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Open message tab has a giant, blank bar at top with nothing displayed, wasting my screen space.

  • 6 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 4 views
  • Last reply by sfhowes

John Reagan
John Reagan

I'm using version 73.0b2. I'm used to having a grey bar at the top of an opened email. The bar contained sender info and some other useful information. (Used to be that we could minimize this, but, sadly, that functionality was taken away some time ago.) Now the bar is even deeper, using up a lot of vertical screen space, and totally blank. I updated to version 73.0b2 to try and fix the problem and it didn't work. Now we've even lost the use of ctrl-plus & minus to adjust text size in the message. Am I missing something or should I just try to find an older version to re-install?

I'm using version 73.0b2. I'm used to having a grey bar at the top of an opened email. The bar contained sender info and some other useful information. (Used to be that we could minimize this, but, sadly, that functionality was taken away some time ago.) Now the bar is even deeper, using up a lot of vertical screen space, and totally blank. I updated to version 73.0b2 to try and fix the problem and it didn't work. Now we've even lost the use of ctrl-plus & minus to adjust text size in the message. Am I missing something or should I just try to find an older version to re-install?
Attached screenshots

Modified by John Reagan

Chosen solution

So, started playing around with the add-ons. Was running Compact Header, but that obviously wasn't working, so removed it. Made no difference. Was also running Lightning (I guess this is the calendar feature of TB?). Disabled it and, voila, header data is back.

Since I don't use the calendar I guess it doesn't matter, but I've wondered if it might be useful someday. (Probably not until it gets ported to mobile. Wish they'd port all of TB to mobile.)

Now to see if I can get Compact Header to work.

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John Reagan
John Reagan Question owner

I'm not really known for my patience, so I went ahead and downloaded the install file for TB version 68.4.2 and installed it. When I ran it, a message popped up saying that it couldn't use my profile because it came from a newer version. Checked the help topics and they said to use the profile manager (thunderbird.exe -p in the command line). Did that but when I choose my profile it loops me right back to the same error message telling me I can't use it. Kinda stumped here. Any ideas?

How do I get off the beta update list? The empty grey bar is annoying, but I have to be able to adjust font size. My eyes make it very hard to read small fonts.

Modified by John Reagan

sfhowes
sfhowes
  • Top 10 Contributor

I don't see the original problem in TB 73, but you can try safe mode to see if it reoccurs (hold Shift when you launch TB), and also make sure View/Headers is set to Normal.

As for trying to use a TB 73 profile with TB 68, try this from the command line: thunderbird.exe -p --allow downgrade

John Reagan
John Reagan Question owner

thunderbird.exe -p --allow downgrade"


Thanks, @sfhowes, but that didn't work either. Sigh.

So I reinstalled TB 73 and can at least access my profile. Now back to the original problem -- a blank, space hogging bar at the top of every opened email. (The ctrl-+ adjustment of text size seems to be back with this fresh install, so maybe that's okay now.) Here's a fresh snapshot of the issue.

John Reagan
John Reagan Question owner

@sfhowes Did the safe mode thing (hold shift when starting) and now the grey bar has the email addresses, subject line and utility buttons back. Still can't minimize the bar, but it's a step in the right direction. Tried starting with and without safe mode and it only gets it right in safe mode. Any ideas how to fix it?

Thanks for the help!

John Reagan
John Reagan Question owner

Chosen Solution

So, started playing around with the add-ons. Was running Compact Header, but that obviously wasn't working, so removed it. Made no difference. Was also running Lightning (I guess this is the calendar feature of TB?). Disabled it and, voila, header data is back.

Since I don't use the calendar I guess it doesn't matter, but I've wondered if it might be useful someday. (Probably not until it gets ported to mobile. Wish they'd port all of TB to mobile.)

Now to see if I can get Compact Header to work.

sfhowes
sfhowes
  • Top 10 Contributor

I have Lightning enabled in 73b2, and the Header Pane appears correctly. But there is a Known Issue with Lightning not updating to the corresponding 73b2 version unless a preference is modified:

https://www.thunderbird.net/en-US/thunderbird/73.0beta/releasenotes/

The other possibilities are that your theme is incompatible with 73b2, or the layout is broken. Safe mode applies the Default theme and the standard layout, besides disabling extensions like Lightning. If the header is still not visible with the correct Lightning and the default theme, the layout can be rebuilt from the safe mode prompt by checking 'reset toolbars and controls' and clicking 'make changes and restart'.

I applied the same theme as yours, Fresh Green Leaves, and it does not affect the header pane, so it's probably the Lightning version or the layout.