XNote is a Thunderbird add-on that allows you to attach notes to individual e-mail messages. Initially released by StarXpert, it seems the original developers of XNote ended development of it. I ported XNote to Thunderbird 3 in December 2009 and sent them an e-mail containing the first version of the port, but did not get an answer. Consequently, I am currently maintaining XNote for Thunderbird 3.

Unfortunately, I don't have too much time to spend on this. If you run in troubles on Windows or Linux, you may report them in the hope that they might get fixed some time (better report patches ;-) ). Please verify that the issue is reproducible on a clean Thunderbird profile and include your operating system and Thunderbird version number in the details. If you have troubles on a Mac, you are on your own if the issue is not reproducible on Windows or Linux as I have no access to that platform.

Translations/Translators needed: The only thing that remained from XNote for Thunderbird 2.x was the implementation. XNote originally had translations for en-US, de-DE, fr-FR, it-IT, nl-NL. I can do the translations for en-US (I am grateful for proof-reading by a native speaker) and de-DE on my own. We already have a translator for fr-FR. Hence, XNote needs translators for it-IT (Italian), and nl-NL (Dutch). If you are willing and able to contribute these languages, please contact me. Right now I need the translations for "Reset note window".

Download: Please download from the Mozilla Add-on Website.

Please note that I did this port to TB3, because I am an XNote user. Consequently, XNote is currently in a maintenance phase and new features will primarily be added if someone is willing to contribute the necessary code. If you are interested in actively developing XNote, send me an e-mail. This add-on needs an active long-term maintainer.

However, this section lists some issues gathered so far along with some comments or workarounds.

• Question: I cannot see the XNote column with the icon indicating an attached note.
  Solution: You have to add that column manually via a (left-)click on the rightmost icon in the column headers of the e-mail list (above the scrollbar).
• Question: How can I get enable message highlighting for e-mails with attached notes?
  Solution: Use the advanced configuration editor (Tools – Options – Advanced – General – Config Editor...) to set the property "xnote.usetag" to "true".
• Some users report that notes hide behind the TB window.
  Comment: I cannot reproduce this. According to user feedback this seems to be a Mac-only issue. It could be be solved by using a separate place for notes within the TB window, e.g., similar to slide comments in Powerpoint. For now it may help to place the notes window beside the Thunderbird window without overlapping it.
• Question: Could you store the notes directly in the e-mail so that the notes can be used across different computers when using IMAP?
  Comment: Changing the mail content is not the best idea, and definitely not appropriate for PGP signed messages. So that is not an option.
  • The easiest thing to do in that case would be to store the notes on a shared network drive (which is currently not configurable). A simple implementation, however, would probably have a negative impact on the performance of the message list (scrolling) due to the network latency and the way how the XNote column is implemented.
  • Another suggested option is to use some custom X-... header to store the note in the message header (it was reported that MailTags for Apple Mail does that). If you just want to copy your notes from one computer to another, then copy the "XNote" folder of your Thunderbird profile directory. If you copy your whole profile folder, e.g., because of a computer migration, you don't have to do anything special for XNote.
  • The only thing currently possible is to store your whole Thunderbird profile on a shared network drive (requires appropriate configuration of "profiles.ini" in your Thunderbird user directory). Beware that this might have a big performance impact – depending on your network and the amount of data stored in your profile directory.
• Question: Could you make the notes searchable?
  Comment: In principle, this would be possible, although currently not practicable – anyone willing to contribute this? If you are in urgent need for this, open your Thunderbird profile directory, look for the folder called "XNote" and use a simple file search to look for the file containing the text. The notes can be viewed in a text editor. If you want to see the corresponding message, use the Thunderbird e-mail search to search, select "Customize..." to add a "Message-ID" header and search within this field for the message ID -- the file name of the note without the ".note" extension.
• Question: After I activate the tagging feature by setting xnote.usetag to true, the messages with attached notes don't have the XNote tag assigned.
  Answer: Changing this parameter does not automatically lead to an update of all your messages (could take quite some time anyway). The XNote tag is only assigned when opening a message with a note or creating a new note. To just search all messages containing a note, sort by the XNote column
• Issue: If you resize the note so that the marker for resizing at the bottom right corner disappears, you can no longer resize the note after you released the mouse button.
  Comment: To reset the notes window to the default size and position, right-click on the mail in the message list and select "XNote – Reset note window".

Below follows a collection of further feature requests/open issues, without comments:

• Hotkey for adding notes.
• Configuration of initial size and where the notes are initially displayed.
• Additional column that displays the first words of a note in addition to the column with the note indication.

xnote-2.2.0 (Aug 25, 2010)

This is functionally equivalent to the 2.2.0pre2 version with minor changes:

• The XNote column is now called "XNote" instead of "Note".
• Icon available in the Add-ons manager.

xnote-2.2.0pre2 (Aug 16, 2010)

• Addressing Mozilla editor review comments in order to get this add-on out of the sandbox.
• XNote window is now aligned in relation to TB Window instead of screen and moves with the main window.
• Added context menu item to reset size and position of the XNote window.

xnote-2.2.0pre1 (Feb 14, 2010)

• Major version number change to indicate the TB3 update and the break with TB2. This should become the final 2.2.0 if no major issues occur
• Fixed the issue that notes could be added via right-mouse click only to the currently selected message
• Fix for adding XNotes via right click in the message pane.
• Fixed column handler – sorting works now.
• Fix for virtual folders (saved searches): Colum icon now displayed correctly for saved searches with multiple search folders.

xnote-2.1.1b2 (Jan 25, 2010)

This is the version moved to the Mozilla Add-ons website. See version xnote-2.1.1b.lf below for detailed comments as they contain the same code.

xnote-2.1.1b.lf (Jan 13, 2010)

Changes

• Fixed the annoying bug of the previous version that notes are lost if you immediately close Thunderbird after editing a note. There were some more things to do than just API compatibilities in the change to TB3.

Known (and reproduced) issues

• If you right-click on the message pane (the place where the e-mail content is shown) and select "XNote --> Create note", the notes window is not shown.
  Workaround: Use the toolbar button (or right click in the message list) to add new notes.
• The XNote context menu is only enabled if you right-click on the currently opened message in the message list. If you right-click on a different message, the menu is disabled.

xnote-2.1.0-lf (Dec 12, 2009)

• Straight forward port from TB2 to TB3 based on fixing API incompatibilities.

Known (and reproduced) issues

• If you change (edit, resize, move, etc.) a note and then immediately close Thunderbird, you will lose the edited note.
  Workaround: Change to a different mail message before you close Thunderbird.