Can you post a screenshot showing where you expected to see your Trash folder, please?

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/how-do-i-create-screenshot-my-problem

I'm stumped. I cannot paste a screen shot to this site. When I attempt to do so the Paste option is inoperative. And the return adddress for your email is no-reply.

My missing Trash bin was previously where Archives is now. I never used the Trash bin lower down on the menu, and that bin is empty.

Save it as an image - png is best. Then you upload the image when you post here.

If you're using Windows, you probably have the Snipping Tool to help you.

The support help page fails to mention the "save it as a file" part. :-(

You suggested the Snipping Tool. When I attempted to open it, my cursor became a tiny circle, which was inoperative, which prevented me from selelcting anything on the screen. Twice. Using the Snipping Tool seems to be more difficult than it sounds.

Was my description of the previous location of the Trash bin above not sufficient? It is precise.

No your description is not adequate. I have about a dozen trash bins, one for each account and another for unified folders.

Which or what you are talking about Zenos must guess. Is it an IMAP trash bin? a POP one? the one in local folders?

If you can not manage the snipping tool I suggest you paste your image into paint and save that as a png file and upload it.

If you can not find paint. Press the windows key + R and type pbrush and press enter.

Matt said

> I have about a dozen trash bins, one for each account and another for unified folders....,

I have two, to my knowledge; one previously where Archives is now, which is the one I used; and one further down the menu, which I have never used and which is empty.

> Is it an IMAP trash bin? a POP one?

It is whatever is in Thunderbird. I have an IMAP connection to my ISP. I have no knowledge of IMAP nor POP in the context of a Trash bin.

>the one in local folders?

I have not found a Trash bin in local folders; only Junk, Deleted, and Outbox. I think there used to be a Trash bin in local folders, but no longer.

> If you can not manage the snipping tool I suggest you paste your image into paint and save that as a png file and upload it.

I have spent the last twenty minutes researching Paint and Paintbrush. I have found no instructions for pasting an image to Paint. How do I make an image of my screen? I tried Screenshot, but that image did not paste to Paint. It pasted to an email, but not to Paint.

Am I frustrated?

If you can give me an email address, I can send you a screenshot. But, after around an hour of trying, I have not figured out how to paste the screenshot image to Paint nor to this Reply frame.

I don't have Windows here to check. But there is a menu, or probably "the Ribbon", in Paint and on it you'll find a paste option.

Or just use the standard keystroke, ctrl+v.

This whole thread seems to be degenerating into instructions on how to use your computer…

"This whole thread seems to be degenerating into instructions on how to use your computer…"

This is an attempt to explain my difficulty, in hope of getting some help. I hope you will read it and reply.

My computing education began programing an IBM 360 with punch cards, using BEFAP (a machine language a step removed from binary) and Fortran VI. I have been using PCs since DOS, and Thunderbird since the '90s. I am not a novice, but my understanding has never progressed beyond that necessary to use use computers in the past. For many years I had little difficulty using Thunderbird or Firefox. More recently new versions and problems have become more frequent, and the difficulty of troubleshooting has soared. It appears to me that current programing, and especially troubleshooting, requires a higher geek quotient than was needed in the past.

The solution given for my last Firefox problem was to reset an item on the Options > Composition page. But the Composition page disappeared from my Ff Options menu some time ago. I'm pretty sure the problem, and the loss of the Composition page, came with updates. Do your Options menus still include Composition?

My current problem is that the Trash bin I have been using suddenly disappeared from the menu on the left side. Reinstalling Tb did not restore it; thus I believe its disappearance is due to an update. A Trash folder lower on the menu is empty, and recent deletions have not appeared there. I suggested previously that returning to the previous version would likely solve the problem, but my helpers chose another path.

I have been asked to paste a screenshot to this thread. Trying to use the Snipping Tool froze the Firefox window; I had to reboot to get rid of it. Twice. I didn't try that again. Did my incompetence freeze the window? Or a programing glitch?

It took me a while to find Paint. It was not where instructions said it would be; I infer that the instructions have not kept up with reality. (I installed the recent Windows 7 service patch; I think that my W 7 program is up to date.) Prior to finding (unusable) Paint on my machine, I spent considerable time trying to download Paint, without success (details available on request).

