re :each email account is separated by all the folders associated with the above account

That is called normal, you should be seeing the folders that belong to an account, below that account and slightly indented.

To the left of the mail account name (usually email address), there should be a small black triangle arrow. click on that small black arrow to collapse /expand to see /hide folders for that mail account. Much easier to do a one click collapse to reduce scrolling.

Thunderbird remembers the state the Folder Pane was in when you exited Thunderbird. If you want it always to display just the mail account names when you start up then you must collapse all the folders for each mail account before exiting.

There are a couple of useful display settngs that you might find useful. for example, if you have a handful of folders which you use more often, you could select them as a 'Favourite' folder to display in a 'Favourite' view.

Right click on a folder(s) and choose 'Favourite folder'. 'View' > 'Folders' > 'Favourite' OR 'Menu icon' > 'Folders' > 'Favourite' If you do not want a particular folder set as favourite, right click on folder and select the checked 'Favourite folder' to uncheck.

You can use this to quickly locate unread mail which might be in various folders in various mail accounts.. 'View' > 'Folders' > 'Unread' OR 'Menu icon' > 'Folders' > 'Unread'

To get back to seeing everthing: 'View' > 'Folders' > 'All' OR 'Menu icon' > 'Folders' > 'All'

Thank you Todd, especially for such a quick response. I know I am not explaining it very well, but to get my four email accounts to line up one right after the other I have to collapse the triangle associated with the account eg. stephenoverlock@sbcglobal.net. I do that for each of my four email accounts and yes they all line up one after the other. However, it also results in the message pane showing no messages but it does show the 'email' 'accounts' and 'advanced features' pane. So to read my mail for stephenoverlock@sbc.... I click on stephenoverlock@sbc...and all my folders for that account open below and below those folders are now my other three mail accounts. I have used Thunderbird for many years and I know I was able to line up all four email accounts, click on each and read it's messages without the other screen showing up, and the folders remaining below the four email addresses. Must of changed something, but cannot figure out what. Not losing anything, just different and not as user friendly as I am use to.

thank you. Steve O.

Sorry, I see it's Toad-Hall, thanks for your help. I have tweaked the settings under view toolbar, layout and folders and think I am back to where I was. Maybe the accounts never were right next to each other, anyway it looks good now. thanks a lot.