One Click Suggested Unsubscribe

[ChildLearningClub]

Feature Request

Easily unsubscribe to promotion emails by grouping them into a list and allowing for simple one click unsubscribe.

Edison email as well as apparently CleanFox have a feature to quickly unsubscribe to newsletters and promotional emails.

Specification

• https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc2369
• https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc8058

Work packages

• https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc2369 feat: Easy unsubscribe from lists with http unsubscribe header #8395
• https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc2369 feat: Easy unsubscribe from lists with mailto unsubscribe header #8434
• https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc8058 feat: One-click unsubscribe #8438
• Document one-click suggested unsubscribe for Mail documentation#10015

[ChristophWurst]

I assume they get that info from some headers? Would you have an example email where that quick unsubscribe is shown so we can inspect the header info?

[philippstappert]

there is a list-unsubscribe header in most newsletters/mailing lists with a link to unsubscribe.

See RFC2369: https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc2369

[nimishavijay]

This is there in Gmail, Apple mail and Outlook so it sounds like a great idea!
As for how it looks on the frontend, something like this could work:

Screenshots for other email clients are at Penpot
cc @jancborchardt also

[ChristophWurst]

there is a list-unsubscribe header in most newsletters/mailing lists with a link to unsubscribe.

See RFC2369: https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc2369

From testing and articles like https://www.sendinblue.com/blog/list-unsubscribe-header/ I learned that it's not always just a link. It might also be a mailto: address. HTTP links are easy to handle, so I quickly built #8395. Mailto is a bit trickier. We need to either

1. Open the composer with the info from the mailto (like sender+subject prefilled)
2. Submit the message to the outbox in the background
3. Submit the message silently so it's neither shown in the outbox nor the Sent mailbox

[ChristophWurst]

I think I'll go with 2) because it's good UX and not as much magic as 3) should there be a reply to the background message

[nimishavijay]

Submit the message to the outbox in the background

So the message will be seen in the Sent folder once it has been sent? That may lead to confusion since I'm assuming the contents of the mail would be fairly cryptic to an everyday user?

Also, since this is kind of a destructive action (once you unsubscribe from a mailing list it can be hard to subscribe again), there could be a confirmation dialogue Unsubscribing will stop all messages from the mailing list [name of mailing list] [Cancel tertiary button] [Unsubscribe primary button] Similar to Gmail (also cc @jancborchardt for wording here)

Also, interesting approach from Protonmail for messages which don't directly have an email for unsubscribing, but a link:

This is the message shown when there is an email.

Also, the mockup here conflicts with the the design in #8379 regarding showing the mail address in the message header. Suggestion: We show only the Unsubscribe button next to the mail address in the subline, without the "This message is from a mailing list" that is seen in the mockup here :)

[ChristophWurst]

So the message will be seen in the Sent folder once it has been sent? That may lead to confusion since I'm assuming the contents of the mail would be fairly cryptic to an everyday user?

Not necessarily. It depends on the mailing list. Some just need a message with the subject "unsubscribe".

Even if the messages are slightly technical I would like my email client to be transparent about the messages sent. A message without traces is a bit meh.

[nimishavijay]

Even if the messages are slightly technical I would like my email client to be transparent about the messages sent. A message without traces is a bit meh.

That's a great point! I am sold, nice :)

[ChristophWurst]

One-click HTTP unsubscribe in accordance to https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc8058 (requires security work due to cross origin requests)

Tested this quickly and indeed run into Content Security Policy: The page’s settings blocked the loading of a resource at [https://list-unsubscribe.e](https://list-unsubs…. This is not a problem for standalone email clients, of course. Moving to the server is also not an option as this would create blind SSRF.

[ChildLearningClub]

🎆 thank you everyone.