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Click on Folder to show Contacts
Idea shared by kevind - 5/22/2017 at 9:44 AM
Completed
In Contacts, when you click a folder on left, SM should display the contacts who are in that folder/label/category. That's how Gmail works, it's how your Inbox folders work, and it's how all other email programs work.

Currently when you click a folder under Contacts, it pops up a dialog to edit/rename the folder?!?!?!?. That's really confusing as users expect it to work like an email folder (when you click on Sent Items, it shows the messages, not a rename dialog).

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3
Employee Replied
Employee Post
Kevin, thank you for this comment. I will bring it up with the dev / design teams. Currently, if you click on the "eye" icon next to category, it will filter the contacts according to the category.
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Great, thanks for bringing it up to the dev team.

FWIW, knew about the 'eye' but that is kind of counter-intuitive as it hides the users. So to see all the contacts in a category, you have to go to all the other categories and uncheck them. And yes, I know there's a shortcut, but users might not.
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Robert,
 
Here's a way to solve this and make it very intuitive. Put a checkbox in front of each category (like the SM15 Contacts) and then it's very clear which categories are displayed.
 
Change the 'eye' to a gear icon for renaming the category, etc.  Or get rid of it and just have the user right-click to rename like it's done with email folders.
 
Refer back to this highly-rated thread (24 votes) for more ideas:
https://portal.smartertools.com/community/a86530/add-category-group-pane-to-contacts.aspx
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Just wanted to keep this idea on the table. Here's my rationale:
  • Gmail Email: click on a label -> shows the messages with that label
  • Gmail Contacts: click on group -> shows the people in that group
  • SM16 Email: click email folder -> shows the messages in that folder
  • SM16 Contacts: click category -> pops up a box to rename the category???
Clicking a category should show the contacts in that category. Change the eyeball to a gear icon for the rename function. Or just have the user right-click like they do to rename a folder.
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I agree - this is something that needs to be revisited from a UX standpoint.
3
I've just been trying to help a customer with the categories and it is currently not the most logical arrangement.
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Hi Robert, just following up on this as I saw someone else posted a similar request. Any feedback from the dev / design teams? Thanks.
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i agree it,i may be better.
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Robert, I see you marked some recent posts as Under Consideration. Any chance of making this idea Under Consideration also? Looks like there is a lot of support for it. Thanks.
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Employee Replied
Employee Post
Kevin, I will definitely marked this as Under Consideration for discussion with the design and development team. i agree that categories should be reworked to be more intuitive. Thank you for your suggestions.
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Just following up on this thread. It would be nice to incorporate this into v17 to make it more intuitive:

  • Change the eyeball to a 'gear' and click it to open the config screen (rename, etc.)
  • Click the category to toggle on/off the display of contacts in that list
Basically just swap the functionality. Do the same thing with Calendar.  This simple change will make it easier for users.

Thanks!
3
Now that v16 seems to be getting more stable (no more weekly releases), let's make a few UI improvements.

The biggest complaint we get from customers when we show them v16 is the UI.  They start shopping around and the next thing we know they're moving to O365 or G Suite.  If you could make a few mall changes like this, it will really help retain customers and motivate them to move off v15.

Thanks!
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Getting close to the 2-year anniversary for this request, so thought I'd bring it up again as it seems like a simple update that would make the web interface more intuitive.

In Contacts, when you click a category (e.g. My Friends), display the contacts who are in that category, not a dialog to rename the category. 
Thanks,
Kevin
6
3-year anniversary. Users do not understand the Contacts UI because it's so awkward. Any chance it will get updated in the new release?

Easy fix:  When you click on a category, display the people in that category.

Suggest using eM Client, Gmail Contacts, or just about any other email program as an example of how it should work.
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+1

Same issue in Calendar, Notes and Tasks...

I think the same solution should be used for all of them
Gabriele Maoret - Head of SysAdmins at SERSIS Currently manages 6 SmarterMail installations (1 in the cloud for SERSIS which provides services to a few hundred third-party email domains + 5 on-premise for customers who prefer to have their mail server in-house)
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Good suggestion, Gabriele!  Get rid of the eyeball in all these sections as that's not intuitive for users.

Now that MAPI is done, hopefully some UI enhancements like this one will make it onto the development list.

Thanks!
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Users are confused on how this works, so just bumping this thread hoping it can make the next release. Thanks!

Fix: When you click on a category, display the contacts in that category, just like other email programs.

Users know when they click on a folder, they see the messages in that folder. So they expect the same behavior in Contacts, Calendar, etc.
4
Bump for 2022.

Looking forward to web UI enhancements in the next version, so hope this gets included.
4
Just bumping this so it's not forgotten about.

