Multiple enhancement requests
I've been using evolution for a few months as, hopefully, a permanent linux email alternative for Outlook with MS Exchange servers. It's been close to 15+ years that I've been trying to find/use a proper alternative with no luck. Overall, for the first time in years of trying, it may now end-up being the first time I'm really able to do my work in a "relatively" comfortable way.
Still, there are quite a few gotchas that are blockers for my day to day activities and I thought sharing them (here?) was appropriate and could be beneficial to you developer people of this nice piece of software. Hopefully you will find the comments interesting rather than being a critic of the software itself. You guys do an awesome job so kudos for your hard work!
Here I go: Calendar:
- Subscribe to user of other EWS user...
- This option should be made available using the right-click
- Needs to be renamed to something shorter (ms outlook calls it: Add calendar -> Using GAL, From room list, etc)
- Why proposing inbox, calendar, free/busy, etc. We are in the calendar view so no need to propose inbox or tasks or whatever, just load-up the calendar if permissions allows it otherwise load the free/busy automatically. There is no need to ask further information, just get things started & simple.
- the is no way to group calendars. In outlook this is trivial (right-click create group then drag & drop the appropriate already mapped calendar). This allows selecting multiple calendar at once, selecting teams, etc.
- there is no french translation to that option currently (showed in english only)
- Meeting rooms:
- There is no notion of meeting rooms. This entire concept seems to be missing. At least if I could create groups I could map the meeting rooms free/busy info easily but as it is now they just get blended with all my other free/busy calendar I connect to (and I need quite a few)
- The Location in meeting requests (called Emplacement in french) should be able to allow selecting from the GAL and recognize available rooms.
- Outlook as an option to right-click add calendar -> From room list which is really convenient.
- Appointments & meetings:
- BUG: right-clicking -> create meeting/etc does not always import the actual email content but rather often only the object information. really odd behaviour as I then have to copy/paste the original content back to my new meeting request.
- in outlook there is this need shortcut where I can drag an email towards my calendar icon on the bottom left and it automagically create an appointment using my email. Really handy and much faster than right-click in this case.
- options to mark for "all-day" is everywhere: into the "options" menu AND near the hours selection menu (really convenient) AND in the icon top-menu. Although the "participants" and "mark period as busy" (using evolution in french so actual english wording may be different) are essential when having tons of meetings to manage but theses are a) not easy to find at first and b) should be placed directly within the window content somewhere so they are as well convenient like the all-day option. All in all why is one option everywhere while others, as useful, are hidden only into a sub-menu type-thing?
- Creating a new appointment opens-up first a small window to select which calendar I want to use. a) the window is too small to properly show all my calendars and b) why? I already selected the default calendar in my options, perhaps adding a check box to always use this by default may also be needed? Because I can change the appointement into the calendar i what after creation anyway and by default (as set) is 99.99% of the time the actual calendar I want to use hence no need to always ask.