Can you clarify something for me?

When you say 'my Unread mails button ' - please post image showing this.

the reason I ask is I do not see any 'unread' button in my version.

I have menu options: Via Menu Bar; View > Folders > Unread View > Threads > Unread

Also via Menu icon: Menu icon > View > Messages > Unread

I have a 'Sort by Read' column header icon. I have the ability to add another column header called 'Unread' with tooltip 'Number of unread messages in thread', but this does not sort, it just shows information.

Ok, I posted a screen cap. Do you see? The Unread button is one of the buttons you can install in the Thunderbird toolbar directly above the email list. Some of the other buttons you probably have selected include From, Date and Subject. Maybe you just didn't click on the far right dropdown menu and chose Unread?

In any event, the button is dead and I am trying to find out why I can't get it to work like it used to.

As mentioned: I have the ability to add another column header called 'Unread' with tooltip 'Number of unread messages in thread', but this does not sort, it just shows information.

that's why it is not in the 'View' > 'Sort by' list.

I've just retested this in a couple of previous versions just to check that my memory wasn't adrift and the behaviour is the same.

To sort you need to click on 'Read' - looks like sunglasses icon next to your 'Unread' header. Click on it again to reverse the sort. It will list all the Unread' together. Or use the other options to locate unread mail. Via Menu Bar; View > Folders > Unread View > Threads > Unread

Also via Menu icon: Menu icon > View > Messages > Unread

I'm sorry but I don't understand your reply. I am saying there ARE unread mails in my INBOX. I know because the Inbox is bolded and the number of unreads is tallied, as is "INBOX (6)." But before, when I clicked on the Unread button, all the read messages were filtered out and only Unread appeared. That is now lost. The button depresses when clicked but that's it. Nothing happens afterwards...I still see all read and unread emails sorted by date.

What your being told is the button you claim shows unread mails does not. Simple as that.

Why does in not function as you say? I have no idea. But if it ever worked as you say it was an accident.

Right click your toolbar. Select Customize Drag the Mail Views item onto your toolbar. Click Done Change the drop down to unread {Now you see only unread mail} Change the drop down to ALL {Now you see all mail}

Note this drop down also allows quite a number of mail viewing options. Just remember to set it to all occasionally to see everything in the folder.

Matt, It seems a button labeled "Unread" would display unread emails. In fact it once did. With all due respect, I would not agree that a button functioning as it is labeled is an "accident." Be assured, I have been a Thunderbird user ever since Netscape created it, and the Unread button when clicked displayed my unread emails. It no longer does.

I do not want to go through a multi-step process to view unread mails. If that is your suggestion, I might as well just scroll down and find each unread message manually. It would be quicker.

I want the program to work as designed. Is that too much to ask?

I think you should be using the QuickFilter to separate out the unread messages.

Most of the column headers have a sort function. Click on Date and it sorts by Date. Click on Subject and it sorts by Subject. I've never used that Unread column before, but it clearly doesn't sort as the others do. Not a useful feature, IMHO. I'll be switching it off straightaway.

+1 for the Mail Views option. I use this in all my Thunderbirds and don't understand why it's optional. Too useful to not have.

And in any case, the "read" column (with the spectacles icon) does sort on read/unread, so I'm puzzled about what value the Unread column brings to the party.

The Unread IS a useful filter. Sometimes senders of spam purposely antedate an email to force you to look for it hidden among older emails. thinking you'll be less likely to bulk delete it if it isn't in a cluster of other unwanted spam mails.

Ok, I see the sunglass button (Read/Unread) also separates according to these categories, and by clicking it twice one can invert the sort to show unread emails on top. But then it also messes up the sorting by date, as I explained above.

I will give up trying to get a fix for the dead Unread button and use your suggestion, Zenos, but still can't understand why no one sees the utility of the Unread filter button! Also why I keep getting work-arounds instead of a suggestion how to fix the dead Unread button. It's like when the brakes fail in your car, instead of fixing the brakes, everyone tells me to find an uphill road, use the transmission or hand brake to stop the car, or crash it into something!

