Thunderbird Community Forum

I am having some trouble getting Thunderbird to display all my messages. I tried troubleshooting mode and found that all the messages were displayed. Restarting in normal mode having disabled my extensions and hardware acceleration, the problem returned and I could not see most of my messages. So I need to make the other changes that troubleshooting mode makes. These are described at https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/troubleshoot-mode-thunderbird as

• Window and sidebar size and position settings (described in terms of Firefox)
• userChrome and userContent customizations ; see userChrome.css and .js and userContent are unsupported

I do not understand what these are and how I can set them for routine use. Can someone point me to an explanation? Thanks.

As noted in my question something odd has appeared in my Thunderbird Email. Can someone help me get back to all English. I double checked my TB settings and it appears they are all set correctly.

Thanks, Brad

I've moved thunderbird between windows 10 computers several times without any issues in the past, but I'm having problems now.

My old PC is running windows 10 with the most up to date TB. New machine has windows 11.

In the past, it was just a case of installing TB on the new machine and replacing the profile folder there with the one from the old machine.

Now when I do this I get "your thunderbird profile could not be loaded. It may be missing or inaccessible"

Ay help with this woould be much appreciated

I would like to be able to click the little fire icon on an email in my "list of emails" window to Mark as Spam, then have Thunderbird automatically move it to my Bulk folder after that.

I looked to see if I could set up a filter to do that, but don't see "Marked as Spam" as one of the selection criteria.

Is there a setting to accomplish what I'm looking for?

Hello there,

I am using Thunderbird 128.11.1esr on macOS Ventura 13.7.6 (OCLP) and would like to have all my accounts displayed in one unified inbox:

https://assets-prod.sumo.prod.webservices.mozgcp.net/media/uploads/images/2025-06-16-23-42-32-0314df.png

In the past all my accounts relied on pop3, but now of them changed to imap only, which now shows up like this:

https://assets-prod.sumo.prod.webservices.mozgcp.net/media/uploads/images/2025-06-16-23-43-14-1d6721.png

Is there a way for me to have just one inbox folder? I set it up like this ages ago but can't recall which steps need to be taken to receive the desired view.

If I choose View > Folders > Unified folders I get this:

https://assets-prod.sumo.prod.webservices.mozgcp.net/media/uploads/images/2025-06-16-23-45-37-4f8cd1.png

Thanks in advance!

Transfer Thunderbird email and data to another computer. I have attempted to transfer my email data from / to Windows 10 computers. The instructions seem straightforward but so far I have not been able to bring up the "new" computer after copying / transferring the data. I have a Linux laptop I could transfer to, but the versions don't match and I'm not sure it would work anyway. Any help or direction to instructions (I thought I have looked everywhere) would be great. Thanks

Using Thunderbird 128.5.0esr (64-bit) on 128.5.0esr (64-bit). In calendar view, I see all my appointments with the background colour of the calendar they are in (see attached). In my inbox view, I have the Events tab open at the right. All day events have the background colour of the appropriate calendar, but ones with timings have a dot. (see attached). How do I make ALL calendar events have the background colour of the associated calendar in the mail events tab??

I thought this problem was resolved last month. Today, all my historic emails have disappeared but are visible in safe/troubleshoot mode.

I have done the following:

1) Disabled all extensions. 2)Themes are set to default. 3) force updates through Help - "About" .

It seems that all new emails are being shown in TB but all historic ones have diappeared except for in safe mode.

Please could someon help. Thank you so much

Sorry if this is in the wrong place. Did not seem to be an obvious one for my question.

I go tired of the Outlook web client always trying to us AI to assist me. Installed Thunderbird ver 128.6.1 esr on a Ubuntu 24.04 system running Cinnamon desktop. All components are up-to-date (or should be as auto-update is on). System details at end of message.

Screens for mail and tasks are rock solid. The calendar jitters up and down rapidly small amounts. Not the entire page. Just the part where the calendar is displayed. Makes things a tad blurry and is tiring to look at.

