Will the new search functionality be coming to the [new] "classic" interface?

groanerton · 27 Nov 2012, 11:53 PM

I hate the cartoonishness of the new "beta" (or whatever, the naming is so confusing) but I'm desperate to have that search - will I have to switch between browser tabs in a hilarious backwards way or will that be coming to the classic interface, as they share code (according to that blogpost)?

gardenweed · 8 Dec 2012, 08:04 PM

Why would you want the Ajax search to come to the Classic?

I try to use the Ajax interface as much as possible but find myself having to switch into the Classic for various purposes.

One of those purposes is to use the Advanced Search function in Classic where I can define date windows, save a search, and create a complex searches with boolean operators. I've not seen how you can do any of this in the Ajax UI.

David · 9 Dec 2012, 01:21 AM

The answer to this question may give us some direction, on how to walk the way.

the bishop · 9 Dec 2012, 02:43 AM

Opera's reply: <cricketsounds.mp3>

brong · 24 Dec 2012, 06:24 AM

I use the Classic UI a lot, both on the phone and my desktop. As I said in the newsletter, bringing the new search back to Classic is on my radar. We're still nailing down the syntax for high-speed body searching - and it means rewriting a chunk of how message display works, becaues AJAX was written from the start with multi-folder search in mind, while it was bolted on to the HTML UI years ago when we still didn't interleave folders.

n5bb · 25 Dec 2012, 05:42 AM

Bron, the current body search (body:"phrase") in the new interface seems to be so slow right now (even on one folder) that it locks up the interface for about 10 minutes (or more) when used on all but very small folders. So I have learned to not perform any body searches! The same operation seemed to work much better in the pre-AJAX system earlier this year.

Good search (including saved searches) is important when you have no message labels. I have tried to use many folders to separate message categories, but this becomes tiresome when using over 100 folders.

I really wish I could convince your development group to create the documentation before writing code, so that you knew how to test your code and could immediately release the help when committing the changes. This saves total project time, reduces errors, and makes users happy.

Bill

brong · 27 Dec 2012, 07:32 AM

Apart from mentioning it here, that's pretty much what we're doing. We're working on finding an engine which is efficient enough in both space and time to do full body on-the-fly indexing of mail, which will make body: searches efficient. Until then, we released the new interface with subject/from/to/cc searching just like the classic interface.

When the efficient body searching is available, we will make it the default while making the old search style still easy to do as well.

ChinaLamb · 30 Dec 2012, 09:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brong

When the efficient body searching is available, we will make it the default while making the old search style still easy to do as well.

Hey Bron! I am eagerly awaiting this functionality! It will make my life much easier. If I am at my main machine, I use Mailstore to find old messages, as the search is much faster. The problem is when I am out and don't have access to my archive.

Automan · 1 Jan 2013, 07:05 PM

Help!
I am just updating my accounts and before when I had an item I had missed in my budget I just did an advanced search in my fastmail mail for the invoice amount e.g. 11.45 and thus could find the item.

The new search just seems to do the email subject which is useless to me

I can't find the advanced help option anymore to search an email content or the old user interface that had it.

All the help information tell you still to click on advance but I cant find it

https://www.fastmail.fm/help/mailbox_searching.html

Any tips please?

Automan,

brong · 1 Jan 2013, 07:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Automan

Help!
I am just updating my accounts and before when I had an item I had missed in my budget I just did an advanced search in my fastmail mail for the invoice amount e.g. 11.45 and thus could find the item.

The new search just seems to do the email subject which is useless to me

I can't find the advanced help option anymore to search an email content or the old user interface that had it.

All the help information tell you still to click on advance but I cant find it

https://www.fastmail.fm/help/mailbox_searching.html

Any tips please?

Automan,

It always was just subject and sender, in the old interface as well. Until we have a fast backend search engine, it needs to stay that way so that search doesn't run too slowly.

You can type "body:11.45" to search the full text of the messages. It will be a lot slower though, because it takes a lot of IO to go through all the messages.

If you know roughtly when it was, a date range can speed it up a lot - if it was between one and two months ago, you could search for "body:11.45 before:1m since:2m" to only do the body scan on messages in that date range.

