Thunderbird Community Forum

I’d like to request a feature for Mozilla Thunderbird on Ubuntu/Linux:

A native system tray (AppIndicator) integration with the ability to: • Run in the background without keeping a window open • Minimize to tray instead of the taskbar/dock • Option to start minimized to tray on system startup • Show unread mail count directly in the tray icon

Right now, users rely on third-party tools like Birdtray, which work but feel like a workaround rather than a seamless experience. A built-in solution would improve usability significantly especially for those who prefer a clean desktop while keeping Thunderbird always running in the background. I think this feature would bring Thunderbird closer to the behavior users expect from modern messaging/email clients on Linux desktops. Would love to see this considered in future updates!

I tried the Toolbar fixes in this forum and got the menu to show up, thank you. (Any menu in Compose mode had disappeared. Actually, both Firefox and Thunderbird icons on desktop and Taskbar had disappeared as well, and I had to reinstate shortcuts. This may or may not be pertinent.)

But when I try to add "Send" to the menu, using customize, the "Send" icon is nowhere to be found as an option, so I cannot add it to the Toolbar in Composition mode. "Send" is grayed out in all bold textmenus. If I use Ctrl-Enter, message does get sent. Using Windows 10, still. Perhaps this is an upgrade issue?

I can't turn off 'threading' of messages. I hate that feature. I'll do my own damn 'threading'. Now the 'search' function is useless. Help me turn off 'threading' I run Thunderbird which I like, on my HP Windows 11 laptop.

"Threading" cannot be 'unchecked' in the dropdown menu.

Is there a way to change the default font color for replies in Thunderbird? Nothing I do works, and it is a real pain to have to manually change the color every time I reply to an email.

Thanks.

Using Thunderbird version 140.8.0esr on Windows 10 . Been trying to reorganize local folders. Thunderbird is NOT correctly alphabetizing local folders. I've beaten myself to death googling for answers, and nearly every entry claims you can right click on the account name and select "Reset Folder Order" and it will take care of it.

there IS no such option! Anywhere!

Other answers claim you can drag the folders manually into the correct order. Not happening!

There must be a real answer to this issue. Where do I find it? And please don't advise upgrading to Windows 11 - this CPU/motherboard won't support 11.

Within the last 6 weeks I migrated to Win11. I migrated my apps that would work and Thunderbird also. Got a recent update of TB. Finally MOSTLY disabled the bloody awful thread thing in TB (seems to be folder specific??!).

But ever since running on Win 11, I cannot stop TB from marking my messages as read even if I have never opened them. Even If I never use another device to connect with email. I try things and sometimes it works for like a day and then poof! : any email that comes in is read as per TB.

It is killing me. I run my biz on email and if it is unread I give it low priority. But turns out it is marked read without any action from me. I get a LOT of emails.

Really! I do no want to migrate to another email program.

I am fluent with regedit and can hack a .ini file. Point me in the right direction please.

help!

I'm running windows 11 and Thunderbird 140.8.1, and I'd like to see beside each folder name a count of the number of read emails, total number of emails, And the size of the folder . How do I turn this on?

Regards, Robeert Scott

I have lost the send, attach buttons on my new emails? not sure what I touched.

I can recieve emails and reply but when I want to write a new email I am not able to send it as the button to send is gone.

also the New Message button is gone.

I already have View > Sort by > Date is selected, View > Sort by > Descending selected, and thread sorting set in settings. See screenshots. Threads sorting so newest is at the bottom, they should be at the top. General emails are sorting properly, newest at the top.

I’ve been troubleshooting the compose‑window font behavior in Thunderbird and discovered something that seems inconsistent from a user‑experience standpoint. After resetting all the font mappings (Proportional, Serif, Sans‑serif, Monospace, Minimum font size, etc.), I noticed that the font used in the message body can never match the font used in the Subject line or the rest of the Thunderbird interface. The Subject line and UI elements use Segoe UI, which is the standard Windows system font. However, Segoe UI does not appear anywhere in Thunderbird’s compose‑font dropdown lists, even though it’s clearly installed and used throughout the rest of the application. This creates a confusing situation: - The interface uses one set of fonts (Windows UI fonts like Segoe UI) - The compose window uses a completely different set (web‑safe/message‑safe fonts like Times New Roman, Arial, Courier New) - The user cannot choose the same font for both areas, even if the font is installed on the system - The dropdown lists in different parts of Thunderbird do not match, even though they appear to be selecting fonts from the same computer From a user perspective, it would make much more sense if all font dropdowns in Thunderbird used the same unified list of system‑available fonts, so the user could choose consistently across the entire app. Right now, the separation between UI fonts and message‑body fonts isn’t obvious, and it leads to confusion when trying to restore defaults or match the appearance of the Subject line. I’m posting this to ask whether this limitation is intentional, a technical constraint, or something that could be improved in future versions. A unified, system‑wide font list would make the experience much clearer and more predictable for users. Thanks for any clarification Steve

This is more of a suggestion than a question.

I have been enjoying Thunderbird's Email account immensely, however there is one area of the interface that drives me a bit batty.

I really like using the Unified inbox, so that I can see all of the new emails from all of the accounts connected to the interface. However, I would love to see some kind of change to the interface that would reduce the duplicate notifications I get when new messages get downloaded.

When a new message comes in I get multiple notifications for it, one in the unified inbox and one in the local folders (two notifs for the same message). Additionally if I delete a new email without opening it I get notifications for trash and even spam (I really have no desire to see those ever again, they were deleted or put in spam for reasons). As you can imagine if this happens with the three or four accounts attached (especially after a few days without opening it), it can get overwhelming trying to sort how many new emails I REALLY have.

If there was a way to modify the code involved to only report the unified (or individual) inbox rather than it and the local folders and trash and spam, it would be even better than it already is.

Thank you for your time! I hope this is a suggestion that can be integrated in upcoming updates.

Sincerely, DDRandall

This is a similar problem to other threads, but I haven't found my solution there.

(1) Opened Thunderbird (128.8.1, 64 bit, Windows 10) this morning, and got "No messages found" in every folder, including Local Folders.

(2) Thunderbird still retrieves New (unread) messages, audio-announces them, and the header appears in the Message Header pane. But once they are read, the message header no longer appears.

(3) In Troubleshoot Mode, all messages are still there and visible. Turned all extensions and hardware acceleration off, and using the standard system theme. Problem is still there in normal mode.

(4) If I run Search, it finds all relevant messages, and I'm able to display them.

It could be a bug in the program, or I may have just accidentally changed some setting that's causing this -- but it sure would be nice to get everything back and visible. Help, please!