I'm completely unfamiliar with Paint. I have spent some time trying to learn how to copy a screenshot to paint. But the Copy function is grayed out and inoperative. Paint doesn't seem to have an internal Help function; a Microsoft article told me how to paste an image from Paint, but did not mention pasting an image to Paint, nor how to restore an inoperative copy function. I am unfamiliar with "the Ribbon". The only thing I found under Paste was "Paste from", no Paste to.

Have I somehow unknowingly created these problems, or have they come with new updates/glitches? Has my knowledge of computers decreased, or have Tb/Ff (and Paint) become more complex and problematic?

I know how to send a screenshot by email; pasting it directly to this thread has proved very difficult. Is there any way I can recover my old Trash bin without spending even more time trying to post a screenshot directly to this thread? If you really need the screenshot, is email truly impossible? If it is, and there is no other way to proceed, can you give me some more help getting a screenshot into this thread?

Context: I am 73. My short term memory is severely impaired, though I test out at the top of my age group. Cognitive function is largely intact; I can still think clearly. But the short term memory loss has greatly slowed me down, and makes it difficult to learn new information. Not impossible, but my learning curve is a lot flatter than it once was. Long term memory has held up much better; I doubt if I have forgotten much from the past.

Im about your age and also started before dos.

• stand on your account in left view, right-click and select settings

A vindow opens, under server settings check what you choose to do when you delete a message

• If this didn't do the trick Rightclick again on your account and select subscribe. Make sure you have subscribed to trash

Gnospen said

Im about your age and also started before dos.

• stand on your account in left view, right-click and select settings

I have no idea what you mean by this. Please explain.

• If this didn't do the trick Rightclick again on your account and select subscribe. Make sure you have subscribed to trash

I have never seen anything about my account in Thunderbird. Where would I find it?

Email your pasted screen shot here:

xenos at gmx dot co dot uk

Windows is supposed to be simple and intuitive to the extent that it doesn't need manuals or instructions. You find what a program can do by exploring its menus and learning its nuances and conventions.

Something is awry with your system if using a built-in utility such as Snipping Tool breaks it.

I'm 60 and I too started working with computers before MS-DOS and PCs. I don't understand the perception that Thunderbird is becoming progressively more complicated to use. I can't think of anything that I have had to unlearn or relearn in order to carry on using it.

There are multiple ways to get into Account Settings in Thunderbird.

• Select and right-click an account, select Properties.
• Select an account in the left hand pane. Look for a link to Account Settings in the right-hand pane
• In the traditional menu, Tools|Account Settings
• In the new Application Menu, [≡]|Options|Account Settings

All of this can be found by exploring. That's how I know it all. I don't know how to help someone who can't or won't do this for themselves.

I started on Wang Minis using MVS. Moved to mainframes in the mid 1980s. But I have been using windows since V2. With that comes Dos and lots of it

But I am apparently the young one here. I am but 55.

And I will continue teaching you haw to use your computer as your past long post makes it obvious you do not know how to. Ctrl+C copies Ctrl+V Pastes. That is fundamental information you must have to use windows because it works in all sorts of places where there is no menu or buttons to click, like text boxes on web pages.

Then there is the print screen button on your keyboard. Takes a screen shot that can be pasted into other applications.

It sounds to me from all your troubles and hangs that you have set the levels on your security software too high and they are interfering with basic functionality of the machine.

Your "Trash" folders are now named "Deleted".

I must admit that I'm a little surprised that this minor change in nomenclature presented a perceptual and conceptual challenge.

In IMAP-connected accounts, Thunderbird shows the names of folders awarded to them by the operators of the server, so we have to anticipate variations such as "deleted", "deleted items", "trash", "bin" and so forth. Thunderbird can't control the names used by email providers, and the alternative practice, renaming them unnecessarily to local labels (such as "Trash") tends to lead to confusion when we try to match up what we see in a webmail interface with what we see in an email client.

I'd noticed that some of my folders too had been renamed from "Trash" to "Deleted" but I had assumed this might be due to my use of en-gb variants of Thunderbird, browser and OS. "Trash" is not common British English usage and here in Britain this word is somewhat jarring to the eye and brain.

Maybe Thunderbird has started using "Deleted" in favour of "Trash", but no-one else has mentioned it.

