502620 - Enhancement: add a "(Profile Manager)" shortcut

Status: RESOLVED WONTFIX

(Thunderbird :: Installer, enhancement)

Description

[S. Ali Tokmen]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.9.1) Gecko/20090624 Firefox/3.5 (.NET CLR 3.5.30729)
Build Identifier: 

We like Thunderbird because we can set it so it uses the same profiles on Windows, Linux and Mac. This way, they have their accounts, rules and e-mails all the same on all platforms.

On the other hand, in Windows, there is no "Mozilla Thunderbird (Profile Manager)" shortcut. There is a "Safe Mode" shortcut, could there also please be a "Profile Manager" shortcut?

Reproducible: Always

Comment 1

[S. Ali Tokmen]

Added dependency on its "sister bug": https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=263840

Comment 2

[Tyler Downer [He/Him]]

I guess something kinda like songbird then?

Comment 3

[rsx11m]

What exactly do you mean with "shortcut", do you want to switch a profile from a running Thunderbird instance (similar to Tools > Switch Profile on SeaMonkey) or to start Thunderbird with a given profile?

The latter is possible already using -P "ProfileName" on the command line, see http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_Manager

Comment 4

[S. Ali Tokmen]

Currently, once Thunderbird is installed, it creates two shortcuts: Thunderbird and Thunderbird (Safe Mode). This would be a third, Thunderbird (Profile Manager).

You're absolutely right, the Profile Manager shortcut would only call thunderbird -profileManager. Similarly, the Safe Mode shortcut currently calls thunderbird -safe-mode.

Comment 5

[rsx11m]

Ok, I see - you are talking about the Windows "Start" menu.

Looking at my 2.0.0.22 installation, it has a "Profile Manager" shortcut included in the "Mozilla Thunderbird" application submenu. Now that's a long-existing installation, so that may be residual from 1.5 or 1.0 on that specific machine.

Comment 6

[S. Ali Tokmen]

Perhaps it's been removed? I've linked with the bug that probably is the source of the Profile Manager shortcuts being removed.

Comment 7

[Phil Ringnalda (:philor)]

Yes, it was removed long ago for the same reason Firefox removed its shortcut long ago, and we don't want to add it back for the same reasons Firefox doesn't want to add its back: a profile manager shortcut can be handy in certain limited circumstances, but in general it just causes confusion when people accidentally create a new profile, set to automatically start with it, and then wonder why all their mail disappeared, so if you are in one of the limited circumstances where it's handy, you should create one yourself.

Comment 8

[S. Ali Tokmen]

Fair enough :) Sorry for the noise

S. Ali Tokmen
http://ali.tokmen.com/

---

Message sent from a mobile proxy

Comment 9

[Eric Moore]

Bug 245070 requests the ability to switch profiles while using Thunderbird, like the ProfileSwitcher lets you do. That enhancement request has a status of NEW, but nothing has happened in 16 years. Having the installer add a shortcut would be much easier and wouldn't make the menu system more complicated.

Its always been difficult for many users to launch the profile manager. Now that version 68 has been released (which creates its own profile by default, and requires each installation to have their own profile) even more users will attempt to run it. Perhaps the decision to deny this enhancement request could be revisited?