MacOS Thunderbird: search panel clickable area out of place
MacOS 10.14.3 Thunderbird 45.8.0. Thunderbird Update panel says fully up to date. The Find Messages panel buttons and fields can only be clicked *above* the actual fields. And a search finds nothing, though it's not easy to tell if one clicked on "search" due to the mis-registration. The Clear button works (pretty useless for us and clicking directly on Search is interpreted as Clear). The only fields that work right are the MacOS fields (little colored dots) that cause quit/minimize/fullscreen. Search is impossible. The search panel itself looks sensible (and works fine on Linux). I did use the process to delete global-messages-db.sqlite but that had no effect on the clickable-area mis-registration and search is still useless.
Chosen solution
Not sure why it doesn't indicate a newer version, if you have auto update or auto check for updates enabled, but TB 60.6.1 is compatible with OS X 10.14, so you can download the full installer and install over your existing program.
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In case it was not clear: the main Thunderbird panels like lists of emails etc click in exactly the right(normal) way. A click does what you think it should.
Does running in safe mode make any difference? Hold Option key when you launch TB.
With safe mode the search panel was smaller (odd the size changed) and to click in the fields still required clicking above the field. With safe mode the Search button itself in the search/find panel has a tiny invisible box just above the button where search actually worked. A really tiny box. So I disabled add-ons permanently (in safe mode startup panel). Restarting Thunderbird that way gives the larger panel but now the actual search button has the tiny invisible box (above the button) where a search click works. So a slight improvement.
Suddenly it's clear to me that the mis-registration of locations *everywhere* in Thunderbird is a fact. The actual MacOS user (wife) showed me this morning. But now having learned of the mis-registration and with add-ons turned off, Thunderbird becomes just -barely-usable. Changing a To: to cc: or doing cut/paste is a real trial (did it myself) but is...with extreme care... doable.
If you find some improvement in safe mode, it's probably due to a corrupted layout. Launch in safe mode, check 'Reset toolbars and controls' and click 'Make changes and restart'.
I would also recommend updating to the latest release, 60.6.1:
Thanks, I'll work on those suggestions.
I don't understand why Thunderbird says 48.x.x is up to date when you are quoting
a version in the 60's above.
Chosen Solution
Not sure why it doesn't indicate a newer version, if you have auto update or auto check for updates enabled, but TB 60.6.1 is compatible with OS X 10.14, so you can download the full installer and install over your existing program.