If the account uses IMAP then the Drafts and Sent folders can legitimately be on the IMAP server. And now we have the problem that if the connection fails so we can't send the message, we also can't save it to the IMAP server. So we have a situation where we can't save the message, yet retrying is also futile. So we need a third option to save it somewhere else, and Thunderbird doesn't offer this.

Being wise after the fact, I might think about copying and saving the text somewhere else (a new email message or a text file) or just minimizing the window and hoping it will be retained if Thunderbird is closed and later re-opened. I might also consider switching to a different "From:" address just so I could close or send the message and get on with my life (but I have used add-ons where doing this would also delete my typing, so I have developed an automatic reflex of copying a message before doing any such thing…)

A safer approach might be to set Thunderbird to use the Sent and Drafts folders in Local Folders (Account Settings|Copies & Folders) but this can be vexatious if you use multiple computers and so cannot access a Draft or Sent message stored on another machine.

My concern with your suggestion is that you might be left in a limbo where you can't proceed and complete the task at hand, nor can you park it for later. That's why I think a "save as" that lets you nominate a local location might be useful. Both of my workarounds effectively do this by switching to storage that does work, but I agree wholeheartedly that a "cancel" needs to be safe or at least warn you about the potential data loss.

I am pretty sure that the formal answer is that if you try to send whilst offline, the message should be placed in the Outbox, pending re-connection. So in your case, the failure when sending should, perhaps, have been silently handled by use of the Outbox, rather than complaining to you about the lost connection.

Maybe it doesn't cope too well with a change between online and offline whilst you're composing.

Zenos said

I am pretty sure that the formal answer is that if you try to send whilst offline, the message should be placed in the Outbox, pending re-connection. So in your case, the failure when sending should, perhaps, have been silently handled by use of the Outbox, rather than complaining to you about the lost connection. Maybe it doesn't cope too well with a change between online and offline whilst you're composing.

Hm. Hadn't thought about the Outbox and why it didn't take and save the email. Dunno. That might be a bug report, but I hadn't monitored this to be sure. I might try this again to see if/how the Outbox works or doesn't work. Still, the situation I was presented with needs to be clarified to the user

Zenos said

but I agree wholeheartedly that a "cancel" needs to be safe or at least warn you about the potential data loss.

Yup, that's what it boils down to. My suggestion for a third option is just an addition, but the lack of clarity is really bad

You're using Windows?

Here on LInux it seems it is handled differently, or I haven't managed to replicate your circumstances.

With the computer offline, I am told the save to Drafts failed, and the "Cancel" button drops me back into the composition window…

Zenos said

You're using Windows? Here on LInux it seems it is handled differently, or I haven't managed to replicate your circumstances. With the computer offline, I am told the save to Drafts failed, and the "Cancel" button drops me back into the composition window…

I'm on Linux as well. I double checked, and found the following. If you start a new email > hit X or Save, you are presented with 3 options. Save, Don't save and Cancel. If you hit Cancel now it will stay with the email open with its content. But, if hit Save and it's unable to save because you're offline, you are then presented with just two options, Save and Cancel. This Cancel will close the window.

My initial situation had just another hop. After trying to send the email, and OKing the error, I came back to my open email. Then trying to save it is like I described here. The first time you try to save gives you three options. The Cancel of the three options does not close the email. But if you click save and it is unable to save, you then get two options, and that Cancel does close the email. So, in short, if you have 3 options, Cancel will not close the email. If you have 2 options, the Cancel will close it

If you have the time and can try to replicate this as I describe, I'd appreciate that. Thanks!

Hope it's not too confusing

Hmm, I get the Cancel/Retry dialogue and Cancel returns me to the composition window. I haven't been able to get the three button window.

I must say can't remember ever using the "Save" option, since I know the "Save As" option gives me explicit choices (File/Draft/Template) so I wouldn't be sure what File|Save will do. (As it happens, it tries to save to the Drafts folder.)