I think we yet have to find anyone who has used this column and can corroborate your expectation of how it should work.

It's not a filter; it's a sort (or should be, if it worked, to be consistent with happens when we click other column headers.) QuickFilter is a filter function. As is Mail Views. Or View|Folders|Unread. I also use a Saved Search folder to aggregate unread messages.

We have so many ways already to manage unread messages that it's hardly surprising that this quirky column is overlooked. It tells me about threads that have unread messages in them, but so do the other methods open to me.

Zenos, it is not an "expectation!" It is based on years and years of use! Really!

I understand a Filter to exclude all but the desired selection. Thus Unread IS (or was) a filter - not a sort function, since when I was able to use it, only unread emails appeared in the list.

Well, I am becoming amused that everyone considers it routine that a button is only 'window dressing.' It should follow that when someone pushes the button on his car radio and it doesn't start playing, he posts the problem on a chat board Someone will say "It's an unnecessary button. If you want music, just take out your guitar and start playing!"

You're describing exactly what the QuickFilter does.

But as I said, we have yet to hear from anyone else who has used this button and can confirm it filters, or used to.

It would seem that it works most usefully in concert with the message threads button, which switches between threaded and unthreaded view. In the special case where a thread has unread messages, your Unread column shows the count of Unread messages in the collapsed thread. For most of us, the underlining on a collapsed thread to indicate unread message is perfectly sufficient. I'm not sure why I'd want to know how many, which is what your Unread column seems to add.

But the message threads button isn't a filter either; it simply toggles the display between two alternative views. If your Unread button did indeed filter then it would appear to be unique. I think that's why there is some incredulity at your claim that it filters; it simply isn't what one would expect from such a control. inconsistent with the behaviour of all the other similar buttons.

I am almost motivated to download the source to find out what action is attached to this button. ;-)

I think there may be an issue here. ALL columns in the list when clicked should sort by that column. This column does not. Why I have no idea. So I think a bug identifying the lack o sort as a possible regression is the correct way to go.

{some research later} I downloaded and reinstalled V31.7 and clicking the unread title did not sort. So we are not talking a loss of a feature in this latest update.

Looking in Bugzilla, there is a bug to implement sorting on that column, Bug 72251. It has been open since 2001 and was filed by a Netscape employee. it is that old. So the functionality to sort never actually arrived to be missing as a regression.

Functionality to filter on headings has never existed. Nor would the developers entertain filtering on heading clicks. They implemented the quick filter for that purpose.

Are you sure your clicking the unread message heading in the past and not the unread quick filter which shows above it? I really think you were using the quick filter.

That menu is toggled on and off using the quick filter icon on the toolbar.

Well, Matt and Zenos, I had never installed the Quick Filter before, so it couldn't have been that Unread button which I had used. The Quick Filter requires two steps to arrive at a functional Unread filter. I used to only need to do a one-step click to filter. So I am totally befuddled that you say the Unread button in the toolbar never worked.

But I did install the QF button and that Unread button has functionality. 

So rather than beat my head against the wall trying to convince the world that the toolbar Unread button used to work, I will keep the Quick Filter. Last question: is there any way to set the Quick Filter to default to the ON position so I can click on the Unread button without having to open the QF?

stringed said

Well, Matt and Zenos, I had never installed the Quick Filter before,

It is a baked in part of Thunderbird since version 3. There is nothing to install. You just click the icon on the toolbar to make is appear.

so it couldn't have been that Unread button which I had used. The Quick Filter requires two steps to arrive at a functional Unread filter.

Utter nonsense . I have the toolbar visible all the time, have done since Version 3 came out. One click on the unread icon and all I see in the current folder is unread mail.