Idea: make a post of what's coming in the next version of SmarterMail so people won't have to keep asking what's being fixed or enhanced...
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+1 bump
Gabriele Maoret - Head of SysAdmins at SERSIS Currently manages 6 SmarterMail installations (1 in the cloud for SERSIS which provides services to a few hundred third-party email domains + 5 on-premise for customers who prefer to have their mail server in-house)
3
Another bump so this can get included in the upcoming "phantom new beta release."  :-)
  • When you click a Contact group, display the people in that group.
    (currently it pops up a window asking if you want to rename the group???)
  • Do the same thing with Calendars
  • Remove the eyeballs which nobody understands.
So then Contacts and Calendars will work just like your mailbox. Click the folder and it shows the contents. Users will understand that.

You can visit https://contacts.google.com/ for an example of how it should work.

Thanks,
Kevin
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Bump for 2023. Adding this to the new beta would make it so much easier for users.

Idea -> change the eyeball to a gear.  When the user clicks the gear, it brings up the properties. When the user clicks the folder, it shows the contacts!

Thanks,
Kevin
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I think that the same reasoning of the contacts must also be done for NOTES, CALENDAR and TASKS, in order to make the functioning more similar to how it is in Outlook and MS Exhange, and also in other competing products which I am not here to list...

Using the "eye" to turn a view on and off is confusing and ALL of our users (bar none) have complained about this.
Gabriele Maoret - Head of SysAdmins at SERSIS Currently manages 6 SmarterMail installations (1 in the cloud for SERSIS which provides services to a few hundred third-party email domains + 5 on-premise for customers who prefer to have their mail server in-house)
4
Gabriele, agree 100%.

Let's make Contacts, Calendar, Notes, and Tasks work the same as email folders. When you click the folder, it shows you what's in it! That's logical and intuitive and how almost every other application works.
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Coming up on the 6-year anniversary for this idea/request.

Just wondering if it's in the to do list and if there's an ETA.

Thanks.
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Bump for June. Glad this is Under Consideration. Hoping to change status to In Progress.

FWIW, we've actually had many users call and request this. The eyeball thing is just not that intuitive. If you have 10 Contact folders -- you have to click 9 eyeballs to see who's in 1 folder.

10 votes so far. Vote this up if you think it's a good idea.  Make Contact folders work like Email folders.
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Bump for July... It's time to replace the eyeball with something more intuitive.
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Tim Uzzanti Replied
Employee Post
I can appreciate the bump but this is not coming in the near future.  We have a .NET 7 release coming with some exciting new benefits and functionality that all customers will appreciate.  We have some exciting improvements to MAPI coming that people are waiting for, em Client news, Cyren news, and so much more!  Oh yea, we're also preparing a Linux version after our .NET 7 release.  We are also working on a migration tool that will allow customers to transition to and from SmarterMail and/or other Mail Servers. We are very very busy and all of this is coming soon!  
Tim Uzzanti CEO SmarterTools Inc. (877) 357-6278 www.smartertools.com
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Not the answer we're looking for, but thanks for the reply. Hopefully this idea will eventually make the list. FWIW, it does have 12 votes which is pretty good compared to some other recent posts/enhancements which have made the To Do list.

But good to know what other things you're working on. Maybe post the items here:
https://portal.smartertools.com/community/a95458/what-is-smartertools-working-on.aspx

Kevin
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Andrea Free Replied
Employee Post
Hi all, 

I wanted to let you know that we've modified the display and behavior of Calendars, Contacts, Tasks and Notes in our .NET 7 BETA release, which is expected in the coming weeks. Although the eyeballs have remained so users can show/hide folders in their preview pane, the folders can now be clicked on and right-clicked as expected. Users will also find a New Folder option in the right click menu, as well as the menu in the bottom left of the nav pane. 

We look forward to your feedback in the BETA! 

Kind regards,
Andrea Free SmarterTools Inc. 877-357-6278 www.smartertools.com
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Andrea, that's great news!  Looking forward to it.

And speaking of the New Folder option, now would be a great time to move that up higher so people can find it:

You probably saw the recent post from someone who has been using SmarterMail for 8 years couldn't figure out how to create a new Calendar.
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Andrea, let's not mark this as Completed because the Beta does not have this feature. See discussion in the beta forum.

Everyone, please vote for this thread if you think it would make sense for the next version of SmarterMail Contacts to work like other email apps – Gmail, Thunderbird, eM Client, etc.
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I agree with Kevind: this IDEA is non completed until there's a stable version out there that works that way...
Gabriele Maoret - Head of SysAdmins at SERSIS Currently manages 6 SmarterMail installations (1 in the cloud for SERSIS which provides services to a few hundred third-party email domains + 5 on-premise for customers who prefer to have their mail server in-house)

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