Thunderbird 115.2.2 feedback

[NGFred]

Greetings,

Sorry to say, but the new version is a no-go for us.

Our entire staff is disappointed, the new interface is terrible : Font change makes it really less readable, even the new filter bar is really wrong (location, etc).

We cannot of course downgrade to previous version without installing from scratch, this will simply be a farewell to Thunderbird.

Thanks

[RuffyTuffy]

Agree. Impossible to read or scan.

[shannondc]

I agree - the new font makes things more difficult to read & the messages appear too close together. Moving the menu above the file menu bar is confusing & harder to use. Also, the way that messages are highlighted in the message list is inconsistent and makes it harder to navigate. I love Thunderbird, but this design update is a big mistake. At least allow us the option of reverting to the old visual design

[sverson]

I totally agree with all of you!

So it's not my old-fashioned idea of design. 😉

My first impression was: simply ugly - hard to read - confusing!

PLEASE CHANGE BACK!!!

[sverson]

As was to be expected, 115.2.3 does not bring any improvement either!

[Igelmann]

Auch hier in good old Germany --> Bitte, bitte, bitte wieder das alte Design, sonst bekomme ich Augenkrebs oder wechsel zu Outlook. Danke

[CondoGhost]

Unbelievable to not provide us the option to keep our original fonts, spacing, background grey/white line spacing. And you make it so difficult to revert back to previous release.

Is it a deliberate ploy to force us to give up on Thunderbird?

Why oh why do you shove this down our throats like this? We no longer have our emails listing white/grey to break up this harsh white shouting at us.

Worst experience ever - definitely time to drop Thunderbird for good!

[Tolstoi01]

My filters don't work anymore half of the time, or it filters the wrong way... and I won't say anything about slugginess...    very disappointed after so many years of use...

[satterle]

Agreed - Quick Filter is not working.  I use it extensively, and now since this update (and after compressing mailboxes, clearing cache etc.), it just doesn't find things.  For instance if I do a proper search on inbox, I find multiple emails with esp32 (and ESP32), but if I do a quick search on inbox, for either of those terms, I get nothing.

[pajades]

Yes, and on top of that "Custom Views" are not retained for the unified inbox either.   Moving to another folder and back to the unified inbox resets the view to the default.  VERY annoying.

[ric07]

I've been using Thunderbird for many years and have rarely been able to approve of the design adjustments. I'm an interface designer myself and I can only shake my head at such major design errors. At the moment it's a struggle to read and answer emails. As a die-hard typographic fan, the choices between line spacing and font size are horror! The position of the buttons is also anything but intuitive. I was able to get used to the previous design. I would be happy to have an option to restore the old design and not have to switch to another email program.

[brian_m]

Please ignore the following comment, see my reply below.

Thunderbird 115.2.3 came down with the updates for Linux Mint 21, and it's installation has been a MAJOR disaster. It has totally wiped my calendar - all upcoming events have been deleted! The person responsible for authorising the release of this software should be IMMEDIATELY booted from the Thunderbird project, and never allowed near it again! How the hell can you let something so fundamental go through unnoticed?

[brian_m]

I'm sorry, I withdraw my previous comments. I found that (for whatever reason) I had the Mozilla PPA installed, but had forgotten all about it. I did not realise I was using beta-test software.

[HMK]

Ya, there's a lot about it I don't like, but it's still the best email tool out there as far as I've seen. 

• The unread count in every folder is annoying.  Bolding the folder name was always good enough.  That said, I can understand why some might like it, hence my issue - no way to turn it off.  Give us configuration options for changes like this.
• What's with the persistent hot-key indicator in the search field?  If your change is so unintuitive that you need to place permanent instructions on the screen, you should rethink that change.  If you think this was such a great idea, then why don't you have permanent hot-keys all over the interface?  (Don't do this).  Again, how about a configuration option to remove the stupid thing.
• I didn't have auto-update enabled, yet this got pushed out, which took me by surprise - which isn't a good state to be in when I'm just trying to use email.  Was that intentional?
• I can't remember now what the previous list of emails looked like - were there alternating BG colors?  All I'm sure of now is that everything in my inbox and other folders looks very squished together.  Everything blends into one large amorphous blob.  I'm not sure what changed, but it wasn't a good one.