Any ideas on how to resolve?

TIA

System:

 Kernel: 6.8.0-52-generic arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 13.3.0 clocksource: tsc
 Desktop: Cinnamon v: 6.0.4 tk: GTK v: 3.24.41 wm: Muffin v: 6.0.1 vt: 2 dm: GDM3 v: 46.2
   Distro: Cinnamon 24.04.1 LTS (Noble Numbat) base: Ubuntu

Machine:

 Type: Desktop Mobo: Micro-Star model: B550M PRO-VDH WIFI (MS-7C95) v: 1.0
   serial: <superuser required> uuid: <superuser required> UEFI: American Megatrends LLC. v: 2.L0
   date: 07/18/2024

CPU:

 Info: 8-core model: AMD Ryzen 7 5800X bits: 64 type: MT MCP smt: enabled arch: Zen 3+ rev: 2
   cache: L1: 512 KiB L2: 4 MiB L3: 32 MiB
 Speed (MHz): avg: 2589 high: 3681 min/max: 2200/4850 boost: enabled cores: 1: 2200 2: 2880
   3: 3072 4: 2200 5: 2880 6: 2200 7: 3681 8: 2200 9: 3191 10: 2880 11: 3046 12: 2200 13: 2200
   14: 2200 15: 2200 16: 2200 bogomips: 121608
 Flags: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 sse4a ssse3 svm

Graphics:

 Device-1: NVIDIA GA106 [GeForce RTX 3060] vendor: eVga.com. driver: nvidia v: 550.120
   arch: Ampere pcie: speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 16 ports: active: none off: HDMI-A-1
   empty: DP-1,DP-2,DP-3 bus-ID: 2b:00.0 chip-ID: 10de:2503 class-ID: 0300
 Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 21.1.11 with: Xwayland v: 23.2.6 driver: X: loaded: nouveau
   unloaded: fbdev,modesetting,vesa failed: nvidia gpu: nvidia,nvidia-nvswitch display-ID: :1
   screens: 1
 Screen-1: 0 s-res: 2560x1440 s-dpi: 94 s-size: 692x393mm (27.24x15.47") s-diag: 796mm (31.33")
 Monitor-1: HDMI-0 res: 2560x1440 hz: 60 dpi: 93 size: 697x392mm (27.44x15.43")
   diag: 800mm (31.48") modes: N/A
 API: EGL v: 1.5 hw: drv: nvidia platforms: device: 0 drv: nvidia device: 2 drv: swrast
   surfaceless: drv: nvidia x11: drv: nvidia inactive: gbm,wayland,device-1
 API: OpenGL v: 4.6.0 compat-v: 4.5 vendor: nvidia mesa v: 550.120 glx-v: 1.4 direct-render: yes
   renderer: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060/PCIe/SSE2

Audio:

 Device-1: Creative Labs CA0132 Sound Core3D [Sound Blaster Recon3D / Z-Series BlasterX AE-5 Plus]
   driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel pcie: speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 04:00.0 chip-ID: 1102:0012
   class-ID: 0403
 Device-2: NVIDIA GA106 High Definition Audio vendor: eVga.com. driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel
   pcie: speed: 16 GT/s lanes: 16 bus-ID: 2b:00.1 chip-ID: 10de:228e class-ID: 0403
 Device-3: AMD Starship/Matisse HD Audio vendor: Micro-Star MSI driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel
   pcie: speed: 16 GT/s lanes: 16 bus-ID: 2d:00.4 chip-ID: 1022:1487 class-ID: 0403
 API: ALSA v: k6.8.0-52-generic status: kernel-api
 Server-1: PipeWire v: 1.0.5 status: active with: 1: pipewire-pulse status: active
   2: wireplumber status: active 3: pipewire-alsa type: plugin

Network:

