Threaded default on message view is a problem
Categories
(Thunderbird :: Folder and Message Lists, defect)
Tracking
(Not tracked)
People
(Reporter: dskirk, Unassigned)
References
Details
User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64; rv:103.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/103.0
Steps to reproduce:
The new default for message list is now threaded, after many years of being unthreaded. Changing to threaded has caused an increase in complaints on SUMO, and the config editor value of mailnews.default_view_flags being set to zero does not set the default to unthreaded. Providing the easy ability to set default for all folders to unthreaded needs to be fixed. Thank you.
Actual results:
After updating config editor, all users who complained reported that this does not fix the problem.
Expected results:
The message list should show unthreaded.
I accidentally closed this, not fully understanding the scope. I prefer that someone close to the issue clarify what status is on finding a resolution on the continually recurring complaints about having threading as the default. Thank you.
(In reply to david from comment #1)
I accidentally closed this, not fully understanding the scope. I prefer that someone close to the issue clarify what status is on finding a resolution on the continually recurring complaints about having threading as the default. Thank you.
Agree there have been some very frustrated people. It always seems worse for those who have never used or seen the 'threaded' view. So clicking on the top level collapsed folder and it rendering dozens of emails to open in dozens of tabs made people concerned about weird bugs etc etc.
Previously, it was not possible to get the sort applied across all current folders. A couple of versions back 102.2.1 (I think) a new setting was created. So now you can use this Fix I'm advising in Forum:
Select Inbox
Set 'View' > 'Sort by' > as 'Unthreaded'
Then apply the following:
Right click on column headers and select 'Apply current view to..' > 'Folder and it's children' > select 'mail account name' and then 'mail account name'
Repeat above line to select other mail accounts.
This should force an unthreaded sort into all folders.
I've been testing this on my accounts and discovered it only works when you specifically choose a folder and not a mail account.
Right click on column headers and select 'Apply current view to..' > 'Folder and it's children' > select 'mail account name' and then 'choose a specific top level folder' which has a 'threaded' setting.
This does work on that selected folder, but as people need to apply everything to an entire account, it's not helpful.
mailnews.default_view_flags being set to zero
That would stop the default being applied to any new folders, basically it switches the default off and then uses 'unthreaded' as default.
So it is a good idea to advise people to apply that setting, so they do not keep getting a problem everytime they want to create a new folder.
This is the original fixed bug 574986
I have tested this several times and even created a crude video of solution at https://davidkirk.org/SettingDefaultFolderView.mp4 My findings contradict those of Anje; I reset and redid the keystrokes multiple times and all folders within an account were properly unthreaded. I originally opened this bug to encourage discussion on having a workable solution. Since that has evolved, I will close this bug if there are no further comments. My thanks to all for their work to make this an easily manageable fix.
Description
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