Regards,

Bron.

Automan · 2 Jan 2013, 06:12 AM

Many thanks

I found the missing two items

Automan.

Quote:

Originally Posted by brong

It always was just subject and sender, in the old interface as well. Until we have a fast backend search engine, it needs to stay that way so that search doesn't run too slowly.

You can type "body:11.45" to search the full text of the messages. It will be a lot slower though, because it takes a lot of IO to go through all the messages.

If you know roughtly when it was, a date range can speed it up a lot - if it was between one and two months ago, you could search for "body:11.45 before:1m since:2m" to only do the body scan on messages in that date range.

Regards,

Bron.

27 Nov 2012, 11:53 PM	#1
groanerton Member Join Date: Feb 2011 Posts: 94	Will the new search functionality be coming to the [new] "classic" interface? I hate the cartoonishness of the new "beta" (or whatever, the naming is so confusing) but I'm desperate to have that search - will I have to switch between browser tabs in a hilarious backwards way or will that be coming to the classic interface, as they share code (according to that blogpost)?

1 Jan 2013, 07:05 PM	#9
Automan Junior Member Join Date: Jul 2006 Posts: 6	No Advanced Search? Help! I am just updating my accounts and before when I had an item I had missed in my budget I just did an advanced search in my fastmail mail for the invoice amount e.g. 11.45 and thus could find the item. The new search just seems to do the email subject which is useless to me I can't find the advanced help option anymore to search an email content or the old user interface that had it. All the help information tell you still to click on advance but I cant find it https://www.fastmail.fm/help/mailbox_searching.html Any tips please? Automan,

8 Dec 2012, 08:04 PM	#2
gardenweed Cornerstone of the Community Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Perth Posts: 671	Why would you want the Ajax search to come to the Classic? I try to use the Ajax interface as much as possible but find myself having to switch into the Classic for various purposes. One of those purposes is to use the Advanced Search function in Classic where I can define date windows, save a search, and create a complex searches with boolean operators. I've not seen how you can do any of this in the Ajax UI.

9 Dec 2012, 01:21 AM	#3
David Ultimate Contributor Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Canada. Posts: 10,355	The answer to this question may give us some direction, on how to walk the way.

9 Dec 2012, 02:43 AM	#4
the bishop Cornerstone of the Community Join Date: May 2005 Location: San Antonio, Texas Posts: 676	Opera's reply: <cricketsounds.mp3>

24 Dec 2012, 06:24 AM	#5
brong The "e" in e-mail Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Melbourne, Australia Posts: 2,698 Representative of: Fastmail.fm	I use the Classic UI a lot, both on the phone and my desktop. As I said in the newsletter, bringing the new search back to Classic is on my radar. We're still nailing down the syntax for high-speed body searching - and it means rewriting a chunk of how message display works, becaues AJAX was written from the start with multi-folder search in mind, while it was bolted on to the HTML UI years ago when we still didn't interleave folders.

25 Dec 2012, 05:42 AM	#6
n5bb Intergalactic Postmaster Join Date: May 2004 Location: Irving, Texas Posts: 9,131	Bron, the current body search (body:"phrase") in the new interface seems to be so slow right now (even on one folder) that it locks up the interface for about 10 minutes (or more) when used on all but very small folders. So I have learned to not perform any body searches! The same operation seemed to work much better in the pre-AJAX system earlier this year. Good search (including saved searches) is important when you have no message labels. I have tried to use many folders to separate message categories, but this becomes tiresome when using over 100 folders. I really wish I could convince your development group to create the documentation before writing code, so that you knew how to test your code and could immediately release the help when committing the changes. This saves total project time, reduces errors, and makes users happy. Bill

27 Dec 2012, 07:32 AM	#7
brong The "e" in e-mail Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Melbourne, Australia Posts: 2,698 Representative of: Fastmail.fm	Apart from mentioning it here, that's pretty much what we're doing. We're working on finding an engine which is efficient enough in both space and time to do full body on-the-fly indexing of mail, which will make body: searches efficient. Until then, we released the new interface with subject/from/to/cc searching just like the classic interface. When the efficient body searching is available, we will make it the default while making the old search style still easy to do as well.