Perhaps you would like to offer you feedback and ideas in the forum dedicated to that. There is a link for that on the help menu. But to save you looking for something you can click here. https://connect.mozilla.org/

I clicked the link, entered in the Search field "Thunderbird. How to re-open closed In Box," but found nothing useful.

Maybe there is no way to do it. That would be lame, but believable. Or maybe the switch is buried a layer or six under some cryptic icon, in which case --- what --- I just need to be more persistent? (Also lame.)

Thanks.

re :After closing the In Box,

The 'Inbox' is a folder in a mail account. It is shown the left Folder Pane.

I'm not sure what you mean by 'closing the Inbox' You just select the folder name to see it's contents.

re :The Tool Bar is not found in the Menu Bar either

Are you talking about the 'Menu Bar' toolbar or the Menu app icon ? The menu app icon has 3 lines If you want to enable the 'Menu Bar' toolbar - Click on 'Menu app icon' and select 'View' > 'Toolbars' and then select 'Menu Bar'

Toad-Hall: Thanks for the answer. What I was asking about is the case when the Folder Pane is also closed. The only indication that I'm in Thunderbird is the Menu Bar at the tip top: Thunderbird/File/Edit/View/Go/Message/ Events & Tasks/Tools/Window/Help.

I think in this case there should be a switch, if not at the top along with items just mentioned, then unfurled beneath, perhaps under View or Window.

In lieu of that, the best solution seems to be to click on the Thunderbird icon in the Dock.

Thanks again.

I clicked the link, entered in the Search field "Thunderbird. How to re-open closed In Box," but found nothing useful.

I have no idea why you would be searching for results in a forum where you were directed to share your ideas about how the applications should work and what you think should be on the menu. That it is not there is self evident.

Maybe there is no way to do it. That would be lame, but believable. Or maybe the switch is buried a layer or six under some cryptic icon, in which case --- what --- I just need to be more persistent? (Also lame.) Thanks.

I thought you might understand when you are told to share your ideas that what you ask is not possible. At least not on Windows which is used by some 95% of Thunderbird users. For the apple contingent we have to guess.

I think in this case there should be a switch, if not at the top along with items just mentioned, then unfurled beneath, perhaps under View or Window.

Then perhaps use the link you were provided with to share your ideas. This in not a site where suggestions or "I think it should" comments are monitored by the development team for future developments.

It is at least 14 years that the dock icon has been used to reopen the three pane window as described here.

https://bugzilla-dev.allizom.org/show_bug.cgi?id=568309#c0

re :What I was asking about is the case when the Folder Pane is also closed. The only indication that I'm in Thunderbird is the Menu Bar at the tip top: Thunderbird/File/Edit/View/Go/Message/ Events & Tasks/Tools/Window/Help.

Ok - I'm with you now. To get to Inbox without using Folder Pane:

Using the 'Menu Bar' toolbar GO > Folder > account name > Inbox (if Inbox has subfolders then you will see additional - select 'Inbox' for second time)

OR if you have recently accessed the Inbox Go > Folder > Recent > Inbox ......but if you have several accounts, that recent Inbox would be the last one selected so you would not know exactly which account until you select it.

If you wanted to open Folder Pane itself via the Menu Bar: View > Layout > Folder Pane

Thank you Toad-Hall.

In the state of play described above, under the Go menu, on my system all items are grayed out except "Recently Closed Tabs." When I scroll to select this item there is nothing in it.

Under the View Menu, Layout is grayed out unless the In Box is already open. It does not serve to open the In Box when it is closed.

I appreciate having more than one way to execute the same command. That is a signature feature of Apple Operating Systems and software for decades. I think my grumble is still valid, because even if the routes you mentioned worked (but they don't) they are too obscure. Under the Go Menu? Under the (sub) Layout menu? Why not under the View or Window Menu --- not as a sub-folder, but as an upper level item: IN BOX (for crying out loud!).

I have resigned myself to getting the In Box back open by clicking the Thunderbird icon in the Dock. It's not intuitive. It is not something to be expected from well-designed software, but it works. Finally, since Eudora (the absolutely best email program ever invented) is no longer an option, Thunderbird remains, a very extremely distant second best.

You really have me quite intrigued about what it is you are seeing.

I find it impossible to not have a mail account name OR one of it's folders selected in the first tab regardless of whether the Folder Pane is displayed or not. The 'Mail' tab is always open on something.

Have you also have disabled the 'Spaces Toolbar' ? Do you see an icon on the far left of the 'Unified toolbar' ? If you click on it does it offer the 'Mail' option? If yes, what happens if you click on it?

Menu Items are not going to be available if you have somehow managed to exit the 'Mail'. Sounds almost like you somehow exited a profile.

Any chance you can post an image of what you are seeing?

You said "After closing the In Box," - how exactly did you achieve this? What are the specific steps you took ? Do you mean you Exited/Closed Thunderbird program?

You mention using Thunderbird 15.5.1 Mac OS, but what version of Thunderbird are you using ?

The dock icon will not (currently) bring back a closed Window pane.

But why are you frequently getting in a situation of needing to recover the Window pane?

Toad-Hall: Thanks for your interest. I goofed in specifying the Thunderbird version. It is Thunderbird 115.5.1. Not 15.5.1. Sorry about that. The Mac OS is 12.7.5 (Monterey).

I’ve attached a pair of merged screen shots. At the top is what it looks like with Thunderbird open, and the “pane” with mailboxes (In Box at the Top) and recently received messages at the right. This is the state in which I spend the most time in Thunderbird. Just sorting received email. Next most frequent is the composing/sending window.

At the bottom is what it looks like after clicking the red close dot at upper left.

