Your about the 5th person using walnut to post that walnut is broken in the current release. Please change to a working theme.

Hi Matt, Thanks for your quick response... HMMMM, I've been using this theme for several years now and have never had this problem before. I'm going to "keep-an-eye on things" but after 2 days of this problem things are back the way they should be with no intervention on my part! If this re-occurs I'll know where to go/change though Again, many thanks....

Oh the issue was walnut. And looking at the add-on page it has been updated.

Version 2.0.32.1 Released February 25, 2016

You now have the update (it is automatic) and the issue is no longer there.

Hello Again, I thought maybe I was losing it until reading your 2nd reply <VBG>.. Used the "recent updates" feature and there it was.... auto-updated to Walnut Theme on 2/26/2016. Again, many thanks for your help! First time I was ever bitten by a theme! Mark

I am using Classic Theme Restorer. It is much more convenient for large screens.

I have never heard of "walnut" before. I infer it is a new UI for Tb.

Why has my upper right tab balcked out, and how can I restore the minimize function?

cbrookej said

I am using Classic Theme Restorer. It is much more convenient for large screens. I have never heard of "walnut" before. I infer it is a new UI for Tb. Why has my upper right tab balcked out, and how can I restore the minimize function?

By using the default theme. It works!

Want to use someone else's theme, that is fine. But when it stops working they are the ones to talk to. We do not create them and we do not support them.

How do I get back to the default theme?

Disable the one you are using.

How do I do that? I recall seeing a frame which included CTR; I could probably disable it there, or figure out how to. But I don't remember where it was, or how I got there.

I am 73; my short term memory has deteriorated. It makes it difficult to impossible to remember exactly what I have done in the past, how I got to that screen. If you live a healthy lifestyle, and are lucky, you too may live long enough for your memory to fade.

Please be patient with someone who has been using PCs since DOS. Indeed whose first computer experience involved punch cards, tape drives, and magnetic core memory. Each flip-flop was on an individual circuit board, thousands wired together to make a computer. That was a lot of years ago, and I'm still trying to use that machine's descendents. Indeed I am dependent on them.

But I'm having a lot more difficulty using them now. Programs have gotten far more complex. One now must remember far more than was required to operate earlier versions, as my memory is slippping.

And of course there was a reason I was using CTR: it is much more efficient on large screens. Do you recall that hundreds of thousands of users wanted to strangle the developers who sprang 29 on us?

It looks like this 73 year old will have to try to learn to use the less efficient small screen GUI.

If CTR is no longer supported, please help me disable CTR. And, if I have trouble, help me learn to use walnut.

On the toolbar then 

Click appearance Press the disable button.

Hey Folks, MANY to everyone for your solutions! I know I'm responding very late to your kindnesses, but I have discovered the solution on my own <G> just as Matt pointed out in his replies. I obviously wasn't the only one out here in "Thunderbirdland" who had this happen <VBG>! With the recent changes to the program the older version of the walnut theme was the culprit and the theme's author/creator was on the problem and was quickly fixed when it came to his attention soon after my post here. Again, many thanks to all

Matt said

On the toolbar then  Click appearance Press the disable button.

"Appearance" is not listed as an addon. Nor is anything I connect with CTR.

This has been a fairly common occurrance. I am given instructions, and something in the instructions is not on my machine, at least anywhere obvious. On number of occasions it has appeared that my helper is looking at something which I don't see on my machiine. This is another example of this phenomenon.

However the CTR team has come to the rescue, and the upper right control button has been restored.

Thank you for your help all the same. If you have any ideas about me and my helper looking at different pages, please enlighten me.

cbrookej said

"Appearance" is not listed as an addon. Nor is anything I connect with CTR. This has been a fairly common occurrance. I am given instructions, and something in the instructions is not on my machine, at least anywhere obvious. On number of occasions it has appeared that my helper is looking at something which I don't see on my machiine. This is another example of this phenomenon.

There is a screenshot example of the Add-ons manager in https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/installing-addon-thunderbird

Look on the left side where it has Search Get Addons Extensions Appearance Plugins Dictionaries.

The Appearance panel is used for Themes.

What the word Add-ons refers to https://addons.mozilla.org/faq

Maybe you were given proper instructions but did not notice what was being mentioned.

As has happened so many times before, I did not find anything which looked like the screenshot. However I did find another page which served the same purpose. It gave me a list of 119 addons in no particular order. It appeared that one could only search the entire unalphabetized list to find an addon. Why not alphabetize the list? Who can fathom the thnking of Mozilla developers? But I had already found what I wanted by another route.

Thanks for your reply

@cbrookej

I strongly suggest you only ever post screen shots of what you see. It is patently obvious that you are either using different software to everyone else , are not where you are supposed to be or can not see what is in front of you.

The add-on manager has remained substantially unchanged since Version 3 was released. are you using Version 2 for instance.

With pictures we stand a chance of working out what you are talking about.

One thing I can assure you is installed add-ons are listed in alphabetical order, first the active ones followed by the inactive ones.

The problem is not patently obvious to me.

I am using Firefox v 48 and Thunderbird v 45. It appears that both are the current versions. I believe both were auto updated shortly after they came out, without any initiative on my part.

If you are running the same versions, how can you see something which I don't see? Looking at different pages?

I have noticed that I have become less observant as I have aged (73). It is quite possible that I have sometimes failed to see something on a page. But I doubt that this has happened very frequently. I sometimes fail to see something at first glance, but I doubt that I miss much after a careful search.

I think the recent loss of the upper right min/max/X box occurred when it took the CTR team two or three days to catch up after a new version came out . I am greatful for their service. I find the classic theme to be significantly more efficient on a large screen. The larger screen is a major reason I am still using a desk top. And I no longer travel very much.

And I will try to send screen shots when it appears that we are looking at different pages. But an occasional reminder might help my failing memory.