 Device-1: MEDIATEK MT7922 802.11ax PCI Express Wireless Network Adapter driver: mt7921e v: kernel
   pcie: speed: 5 GT/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 29:00.0 chip-ID: 14c3:0616 class-ID: 0280
 IF: wlo1 state: up mac: <filter>
 Device-2: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8211/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet vendor: Micro-Star MSI
   RTL8111/8168/8411 driver: r8169 v: kernel pcie: speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1 port: f000
   bus-ID: 2a:00.0 chip-ID: 10ec:8168 class-ID: 0200
 IF: enp42s0 state: down mac: <filter>
 IF-ID-1: surfshark_ipv6 state: unknown speed: N/A duplex: N/A mac: <filter>
 IF-ID-2: surfshark_wg state: unknown speed: N/A duplex: N/A mac: N/A

Bluetooth:

 Device-1: MediaTek Wireless_Device driver: btusb v: 0.8 type: USB rev: 2.1 speed: 480 Mb/s
   lanes: 1 bus-ID: 1-9:7 chip-ID: 0e8d:0616 class-ID: e001 serial: <filter>
 Report: hciconfig ID: hci0 rfk-id: 0 state: down bt-service: enabled,running rfk-block:
   hardware: no software: yes address: <filter>

Drives:

 Local Storage: total: 931.51 GiB used: 171.93 GiB (18.5%)
 ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 vendor: Samsung model: SSD 980 PRO with Heatsink 1TB size: 931.51 GiB
   speed: 63.2 Gb/s lanes: 4 tech: SSD serial: <filter> fw-rev: 5B2QGXA7 temp: 34.9 C scheme: GPT

Partition:

 ID-1: / size: 914.78 GiB used: 171.92 GiB (18.8%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2
 ID-2: /boot/efi size: 1.05 GiB used: 6.1 MiB (0.6%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/nvme0n1p1

Swap:

 ID-1: swap-1 type: file size: 8 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: -2 file: /swap.img

USB:

 Hub-1: 1-0:1 info: hi-speed hub with single TT ports: 10 rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1
   chip-ID: 1d6b:0002 class-ID: 0900
 Device-1: 1-3:2 info: HP HP USB Mass Storage Device type: mass storage driver: usb-storage
   interfaces: 1 rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1 power: 500mA chip-ID: 03f0:5907 class-ID: 0806
   serial: <filter>
 Device-2: 1-6:3 info: Logitech Logi Bolt Receiver type: keyboard,mouse,HID
   driver: hid-generic,hid-multitouch,usbhid interfaces: 4 rev: 2.0 speed: 12 Mb/s lanes: 1
   power: 98mA chip-ID: 046d:c548 class-ID: 0300
 Hub-2: 1-7:4 info: Genesys Logic Hub ports: 4 rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1 power: 100mA
   chip-ID: 05e3:0608 class-ID: 0900
 Device-1: 1-7.1:6 info: Thermaltake 3.9 inch Bar Type TFT LCD Display Module-B type: HID
   driver: hid-generic,usbhid interfaces: 2 rev: 1.1 speed: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1 power: 100mA
   chip-ID: 264a:233d class-ID: 0300 serial: <filter>
 Device-2: 1-8:5 info: Micro Star MYSTIC LIGHT type: HID driver: hid-generic,usbhid
   interfaces: 1 rev: 1.1 speed: 12 Mb/s lanes: 1 power: 500mA chip-ID: 1462:7c95 class-ID: 0300
   serial: <filter>
 Device-3: 1-9:7 info: MediaTek Wireless_Device type: bluetooth driver: btusb interfaces: 3
   rev: 2.1 speed: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1 power: 100mA chip-ID: 0e8d:0616 class-ID: e001 serial: <filter>
 Hub-3: 2-0:1 info: super-speed hub ports: 4 rev: 3.1 speed: 10 Gb/s lanes: 1 chip-ID: 1d6b:0003
   class-ID: 0900
 Hub-4: 3-0:1 info: hi-speed hub with single TT ports: 4 rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1
   chip-ID: 1d6b:0002 class-ID: 0900
 Hub-5: 4-0:1 info: super-speed hub ports: 4 rev: 3.1 speed: 10 Gb/s lanes: 1 chip-ID: 1d6b:0003
   class-ID: 0900

