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How to prevent a change to a Display Name propagating throughout all folders in Address Book

  • 3 replies
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  • Last reply by Matt

krendell
krendell
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Display names are useful to keep groups of people and addresses sorted. For example in a sporting organisation you may have a this done using abbreviations for the Club name and the position held by a person. So, one Club might be called Rebels, another Club called Jets, their abbreviations might be "REB" and "JET" respectively. Within each of these Clubs there is a President and a Secretary, and again these are abbreviated, say "Pres" and "Sec".

Let's say that the President of the Rebels Club is John so in Address Book you edit the Display Name to read, "REB Pres - John", and for the Secretary, "REB Sec - Mary". For the Jets Club the Display Name for the President is edited to read "JET Pres - Susan" and the Secretary's "JET Sec - George". In the Address Book, these can be nicely sorted on the Display Name field making the individual Clubs and the individuals within the Clubs easy to find.

However, if you have past emails kept within Thunderbird in folders (eg 2015, 2014) going back over a period of time, AND you alter the Display Name today (the email address itself stays the same), that change is propagated back through all folders. So for example "REB Sec - Mary" has today become the President of the Club, so you change her Display Name to "REB Pres - Mary", ALL of the past emails received from her email address, even when she was the Club Secretary, will now read "REB Pres - Mary".

Can this be prevented? Can previous emails be made to retain their original Display Name?

I trust I have explained it well enough without making it sound complicated? I would be grateful of any details of how I might prevent the propagation.

Display names are useful to keep groups of people and addresses sorted. For example in a sporting organisation you may have a this done using abbreviations for the Club name and the position held by a person. So, one Club might be called Rebels, another Club called Jets, their abbreviations might be "REB" and "JET" respectively. Within each of these Clubs there is a President and a Secretary, and again these are abbreviated, say "Pres" and "Sec". Let's say that the President of the Rebels Club is John so in Address Book you edit the Display Name to read, "REB Pres - John", and for the Secretary, "REB Sec - Mary". For the Jets Club the Display Name for the President is edited to read "JET Pres - Susan" and the Secretary's "JET Sec - George". In the Address Book, these can be nicely sorted on the Display Name field making the individual Clubs and the individuals within the Clubs easy to find. However, if you have past emails kept within Thunderbird in folders (eg 2015, 2014) going back over a period of time, AND you alter the Display Name today (the email address itself stays the same), that change is propagated back through all folders. So for example "REB Sec - Mary" has today become the President of the Club, so you change her Display Name to "REB Pres - Mary", ALL of the past emails received from her email address, even when she was the Club Secretary, will now read "REB Pres - Mary". Can this be prevented? Can previous emails be made to retain their original Display Name? I trust I have explained it well enough without making it sound complicated? I would be grateful of any details of how I might prevent the propagation.

All Replies (3)

Matt
Matt
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You can use the display name from the address book or not. There is no half way as the address book is accessed on display to determine what the display name is.

krendell
krendell Question owner
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Thanks Matt! I understand that I can choose to use Display Names or not. However I choose to use them as they are an excellent way of displaying the names in a more useful way. My issue is that I am looking at a way of preventing the Display Name as displayed in previously read messages from changing retrospectively when a change is made to the Display Names in the present. As it stands, it can make emails in the past with the same address suddenly appear to have come from a new and different someone or entity. I don't believe that previously read emails should be altered by the system in this way - they should retain all of the details as they were then, not now. If there is no work around then I will have to decide what else I can do.

Matt
Matt
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You are assuming something is altered. It is not. I think you are also assuming something is stored somewhere it is not.

You click on an email. The email address is looked up in your address book and the display name is extracted and used. It is not stored with the email, the display name the sender set when sending the mail is however stored.

So your retrospective change will also affect all entries in the mail lists once the folder is reindexed, such as when it is compacted.