Zenos said

>Email your pasted screen shot here: xenos at gmx dot co dot uk Thank you! Done. In less than a minute, after maybe two hours fighting with Snipping Tool and Paint. >Windows is supposed to be simple and intuitive to the extent that it doesn't need manuals or instructions. You find what a program can do by exploring its menus and learning its nuances and conventions. I spent at least half my life in an era paper of instruction manuals. I'm afraid I have never fully adapted to programs without instructions. Or to electronic Help, where I can only see one page at a time. Exploring to see what is there is far less efficient than looking up a subject in a manual, where I can skim numerous pages, and read the one applicable to my problem. I have long recognised that this a a major problem, which I still have not resolved. I suspect it just the way my brain is wired. I have Aspergers syndrome. I wonder if this might have something to do with it. >I'm 60 and I too started working with computers before MS-DOS and PCs. I don't understand the perception that Thunderbird is becoming progressively more complicated to use. For one thing, it's become ever more obscure. Consider below >There are multiple ways to get into Account Settings in Thunderbird.

• Select and right-click an account, select Properties.

After al these years, I did not know that I have a Thunderbird account. Where is it?

• Select an account in the left hand pane. Look for a link to Account Settings in the right-hand pane

I do not see Account in my left hand pane.

• In the traditional menu, Tools|Account Settings

My Tools menu does not include Account Settings.

• In the new Application Menu, [≡]|Options|Account Settings

My Options menu does not include Account settings. Just like it no longer includes Composition. I believe Composition disappeared with an update; the graphics changed at the same time. We seem to be looking at different programs. I'm using Tb v 45.1.1. What are you using? >All of this can be found by exploring. That's how I know it all. I don't know how to help someone who can't or won't do this for themselves. I've done a lot of exploring. I have found instructions which do not work. I have not found things where I've been told they would be. My exploration has been at least as frustrating as enlightening. In a Pavlovian sense, I have been punished for exploring. Which no doubt a big part of my problem. And thank you very much for your help.

I've booted my Windows version, and here is a screenshot showing the menu open at Tools|Options.

I am guessing that your condition means you might have trouble finding things in menus if the menu is adjusted or altered.

Mine will probably look different to yours as I have a large number of add-ons which add entries to the menus. But "Options" is certainly there.

Xenos (and Gnospen beginng fifth paragraph)

First, thank you so much for your last post. The screenshot was indeed necessary.

I have Asperger's syndrome. I strongly suspect this is responsible for my failing to realise that Trash had just been renamed. We think more concretely than most.

Another important problem remains.

The part in which the formatting did not change is important. Why are you seeing things on your computer which are not on mine? This has been a recurring problem when people have tried to help me; more than once they have described screens which were different from mine. My connection with my ISP is IMAP.

>There are multiple ways to get into Account Settings in Thunderbird.

   Select and right-click an account, select Properties. 

After all my years of using Tb, I did not know that I have a Thunderbird account. Where is it?

   Select an account in the left hand pane.... 

I do not see Account in my left hand pane.

     > ...Look for a link to Account Settings in the right-hand pane

What right hand pane? Where are you seeing this?

     > In the traditional menu, Tools|Account Settings 

My Tools menu does not include Account Settings.

   In the new Application Menu, [≡]|Options|Account Settings 

My Options menu does not include Account Settings. Just like it no longer includes Composition. I believe Composition disappeared with an update, as the graphics changed at the same time.

We seem to be looking at different programs. I'm using Tb v 45.1.1. What are you using?

Re my last: I copied it from Tb, which I find more convenient for composing. This has been true of most of my posts. In the document I copied, the paragraphs were formatted in the usual fashion. When pasted, the formatting of the first and last sections disappeared, though the formatting of the middle section was preserved as copied.

I am repeatedly mystified by computers. Why was most of the formatting was lost in this copy/paste, but not all of it? Poltergeists? Does this make any more sense to you than it does to me?