[JohnnyBeau]

It may be the best email client out there, but why do I always have to spend so much time fixing it after the update. It has become a waste of time.

[HMK]

Sadly, this is the state of modern software deployment.  Gone are the days of decent release notes and well documented changes, which include the instructions on how to take advantage of the new features, should you decide to.  And welcome to the days of "Here's the update, with all of the new features already enabled for you! If you don't like them or they break how you work, good luck trying to figure out how to revert them, if we even let you!! " {insert evil laugh here}

I blame Microsoft and Apple for setting these new standards and everyone else for following them.

[GrumpyGramps]

Also, gone are the days of thorough testing before any release is made public. Just because q certain feature works on the developer's system, does not guarantee that the feature will work as expected on the integrated product. And, testing on different OSes is obviously not happening. Is this the product of a failed beta system, or what?

[Spaceman13]

Best mail client is one that allows me to quickly scan mail, and process it.  Outlook has now taken the lead over Thunderbird for me.

[solitude]

Agreed. Impossible to quickly scan when it looks like there is a bunch of spam numbers in circles all over the place. Why would anyone ever think I/we need to know how many unread emails there are in a trash folder? I don't need any numbers shown, but I guess I can understand it showing up for the inbox only.

[Lisa7]

why can't we rearrange folders in the new Thunderbird? It seemed to be working when I first installed the download but no longer.

[rakowskipw]

The new version is a nightmare. 👎

[Wshbnbrwry]

A weird update, the 'density' can be changed to make it more readable but the Send/Receive icon is so so tiny and the weird placement of the search bar. Not seeing any improvements only negative changes.

Regards

[misfyt]

@Wshbnbrwry  Could you share how you changed the font density and spacing? I'd also like to get the 'old' interface design back.

[JohnnyBeau]

The filters menus don't fit on the screen, and they have no sliders to see beyond the screen.

So much wasted time because of new versions. Whoever approves of the update hasn't a clue

of what is going on.

[Jonathan]

So many applications are making major interface disasters, just in the name of "modern". It's trash. I hate it.

Now excuse me, I have to go force downgrade Thunderbird and restore my profile from backup.

[Spaceman13]

Never thought I'd say this ... but this "update" may just make me switch to Outlook on my Windows machines. Most of the recent Outlook updates have gone in the right direction, and I already have Microsoft 365 for the family anyway.

[GrumpyGramps]

I hate Outlook, but might just have to cut back over to it. This 115.3.1 (64-bit) release is a disaster and the difficulity of rolling back a level or two is much more cumbersome and time consuming than just nuking Thunderbird and cutting back to Outlook. I have 11 unique inboxes (email addresses) to keep track on. Thunderbird's superior ability to support that requirement in past yeas is what landed me on Thunderbird to begin with. Now that Outlook also supports multiple email accounts in an integrated UI, I'll have to seriously consider switching back.

If I don't see a Thunderbird "update" that rolls back this abhorrent 115.3.1 (64-bit) "downgrade" in the next day or two, I'll be gone for good. 115.3.1 (64-bit) is a disgrace to the entire project. 

[Phusspot]

It's just awful. Been using Thunderbird for donkey's years but this release has user interface bugs which should never have made it past a test cycle:

1) Move an email which sits near the top of the inbox into a local folder and the cursor position in the inbox goes to the end of the inbox - which could be 100s of lines down and you have scroll all the way back up to where you were.

2) Email filters auto-filing incoming email in local folders now doesn't indicate that the local folder has unread email ... so you have to manually check all the local folders which could have new email to see if any do by opening all local folders and their sub-folders until you can see email contents. This completely nixes any benefits of filing via filters. Maybe OK in test suite when testing 1 or 2 filters and 1 or 2 local folders but not when there are dozens of filters in use for a big filing system.

