Closed Bug 312938 Opened 19 years ago Closed 18 years ago

Message pane (preview) doesn't show upon startup/opening

Categories

(Thunderbird :: Mail Window Front End, defect)

Product:
Thunderbird
Component:
Mail Window Front End
Platform:
x86
Windows 2000
Type:
defect
Priority:
Not set
Severity:
minor

Tracking

(Not tracked)

Status:
RESOLVED WORKSFORME

People

(Reporter: kirkbell, Assigned: mscott)

References

Details

(Keywords: regression) 

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7.12) Gecko/20050915 Firefox/1.0.7
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7.12) Gecko/20050915 Firefox/1.0.7

sometimes when I open 1.5 Beta2 I can't click once on the emails in the inbox
(IMAP account) to preview in the window below. It just keeps displaying the
screen with 'email' 'accounts' and 'advanced features'. To get around this I
click once on the account name on the left and then on the inbox just below the
acc name, then I can preview any email by one click. 

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
It appears this only happens when I close the application while I have the
account name selected or another account name selected and then close the
application (upon opening again the problem will happen everytime).
1. select account name heading on left
2. close thunderbird
3. open thunderbird, screen will show my inbox selected (highlighted) and the
emails stored there.
4. one click on an email for reading in preview window

Actual Results:  
preview window will not show, just the 'email' 'accounts' 'advanced features'
will show.

Expected Results:  
preview of the email (one mouse click on email) in the below window.

not using any themes or other add ons. No error code or reports. Program does
not crash. Can still preview email in lower window if clicking on account
heading then  the inbox then the email.
Related to/duplicate of bug 304169?
Yes it is almost identical except I can reproduce the problem every time with
out fail using the steps I have outlined. Also, as with bug 304169 the first
screen is the Welcome to thunderbird message in the bottom preview pane.
Version: unspecified → 1.5
two questions:

does anything appear on the javascript console when you do this? Tools |
javascript console

if not, can you try generating an imap protocol log?

http://www.mozilla.org/quality/mailnews/mail-troubleshoot.html#imap
I'm not seeing the precise same symptom reported here, but something related:  If I close TB with an account, rather than a folder, selected, when I restart (1.5 or 1.6), the window appears with no Message Pane displayed at all; the Thread Pane takes up the full height.  (Classic layout.)  The quick workaround is hit F8 twice, after which the pane appears (and operates) normally.  
In 1.5, the JS console shows no warnings or errors; in 1.6, just the usual 
key-binding warnings.

My default account is POP, and I check mail (and enter passwords) for two POP accounts on startup.

Compare to bug 321551.
Severity: normal → minor
Keywords: regression
OS: Windows XP → Windows 2000
A-ha -- I see the symptom exactly as reported if I turn on the "Show start page" option, which I normally have off.
Status: UNCONFIRMED → NEW
Ever confirmed: true
(In reply to comment #5)
> A-ha -- I see the symptom exactly as reported if I turn on the "Show start
> page" option, which I normally have off.
> 

I experience the problem exactly as you described it in your last two commments. I guess my bug, bug 322847, is a duplicate of this one--should I mark it as such?
It appears that this bug applies only to the first account inbox in the list of accounts, because if you click on another inbox you'd be changing the folder (the reported method of getting around the bug,) and messages will display in the pane properly.
*** Bug 322847 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
(In reply to comment #7)
> It appears that this bug applies only to the first account inbox in the list of
> accounts, because if you click on another inbox you'd be changing the folder
> (the reported method of getting around the bug,) and messages will display in
> the pane properly.
> 

To clarify, clicking on ANY account NAME in the list and closing thunderbird will only temporarily prevent messages in the first listed account from being shown in the message pane.
I'm suffering the same bug with TB1.5 pl-PL. I've found another workaround for inactive message pane - it's enough to resize it to make it active again. In fact you don't have to actually resize the pane, it's enough to click on the bar separating the threads pane from message pane.

Regarding comment #5 - I'm seeing this behaviour with the "Show start page" option off, so it's not necesary to have it on.
Summary: Message preview doesn't show upon opening Thunderbird 1.5 beta2 → Message pane (preview) doesn't show upon opening
*** Bug 304169 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
This bug still exists on the latest-trunk version for Windows dated 2-14-06. This bug has been around for months. It would be really nice if someone would finally fix it, please. Thank you.