I don’t use tabs unless I have no choice. I prefer windows.

I don’t know what are the Spaces Toolbar or the Unified toolbar.

I did not close/exit Thunderbird. As mentioned above, all I did to get the different windows was to click the red close box. After doing so, I sometimes want to have it back open (which is what motivated this whole dialog). It seems to me this should be possible by some command under the various Menu options. But the only way I’ve found to get it to happen is by clicking the Thunderbird icon on the Dock. As you see, that is painlessly achieved, given my Dock configuration.

Wayne Mery: As you may see in my very recent reply to Toad-Hall, my experience is that the Doc icon DOES bring back the just-closed window. I’ve not found any other way to do it.

Thanks for chiming in.

Being a geezer, I have fond memories of Pre-Intel macs whose OS’s sported Title Bars on all windows. Double-clicking the title bar collapsed everything except the title bar, which could be slid into any position on the Desktop. It was a very elegant way to keep lots of things open, easily accessible, and visually well-organized.

I think it was with the advent of OS X - - - that they unfortunately discontinued this feature. A third party company offered “Window Shade” as a “Plugin.” I have it installed on my old G5 (OS 10.4.11). That was the best OS of Apple, in my opinion, for lots of reasons.

On my laptop, I fumble along with the newer much less user-friendly abominations of software design.

re :I don’t know what are the Spaces Toolbar or the Unified toolbar.

The 'Unified Toolbar': The top area at the top which contains the 3 dots on far left, Global Search in middle and Menu app icon on far right.

It has replaced the 'Mail Toolbar'. It are can be customised. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/unified-toolbar

The 'Spaces Toolbar': The icon just to the right of the green dot has the items normally located on the 'Spaces Toolbar'. It contains a quick link to various options eg: Address Book. When enabled it's located on the left side adjacent to 'Folder Pane'.

More info: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/getting-started-thunderbird-main-window-supernova

re :You said "After closing the In Box," I did not close/exit Thunderbird. As mentioned above, all I did to get the different windows was to click the red close box.

OK..understood - you have 'closed' the window, but not app because at the top I can see 'Thunderbird' is still mentioned next to 'File'. If you click on the X equivalent in a Windows OS it actually closes the program.

Normally, you would expect to click on 'File' and select 'Open' and there should be an option to open new window. What do you see as menu options if you click on 'File' and select 'Open'?

It seems people now click on the Thunderbird icon in the dock - on the left side which shows Thunderbird as open and looks like minimised. If Windows OS users minimise then that's how they get it back.

There used to be shortcut keys 'Cmd+1' to open Mail and News Accounts - does it work for you? Mind you that might not be working as I found this request: https://connect.mozilla.org/t5/discussions/thunderbird-bring-back-command-1-for-the-mac-not-sure-what-it/m-p/48548 Maybe you might like to say you would like that open back as well - assuming it's not working for you.

Mind you what happens if you use 'Cmd + Shift + B' - it's the command to open the Address Book, but that's no longer a separate window - It might focus on the Address Book in a new tab, BUT....so does it invoke opening Thunderbird ?

I'm adding to this question since I've had exactly the same problem. (I'm using Mac Sequoia 15.0.1, Thunderbird 128.4.3esr (64-bit) that is up to date).

On a Mac you can close all the Thunderbird windows yet leave the application open, i.e., the menu bar can still be accessed when no windows are open. When Thunderbird is in this state, there is no way to directly open the Mail & Newsgroups window from within Thunderbird. As was said, it's possible to click the Thunderbird icon in the Mac dock to open the window. But unlike Windows, a fair number of Mac users may never use the dock, since there are other ways to start/activate applications that are often easier, especially if one prefers using the keyboard. (There was quite a fuss when Apple introduced the dock by many users who found that it would get in the way when doing certain things, such as trying to grab the bottom of a window that is close to the bottom of the screen.)

I rarely open the dock and have been looking for the missing menu item to open the Mailbox window for a long time, only discovering that it could be opened using the dock today when Google Gemini posted a note at the top of a search suggesting it. Until now I've resorted to quitting Thunderbird and reopening it. All that is to say that using the icon in the dock to perform such a basic action in Thunderbird does seem like a bug. I think that whoever decided that the dock would be the way to do this was taking a cue from the Windows version where reopening a window using the dock is much more natural.

To make matters worse, there actually is a round-a-bout way to open the Mailbox window using Thunderbird's menus and/or shortcuts. If you open a new message (by using File–>New–>Message or Command-N), a mail composition window will be opened. After that, the Tools menu will contain Mail & Newsgroups as the first item (and also show Command-1 as a shortcut). Either of those methods will open the Mailbox window. The reason I say that it's "worse" is because last night, I must have had a message open when I decide to try again to find a menu item to reopen the Mailbox window and did find it in the Tools menu. I thought "How could I possibly have missed that??" Then today, when I needed to reopen the Mailbox window, I knew to go to the Tools menu…but it wasn't there! (The shortcut Command-1 also won't work unless the command is shown in a menu.) Very confusing and very frustrating! (Screen shots of each state are attached.) Anyway, that led to my Google search which finally led me here.

So, at some point, someone decided that it would be good to have a menu item in the Tools menu to open the Mailbox window. But the idea didn't get carried over to the the items of the Tools menu when it is shown with no open windows, even though it would probably make more sense than being available when a message window is open. That's the reason I consider this to be a bug.

I think this helps explain the confusion that occurred between the people who discussed it in this series of posts. I expect that I'll open a bug report on Bugzilla, but hope this helps explain some of misunderstandings that occurred, as well as helping others who encounter the same issue themselves.

IIRC there is already a bug report