3) "New Message" button is massive size and inconsiderate location. Only way to stop it looking silly is to remove the "New Message" button and start a new email with Ctrl-N.

4) Still present from other versions ... when composing in HTML default 'paste' action is 'formatted' and a context menu allows 'paste unformatted text' ... but there's no way to define what the preferred default paste format is, say via Settings/Compose. If 'unformatted' is your preferred format you'll find Thunderbird a very frustrating UI for pasting information into emails during HTML composition as you'll Ctrl-V to paste and then have to edit out all the auto-formatting put in or Ctrl-Z and then paste via the context menu instead.

[RP1]

Point 1) is the most challenging - the cursor jumps all over the place when one moves or deletes an e-mail.  Hope this can be fixed very soon.

[SteveK]

115.3.0 today. Don't like the changes. Can't seem to get folders to open automatically with unread messages only. Don't want to see list of messages already read.

[SteveK]

Cracked it. Unread filter can be pinned, but that affects all folders. Still not keen. Don't like new icon either.

[SteveK]

Me again. The Inbox message list on 115.3.0 is too "tight", and changing Density from compact to default just makes it too spaced-out. What's going on!

[tbirdmailuserca]

Came here to say I'm not upgrading. Change for change's sake just like MS, along with a loss of configurability. Disappointing.

[jdugganv]

Luckily I only updated on PC with this release - I'll ensure that I won't update my others, and reasonably sure I'll stop my monthly donation if things aren't changed soon

[quaxobadu]

I was about to send major congratulations for how well supernova works for me when I read all the above since my post.  Not sure why they have such issues.  I have it on 6 PCs.  So my post in this thread is a counterpoint to the complaints.  My installs have been flawless since I began using TB routinely in 2006 after I migrated from Eudora.   If I have an issue after upgrading, I often reinstall from scratch and it fixes it.  I think the team should consider a simple TB mode like K9.  The many powerful features in TB can confuse most. 

I would like to see a more powerful search function, like Grep on Linux, as native, rather than an add on I use.  Add ons being a great TB feature.  Kudos to you, and my continued paying support to your efforts.

[solitude]

My complaint has nothing to do with "powerful features." That's a silly way of looking at things after all that's been changed, as if only you could figure out these "powerful features."

One example of my many complaints is, what happened to all my collapsible folders? Before, there was a main folder for each email account I have, and the main folder was collapsible. Additionally, there was a subfolder that contained other user-made sub-subfolders (if you will) which could be collapsed as well. Now, ALL folders are either open or closed. Why? One click, all folders open, one click, all closed.

That window pane is now overflowing with folders that I don't want or need to see on a regular basis. It looks horrible, messy, and repetitive. So, no, I don't want my list of folders with less powerful features, I want there to be more, like there was before.

[HMK]

I still have everything that you're apparently now missing.  Each account is collapsible.  All of my parent and children folders are still there and still collapsible/expandable.

I'm using the table view.  I'm on MAC OS 12.6, and my accounts are all gmail based.

[solitude]

The main account folder, for each email account, is still collapsible. The group of subfolders, that were previously collapsible, are now just... all there, and no longer in a group that can be collapsed or minimized. I've looked all through the settings and can't find anything that reverts this change. If I go to Gmail, those group/s of subfolders are still there and collapsible.

[solitude]

And by the way, the "table view" you mentioned affects a completely different column than the one I'm talking about.

[solitude]

As someone who has previously donated to Thunderbird, you won't be getting another penny from me.

What happened? So many things have changed, and not for the better, that I don't even know where to start with my complaints and/or criticisms.

The only decision I need to make now is: how much time am I willing to waste trying to figure out how to make this new version work to my liking again (can it even be done?), how much time do I waste uninstalling and reinstalling the prior version (and reinstalling all my account settings from different providers), or do I just get rid of it all together?

Why?