'Multi-window support and a better compose experience'

Fenman · 6 Mar 2026, 12:40 AM

Fastmail has just announced 'Multi-window support and a better compose experience'

Am I alone in finding the 'better compose experience' to be more muddled and counterintuitive than the previous one?

The multi-window feature is quite handy sometimes.

hadaso · 6 Mar 2026, 01:01 AM

I think Fastmail has always had support for multiple windows (or multiple tabs, or both) since links could open multiple new instances of Fastmail (in the same session). I don't see how having a graphic icon to open something in a separate window helps more than what we already had.

About the changes in the Compose window I already sent feedback to Fastmail. The main points are:
1. Replies are opened in the Compose window with the subject line hidden, and I really need to review the subject line and possibly change it before I reply (and be able to review it without the extra two clicks for every reply I send).
2. Now the compose area seems narrower and the toolbar doesn't fit in the width of the composer, so the four rightmost buttons are collected in a drop-down menu. Since one of these buttons (RTL) is one I use multiple times per message in many messages I compose, this creates hundreds of extra clicks for me each day (actually it's more than just extra clicks: choosing an action from a drop-down menu is a complicated maneuver that require precise movement of the mouse, as opposed to just clicking a button that allows one to leave the pointer in one place, scroll down and click whenever one needs to click). I suggested they add keyboard shortcuts for these actions, and also for all other toolbar actions (this is something that I should have asked for in the past: it's annoying that some actions are not available from the keyboard). I added another request there: to add a toolbar action to allow direct editing of the html source, because sometimes I need formatting that is not available through the toolbar.

JeremyNicoll · 6 Mar 2026, 03:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hadaso

I think Fastmail has always had support for multiple windows (or multiple tabs, or both) since links could open multiple new instances of Fastmail (in the same session). I don't see how having a graphic icon to open something in a separate window helps more than what we already had.

Absolutely. I right-click on buttons & folders & so on & choose "Open link in new tab" frequently.

Quote:

Originally Posted by hadaso

1. Replies are opened in the Compose window with the subject line hidden, and I really need to review the subject line and possibly change it before I reply (and be able to review it without the extra two clicks for every reply I send).

I don't like the idea of a hidden subject at all.

Quote:

Originally Posted by hadaso

2. Now the compose area seems narrower ...

I wonder if that's a consequence of "We've unified the look of our compose view across mobile and desktop"? Mobiles' interfaces are portrait-mode so (I suppose) anything that narrows the toolbars & edit fields is helpful to a GUI designer.

But why should I as a desktop user be forced to have a poorer interface?

Quote:

Originally Posted by hadaso

... choosing an action from a drop-down menu is a complicated maneuver that require precise movement of the mouse, as opposed to just clicking a button ...

I agree; it constantly annoys me that one has to hunt in a drop-down menu to toggle a mail's view between plain-text & html ... & that if a set of emails need toggled you have to do it to each one over & over again. Roundcube does it better with a fixed toolbar button.

ellentk · 6 Mar 2026, 03:55 AM

I agree, hiding the subject line in the compose window seems like a pointless downgrade in usability. So is hiding the email addresses of recipients as so many people use more than one for different functions.

hadaso · 6 Mar 2026, 10:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JeremyNicoll

... "We've unified the look of our compose view across mobile and desktop"...

I didn't notice that.
I looked now in the mobile app, and I don't think that the compose screen there is very similar to the one on the desktop. Perhaps a bit more similar than in the past. And it is still not of much use to me.

I hardly ever use the mobile app to send mail, except for very short replies if they are urgent, and that is not because the desktop app is more convenient (it is) but because the mobile app compose screen lacks basic functionality. The mobile app lacked any kind of formatting controls. Now I see that it has a basic formatting toolbar (at the bottom of the screen, not at the top like the desktop app), but it lacks the single action that I need: The reason I haven't used the mobile app for composing is that for almost all the messages that I write or reply I need to set the text directionality to RTL (right-to-left) because most of my email correspondence is in Hebrew. The mobile app doesn't have the controls to do this (in the past there were no formatting controls at all. Now there's a toolbar that lack the RTL and LTR buttons, that are available on the desktop app toolbar, though now demoted to a drop-down menu).
In the mobile app I only reply to emails that can be replied to with less than a sentence (because the punctuation would be in the wrong side of the line when I cannot set the correct directionality).

n5bb · 6 Mar 2026, 01:27 PM

The following applies to a browser (or the iPad Fastmail app), but not on an iPhone small display using the Fastmail app.

When replying to or forwarding a message, the Send button is moved to the bottom, along with other controls. One of these is More>Edit subject, which allows you to see and edit the subject. If you have keyboard shortcuts enabled, you can reply to a message and see the subject using this series of actions:

R (reply) or <enter> (reply to all)
Esc (removes focus from compose text entry to allow use of shortcuts)
<down arrow> <down arrow> <down arrow> <enter> (activate edit subject)
<tab> (move focus back to text compose area)

Yeah, it's messy, but possible.

