1763655 - Quickfilter (ctrl+shift+k) does not work / does not show searchable items

Status: RESOLVED INCOMPLETE

(Thunderbird :: Folder and Message Lists, defect)

Description

[info]

User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:91.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/91.0

Steps to reproduce:

Entering a search term into the quick search field (ctrl+shift+k)

Actual results:

Messages list does not change.
The button for the quickfilter (funnel symbol) toggles activ/inactiv , but does not present the list of selectable items to restrict the search to (Ref.:, From:, To:, Content etc.)

Expected results:

Activating the quickfilter should display a list of selectable items to restrict the search to.
Messages list contains only messages having the serach term in the selected items.

Comment 1

[Nemo Inis]

I have the same problem with Thunderbird 91.10.0 on Debian.

Error log output (the last error, "aState is null", re-occurs every time you try a Quickfilter search):

11:33:05.215 aFilterValue is null QuickFilterManager.jsm:1235
11:33:10.741 onLoadingFolder event listener FAILED; TypeError: aOld is undefined at: propagateState@resource:///modules/QuickFilterManager.jsm:1099:7
propagateValues@resource:///modules/QuickFilterManager.jsm:454:34
QuickFilterState@resource:///modules/QuickFilterManager.jsm:63:44
onLoadingFolder@chrome://messenger/content/quickFilterBar.js:134:41
_fireListeners@chrome://messenger/content/folderDisplay.js:77:32
onLoadingFolder@chrome://messenger/content/folderDisplay.js:1092:34
_prepareToLoadView@resource:///modules/DBViewWrapper.jsm:1048:19
open@resource:///modules/DBViewWrapper.jsm:805:12
show@chrome://messenger/content/folderDisplay.js:849:19
FolderPaneSelectionChange@chrome://messenger/content/commandglue.js:363:18
onselect@chrome://messenger/content/messenger.xhtml:1:1
MozTreeChildren/<@chrome://global/content/elements/tree.js:69:28
folderDisplay.js:79
11:33:15.405 Uncaught TypeError: aState is null
    onCommand resource:///modules/QuickFilterManager.jsm:1177
    handler chrome://messenger/content/quickFilterBar.js:241
    _fireCommand chrome://global/content/elements/search-textbox.js:227
    _enterSearch chrome://global/content/elements/search-textbox.js:245
    on_keypress chrome://global/content/elements/search-textbox.js:208
    handleEvent chrome://global/content/customElements.js:466
QuickFilterManager.jsm:1177:9

Comment 2

[info]

There seems to be a workaround for this:

• close Thunderbird
• move the files "prefs.js" and "session.json" (e.g to "prefs.js_backup" and "session.json_backup", respectively)
• restart Thunderbird
  (Note: Moving one of the files may be sufficient)

Maybe this information also helps solving this bug.

Comment 3

[Nemo Inis]

Thanks for the info, info. For me, trashing prefs.js was out of the question (too many accounts and custom prefs in there) but looking at it, there was nothing obviously related anyway.

"session.json", on the other hand, was the problem. Trashing it made quickFilter work again, so I did a before/after comparison, and you can see that the "ext":{"quickFilter": section is quite different in the new version (filterValues is not empty). So it looks like the quickFilter code was changed but chokes on the old session syntax.

Here is the BAD version (with a <CR> after every comma for legibility):

{"rev":0,
"windows":[{"type":"3pane",
"tabs":{"rev":0,
"selectedIndex":0,
"tabs":[{"mode":"folder",
"state":{"folderURI":"imap://REDACTED/INBOX",
"folderPaneVisible":true,
"messagePaneVisible":true,
"firstTab":true},
"ext":{"quickFilter":{"filterValues":{},
"visible":true}}},
{"mode":"calendar",
"state":{"background":true},
"ext":{}},
{"mode":"tasks",
"state":{"background":true},
"ext":{}}
]}}]}

Here is the GOOD version (with a <CR> after every comma for legibility):

{"rev":0,
"windows":[{"type":"3pane",
"tabs":{"rev":0,
"selectedIndex":0,
"tabs":[{"mode":"folder",
"state":{"folderURI":"imap://REDACTED/INBOX",
"folderPaneVisible":true,
"messagePaneVisible":true,
"firstTab":true},
"ext":{"quickFilter":{"filterValues":{"text":{"text":null,
"states":{"sender":true,
"recipients":true,
"subject":true}}},
"visible":true}}}]}}]}

Comment 4

[wojtek]

I had the same issue and it was driving me crazy but removing session.json fixed the issue FYI :-)

Comment 5

[wojtek]

Addendum. After 2 days and couple of restarts, the session.json was recreated with

{"quickFilter":{"filterValues":{},"visible":true}}

And quick filter toolbar stopped working once again... Removing it restored QF funcionality but it would be great not to have to remove it every couple of days :-)

Comment 6

[iGadget]

As per
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1357434 and
https://superuser.com/questions/856009/thunderbird-quick-filter-suddenly-stopped-working/1577880#1577880
this issue can also be 'fixed' by right-clicking your INBOX, selecting 'Open in New Window' and continue working from that new window.
At least, this works for me on TB 102.8.0 on Pop!_OS 22.04 and many others as well.

Question remains - what's causing this issue to begin with?

Comment 7

[wojtek]

OK, so after a couple of weeks it happened again. @iGadget comment with "Open in New Window" works in a sense that in that windows I can search. Removing sessions.json also works. But those are workarounds at best.

What can we do to better troubleshoot the issue and help fix it?

Comment 8

[techbin1]

I am experiencing the same issue. The fix of reopening in new window works temporarily, but fails again soon thereafter.

Comment 9

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

Does this reproduce for you in version 115?

Comment 10

[info]

Sorry, I am still at version 102. Last incident was in April 2023, so maybe it has been fixed in the mean time.
I'll get back to this if after the upgrade AND if it happens again then.

Comment 11

[wojtek]

I was working ok-ish recently (since my last post 4 months ago) on previous version and then I updated to 115 on the day it was released and I think since then I haven't run into the issue...

Comment 12

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

(In reply to info from comment #10)

Sorry, I am still at version 102. Last incident was in April 2023, so maybe it has been fixed in the mean time.
I'll get back to this if after the upgrade AND if it happens again then.

Thanks. Updates should be available in the next four weeks.

Comment 13

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

New info will be needed to be able to proceed. Thanks

Comment 14

[info]

Since the upgrade to version 115.4.1 this bug has not been observed anymore. So the issue seems to be fixed. Thanks to everybody how helped!