John Hardy

version 1.6a1 (20060214)
Fixing summary for searchability
Summary: Message pane (preview) doesn't show upon opening → Message pane (preview) doesn't show upon startup/opening
*** Bug 326578 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
This bugs annoys me for quite some times. IIRC, It appeared in one of the Tb 1.0 release candidates - and it is here since then.

My symptoms.

Start page is enabled. Upon start-up, selecting message in message list wont display it. Preview is stuck in start page. Message list position is off by 10-20 messages. (I'm sorting messages by date, oldest at top, newest at bottom).

Start page is disabled. Upon start-up, 50/50 chance that preview pane would be open. If it is open, then everything works as expected - selecting message in list displays it in preview. If preview pane appeared closed, selecting message would reopen preview pane but it will remain blank.

Selecting any other folder and then selecting back Inbox "wakes up" preview pane.

It's quite annoying.

P.S. My inbox is about 300MB big. About 1900 messages. Two search and three normal sub-folders. If that matters.
I just upgraded to Thunderbird latest-trunk for Windows "version 3 alpha 1 (20060627)" using Win XP-Pro 64-bit. Previously I was using a version that was about three weeks older. This bug still exists. It has been around for a very long time.
I just upgraded to "version 3 alpha 1 (20060817)" for Windows and this bug still exists. Clicking on a subject should cause the message to appear in the message window, but it doesn't. I have to double-click on the subject to cause a new window to open with the message displayed in it. After that, subsequent messages will display properly in the original window when I click on the subject.

This error was first reported about ten months ago. Is anyone planning on fixing it? This is not some exotic function. It is the basic and fundamental display of a message when a subject is chosen. Thank you.
does anything appear on the js console (now called error console) when you start up or when you click on a message?
I've never used the Error Console, but I will check it the next time this happens. It would be helpful if there was a Date & Time stamp for each event in the list. I did not see anything in the list that seemed related. But I just cleared all events, so the next occurrence will be easier to relate to. Thank you.
(In reply to comment #18)
> does anything appear on the js console (now called error console) when you
> start up or when you click on a message?
> 

I see no errors in the JavaScript Console while having this bug. I'm using the 1.5.0.5 release of Thunderbird.
(In reply to comment #18)
> does anything appear on the js console (now called error console) when you
> start up or when you click on a message?
> 

I'm running the official Thunderbird 1.5.0.5 build, and am not seeing any errors or warnings in the error console, either.

Why's this bug still around? :'(
because none of the developers can reproduce this bug at all.
(In reply to comment #22)
> because none of the developers can reproduce this bug at all.

I had reproduced it in the timeframe of comment 4 & 5 (which provides precise steps to reproduce), but with 2a1-0817 and 3a1-0816, I'm not seeing it.  WFM.
Would it make sense to attach screenshots + configuration dump?
That **** happens to me in office all the time since 1.0RCs.
(In reply to comment #22)
> because none of the developers can reproduce this bug at all.
> 

I did some more research on this matter. First I tried to use the newest branch and trunk builds with fresh profiles - no problem at all. Then I used my 1.5.0.5 profile with these builds and again - no problem at all. And then I tried to install a fresh 1.5.0.5 and yet again - no problem.

So I kept checking what's going on and I think I found a way to reproduce it, but only with 1.5.0.5:

1) start with a fresh profile
2) create a new e-mail account but don't check "Use the global inbox" (important)
3) after you create an account you should have two folders in folder pane - one for global inbox and one for your account
4) download some e-mails into your mail account's inbox
5) select one of the folders in the folder pane (only one of the two top-category ones, not the subfolders)
6) restart TB
7) upon restart you should probably have your mail account's inbox open showing the list of emails. Selecting one should open it in the message pane but it's:
a) not visible until you click on an email
b) not active after you do so - it doesn't show the email contents

To activate the pane you have to either choose another folder and then come back to your inbox or try to resize the preview pane.

I couldn't reproduce the above steps with branch and trunk builds so perhaps it only affects the 1.8.0 branch builds.

Hope it helps with solving this bug.
(In reply to comment #25)
> 5) select one of the folders in the folder pane (only one of the two
> top-category ones, not the subfolders)

You mean 'select one of the accounts'.  The account node cannot contain messages, so it is not a folder.


