Guide to the new interface
Welcome to the new Fastmail interface, based on JMAP! We have made a large number of improvements which are detailed below.
New features
- If the sender is in your address book and there is an image, this is now shown as their avatar.
- If you open an email from a sender in your address book without a name, we will automatically add the name of the sender to the contact in your address book.
- Save attachments to file storage now available on mobile.
- You can now attach files from file storage on mobile.
- If a message is sent in both plain text and HTML versions, you can now toggle between the two using the "View as Text"/"View as HTML" action in the message's "More" menu.
- Composing a reply no longer happens inline with the rest of the conversation. Instead, a "View Conversation"/"Edit Draft" button in the top right lets you flip between them, with the current scroll position maintained in each. For super fast referencing of the previous content, use the keyboard shortcut Cmd-Shift-S to toggle between them. Your cursor position will be maintained too.
- Folders shared with you by other users now appear in different subsections in the sidebar rather than buried under a "user" folder.
- More attachment types now open directly in the interface.
- Multi-level undo/redo is now available, via the standard platform keyboard shortcuts: Ctrl-Z + Ctrl-Shift-Z (Mac)/Ctrl-Y (Windows).
- Searching "is:unread" will now show unread threads rather than just unread messages in that mailbox if conversations are turned on (This will now match the mailbox unread count).
- Only the first 100KB of very large messages is loaded by default (a link is displayed on the message to load the rest), to prevent slow downs and accidental large data use.
- Folder sharing for multi-user accounts now available in the advanced Folder settings.
Contacts
- Switch the current contact group using the "g" shortcut. Works similarly to swapping folders in the mail view.
- Autosaved contacts (saved when you send an email to someone new) are now added to an "Autosaved" group so you can easily find and process them afterwards.
Calendar
- New views! In addition to "Month", there is now "Day" and "Week" views of your calendar. The previous "in Detail" view has been renamed "Upcoming".
- Mobile interface refreshed, more closely matching the desktop UI. Allows overview of your schedule in “month” view, then more detail in Day, Week or Agenda views.
- Clearer indication of current time period. No more wondering what day is today!
- Better time navigation with a date picker in the top left (shortcut "g"), and swiping navigation in the top right.
- New look for the agenda list in the "Upcoming" view, which more closely matches the Day and Week view look.
Files
- Brand new revamped files interface. Bolder and clearer, with the ability to open several types of files directly in the interface!
- Create a link to any file or folder in your file storage, which you can then email to people. You don't have to email files around: just send them the link.
- More options to search your files. Use "before:" or "minsize:2M" or "is:folder" etc. Combine them with boolean logic.
Settings
- The "g" shortcut now works like in mail for switching the open settings screen.
- New option to "hide mail folder if it is empty"
- Folder sharing for multi-user accounts now available in the advanced Folder settings.
Mobile/Tablet
- New tab bar for quick navigation between mail, contacts, calendar etc.
- When viewing mail, there's a new bottom action bar with labels for taking actions. No more tapping to toggle between actions and navigation. Swipe the toolbar to go back to the navigation bar if you need it. Find 'undo' under the More button.
Websites
- Simplified the configuration so it's easier to use!
- Settings no longer hidden: now visible in the settings menu.
- Can no longer 'disable' a website. Previously disabled websites retain their state but you can't disable an existing website.
Removed features
Search
- Searching by substr() is no longer available.
- The notify command in Sieve is not supported. Instead, we support notifications for folders other than Inbox natively on the app, and
addflag "$notify"can be used for other notification needs to your Fastmail app.
Known issues
iOS: notifications do not open to the mail message
Clicking on a notification in iPhone or iPad opens the mailbox, not the target message. We have a fix for this in the works, due out soon.
Android users
The old version of the Android app v1.07.08 does not work with JMAP. You must upgrade to v1.07.10.
If your password or two-step verification is rejected after the upgrade, try force-quitting the app. If that doesn't work, you may need to clear your cache and log back in again.
What is JMAP?
This version changes how the Fastmail web interface talks to the server, basing it on a new standard called JMAP.
Fastmail is proud to have led the development of this new standard, based on our years of experience with email. We believe in open standards, which are given as much review as possible from experts around the world for greater transparency, rather than proprietary changes which try to lock users in to a single vendor.
JMAP is a modern standard that sets out how mail clients should talk to mail servers, to take advantage of how humanity’s use of the internet has changed in the years since email was first invented. It recognises that these days email is often done from mobile devices or through websites.
We first wrote about JMAP at the end of 2014 and the standard is now very close to being ratified.