Bug 281336

Summary:	Please give an option in KMail to default the language settings to the system default, with an override per-identity
Product:	[Applications] kmail2	Reporter:	jmaldrich
Component:	config dialog	Assignee:	kdepim bugs <kdepim-bugs>
Status:	REPORTED ---
Severity:	wishlist	CC:	mail, myrosia
Priority:	NOR
Version:	unspecified
Target Milestone:	---
Platform:	Fedora RPMs
OS:	Linux
Latest Commit:		Version Fixed In:
Sentry Crash Report:

Description jmaldrich 2011-09-04 18:36:43 UTC

Version:           unspecified (using KDE 4.7.0) 
OS:                Linux

I recently discovered in my KMail (KMail 1.13.7) that the language settings are on a per-identity basis. This would not be so bad if it weren't buried in the identity settings dialog. I would like to see a check box in the general KMail settings to default language settings to the current system language, whatever that may be, and then if someone wishes to override that, they can do so in the identity settings. Alternatively, just have KMail default to the system settings and let the user override that on a per-identity basis.

Reproducible: Sometimes

Steps to Reproduce:
Set up a new identity and see what language is selected by default when setting up a new identity/email address.

Actual Results:  
Varies -- sometimes it picks up UK English, other times Australian English

Expected Results:  
Should, in my case, ALWAYS be US English

I have verified in the KDEPIM-users group that the current incarnation of KMail (KMail 1.14+) still has the language selection on a per-identity basis only. It's not that it's so much trouble to change it, even if like me you have more than 10 identities, it's that it took so long to find out WHERE to change it and THEN the 10-15 seconds per identity to change it.

Comment 1 Christophe Marin 2011-09-04 19:35:56 UTC

There's already a "view/dictionary" in the composer window, why isn't that enough ?

Comment 2 jmaldrich 2011-09-04 23:48:56 UTC

Right now I don't have KMail2, I have the "old" Kmail as Fedora has not yet upgraded to it, however there is a thread in the KDEPIM-users list regarding this.
I don't see how having an option to select a different dictionary while editing a message solves the problem of KMail not honoring the system-defined language. That was the first thing I thought to check when I discovered that my KMail was saying that I had misspelled words, and I *knew* they were not. I discovered later that some of my identities had Australian English and some had UK English. 
I think that KMail should 1) Default to the current system language settings and 2) there ought to be a clear notification that it is doing so and an easier way than having to drill down in the per-identity settings to change it semi-permanently.

Comment 3 Myrosia 2011-09-05 16:09:36 UTC

The reason the "select a different dictionary" is not enough is that there are something like 22 different varieties of English to choose from, with the most common (US and UK) at the very bottom of the list. Also a great many varieties of Spanish, French and German. This makes choosing the right variety through the menu error prone and distracting.

Plus, I wasted half an hour trying to figure out the answer to the question "I changed my locale, OpenOffice and other software use the new locale correctly,  why does Kmail still use the wrong dictionary?" The right menu items were hidden under tabs and not at all obvious, and not consistent with the normal expectation based on how other software behaves. That is the biggest problem there - the time it takes to figure out why the unexpected behavior is happening.

It's the time spent on figuring out why the system does not

Comment 4 Elias Probst 2012-08-18 09:37:03 UTC

I might add here, that the dictionary is only for the spell-checker, but this doesn't affect the used mail templates which are also responsible for inserting lines like:

On Saturday 18 August 2012 11:35 you wrote
Am Samstag, 18. August 2012, 11:35 schrieben Sie:
etc.

Comment 5 Elias Probst 2012-08-19 12:08:28 UTC

*** Bug 234226 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***