Sensors:

 System Temperatures: cpu: 36.5 C mobo: 32.0 C gpu: nvidia temp: 34 C
 Fan Speeds (rpm): N/A gpu: nvidia fan: 0%

Repos:

 Packages: 2601 pm: dpkg pkgs: 2561 pm: flatpak pkgs: 19 pm: snap pkgs: 21
 No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list
 Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/brave-browser-release.list
   1: deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/brave-browser-archive-keyring.gpg] https: //brave-browser-apt-release.s3.brave.com/ stable main
 Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/onedrive.list
   1: deb [arch=amd64 signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/obs-onedrive.gpg] https: //download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/npreining:/debian-ubuntu-onedrive/xUbuntu_24.04/ ./
 Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/surfshark.list
   1: deb https: //ocean.surfshark.com/debian stretch main
 Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ubuntu-esm-apps.sources
   1: deb https: //esm.ubuntu.com/apps/ubuntu noble-apps-security noble-apps-updates main
 Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ubuntu-esm-infra.sources
   1: deb https: //esm.ubuntu.com/infra/ubuntu noble-infra-security noble-infra-updates main
 Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ubuntu.sources
   1: deb http: //archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ noble noble-updates noble-backports main restricted universe multiverse
   2: deb http: //security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ noble-security main restricted universe multiverse

Info:

 Memory: total: 32 GiB available: 31.26 GiB used: 3.65 GiB (11.7%)
 Processes: 398 Power: uptime: 1h 0m states: freeze,mem,disk suspend: deep wakeups: 0
   hibernate: platform Init: systemd v: 255 target: graphical (5) default: graphical
 Compilers: gcc: 13.3.0 Client: Cinnamon v: 6.0.4 inxi: 3.3.34

I'm looking for solution to make or prevent Thunderbird automatically filling up the "From" box.

In other words; I want the "From" section to be empty every single time for me to fill up. Just like I have to do with the "Subject" and "to" boxes.

I'm willing to hack Thunderbird if there's no an user friendly solution for this I want! Just please tell me what to do and I'll do!

Thank you in advance, Attila.

I can't seem to get the search message window to shrink down with the right click commands, nor with the arrows at the edges of the window, this has been going on since the beginning of 128 . . .

Version 128.11.esr I see no way to move the menu back to the top which is where Windows OS/2 Linux and many other OS put it There are links saying going to setting and use Search Type Legacy but I cannot see any option like that in the latest settings.

As Someone who has an award for 508 Compliance, that is the US Federal requirement for accessibility to software. You should always keep it simple. The menu should always be at the top because that is what people use to decide to do.

The younger generation think a search bar is the starting point for finding things. You do not remember the desktop environment I grew up and still live in successfully today.

The main advantage if living on a desktop today is that is free of charge and I do not need to revise my hardware every 10 years let alone every couple of years because it still works and it is secure.

I have arranged my life so I do not have to move to dramatically reduce my carbon foot print. If you accept that environment desktops rule OK.

Also only having emails or events or tasks planning or finance on the screen gives you way more room to read things. I use two monitors because I have a lot to read. I choose what I want from a menu.

I use a search bar once I am on the right window

There should at least be an option to have the menu at the top.

It is the sort of decision that could loose you customers because it makes your product harder to use for those of us who grew up in a desktop environment not on a Web Page. And people who have to work in the US Federal Government.

In my web browser I always have the menu visible and at the top. Then the tabs then the URI editor The search bar is the third line down not at the top. Followed by the bookmarks toolbar then the web page.

Having the same format in every product would makes your products consistent and easier to transition between.

In the latest version of Thunderbird things have moved around for what to me seems zero benefit.

I would repeat an old maxim that has made me one of the more efficient programmers. If it ain't broke don't fix it.

I am efficient because I spend most of my working out what not to change because it works. So actual hardly do anything.