The nearest I get to your situation is that having abandoned trying to send or save this message, if I close the write window it all just vanishes without the usual "are you sure you want to close without saving" kind of dialogue you come to expect under these circumstances.

Zenos said

Hmm, I get the Cancel/Retry dialogue and Cancel returns me to the composition window. I haven't been able to get the three button window. I must say can't remember ever using the "Save" option, since I know the "Save As" option gives me explicit choices (File/Draft/Template) so I wouldn't be sure what File|Save will do. (As it happens, it tries to save to the Drafts folder.) The nearest I get to your situation is that having abandoned trying to send or save this message, if I close the write window it all just vanishes without the usual "are you sure you want to close without saving" kind of dialogue you come to expect under these circumstances.

Hm. Don't know what causes the different behavior. I don't see any settings that would affect this. Possibly different versions? I'm on 45.6.0

Regarding the moment of sending, if your internet is down, Thunderbird should have detected this and presented a 'Send Later' instead of a 'Send' button, in which case the email should have been stored in the 'Outbox' folder.

So..thinking out a loud here... Did Thunderbird detect the lack of internet and auto go into offline mode or not? Do you notice the 'two blue screen icon' (online/offline icon) in bottom Status Bar change from being coloured blue (online) to coloured black(offline)? If offline mode was detected during composing a letter, does the already opened 'Write' window refresh it's button for 'Send' to 'Send Later' ? I suspect not, but unsure.

Work around: Prior to sending, check to see if the 'online/offline' icon has changed to black, if yes then in Write window use 'File' > 'Send Later' to send to OutBox folder instead of attempting to send immediately.

You can manually quickly change offline/online state by clicking on that icon in status bar.

If you have inadvertantly already clicked on Send, read bottom section -Stop sending a message

• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Outbox

Another possibility would be to quickly switch to working offline by using the mouse to toggle the working online/offline icon in the lower left corner of the main window. This is very timing dependent, you need a large enough message that you have time to switch to working offline before it finishes sending the message. If successful you will get a "Sending of message failed. Please verify that your Mail & Newsgroups account settings are correct and try again" popup error.

Toad-Hall said

Regarding the moment of sending, if your internet is down, Thunderbird should have detected this and presented a 'Send Later' instead of a 'Send' button, in which case the email should have been stored in the 'Outbox' folder. So..thinking out a loud here... Did Thunderbird detect the lack of internet and auto go into offline mode or not? Do you notice the 'two blue screen icon' (online/offline icon) in bottom Status Bar change from being coloured blue (online) to coloured black(offline)? If offline mode was detected during composing a letter, does the already opened 'Write' window refresh it's button for 'Send' to 'Send Later' ? I suspect not, but unsure. Work around: Prior to sending, check to see if the 'online/offline' icon has changed to black, if yes then in Write window use 'File' > 'Send Later' to send to OutBox folder instead of attempting to send immediately. You can manually quickly change offline/online state by clicking on that icon in status bar. If you have inadvertantly already clicked on Send, read bottom section -Stop sending a message

• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Outbox

Another possibility would be to quickly switch to working offline by using the mouse to toggle the working online/offline icon in the lower left corner of the main window. This is very timing dependent, you need a large enough message that you have time to switch to working offline before it finishes sending the message. If successful you will get a "Sending of message failed. Please verify that your Mail & Newsgroups account settings are correct and try again" popup error.

All that is true, but only after the fact. I think I know why Thunderbird didn't detect it being offline, but that's another topic for another day.

Sure there are a number of things I could've done to prevent the loss of my work (saving to a file, saving the text, switching to offline mode) but you're missing the crux of the issue. I could've done all that had I known that I might lose my work. Had I known is the point. The point, in short, is: the situation I was presented with and the options I had are not clear enough and needs to be better clarified to the user what Cancel (or X) will result in. The Cancel does not behave only as would be expected. That is the point