Thunderbird Community Forum

Every now and then a folder flag will change to the drafts flag/icon, it seems to be a random occurrence which can happen to any sub-folder. Up until the most recent Thunderbird upgrade I had a working extension called FolderFlags which allowed me to go into the Folder properties and change it back but that extension no longer works with the latest version of Thunderbird and there is no alternative extension. How do I change the flag back to it showing as an ordinary sub-folder in my Inbox instead of Drafts? As an interim measure I've created a new sub-folder and copied the emails from the old into the new but that's not ideal at all. I hope somebody will create an updated extension but has anyone any other suggestions please?

I have used Thunderbird for decades with no problem. On a new Windows 11 machine, though, I am having a problem. I am running 128.4.2esr (64-bit) and just reinstalled it, but keeping the profile folder.

When I start Thunderbird, it should open to mail, specifically a unified inbox and various other mailboxes below. Instead, usually, it is blank. Other reopened tabs correctly display their title and content. See screenshot.

Thunderbird works correctly if I start it in troubleshooting mode, but at this point my few add-ons are disabled. (Quicktext, Compact Headers, dark theme.) See screenshot, lightly redacted.

With Thunderbird running, in its bad mode, selecting "mail" brings up the same blank page. Also, "calendar" shows a correct list of my calendars but will not display their content. However, "address book" works, showing my address book correctly.

If I am lucky or patient -- waiting for the mail tab to potentially come to life -- Thunderbird occasionally works and, if it does, stays fine for days, as long as I don't close it. What could be going on and what should I try doing?

Thanks for any and all help.

Can someone explain why the emails I write are still spell-checked, even though I have unchecked "Check spelling before sending message" and "Check spelling continuously" in "Settings" countless times? Even the Thunderbird add-on "Replywithheader" still checks spelling, even though I have unchecked "spell-check" there too. I don't want spell-checking, but I can't get away from it! It really bothers me.

Open in Conversation no longer an option in Thunderbird 128.5.2esr. The shortcut, shift control O, does not work anymore either.

Is there an add-on that will restore this essential bit of functionality?

In Outlook it is possible to have the favorites fixed in top of the folder pane column. This is very handy when moving emails from the inbox to often used folders which fall outside the displayed part of the folder pane. (You don't have to scroll back if you want to display the content of the inbox). I cannot find a way how I could do this in Thunderbird. Is there a way to fix favorite folders in top of the folder pane?

This question was asked 10 years ago but I can't find where a fix was ever found for the latest version of TB. I would really like to keep the favorite folders in sight while scrolling down through the other folders I've created.

Is there an add-on for this? I searched without finding one.

I keep installing the Add-on to customize the message body toolbar. Unfortunately, the toolbar returns after a while. Now I can't seem to find the Add-on to customize it.

Any ideas? James

I just want to put in a request to correct whatever code issues that stopped the plugin xPunge from working starting with TB 140.0.1. I upgraded to this version without knowing there would be this issue. Rather than roll back, I was hoping it would be something that would be resolved quickly, as I know there has been a lot of work on the code for compacting folders recently. I like to keep my folders in good condition, emptying the trash and compacting folders regularly throughout the day. That is a very tedious process when you have four different accounts. xPunge solved that issue nicely. Thanks for the consideration. The bug report is at https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1977840.

I couldn't find this in any forum (other than some very old threads that are no longer applicable or relevant), and I couldn't find an extension/add-on that does that either (or rather, I did find one, but it's discontinued and not compatible with current Thunderbird), but I want to store only the plain-text part of multipart messages (text + HTML) that I receive, deleting the HTML part.

The reason for this is that I need to save disk space. I'm a digital hoarder, and I archive every relevant email message I receive (I only don't store spam that escapes through the cracks and reaches me, and such disposable messages as 2FA login codes and the like). I have several sound reasons to do that, but old messages have been useful to me as reference countless times. I have about 86,000 emails stored, sorted into a variety of message folders by topic, correspondent, etc. Some date as far back as 1996, having survived lots of account, email client, and hardware migrations through diligent backups and restores.

This results in a very large disk usage, and I must minimize it, for both space itself and backup time reasons. And the difference in size can be dramatic. Just one newsletter that I'm subscribed to sends me 3-4 messages a day, of which I'll probably keep two, but each full message is about 120–150 kB. Stripped of the HTML (and still totally readable and functional), that drops to just 10–12 kB. Now multiply that difference by the volume in one year.

I'm testing and evaluating Thunderbird to replace my current email client, which is excellent and designed for power users, but also very buggy, they're slow to fix the bugs, and this is getting on my nerves. That's why I'm looking for an alternative, and so far, Thunderbird is doing an excellent job in ticking off the list of features I need (and passed my message import tests from the old mailer with flying colors), except for this one feature, which can be a dealbreaker.

Any suggestions? Thank you very much in advance.

Upon opening Thunderbird on a Mac (OS 26.5) the program posted a window requesting a password in order to add a new tool to the application. Unfortunately we have lost the password and the program insists it needs the password to continue. An option is offered to 'Ignore', but pressing this button does not launch Thunderbird, rather it sets up some Mozilla 'thingy' operating in the background (the Thunderbird icon in the dock is active) which can be terminated by Force Quitting the process. The thing is, Thunderbird is now unavailable at this point due to the new tool that could not be added to the application.

Do add-on settings get backed up when backing up a profile? I always have to manually install my add-ons when reinstalling a profile. I have one add-on that is a pain to set back up (Identity Chooser), and I have assumed the settings for it are lost.

I'm trying to get the calendar app working in a new Thunderbird installation. Here are my notes on what I tried: https://addons.thunderbird.net/en-us/thunderbird/addon/lightning-calendar-tabs/versions/ Download lightning_calendar_tabs-3.8-tb.xpi (latest version) to C:\Users\ken\Downloads In Thunderbird: Tools --> Add-ons --> Gear icon --> Install add-on from file --> C:\Users\ken\Downloads --> lightning_calendar_tabs-3.8-tb.xpi "about:addons Lightning Calendar Tabs could not be installed because it is not compatible with Thunderbird 144.0.1." Any suggestions?

Greetings! I read everywhere that we must install the Lightning add-on to use the calendar feature in Thunderbird. But when I search for this add-on, I get a bazillion options, none of which appears Lightning. There is something called Lightning Calendar Tabs that keeps coming up. Is this it? Doesn't seem so.

Where can one download/install the Lightning add-on?

Thank you.

Suddenly messages have disappeared from all folders; all I see is No messages found.

I tried Repair Folder. It appeared to work, it ran for several minutes on my Inbox, but that didn't help.

I discovered that if I run in Troubleshoot mode that all messages appear, but when I close Thunderbird and relaunch, which opens without Troubleshoot mode, that all messages have again disappeared.

I'm running 128.11.0esr with windows 10.

I am finally making the move to ditch Microsoft Outlook for good and use Thunderbird as my daily driver for all my email needs. One of the things I did appreciate about MS Outlook is that it has a setting where if you've opened up an email and either delete it or move it to a sub-folder, you can set it so that the program will open either the next or the previous email in your list automatically so that you don't have to go back to the main view every time.

I've tried searching the support forums to see if such a feature exists in Thunderbird but I have not yet been lucky in finding any recent information. Does such a feature exist or has someone written an extension that can do this?

Now the Message Header Customizer I was sent to about a week ago is no longer compatible with Thunderbird 149.0.

Is there another somewhere I can install?

James