the filter editor, search through the almost randomly named filters there and open it up to edit it.

If I setup a new whitelist entry, the problem becomes even worse, I have to cut and paste the address across or type it in.  There's no way to just add an address to it.  I thought a solution would be to have a wizard instead to drive the "create filter/vfolder from rule" menu items so you could be asked questions like this, e.g. "add to existing rule/create new rule".  This is probably still a reasonable idea (especially since the 'create filter/vfolder from x' menu is too big).

But wouldn't it be nice if:
 - you could define rules 'on the folder'.  So you define your rules on the folder, its trivial to then find the filter rules for that folder later, and it has implicit actions of 'move to this folder/stop processing'.  Just use a context menu on the folder to get to the rules for this folder.
 - you could drag and drop addresses onto a mail folder, it then adds that address to your whitelist rules.  The same for dropping addresses onto a vfolder.

In effect, making filter+folder look and behave more like vfolders, but with real physical messages involved.

You would still need the ordering interface, and you would still need other actions, so this would just be a layering ontop of the existing stuff, but it would make management easier.

Michael Zucchi <notzed ximian com> Ximian Evolution and Free Software Developer

Novell, Inc.