BetterUnsubscribe

A Modern Rewrite of Unsubscribe by NilsKr33, Eicke Godehardt, and Andrej Korinth, Now with Enhanced Features

BetterUnsubscribe improves your email experience by streamlining the unsubscribe process. This extension adds a button to your navigation bar, which appears whenever an unsubscribe option is detected within an email.

Features

BetterUnsubscribe offers several unsubscription methods based on what is available in the email:

1. One-Click Unsubscribe (RFC 8058): If a List-Unsubscribe=One-Click header is detected, a POST request is sent to unsubscribe you.
2. Unsubscribe via Email (RFC 2369): If a List-Unsubscribe email address (mailto://) is found in the header, a draft email is prepared for you to send.
3. Unsubscribe via Web (RFC 2369): If a List-Unsubscribe web link (https://) is provided in the header, the site is opened in your browser.
4. Unsubscribe Link in Email Content: If an unsubscribe link (https://) is embedded in the email content, the site is opened in your browser.

Architecture

The extension's background scripts are split by responsibility:

• common.js - shared helpers: a namespaced console logger and message-resolution logic for finding "the message the user currently has open".
• unsubExtraction.js - detects unsubscribe links and the message's recipient identity, by parsing the List-Unsubscribe header or scanning the message body for an embedded link.
• unsubMethods.js - defines the UnsubMethod strategies (UnsubPost, UnsubMail, UnsubWeb) that carry out each of the four unsubscribe methods listed above.
• background.js - ties it together: watches for a displayed/selected message, uses unsubExtraction.js and unsubMethods.js to detect and cache an unsubscribe method per message, drives the message-display action's enabled state, and handles the popup's runtime messages (unsubscribe, cancel, delete).

popup.js and options.js are independent UI scripts for the toolbar popup and the settings page, respectively; both also depend on common.js.

Permissions

When installing BetterUnsubscribe, Thunderbird will ask you to grant the following permissions. Here is why each one is needed:

Host Permissions

BetterUnsubscribe also requires access to external URLs in order to send one-click unsubscribe requests. Thunderbird will display these as "Access your data for all websites".

Download

You can download the latest version of BetterUnsubscribe here.

Build Instructions

1. Navigate to the project directory: Open your terminal or command prompt and navigate to the project folder.
2. Run the appropriate compile script for your operating system to build the project. This will generate the BetterUnsubscribe.xpi file in the build directory.
   • Node.js: Run node compile.js (requires node.js)
   • Unix & macOS: Run compile.sh (requires /bin/sh and 7z or zip installed).
   • Windows (with .NET): Run compile.ps1 (requires PowerShell and .NET).
   • Windows (with 7z/zip): Run compile-z.ps1 (requires PowerShell and 7z or zip installed).

Installation Instructions

1. Open Thunderbird.
2. Navigate to Menu (hamburger icon) -> Add-ons and Themes.
3. Click Tools for Add-ons (gear icon) -> Install Add-on From File.
4. Select the BetterUnsubscribe.xpi file to install it.

Development Workflow

To ensure a consistent development workflow, use the following tools and commands. See CONTRIBUTING.md for contribution guidelines, including translations.

Prettier (Code Formatter)

To format the codebase, run:

npm run format

ESLint (Code Linter)

To lint the codebase for potential issues, run:

npm run lint

Compiling

To compile the project, run:

npm run compile

Warning

Please exercise caution when clicking web links provided in emails. Phishing attacks are common, and malicious links can compromise your security and privacy. Always verify the legitimacy of the sender before interacting with any email links.

A summary of potential security and privacy risks associated with unsubscribe tools can be found here.

Running Tests

Automated tests are provided to ensure BetterUnsubscribe works as expected. To run the tests, follow these steps:

1. Install dependencies: In the project directory, run:

   npm install
   

   This will install the necessary packages defined in package.json.

2. Run the tests: Once the dependencies are installed, run the following command to execute the test suite:

   npm run test
   

   This will test the functionality of BetterUnsubscribe and give feedback on any issues.

Remember to run the tests after making changes to ensure everything functions as intended.

Todo

• Table view for unsubscribe links
• Support for other languages when detecting embedded links

Translations

A Brazilian Portuguese translation was contributed by dataserver.

Icon Credits

The icon was created by freepik and is available on FlatIcon.

Support This Project ❤️

If you find this project useful, consider donating to support development: