multiple message selection within a thread

[Bob-Collins]

PLEASE add the ability to select or deselect multiple messages from within a thread to delete.

Example: I have a thread which has the address of the contact contained in it. I can't delete the thread, because then I lose the address. If there are 300 other messages in that thread, I'd have to go through them one at a time to delete them and keep the 1 message I care about. GoSMSPro has this capability and is the ONLY reason I currently use it. I would prefer to go with TextSecure, but this one feature will keep me from doing so.

[crocodilechris]

I also noticed that multiple selection is not supported yet.
Would be nice to have it! Makes deletion of multiple messages in a conversation much easier.

[backspace]

@Bob-Collins it helps people contributing to a project if you use a specific title on an issue so the open issues can be scanned and quickly understood. Want to change your title to say “Multiple message selection” or somesuch?

[backspace]

I have a working prototype of this feature. Here are some animations:
 

I’m new to Android development and need to rearrange some things before I submit a pull request, so in the meantime, here are some questions:

1. Should item selection be cancelled if the user starts typing in the new message field?
2. Should there be Select all in the action bar options?

Okay, now I’ll get on with cleaning up what I’ve written so I can submit it. Hopefully my novice-ness doesn’t preclude what I’ve written being of use!

[jedie]

Look at telegram: You select one item and then you can simple touch on a other item to add. touch on a selected item to deselect. The action buttons are on the top.
This is very simple and intuitive.

btw. Multiselection is also useful to forward messages ;)

[Bob-Collins]

GOSMSPro has a menu item to "select all", then you can also uncheck the messages you want to keep, then select delete all selected (or forward, or whatever action you want to take). Very clean, simple and intuitive. It is the only app I found that allowed for multi-selection so i am using it. This feature is a requirement for me.

[backspace]

@jedie: regarding the initial selection, I chose to emulate the conversation list, which requires a long press to select. But since the short press is used to open a conversation from the list and a short press on an individual message currently has no result, maybe short-press-message-to-select makes sense. It should be simple enough. I’ll wait for input from the project maintainers.

As for multi-forward, that’s beyond my current abilities because it would be unlike the current implementation of forwarding a single message. If this patch gets accepted, maybe bulk forwarding can be added later.

@Bob-Collins: my patch does allow you to select all via the action bar after you’ve started the selection process (see the second GIF). If the project maintainers think there should be a Select all item in the menu by default, it would be trivial to add.

[Bob-Collins]

Any idea how long the process is to get it approved and then implemented into the app?

[backspace]

I’m new at this, but you can see the project is drowning in open issues and pull requests, and this probably needs further refining if it’s to be accepted. If you’re desperate, you could get the code from the fork and put it on your phone.

[jedie]

I would suggest: Implement Features in the way like WhatsApp works. Sometimes boring, but IMHO the best choice for today...

Maybe it's not always the best solution. But IMHO the most users comes from WhatsApp and knows how it works. Humans are creatures of habit.

Maybe in the future, where all WhatsApp users are using TextSecure (LOL), there can be changes in the usability to better/enhanced solutions...

[bvorak]

Is there any chance this gets merged in the near feature?

[n00b42]

(+1) like that idea

[McLoo]

#1601 takes care of this. Though the select all feature is missing.

[OLLI-S]

I also request this idea, it makes it easy to delete multiple messages in one conversation and just to keep the urgent messages.

I suggest a long-press on a message and add "select multiple messages" in the context menu.
Then I can mark all messages with a short press on them.