So rather than beat my head against the wall trying to convince the world that the toolbar Unread button used to work, I will keep the Quick Filter. Last question: is there any way to set the Quick Filter to default to the ON position so I can click on the Unread button without having to open the QF?

Well unless you actually delete the session.json file, which products like ccleaner do, it remains how you left it session to session.

"It is a baked in part of Thunderbird since version 3. There is nothing to install. You just click the icon on the toolbar to make is appear."

Of course it is! I meant I had never dragged and dropped Quick Filter onto my Tbird toolbar from the Customize box. It had been hidden; parked there since I first installed Tbird. Obviously, you had implemented it so you must've assumed its on the toolbar by default. It's not, until the user selects it.

"Well unless you actually delete the session.json file, which products like ccleaner do, it remains how you left it session to session."

I think you hit on the answer, Matt -- I have CCleaner installed on my HD. I had no idea how invasive such products can be. It's getting uninstalled as soon as I complete this msg.

Thanks for mentioning this. It's the first real lead I have received!

I've never seen the QuickFilter absent by default. Collapsed, maybe, but always in place and ready to use.

I concede it is possible to remove the button to hide/show the QuickFilter Bar, but the bar itself remains in place regardless of the absence of the view/hide button.

Please tell me which Customization pane you have found to remove the QuickFilter Bar to. I mean the Bar itself, not its hide/show button.

Just right click on the toolbar containing the Quick Filter, then drag and drop the QF button in the Customize box. It's gone.

I had to drag and drop QF from the Customize box onto the toolbar to get it where it was usable. It was NOT on my toolbar by default.

You're talking about the button, not the QuickFilter Bar itself. I thought I'd stressed that enough.

Leave the QF Bar on show, remove the button, and the QF bar remains.

And I asked you to tell me which customization pane you have been able to drag the QF Bar onto.

Oddly enough, most complaints about the QF Bar come from those who find it intrusive and can't make it go (or stay) away. ;-)

We are mired in terminology misunderstandings. I am not an IT person. I try to use terms I hope adequately illustrate the concepts I'm trying to communicate. Despite the fact I have a Masters degree in humanities and am well versed in my native tongue, English, obviously, I have failed.

I never said I wanted to remove the bar (which I referred to as Toolbar), nor claimed that I had removed any bar. Please cite where I said that. I always said the word "button," referring to having needed to drag and drop the Quick Filter button onto the bar from where it was parked by default: inside the Customize Toolbar box (which I gather you call a Pane). Do you know what that is and where it is found?

Is there ANYTHING unclear about what I am saying, or that departs from what I have been saying all along? I feel I have been very consistent in my terminology, albeit maybe not using the exact names with which an IT person might be familiar.

If course it is! I meant I had never dragged and dropped Quick Filter onto my Tbird toolbar from the Customize box. It had been hidden; parked there since I first installed Tbird. Obviously, you had implemented it so you must've assumed its on the toolbar by default. It's not, until the user selects it.

Does this read clearly to you as referring to the Button, not the Bar? I would take any unqualified reference to "Quick Filter" to refer to the object itself, not to an optional button to hide or reveal it.

Regardless of the absence or otherwise of the optional QF button, the QuickFilter Bar is accessible via the menu: View|Toolbars|QuickFilter Bar. So it is there to be found, if one looks for it.

But I say again; the QuickFilter Bar provoked anger from a significant number of users who didn't want it, and indeed stated that if they disabled it, it would return of its own volition. This is to me evidence that it appears automatically, with no intervention required by the user. BTW, many of those were CCleaner victims too.

I think it is clear that your "Unread" column in the thread list pane has never sorted nor filtered. So we are still struggling with your idiosyncratic recollection of it doing so. Now we point out the QuickFilter which is designed for what you want to do and you're arguing that somehow you had never seen this toolbar before, contrary to a background of users who complain that they cannot reliably remove it.

I don't know how to reconcile your singular experience with the large number of users who have found otherwise.