Matt said

I started on Wang Minis using MVS. Moved to mainframes in the mid 1980s. But I have been using windows since V2. With that comes Dos and lots of it But I am apparently the young one here. I am but 55. And I will continue teaching you haw to use your computer as your past long post makes it obvious you do not know how to. Ctrl+C copies Ctrl+V Pastes. That is fundamental information you must have to use windows because it works in all sorts of places where there is no menu or buttons to click, like text boxes on web pages. Then there is the print screen button on your keyboard. Takes a screen shot that can be pasted into other applications. It sounds to me from all your troubles and hangs that you have set the levels on your security software too high and they are interfering with basic functionality of the machine.

cbrookej said

Xenos (and Gnospen beginng fifth paragraph) First, thank you so much for your last post. The screenshot was indeed necessary. I have Asperger's syndrome. I strongly suspect this is responsible for my failing to realise that Trash had just been renamed. We think more concretely than most. Another important problem remains. The part in which the formatting did not change is important. Why are you seeing things on your computer which are not on mine? This has been a recurring problem when people have tried to help me; more than once they have described screens which were different from mine. My connection with my ISP is IMAP. >There are multiple ways to get into Account Settings in Thunderbird. Select and right-click an account, select Properties. After all my years of using Tb, I did not know that I have a Thunderbird account. Where is it? Select an account in the left hand pane.... I do not see Account in my left hand pane. > ...Look for a link to Account Settings in the right-hand pane What right hand pane? Where are you seeing this? > In the traditional menu, Tools|Account Settings My Tools menu does not include Account Settings. In the new Application Menu, [≡]|Options|Account Settings My Options menu does not include Account Settings. Just like it no longer includes Composition. I believe Composition disappeared with an update, as the graphics changed at the same time. We seem to be looking at different programs. I'm using Tb v 45.1.1. What are you using? Re my last: I copied it from Tb, which I find more convenient for composing. This has been true of most of my posts. In the document I copied, the paragraphs were formatted in the usual fashion. When pasted, the formatting of the first and last sections disappeared, though the formatting of the middle section was preserved as copied. I am repeatedly mystified by computers. Why was most of the formatting was lost in this copy/paste, but not all of it? Poltergeists? Does this make any more sense to you than it does to me? Matt said

I started on Wang Minis using MVS. Moved to mainframes in the mid 1980s. But I have been using windows since V2. With that comes Dos and lots of it But I am apparently the young one here. I am but 55. And I will continue teaching you haw to use your computer as your past long post makes it obvious you do not know how to. Ctrl+C copies Ctrl+V Pastes. That is fundamental information you must have to use windows because it works in all sorts of places where there is no menu or buttons to click, like text boxes on web pages. Then there is the print screen button on your keyboard. Takes a screen shot that can be pasted into other applications. It sounds to me from all your troubles and hangs that you have set the levels on your security software too high and they are interfering with basic functionality of the machine.

Zenos said

I've booted my Windows version, and here is a screenshot showing the menu open at Tools|Options. I am guessing that your condition means you might have trouble finding things in menus if the menu is adjusted or altered. Mine will probably look different to yours as I have a large number of add-ons which add entries to the menus. But "Options" is certainly there.

PS I just found your screenshot. Your left pane is very different from mine. It contains a number of things which mine does not, including Options

It happened again! Except this time formatting was lost from the entire document. Do you know what is going on?

Formatting is preserved when I paste to Open Office. The loss of formatting seems to be restricted to this site

I am bowing out. I really don't think this mode of communication is going to be productive.

I must apologise because I have misread your reply. But whilst I was trying to show you "Options", you can also find "Account Settings" in the Tools menu. It's just above "Options".

Your reply is a challenging mix of taking what is written to you literally, on the one hand, and on the other, you not quite following what has been written.

I hadn't intended to ask you to look for the word "Account" - we are talking about accounts in the abstract.

In Thunderbird, if you right-click on "brookej@xmission.com", which is your email account, a pop-up menu will appear, in which you can select the account's properties.

Who has suggested that you have a "Thunderbird account"? This is a common misunderstanding. People often fail to differentiate between the program being used to work with their email (which might be Thunderbird), and the service that actually provides their email accounts (with which Thunderbird has no connection at all.)

This site uses its own formatting rules. Use the B and I buttons provided for bold and italic respectively, and the other two buttons for lists. Imported formatting will on the whole not be understood by this site's software.

Using these we can do bold, italic, and both together.

We can have

• Bulleted list items
• Bulleted list items

and

1. Numbered list items
2. Numbered list items

It's just too painful to try to write material elsewhere then paste it here and and expect it to retain its formatting.

My Thunderbird will appear different to yours because I am using a number of add-ons, some of which create extra entries in the drop-down menus. You and I may also have different styles in place, meaning different colours and typefaces.

Anyway, did you find your missing messages in the "Deleted" folders?