topic Re: Escape to Close Message Window in Discussions

Escape to Close Message Window

JamesW — Wed, 19 Nov 2025 23:39:23 GMT

I have Thunderbird configured to open messages in a new message window. When I double click a message or hit <Enter> on a selected message, Thunderbird sometimes sets focus on the new message window and other times it leaves the main window in focus. I have unsuccessfully tried to figure out a pattern.

I would like the new message window to receive focus so that I am able to hit the escape key to close it. When it does receive focus, I can simply hit escape. When it does not, I either have to click the 'X' to close it or click anywhere in the new message window to bring it into focus and then hit escape.

Is there something I am doing wrong or something I can configure so that double clicking or hitting <Enter> to open a new message window will result in the new window receiving focus?

I am using Thunderbird 140.4.0esr (64-bit) [Thunderbird for Linux Mintmint-001 - 1.0]

Re: Escape to Close Message Window

siffemcon — Thu, 20 Nov 2025 00:15:47 GMT

Odd. Does the new window focus also not happen sometimes in Troubleshoot mode (https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/troubleshoot-mode-thunderbird/)?

If that problem can't be fixed, there is an add-on which you can use to get ESC to work on a new tab.

Re: Escape to Close Message Window

JamesW — Thu, 20 Nov 2025 00:58:34 GMT

I did not see this behaviour in Troubleshoot mode. I could hit <Enter> to open messages and escape to close them. I did this rapid fire and all was well. Interestingly, when I exited Troubleshoot mode back to normal, the odd behaviour did not return. Very odd!

Re: Escape to Close Message Window

siffemcon — Fri, 21 Nov 2025 04:14:20 GMT

I've seen TS mode fix things even though it's temporary. Maybe just the restart?

Re: Escape to Close Message Window

JamesW — Fri, 21 Nov 2025 04:12:14 GMT

I am not dismissing the possibility, but this has been happening for a while and the issues survived many Thunderbird and system restarts.

Re: Escape to Close Message Window

siffemcon — Fri, 21 Nov 2025 04:15:21 GMT

¯\_(ツ)_/¯