One reason banks liked OS/2, was because it never needed rebooting. One bank had an OS/2 server running continuously for 10 years. When it eventually did break they had trouble finding it because no one had touched it for 10 years.

Enough ranting, thank you for what is otherwise a great product. Just be open to the fact that some of your customers would be happier if you just applied security updates and left the UI exactly the same as it was for the rest of time.

Having written utilities for Citrix Systems Inc. that ran exactly the same business logic running on 8 OS. It would be nice to have the same level of consistency in Thunderbird.

The issue with that goal is you structured your menus differently on Linux than Windows, so making things completely consistent would cause some unavoidable movement of items in the menu.

I have used Thunderbird for years (now on 128.5.2esr (64-bit) for Mac). I have a very large number of folders, and I would like to have a default setting for columns in new folders I create. I am aware that you can change the column setting in the folder by clicking the "Select columns to display" button and selecting the ones you want, and that you can change the setting for all folders in an account by going to the "Apply columns to..." > "Folder and its children..." > select the account > select the account name at the top of the list. But I would rather not have to do that every time I create a new folder, but I can't find any other way to do it anywhere, including on another answer to a question in this forum, https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1426413.

Then I found two settings in the Config Editor... that seem like they might be where this can be done:

• mailnews.database.global.views.conversation.columns, whose settings in my case are:

{"selectCol":{"visible":false,"ordinal":"1"}, "threadCol":{"visible":true,"ordinal":"3"}, "flaggedCol":{"visible":true,"ordinal":"5"}, "attachmentCol":{"visible":false,"ordinal":"7"}, "subjectCol":{"visible":true,"ordinal":"15"}, "unreadButtonColHeader":{"visible":false,"ordinal":"9"}, "senderCol":{"visible":false,"ordinal":"17"}, "recipientCol":{"visible":false,"ordinal":"19"}, "correspondentCol":{"visible":true,"ordinal":"21"}, "junkStatusCol":{"visible":false,"ordinal":"11"}, "receivedCol":{"visible":false,"ordinal":"23"}, "dateCol":{"visible":true,"ordinal":"25"}, "statusCol":{"visible":false,"ordinal":"27"}, "sizeCol":{"visible":false,"ordinal":"29"}, "tagsCol":{"visible":false,"ordinal":"31"}, "accountCol":{"visible":false,"ordinal":"33"}, "priorityCol":{"visible":false,"ordinal":"35"}, "unreadCol":{"visible":false,"ordinal":"37"}, "totalCol":{"visible":false,"ordinal":"39"}, "locationCol":{"visible":true,"ordinal":"41"}, "idCol":{"visible":false,"ordinal":"43"}, "deleteCol":{"visible":false,"ordinal":"13"}, "xnoteCol":{"visible":false,"ordinal":"1"}}

and

• mailnews.database.global.views.global.columns, whose settings in my case are:

{"selectCol":{"visible":false,"ordinal":0}, "threadCol":{"visible":true,"ordinal":0}, "flaggedCol":{"visible":true,"ordinal":0}, "attachmentCol":{"visible":false,"ordinal":0}, "subjectCol":{"visible":true,"ordinal":0}, "unreadButtonColHeader":{"visible":false,"ordinal":0}, "senderCol":{"visible":true,"ordinal":0}, "recipientCol":{"visible":true,"ordinal":0}, "correspondentCol":{"visible":false,"ordinal":0}, "junkStatusCol":{"visible":false,"ordinal":0}, "dateCol":{"visible":true,"ordinal":0}, "receivedCol":{"visible":false,"ordinal":0}, "statusCol":{"visible":false,"ordinal":0}, "sizeCol":{"visible":false,"ordinal":0}, "tagsCol":{"visible":false,"ordinal":0}, "accountCol":{"visible":false,"ordinal":0}, "priorityCol":{"visible":false,"ordinal":0}, "unreadCol":{"visible":false,"ordinal":0}, "totalCol":{"visible":false,"ordinal":0}, "locationCol":{"visible":true,"ordinal":0}, "idCol":{"visible":false,"ordinal":0}, "deleteCol":{"visible":false,"ordinal":0}}

