Recording the addressee when forwarding un-edited messages (re-direct, "bounce".

The fact of a message having been forwarded is signalled by the red arrow symbol in the in-box listing and also in the 'info' pane, but the forward doesn't appear in sent-mail list. As a result I have no record that the message was forwarded to the intended recipient.

Am I missing something?

Thanks for all the good work.

This behaviour is confirmed. I assume this will not be copied into self since you didn't compose this mail by yourself but bounce it only. But I know what you mean since we are bouncing also a lot of incoming mails.

As workaround you should forward it "with editing". In that case the original sender is being replaced with your sender address and you will get a copy to self.

Normally "bouncing" is not so welcome, since you are sending a mail to another addressee where the mail was originally not intended for. That's why many mail clients do not support bouncing.

You are not missing anything. Here are some workarounds that come to mind.

One is to copy or move the forwarded message to a folder that signifies the recipient of the forward.

Another is to create an identity solely for use when bouncing a message. In it you would set a BCC address to yourself. Then, when you bounce a message, select the bounce identity in the lower part of the forward message window. The end result is that the copy of the message you receive back will contain a "Forwarded to:" header showing who you forwarded it to.

There is also the option of enabling SYSLOG.PM which logs all sent messages. It records the date, time, recipient, subject, sending identity, and two other fields whose purpose/content I don't know. I can not find documentation on the SYSLOG.PM file so don't know if there is a way to differentiate between bounced forwards and forwards with edits.

Thank you Joerg and Brian. All good points. What I really want is another field in the Info pane with the address string(s) in it, so that I can check what I did.

My requirement is to to keep copies of supplier invoices etc. that I then forward to other staff within the business, ie. they are expecting the messages.

Thank you for your suggestions. I think, for the odd occasion where an inquest is indicated, the syslog path may be the most appropriate way forward. I shall investigate.

Thanks again.

I now discover that when I forward a message using the mail filtering rules, when a folder is opened, the message forwards as expected but doesn't raise the little red flag to assure me it has been gone. Is this normal behaviour?

Yes. I am surprised by this behavior but have confirmed that a forward in a rule set attached as a folder-open or folder-close filter does not mark the message as having been forwarded. A couple of options come to my mind as ways to identify messages that have been forwarded. One is to add a rule that changes the color of messages that trigger the forward rule. The color would be the 'has been sent' indicator. The other is to add a rule that moves the message to a folder exclusively for filter forwarded messages (maybe one folder for each recipient). Unfortunately, I don't know of a way to confirm the forward occurred other than being attentive to the visual indication of the send in the lower left status area.

I have since tested forwarding using a new mail filtering rule and it doesn't mark the message with the 'Has been forwarded' flag either.