View / sort by /unthreaded just broke
For historic reasons (25 years of use :/ ) I view messages in each mailbox by date, ascending, unthreaded. I'm currently using v.115.5.0 (64 bit) on Ubuntu 22.04.
2 PROBLEMS...
1. The setting of view / sort / threaded for INBOX ONLY seems to now be volatile (in that it switches itself on, and when turned back off goes back to "on" at the start of the next session... BUT also does this in real time as mail comes down: I watched mail coming in (maybe 50 messages, took a good minute or so to do this) and as it came in the presentation (right pane) changed from "unthreaded" to "threaded".
2. The global setting of view / sort / threaded switched itself on all by itself, bit annoying because at first I thought all sorts of messages had been deleted...
I can change to "unthreaded" on a mailbox by mailbox basis except that I have 14,000-odd mailboxes.
I have changed the global settings using: Edit / settings; scroll down, clock on "config editor" button Edit "mailnews.default" Set: mailnews.default_news_sort_order 1 (ascending) mailnews.default_news_sort_type 18 (sort on date) mailnews.default_sort_order 1 (ascending) mailnews.default_sort_type 18 (sort on date)
except that although mailnews.default_news_sort_type was set to 22 (threaded) and I have changed it to 18 on a stable basis (it stays at 18) I never use news and so the value for mailnews.default_sort_type was 18 all along.. and the global sort setting (found by looking at a random mailbox) is still set to "threaded" - as if "mailnews.default_sort_type" is not being read. Also no manual words on what these settings mean, as far as I can tell.
Any ideas?
All Replies (3)
The proper setting for threading is mailnews.default_view_flags Set it to 0 for unthreading. That applies to all new messages only.
Thanks @David - but the main issues are (a) existing messages AND (b) the real-time switch back.
This is the official (to my knowledge) documentation. Well worth the read https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/message-threading-thunderbird
Here is my own documentation on threading, duplicating the above, but it may help: You need to highlight each folder and click View>sort by>unthreaded. If this applies to just a few folders, just repeat the process as necessary. If you have many folders or plan to add many new folders, you may wish a different approach, below:
More info: To change default for *new* folders, In config editor, you can change default that applies to NEW folders you set up: mailnews.default_view_flags 0=unthreaded
Config editor is available at Tools>settings>general and scroll to bottom right.
------------
To set many *existing* folders, follow these steps: (I creates a crude video that walks through the steps. The video was created with table view for the message list pane.
https://davidkirk.org/SettingDefaultFolderView.mp4 that demonstrates the following steps:
First, highlight a folder that you have set to unthreaded
In the Message List view, in the column header, on the far right, open the options button that shows
context menu. :
At the very bottom is the option:
-> "Apply current view to..."
-> "Folder and its children..."
-> Hover over an account
-> In the next menu don't select a folder. Instead select the account name itself.
ALSO, for future installations of Thunderbird,
- install Thunderbird and exit prior to setting up accounts
- create a simple text file with name of user.js with these lines:
// Set default threading to UNthreaded ### <== this line is optional, just for documentation
user_pref("mailnews.default_view_flags", 0);
- copy the user.js file into the profile
- now, when you start Thunderbird, unthreading will be the default. Problem solved.