Is there a way (or add-on) to lock the current view settings?
I am an IT tech that makes house calls and I install Thunderbird for a lot of my clients who don't want to buy Outlook. It's my favorite of the (ever dwindling) free email clients, I've tried them all believe me. However the default view settings I find to be lacking. No reply, or delete button etc. So I always customize the view and make it the way I want. No problem there.
The problem comes when 6 months later the client accidentally click something they didn't mean to, removes a button, sorts by subject instead of by date, things like that. I work with mostly retired people, and some very advanced in age. They don't want to ever change the sorting and no amount of explaining how to fix it will work. It would be really helpful if there was a setting, somewhere in the view menu maybe, to lock the current display settings, so that they can't be changed without unlocking them first.
I've combed through the settings and done some searching in the add-ons but haven't found anything like it. Is that possible?
Alla svar (3)
This can quickly become fairly complex, depending on how much locking is needed.
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Locking_preferences
There is an add-on that performs one function, and there might be others:
https://addons.thunderbird.net/en-US/thunderbird/addon/no-message-pane-sort-by-mouse/
It's also possible to hide menu items with userChrome.css.
If some clients are constantly changing their setups and can't recover by themselves, I'd recommend they use webmail instead.
Thanks for the response. I wish it was as simple as using webmail but most webmail providers make changes to the website periodically. Small changes usually but sometimes big ones. Thunderbird is comparatively static, which for someone in their 80s, is better. The other reason I prefer Thunderbird is that it can be backed up. I've had multiple clients lose emails to either hackers or by accident. And if you're beyond the usually short grace period, the webmail providers don't have them anymore. Backing up and restoring the Thunderbird profile is so easy it's a great safety net.
Thanks again for the links, I'll check them out and see what I can do.
sfhowes said
This can quickly become fairly complex, depending on how much locking is needed. http://kb.mozillazine.org/Locking_preferences There is an add-on that performs one function, and there might be others: https://addons.thunderbird.net/en-US/thunderbird/addon/no-message-pane-sort-by-mouse/ It's also possible to hide menu items with userChrome.css. If some clients are constantly changing their setups and can't recover by themselves, I'd recommend they use webmail instead.
I have another suggestion: create a restore feature for prefs.js and any other files might contain user changes. This could be a simple BAT file or fancier. Put an icon on desktop that restores original setup. That allows user to fix problems themselves.