> 7) upon restart you should probably have your mail account's inbox open
> showing the list of emails. Selecting one should open it in the message pane
> but it's:
> a) not visible until you click on an email

Having a message selected when you click on the folder is only true if you have:    Options | Advanced | General,
  [x] Remember the last selected message
which I don't think is set by default.  FWIW, I always have this setting turned off, and having it on may have affected the symptom of this bug.


> To activate the pane you have to either choose another folder and then come
> back to your inbox or try to resize the preview pane.
> 
> I couldn't reproduce the above steps with branch and trunk builds so perhaps
> it only affects the 1.8.0 branch builds.

OK: marking this bug WFM.  The fix will be in TB 2.0.
Status: NEW → RESOLVED
Closed: 18 years ago
Resolution: --- → WORKSFORME
> OK: marking this bug WFM.  The fix will be in TB 2.0.

Huh? "WFM" and "fix will be in" in same sentence? Me is confused.

Can you elaborate more on the nature of problem (which isn't problem for you - hence WFM) and its fix (what precisely needs to "be in TB2.0" if it works for you)?

I'm living with that thing for whole Tb1.0-1.5 release cycle... Bit more technical details for such obscure bug can be useful.
(In reply to comment #26)
> > 7) upon restart you should probably have your mail account's inbox open
> > showing the list of emails. Selecting one should open it in the message pane
> > but it's:
> > a) not visible until you click on an email
> 
> Having a message selected when you click on the folder is only true if you
> have:    Options | Advanced | General,
>   [x] Remember the last selected message
> which I don't think is set by default.  FWIW, I always have this setting turned
> off, and having it on may have affected the symptom of this bug.

I tried turning this off and the bug still happens, nothing changes. I don't think you should have marked this as WFM.
I have tried every version since 1.5 RCs and have had to downgrade to 1.0.8 which is the last version for me that does not have this bug. Downgrading with the same profile in place fixes the problem for me.
WFM means it works on the trunk. If this bug is fixed in 2.0 and on the trunk, then we call it fixed, because the fix will be in the next version. (the 1.5.0.x releases are mainly for security fixes, not bugs like this)
(In reply to comment #26)
> (In reply to comment #25)
> > 5) select one of the folders in the folder pane (only one of the two
> > top-category ones, not the subfolders)
> 
> You mean 'select one of the accounts'.  The account node cannot contain
> messages, so it is not a folder.

In general - yes, that what I meant.

> 
> > 7) upon restart you should probably have your mail account's inbox open
> > showing the list of emails. Selecting one should open it in the message pane
> > but it's:
> > a) not visible until you click on an email
> 
> Having a message selected when you click on the folder is only true if you
> have:    Options | Advanced | General,
>   [x] Remember the last selected message
> which I don't think is set by default.  FWIW, I always have this setting turned
> off, and having it on may have affected the symptom of this bug.
> 

As stated above this has no influence on this bug. When I restart TB only the inbox is selected, not the message inside of it

(In reply to comment #26 and comment #30)

Yes, it is true that at the moment it's not reproducible in neither trunk nor branch but it can be quite an issue for 1.5.0 series users, as at first TB seems to be broken - you select a message and it's not shown in the preview, where it should be. 1.5.0 branch will stay with us for a while, even after a 2.0 release, so perhaps some solution should be found. Just my opinion.


> with 2a1-0817 and 3a1-0816, I'm not seeing it.  WFM.

> OK: marking this bug WFM.  The fix will be in TB 2.0.

Mike: Sorry, I did not follow your thought process there (quotes from two of your messages). It sounds like you have a fix, but the bug still exists for me with the latest-trunk version of Thunderbird for Windows from August 17th "version 3 alpha 1 (20060817)" I'm not clear on which versions you are referring to with "2a1-0817 and 3a1-0816". By the way, I'm using it with Windows XP-Pro 64-bit.

I am using the "Remember last selected message" option. Thank you.
*** Bug 340367 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
I'm still experiencing this bug. I'm currently using the latest trunk version for Windows XP-Pro, "version 3 alpha 1 (20070105)". This is installed on a completely different computer than my previous reports.
Component: General → Mail Window Front End
I encounter this annoying bug since 1.5 branch on two computers. It is still on version 3 alpha1 20070206. It seems disappear if all account folders are open when TB starts. My OS : Win XP home SP2.
Guy, if you came here following that dupe in comment 35, I duped it to the wrong bug; see bug 365016.
Sorry, I encounter exactly the bug 350476.
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