Bug 152136

Summary:	"SMTP Server" term needs clarification in UI that non-SMTP servers are unsupported
Product:	LibreOffice	Reporter:	Mike Kaganski <mikekaganski>
Component:	Writer	Assignee:	Adolfo Jayme Barrientos <fitojb>
Status:	VERIFIED FIXED
Severity:	normal	CC:	stephane.guillou
Priority:	medium
Version:	unspecified
Hardware:	All
OS:	All
Whiteboard:	target:7.5.0
Crash report or crash signature:		Regression By:
Bug Depends on:
Bug Blocks:	113944
Attachments:	Screenshot

Description Mike Kaganski 2022-11-20 08:17:27 UTC

In Options->Writer->Mail Merge Email, there is "Outgoing Server (SMTP Settings)" controls group. It properly has the "SMTP" in it, because we currently do not support anything else.

However, this is a technobabble. For a non-geek user, this may read as 'outgoing server (also known as "SMTP")', so might not imply that SMTP is something that they need to check if their mail supports.

And indeed, there are *lots* of questions why their webmail, like GMail, doesn't work when configured "properly" - I see them on IRC, on AskLibO, etc. See e.g.
https://ask.libreoffice.org/t/problem-with-server-connection-for-mail-merge-email/84320, and generally https://ask.libreoffice.org/search?q=mail%20merge%20gmail%20order%3Alatest.

There needs to be an extra line of clarification in the *dialog* (I claim that such a line in help, although also useful, but would be insufficient alone), like this:

> Note that mail services that do not support SMTP protocol are unsupported

or something like that. The line above clearly tells to an inexperienced user, that there are mail services that do not support that "SMTP" thing, and so in case when one's setup doesn't work, it's something to check explicitly.

It would also be good to amend the respective error message, so that when SMTP connection failed, it suggests to check if SMTP is supported by the server.

Comment 1 Stéphane Guillou (stragu) 2022-11-28 12:39:37 UTC

I agree this can be clarified. Wondering what UX's opinion is on the best way to clarify without cluttering the UI.

Version: 7.5.0.0.alpha1+ (X86_64) / LibreOffice Community
Build ID: 1fd42472e2b1a2169d56e62ef11aa7ee1f7815e7
CPU threads: 8; OS: Linux 5.15; UI render: default; VCL: gtk3
Locale: en-AU (en_AU.UTF-8); UI: en-US
Calc: threaded

Comment 2 Heiko Tietze 2022-11-28 15:05:44 UTC

Created attachment 183863 [details]
Screenshot

And a screenshot for the lazy ones.

Explaining the UI with static text is not a good idea and I'd prefer a clear label. Maybe "Outgoing Email Server (SMTP only)". The error message is a mess but likely not so easy to solve.

Comment 3 Commit Notification 2022-11-29 04:26:16 UTC

Adolfo Jayme Barrientos committed a patch related to this issue.
It has been pushed to "master":

https://git.libreoffice.org/core/commit/c45d38dc996eedddbd26b15df7642ac71b19d59a

tdf#152136 Improve SMTP settings page

It will be available in 7.5.0.

The patch should be included in the daily builds available at
https://dev-builds.libreoffice.org/daily/ in the next 24-48 hours. More
information about daily builds can be found at:
https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Testing_Daily_Builds

Affected users are encouraged to test the fix and report feedback.

Comment 4 Commit Notification 2022-11-29 05:00:32 UTC

Adolfo Jayme Barrientos committed a patch related to this issue.
It has been pushed to "master":

https://git.libreoffice.org/help/commit/339b994703189f93a1b4a1f861b2bfd71bf2afa7

tdf#152136 Update label to signify we only support SMTP

Comment 5 Stéphane Guillou (stragu) 2022-11-29 10:08:11 UTC

Verified as fixed:

Version: 7.5.0.0.alpha1+ (X86_64) / LibreOffice Community
Build ID: 7830ecc2e4e5dd264517c6554078fa807ff1fceb
CPU threads: 8; OS: Linux 5.15; UI render: default; VCL: gtk3
Locale: en-AU (en_AU.UTF-8); UI: en-US
Calc: threaded

Thanks Adolfo! :)