perhaps if you closed some of your open tabs you would not think they were repeated. Try right clicking and select close all other tabs from the menu.

Excuse me, but I don`t understand what you mean by "close some of my open tabs".

I currently have about 60, including many duplicates.

"right-clicking" : where? "Select close all other tabs from the menu" : where do I see this proposition and what does it do?

For your information I am also trying to find why my Thunderbird often just blocks until I have a message saying do I want to wait for it or close it. When I close it I get the message that Microsoft will get the message*

Excuse me, but I don`t understand what you mean by "close some of my open tabs".

I currently have about 60, including many duplicates.

"right-clicking" : where? "Select close all other tabs from the menu" : where do I see this proposition and what does it do?

For your information I am also trying to find why my Thunderbird often just blocks until I have a message saying do I want to wait for it or close it. When I close it I get the message that Microsoft will get the message*

right click on the tabs bar, just as you would for a browser.

Of course I can click on the tabs bar, but what then? There are currently 67 tabs, including many repeats I have no idea how they got there. I like to keep the messages there because I have not yet dealt with them (after which they may be deleted or moved to an existing folder). Al I want is to select one tab and ask that any other identical tabs should be simply deleted: is this not a simple request?

As a side issue I have no idea whether this plethora of tabs is regularly causing Thunderbird to block until I stop it via the task master.

Each time you double click on an email a tab is opened.

If you double click on the same email N times, N tabs of that same email will be opened. That's how you get repeats. Each tab is independent to each other. Closing one occurrence of "repeats" tab will not close others.

That is how Thunderbird works.

So don't click on emails with a tab already opened. Instead you should go from 1 tab to another.

Suggestion : only double click on Emails that have NOT been marked as read. Because those have been marked as read are very likely have a tab already opened.

Deleted double post

Hi, Pobably time to stop this conversation (or move to direct emails: mine is mike_gerard@bluewin.ch). I understand all that you say. I NEVER like double clicking anything (act in haste, repent at leisure!): I always prefer a single click with the right hand mouse button pressed, in this case giving the option to open a new tab, a new window or (sometimes) a conversation. I like to have a few tabs for "under consideration" messages. Of course, if I forget that a message in a folder (often Inbox) is already in an identical tab, I might reopen it from there because it is quicker than to find the tab. I could ask why an attempt to open in a tab, when there are already one or more identical tabs, it cannot go directly to that existing tab (or at least warn me that there is already an existing tab for it). I still feel that there should be a simple way to ask me, when I want to close an existing tab, if I want to close any identical tabs!

As a last remark, after a very long career in informatics, my judgement is that computer interfaces should allow the user to do things in a manner that he or she likes, rather than being effectively told that it is the programmed interface which forces the user to do it differently. As they say, "be reasonable: do it my way!",

A bit like Big Brother is deciding for you (no reference to any existing entity).

Thanks for all the help, and TTFN.

re :I like to have a few tabs for "under consideration" messages. Of course, if I forget that a message in a folder (often Inbox) is already in an identical tab, I might reopen it from there because it is quicker than to find the tab.

That's understandable. But it does mean you can end up with duplicate tabs open.

re : I could ask why an attempt to open in a tab, when there are already one or more identical tabs, it cannot go directly to that existing tab (or at least warn me that there is already an existing tab for it).

That is a reasonable query and it has been reported as a bug / enhancement request. This is a link if you wanted to know about it. https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=551363

Other methods which can be used to prompt whether something has already been opened: If you open an email in a tab use one of the following: set email with a star so you know it's already been opened in a tab - you can do this on the original email in list or on the opened email in tab - both views show the star. set email with a tag - you can create one for the purpose just call it 'Open in Tab' and then you can remove it once tab is closed. At least you will know whether it's already opened in tab or not.

To easily move through a load of tabs: select any tab then use 'Ctrl'+'Tab' keys to move through the tabs - depress the 'Ctrl' key and keep it depressed whilst you press the 'Tab' key. it may be a lot easier and quicker than trying to click on each to select OR using the <> to move horizontally - when it gets to the end it auto starts from the begining again.

AS aheads up, if you have threads enabled and thread is collapsed then the double click would open all the contained threads in separate tabs. It might not apply to you, but you never know who reads this.