Multi tasking question

[rkl122]

I'm new to the DX and to Android, and either I'm missing something fundamental or the multitasking aspect is not as robust as I'd expected. Today, I was replying to an email, and realized I wanted to get a phone number into the reply text. I didn't have the number handy, except in Contacts. So I backed out of the reply to go into Contacts and select the number - ie. put it on the clipboard. But when I touched the email icon again, the reply I'd been working on was gone.

I've since found how you can long press the (hard) home key and switch between recent apps, and there's an icon called "message" which brings you back to the last open email. But if you'd been working on a reply before you left it, that reply is gone!

How do you switch between apps so that each is in the precise state you left it? Not possible?

The DX is stock - unrooted - with latest update.

Thx

 

[Trong]

Press 'Home', not 'Back'. Although it's frowned upon by Google, many people still program the back button to exit an app if you keep pressing back until you hit the home screens.

 

[struong57]

Did you check your Draft folder in your email? Perhaps that's where the email you were composing went. Most Android apps will automatically save whatever you had on the screen for you when you jump to another application before saving your work.

Sent from my Droid using DroidForums App

 

[timrock]

Holding the hard home key on my phone brings up my recent apps

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

 

[Droid DOES!!]

+1! Just a short press vs long press. Works every time for me.

Press 'Home', not 'Back'. Although it's frowned upon by Google, many people still program the back button to exit an app if you keep pressing back until you hit the home screens.

DroidForums junkie!!

 

[rkl122]

+1! Just a short press vs long press. Works every time for me.

Press 'Home', not 'Back'. Although it's frowned upon by Google, many people still program the back button to exit an app if you keep pressing back until you hit the home screens.

Thanks for the responses, but, as mentioned, using the home key and then returning to the mail app shows that the reply that was in progress is lost.

Did you check your Draft folder in your email?

As mentioned, this is the stock phone, hence stock email app. There is no "draft" folder. Just "inbox" "trash", "outbox", and "sent." Am I missing a ''draft" folder? Or is there perhaps a better mail program that does what I want?

I'm suspecting that, despite the hype, the level of multitasking on the DX is simply not as sophisticated as under Win7, which is my only prior OS experience.

 

[Droid DOES!!]

Just did this and it worked like a charm...??

+1! Just a short press vs long press. Works every time for me.

Press 'Home', not 'Back'. Although it's frowned upon by Google, many people still program the back button to exit an app if you keep pressing back until you hit the home screens.

Thanks for the responses, but, as mentioned, using the home key and then returning to the mail app shows that the reply that was in progress is lost.

Did you check your Draft folder in your email?

As mentioned, this is the stock phone, hence stock email app. There is no "draft" folder. Just "inbox" "trash", "outbox", and "sent." Am I missing a ''draft" folder? Or is there perhaps a better mail program that does what I want?

I'm suspecting that, despite the hype, the level of multitasking on the DX is simply not as sophisticated as under Win7, which is my only prior OS experience.

DroidForums junkie!!

 

[rkl122]

Just did this and it worked like a charm...??

Just did what? You are able to return to a reply in progress to an email? Exactly how please?

Thx.

 

[Droid DOES!!]

Yes. I started typing an email (gmail) and got a Gtalk notification. I soft pressed the home key and got the "message saved as draft message". Opened Gtalk, replied, hit back (home screen) and just touched the Gmail icon. Everything was there except my keyboard, just as I had left it.

Just did this and it worked like a charm...??

Just did what? You are able to return to a reply in progress to an email? Exactly how please?

Thx.

DroidForums junkie!!

 

[rkl122]

Yes. I started typing an email (gmail) and got a Gtalk notification. I soft pressed the home key and got the "message saved as draft message". Opened Gtalk, replied, hit back (home screen) and just touched the Gmail icon. Everything was there except my keyboard, just as I had left it.

Aha. Thank you, that explains the discrepancy. You are using GMail. I'm not. I simply set up a pop3 mail account using my ISP's (send & receive) servers. And the corresponding DX app - seems to be called simply "email" - does not provide the same functionality as you describe for the GMail app. (I confirmed your observation using GMail. (My GMail account has a few test messages in it.))

