Sort by thread view off / function to change for all folders

[mmpanne]

Hi,

since the newest versions of Thunderbird "threaded" conversations seems to be the default view setting for all folders.

We have 1000's of folders and would very much appreciate the possibility to change this view setting for all folders...not having to change it per folder individually.

So - either back to the setting off by default please - or a function to enable/disable the view setting "sort by thread" for all folders at once.

[Tylla]

What about:

1. setting a folder to unthreaded
2. clicking on the small icon in the right top of the message list pane (the one where you can choose which columns you want to see)
3. hovering over "Apply current view to..."
4. hovering over "Folder and its children..."
5. hovering over an account where you would like to reset all the folders to unthreaded view
6. choosing the topmost entry, the account name.

Of course, you can choose some other folder lower in the account folder hierarchy if you would like.

I'm using 102.10.0 64-bit on Debian 11, but this works on my colleagues 115.3.1 on Windows 10.

[paulkudla]

this is a well and good for "Gui Interface Features"

but does not fix the root issue, threaded views are inconvient and should have a global on/off dependant on the end user's needs.

many people reply to emails to the same person with the same subject thus starting a conversation by accident because the reply was unrelated to the origional email, yes the end user show start a new email, edit the subject or something but we are creatures of habit, and the quickest way is not salways the right way.

afterwhich if the end user wants to "enable" a folder the view--> sort by --> threaded would be ok

issues are is when new folders get created in the tree they default to "on" when other folders are off and you are unaware of this until you copy/start a conversation in that folder, afterwhich you have to "remember" to take the time to set the view accordingly.

I am an ISP and find thunderbird way better then most email clients (especially outlook which no longer supports imap?)

Overall this has been the only major inconvience.

[paulkudla]

Ok retyping this after been forced to login,

Updating the folder tree is ok, and an icon to turn threads on/off is ok but only applies to that folder

Wehn you add a new folder it defaults to threads on and has to be turned off or the tree updated

This is extremely inconvient when organizing large folder counts etc

I am an ISP and find thunderbird extremely useable and flexable however this threaded on feature is not a feature but a massive inconvience.

Please take the time to add back in the option to turn off threaded views by default.

[OneTIme]

@Tylla thank you, that's a big help, but @paulkudla you're right, it doesn't fix the problem.

... and while it does help, it's confusing.  I expected "Apply current view" to apply to the columns that are displayed (but there's a separate "Apply columns" for that).  I wonder what aspects of the current view are applied, and which are not.

In general, I would really like for upgrades not to break features or change behaviours like what happened here.

[pbpearman]

I agree with the comment by OneTime, which is basically that the update broke the feature of being able to change from threaded to unthreaded view for all threads with one button.  Where is "View-Threads-Unthreaded?"  This is such a basic control feature that I find it hard to believe that this change was reviewed by anyone.  Please issue an update to fix this feature.

[MEMYSELFandI1]

I have lost count of the number of important replies that I have missed because they don't appear at the TOP OF MY INBOX where they should be logically.

Most of the fixes instruct "Go to VIEW" Where did they hide that now?????

THUNDERBIRD DEVELOPERS: GET WITH THE PROGRAM

[J321B]

It's been over a year and still we're complaining about an issue that's hounding TB users. View > Sort By > Unthreaded == does not STAY disabled.
Please. I hate Threaded view like many users here. I avoid gmail for their default threading, but at least their deselection of "Conversation View" stays disabled next login.
Does everyone have to know programming/code to use TB as needed?

[LaurensV]

Sort by thread view off / function to change for all folders - STATUS???

What is the status of this idea?

This has been posted 2 years ago, users are to this day complaining, and you developers seem to ignore us. Is this going to be fixed (yes, fixed, because to me this is a bug) in the future or do we have to keep manually turn off threaded view for every folder? This is 2024, how hard can it be to code a simple option for global turn on or off threaded view? It is also possible to change the appearance of all columns in one go, so this should also be possible.

[LaurensV]

I think I found a workaround, but only for existing folders though. Every new folder you will still have to manually turn off threaded view...

Go to a folder which has already threaded view turned off.
1: press the button in the top right.
2: choose the option with something like 'apply current view to' (sorry, Dutch Thunderbird :-P)
3: choose 'folders and subfolders'
4: choose the account you want to apply everything to
5: choose the top option, the account.
6: confirm

[wsmwk]

Thank you for the idea and votes.  This will evaluated in https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1812234

[skyhawk0]

Still an issue and a concern. Please recognize that this hits the most intensive email users the hardest. Those are the people who rely on Thunderbird the most. The idea of having to go through and change the view in each folder after an update means I'm likely to block updates, especially when I'm busy and don't have time to reset each folder.

That said, I tried Pjotr's fix and it worked for me. Will try LaurensV's as well.

But I shouldn't have to bookmark this support page and rely on user instructions to make using Thunderbird viable.

[TimboZ]

Threads - no thanks.

Global turn off option please!

[TimboZ]

+1
I find threads confusing and irritating.
Global toggle please.

PS I also don't enjoy having to log in to this forum via email.

[omnivor]

Global threading as the default is a bug, not a feature.  An embarrassingly simplistic one at that.

[MEMYSELFandI1]

It is no longer a problem for me.

After more than 10 years with T bird, I have switched back to OUTLOOK.

I just use TB saving emails. That is the one task that OUTLOOK does not do sensibly-