topic Re: How to turn off conversation view in Thunderbird? in Discussions

How to turn off conversation view in Thunderbird?

BeginAgain — Mon, 23 Oct 2023 09:56:48 GMT

1. I'm using Thunderbird 115.3.3 supernova. It has this conversation view like Gmail brought in where it nests all the messages.

I find it very confusing to use, how do I turn it off? I went through all the settings but I can't find any option.

2. When I do a search I click on the message and it shows the items in a list instead of just loading up the email. I'm guessing this is part of the same feature, also would like to turn this off too.

Re: How to turn off conversation view in Thunderbird?

SdG — Mon, 23 Oct 2023 20:44:11 GMT

Hi,

Try this:

1. In Thunderbird, select the folder with the conversation you want to turn off.

2. Click "View"

3. Select "Sort By"

4. Select "Unthreaded"

That should do the trick!

Re: How to turn off conversation view in Thunderbird?

BeginAgain — Mon, 23 Oct 2023 21:48:40 GMT

That did it, what a relief, thanks.

But it still doesn't solve problem 2.

Re: How to turn off conversation view in Thunderbird?

RichardX — Thu, 23 May 2024 09:02:28 GMT

I have v115.11.0 and those instructions don't work - the only 'view' I can find is in the hamburger and there's no 'sort by'. Any suggestions for me? Thanks

Re: How to turn off conversation view in Thunderbird?

cyberstud — Tue, 09 Jul 2024 23:13:48 GMT

I finally found it in my version. The view menu does not have all of the options that others have. Instead they moved it to the side of field bar of emails. There is an odd symbol like a tree root that you can toggle.

Re: How to turn off conversation view in Thunderbird?

cyberstud — Tue, 09 Jul 2024 23:16:03 GMT

Check my post below.

Re: How to turn off conversation view in Thunderbird?

Robert563542 — Tue, 24 Sep 2024 16:14:32 GMT

Unfortunately, there is no solution that actually works. Threaded view has to be disabled for each account individually, there's apparently no way to disabled it for all accounts at once. After disabling for one account, I find that it will randomly revert to threaded view after some time (I have no idea what causes it to revert back), and it will also lose other settings (set back to default), such as the column order.

Re: How to turn off conversation view in Thunderbird?

KenDarwin — Mon, 30 Sep 2024 05:37:47 GMT

Rubbish! There is no View icon /button to click on. This threading function appeared unexpectedly, and is a real nuisance - incoming emails get lost.

Re: How to turn off conversation view in Thunderbird?

Etza22 — Fri, 04 Oct 2024 17:10:53 GMT

This is the reason I will not buy or support Thunderbird, because of the annoying conversation links that CANNOT be turned off. Emails should be sorted by date automatically. The creator of this program gets a F+ in passing grades.

Re: How to turn off conversation view in Thunderbird?

KenDarwin — Sat, 05 Oct 2024 04:14:29 GMT

Yes, it really was a dopey decision. I can't locate emails sent to me for two factor identification to access other websites, banking, utility providers etc. My solution is to dump Tbird after 15 or so years, and switch to another email client which gives me the choice to use conversation/threading or not. Looking a Microsoft mail at present.

Re: How to turn off conversation view in Thunderbird?

Robert563542 — Sun, 06 Oct 2024 02:38:16 GMT

Annoying as [bleep] is that the From: column is hidden by default, that's one of the more bewildering decisions ever made. As soon as I find a suitable replacement, TB will be crossed off from my PITA bucket list.

Re: How to turn off conversation view in Thunderbird?

Daysleeper76rm — Wed, 09 Oct 2024 13:44:15 GMT

i selected the inbox folder and clicked on "view" and in the "order" section i selected the simple view.

It worked for me.

Re: How to turn off conversation view in Thunderbird?

Etza22 — Wed, 09 Oct 2024 15:28:08 GMT

Your comment makes no sense whatsoever. There is no "order" section in Thunderbird where you can click on view. I assume you are not using the proper word as to what section you are referring to.

Re: How to turn off conversation view in Thunderbird?

R6D — Mon, 21 Oct 2024 09:24:01 GMT

Show me where you see here "Sorty By"

Re: How to turn off conversation view in Thunderbird?

Agentvirtuel — Mon, 21 Oct 2024 10:26:54 GMT

Hello

An illustration https://www.youtube.com/embed/Xh5_LH2oWC0

Re: How to turn off conversation view in Thunderbird?

kandaon — Thu, 24 Oct 2024 16:48:53 GMT

select folder. above the actual message list, you have a header. there's something "quick filter" and to its right, a funny icon. click on it, and you'll see the option.

Re: How to turn off conversation view in Thunderbird?

ThePillenwerfer — Thu, 24 Oct 2024 17:16:14 GMT

I completely agree that there should be a simple On/Off setting for threading that applies globally. As there isn't here's what you have to do.

Firstly press Alt-v (or click the View menu if it's visible) and click "Sort by" on the drop-down menu that appears. Towards the bottom of that are "Threaded" and "Unthreaded." Click "Unthreaded."

That will sort out the folder you are currently displaying but only that one.

To make it work in every folder right-click somewhere on the line with the column headings and choose "Apply current view to folder and its children" at the bottom, then pick one of your accounts, then the top of the next list that comes up. See picture as hopefully that'll make it clearer.

You have to do it for every account you have.

Re: How to turn off conversation view in Thunderbird?

kandaon — Thu, 24 Oct 2024 19:40:07 GMT

the dumb thing is, you have to do the switch for every folder individually. i don't know who remove the account-wide option switch, but they deserve a penalty.

Re: How to turn off conversation view in Thunderbird?

kandaon — Thu, 24 Oct 2024 19:53:08 GMT

a faster way: select the folder in the folder list, hold the ALT key and press in sequence : V S H

that's using the shortcut keys to issue those commands ( ALT + V = view ; ALT + S = sort ; ALT + H = non threaded )

Re: How to turn off conversation view in Thunderbird?

Barry2 — Sat, 16 Nov 2024 16:08:52 GMT

Make sure you have enabled Menu Bar. Right click at the top of Thunderbird and you will see the option to select Menu Bar.

Re: How to turn off conversation view in Thunderbird?

Beekman — Wed, 27 Nov 2024 06:48:28 GMT

Still, there is no way to make it the default behavior?

For example in a search result I still get the annoying Threaded view and there seems no way to make it permanent there.

Re: How to turn off conversation view in Thunderbird?

hamzilla — Wed, 27 Nov 2024 16:11:27 GMT

also ANY newly created folder will do thread view. 😞

threadvis was nice but as always that seemed to have triggered devs that do not allow fame to non moz ppl.

i bet they'd rather add an ad api than fullfill the oldest most basic requests from the community.

because if you are asked to contribute it is "us" in the community. but when you mention any of the many screwups and ignorant moves from the team, then it is you against them. no more us.

so my bet: this wont be fixed before email is dead. not because it is hard, but because the dev who made the decision to forcefeed his 90s UX/UI on everyone else is in a key position.

hello mutt!

Re: How to turn off conversation view in Thunderbird?

dotch — Sun, 27 Apr 2025 21:06:36 GMT

Try this to prevent future threading:

go to TB menu > Settings > General > scroll all the way down and click the 'Config editor' button on the right. Click 'Accept the risk and continue'

search for mailnews.default_view_flags > change the value to 0 > click the check mark > restart TB

Re: How to turn off conversation view in Thunderbird?

seaplane — Tue, 30 Sep 2025 18:12:13 GMT

If anyone interested. Thunderbird 140