re :1. Why does Thunderbird show all it's email listings in reverse order by default?

Probably goes way back to when emails were added like a list. Many people still prefer that setup, but like you, I prefer new at top as it stops all that scrolling and messing about.

However, if you treat the Inbox like an Inbox tray for only new incoming messages and all other emails are either moved to correct folder for 'filing' purposes or deleted, then the direction becomes less relevant.

clicking on the 'Date' column header will sort by that header, clicking on Date column header a second time will reverse the current order.

re : 2. Every now and again Thunderbird queries the fact that I don't have an attachment? Why does it do this?

Thunderbird has the ability to search for specific words in the content and if eg: 'attach' was included then it may show a reminder to 'attach the attachment'.

You can also switch it off entirely.

'Tools' > 'Options' > 'Composition' > 'General' tab or Menu icon > 'Options' >'Options' > 'Composition' > 'General' tab

You can edit the 'keywords' to tailor this prompt. click on 'keywords' button. make any additions etc as required and click on OK

You can switch it off entirely. uncheck - 'Check for Missing Attachments'

Click on 'OK' to close and save Options.

Thanks for the reply. It solved the attachment problem and answered the 1st question to some extent. Finding the word "attach" in the body doesn't necessarily mean there is an attachment so this "enhancement" would probably be better switched off by default.

I can't believe anyone would want the lists in reverse order and I think you and I concur on that. I bet if you did a poll, the majority would want it latest at the top; it doesn't make sense as it is. This brings me to another issue with list order I forgot to mention. Even when I manually go through and click on the heading to switch it round, the new setting seems to revert and I have to do it again - and again.

I always sort old to new, new at the bottom. Unless I'm sorting by sender, or subject. The point is I can change it easily, and do so as suits me. When in date mode, I prefer it in chronological order. Or maybe grouped by sort. You're missing out on a lot if you just freeze it at date order.

I have experimented with other time-related sorting options. "Received" (when it arrived) looks like an attractive alternative to "Date" (when it was sent.) There is also "Order received" but both this and "Received" mess up in Thunderbird. "Date" seems to be the most successful and consistent for chronological ordering.

Are you aware that this is set per folder? So when you change folders it may appear to be jumping around, but maybe you haven't set it consistently in all folders yet.

If you click on the tiny button at top right, or right-click any of the column heading buttons, you'll see a drop-down menu offering the columns you can select to display, and at the bottom there is an option to have the chosen layout and settings ripple down through all the subfolders.

Thanks for the informative reply. I use date as I have Thunderbird set to open on the Inbox. Maybe I should spend a bit more time with it as you say but the jumping around is on the same heading, so, I make the emails appear the way I want them (latest at the top to avoid having to scroll down every time) based on the date but next time (at random) it has reverted back to oldest at the top and I have to turn it round again. As I do this across all my many IMAP folders it gets rather tedious. Would it not be a good idea to have a setting which permanently allowed the user's chronological choice? The changing of me setting appears to be more of a bug.

Thunderbird opens just like you close it. If you have software like CCleaner that decides what is good or bad for you it can change those settings. FYI: I am one of those idiots that like oldest messages shown first.

Ha. Nothing idiotic about it, just seems impractical for me. Once I have set the Date to newest at the top, I only change it when it reverts. I didn't know Ccleaner changed this or even had access to it but I will monitor it to check. I don't use Ccleaner all the time though and I'm sure it still changes. As I said, an option to make a personal and permanent choice would be a nice feature then everyone could make their own choice.

As stated above it already works that way. All my options have stayed from the beginning unless I changed them. Opening and closing or the many upgrades have not changed them. But I do not run software like CCleaner that makes decisions for me.

CCleaner does have some merit, but I would recommend that you do not allow it to scan anything in Thunderbird as it can remove temp files, session data and even passwords etc. So undoing anything you have may have selected and causing some grief in the process if it is not known.

You can set up exceptions in CCleaner. Thunderbird profile folder contents should ideally be made exempt.

Ccleaner does have merit. I have been using it for many years and although it doesn't clean up quite as much as the commercial big boys, it is free and has never crashed or caused a problem - ever. I looked at the settings for Thunderbird and changed one that might be relevant; the rest should hopefully be OK in place (I don't need cookies in an email program for example). I'll try this for a bit and see what happens and if necessary start a new thread. Having moved away from Outlook after many years I want to make Thunderbird my permanent email program and these are really the only issues I have had which is pretty good.

Thanks to all for your prompt and helpful replies. Now, how do I close this thread???