I don't want to use the Google mail servers if I can avoid it, so guess I'll look for an alternative app.

Thank you for the detailed response.

 

[Droid DOES!!]

Ah ok. I uninstalled my email app and didn't really mess with it that much. That's weird that one will do it and one won't though.

Yes. I started typing an email (gmail) and got a Gtalk notification. I soft pressed the home key and got the "message saved as draft message". Opened Gtalk, replied, hit back (home screen) and just touched the Gmail icon. Everything was there except my keyboard, just as I had left it.

Aha. Thank you, that explains the discrepancy. You are using GMail. I'm not. I simply set up a pop3 mail account using my ISP's (send & receive) servers. And the corresponding DX app - seems to be called simply "email" - does not provide the same functionality as you describe for the GMail app. (I confirmed your observation using GMail. (My GMail account has a few test messages in it.))

I don't want to use the Google mail servers if I can avoid it, so guess I'll look for an alternative app.

Thank you for the detailed response.

DroidForums junkie!!

 

[BodyBagz]

Ok...using my stock "Email" app that is set-up with Charter using pop servers, there is a way to do what you want on the stock phone.

When you are typing a message and need to go get information or answer a call, the stock Email app does in fact have a "pseudo drafts" folder...you just cant see it...unless you know where to look...

Do this to test and make sure yours does the same (or anyone else out there)...

App drawer--->Email--->Hard Menu Button--->Compose--->Compose a test message--->Hard Home Button to leave Email app mid-stride of composing--->App Drawer again--->Email again...now look in the Upper Right Hand Corner of your screen, just under the Notification Bar...there should be the name of your Email Service, and to the right of that, a Green "+" symbol with a small Red Numeral. This red numeral is the number of "drafts" you have at that point...

See the screencaps below for pictorial evidence of what I am talking about...
Let us know if this works for you...

 

[rkl122]

Holy cow, thank you!! Yes that works! And I can paste from other apps this way. Not only have you solved that problem for me, but you've explained something else I'd been wondering: what that small red numeral means. My current value is 14 - all starts/replies, etc. that I'd thought I'd lost. LOL.

Many thanks! -Ron

edit: Six weeks in, and I'm still discovering clickable regions. The adventure continues....

Ok...using my stock "Email" app that is set-up with Charter using pop servers, there is a way to do what you want on the stock phone.

When you are typing a message and need to go get information or answer a call, the stock Email app does in fact have a "pseudo drafts" folder...you just cant see it...unless you know where to look...

Do this to test and make sure yours does the same (or anyone else out there)...

App drawer--->Email--->Hard Menu Button--->Compose--->Compose a test message--->Hard Home Button to leave Email app mid-stride of composing--->App Drawer again--->Email again...now look in the Upper Right Hand Corner of your screen, just under the Notification Bar...there should be the name of your Email Service, and to the right of that, a Green "+" symbol with a small Red Numeral. This red numeral is the number of "drafts" you have at that point...

See the screencaps below for pictorial evidence of what I am talking about...
Let us know if this works for you...

 

[BodyBagz]

Holy cow, thank you!! Yes that works! And I can paste from other apps this way. Not only have you solved that problem for me, but you've explained something else I'd been wondering: what that small red numeral means. My current value is 14 - all starts/replies, etc. that I'd thought I'd lost. LOL.

Many thanks! -Ron

edit: Six weeks in, and I'm still discovering clickable regions. The adventure continues....

Glad to be of a help...thats what makes DF such an awesome place to come to....dancedroid

 

[qqqqqqqman]

Do this to test and make sure yours does the same (or anyone else out there)...

App drawer--->Email--->Hard Menu Button--->Compose--->Compose a test message--->Hard Home Button to leave Email app mid-stride of composing--->App Drawer again--->Email again...now look in the Upper Right Hand Corner of your screen, just under the Notification Bar...there should be the name of your Email Service, and to the right of that, a Green "+" symbol with a small Red Numeral. This red numeral is the number of "drafts" you have at that point...

I just tested that, and it works that way.

So, bottom line, you just click the HARD HOME BUTTON to leave your email draft as it is. Then go back to EMAIL to find it later, as the red numeral in the top corner.

Nice, bagz!

**