The better way to see the original Subject is to use the Settings>Mail Preferences>Mailbox Display to activate the Reading pane. When viewing the Compose screen (with now missing Subject), you can mouse-over the subject of any message in the message list to see the full subject. On an iPad you can long-press a message in the list to see the full subject -- long-press a second time to remove this temporary display.

I wish there was a settings choice to force the Subject to remain viewable in editable mode without having to enable this every time you need it. But as I showed above, viewing the Subject is easy if you have a reading pane active.

Bill

n5bb · 6 Mar 2026, 01:33 PM

A feature I now see when Labels mode is active is that you can add labels to a new Reply or Forward message while editing it, using the same More menu at the bottom. I don't remember that being possible before. So now I can reply to a message and add labels to my reply. Since I use Group messages with their replies mode (similar to threaded conversations), that conversation is now added to those selected labels.

Bill

digp · 8 Mar 2026, 12:48 AM

Will the message display screen also be improved.

I think I?m going back to free email with Gmail.

hadaso · 8 Mar 2026, 09:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hadaso

2. Now the compose area seems narrower and the toolbar doesn't fit in the width of the composer, so the four rightmost buttons are collected in a drop-down menu....

This seems to be fixed now. All the toolbar buttons fit in the toolbar with no drop-down menu.

6 Mar 2026, 12:40 AM	#1
Fenman Cornerstone of the Community Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: UK (East Anglia) Posts: 774	'Multi-window support and a better compose experience' Fastmail has just announced 'Multi-window support and a better compose experience' Am I alone in finding the 'better compose experience' to be more muddled and counterintuitive than the previous one? The multi-window feature is quite handy sometimes.

6 Mar 2026, 01:27 PM	#6
n5bb Intergalactic Postmaster Join Date: May 2004 Location: Irving, Texas Posts: 9,131	The following applies to a browser (or the iPad Fastmail app), but not on an iPhone small display using the Fastmail app. When replying to or forwarding a message, the Send button is moved to the bottom, along with other controls. One of these is More>Edit subject, which allows you to see and edit the subject. If you have keyboard shortcuts enabled, you can reply to a message and see the subject using this series of actions: R (reply) or <enter> (reply to all) Esc (removes focus from compose text entry to allow use of shortcuts) <down arrow> <down arrow> <down arrow> <enter> (activate edit subject) <tab> (move focus back to text compose area) Yeah, it's messy, but possible. The better way to see the original Subject is to use the Settings>Mail Preferences>Mailbox Display to activate the Reading pane. When viewing the Compose screen (with now missing Subject), you can mouse-over the subject of any message in the message list to see the full subject. On an iPad you can long-press a message in the list to see the full subject -- long-press a second time to remove this temporary display. I wish there was a settings choice to force the Subject to remain viewable in editable mode without having to enable this every time you need it. But as I showed above, viewing the Subject is easy if you have a reading pane active. Bill

6 Mar 2026, 01:01 AM	#2
hadaso Intergalactic Postmaster Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Holon, Israel. Posts: 5,217	I think Fastmail has always had support for multiple windows (or multiple tabs, or both) since links could open multiple new instances of Fastmail (in the same session). I don't see how having a graphic icon to open something in a separate window helps more than what we already had. About the changes in the Compose window I already sent feedback to Fastmail. The main points are: 1. Replies are opened in the Compose window with the subject line hidden, and I really need to review the subject line and possibly change it before I reply (and be able to review it without the extra two clicks for every reply I send). 2. Now the compose area seems narrower and the toolbar doesn't fit in the width of the composer, so the four rightmost buttons are collected in a drop-down menu. Since one of these buttons (RTL) is one I use multiple times per message in many messages I compose, this creates hundreds of extra clicks for me each day (actually it's more than just extra clicks: choosing an action from a drop-down menu is a complicated maneuver that require precise movement of the mouse, as opposed to just clicking a button that allows one to leave the pointer in one place, scroll down and click whenever one needs to click). I suggested they add keyboard shortcuts for these actions, and also for all other toolbar actions (this is something that I should have asked for in the past: it's annoying that some actions are not available from the keyboard). I added another request there: to add a toolbar action to allow direct editing of the html source, because sometimes I need formatting that is not available through the toolbar.

6 Mar 2026, 03:55 AM	#4
ellentk Essential Contributor Join Date: Feb 2007 Posts: 250	I agree, hiding the subject line in the compose window seems like a pointless downgrade in usability. So is hiding the email addresses of recipients as so many people use more than one for different functions.

6 Mar 2026, 01:33 PM	#7
n5bb Intergalactic Postmaster Join Date: May 2004 Location: Irving, Texas Posts: 9,131	A feature I now see when Labels mode is active is that you can add labels to a new Reply or Forward message while editing it, using the same More menu at the bottom. I don't remember that being possible before. So now I can reply to a message and add labels to my reply. Since I use Group messages with their replies mode (similar to threaded conversations), that conversation is now added to those selected labels. Bill

8 Mar 2026, 12:48 AM	#8
digp Master of the @ Join Date: May 2003 Posts: 1,344	Will the message display screen also be improved. I think I?m going back to free email with Gmail.