The first one matches the columns I see in a newly created folder better, having the "xnoteCol" entry, but my new folders also have several columns related to my CardBook extension at the bottom of the list. Moreover, the settings' arguments don't make sense in terms of what I see. For example, I see the Thread column, whose settings – ("threadCol":{"visible":true,"ordinal":"3"} – make sense since "visible" is set to "true", but I also see the Attachments column, whose settings – "attachmentCol":{"visible":false,"ordinal":"7"} – *don't* make sense because "visible" is set to "false". Similar no-sense settings occur in the second setting.

So there *is* a way to change the default column settings in Config Editor..., which makes a whole lot of sense, but the way the settings are set in these two settings, which apparently are not the ones that fully determine my default settings given the CardBook-related columns that I see, do *not* seem to make sense.

The "Folder and its children..." approach works, but it makes it harder than it should be, and it seems like there must be a way to change the defaults in Config Editor.... If there is, please tell me how.

Thanks for any help you can give...

About a week and a half ago I experienced an issue with Thunderbird going through file folders and 'randomly' selecting emails to move to the 'Trash' file. At present I have over 1200 messages in 'Trash' with no common denominator for why they were selected. I've never changed my preferences for when or what to delete so it came as a surprise to see this many emails sitting waiting to be manually deleted by me. I'm convinced that the issue must be something in the 'prefs.js' file.

Running TB version: 128.11.0 esr (64-bit) Is the issue tied to version 128.11.0 perhaps?

I have four other TB email client accounts that all work perfectly, except for this one lame duck that really is getting out of hand.

Could probably import and edit the old 'prefs.js' file from a backup of the old email profile, but the number of changes would be significant. File size of the old 'prefs.js' is about 17 Kb's while the newly created one (four days ago) is only 13 Kb's

This client email account is / was very old and has been on the TB update schedule for years. The email address contains upwards of 11,000 emails on the server. There is no server space issue either. The email address is probably more than 10 years old. The other four client email accounts I have are much smaller and less than 4 years old.

Thinking that something in this particular client profile must have gotten clobbered by unknown means, I finally decided to delete the account and set up a new one (losing my address book in the process of course). Fortunately I found an 'abook' in my backups that came close to being up to date.

Now, the new profile has these quirky issues where it won't open the inbox in a window showing the header information that allows one click to open the message immediately below.

Further, the new TB client is constantly downloading and updating folders with old emails from the server each time TB launches, and of course, it adds a few more emails to the 'Trash' file each time. Started at about 700 messages before I decided to delete the client profile and rebuild and now surpasses 1200 in just the last 4 days.

Running out of patience and options.

I recently installed 128.10.2esr (64-bit) on a Win11 computer. There's no option under "View, Toolbars" for it. Was it removed in this version or am I missing something?

Am I the only one that finds it almost impossible to change fonts. I can change what I type to Large. But that's all. I can't change anything I Cntrl-V into a message. Or inherit text in the process of a reply.

When the add-on "Copy Sent to Current" is running, the Composition Toolbar in the Compose Window is blank and therefore there is no "Send" button. What am I missing?

I've attached two screenshots - one with Copy Sent to Current disabled and the other with the add-on enabled.

I recently changed the sorting of my e-mails to be threaded by chain. I like to have all of my most recent e-mails show up at the top, but, within each thread, the most recent e-mail shows at the bottom (see the supposedly-attached image). Is there a way to flip this?

Thank you in advance.

The version I was using before could put have a layout like this with a simple tweak below: - Accounts - Individual email pane - Message list

I just CANNOT use Thunderbird if I can't do this. How do I do this in Nebula or what version can I revert to? Go to profile folder: Chrome folder userChrome css file Add this: /* puts message page in the middle */

1. threadPaneBox {-moz-box-direction: reverse !important;}