Thunderbird - add ability to manually sort (order) folders in folder pane

[Itagaki]

Thunderbird can move folders to different hierarchies using drag and drop. However, it is not possible to move them within the same hierarchy, i.e. reorder them.

The "Manually sort folders" add-on had helped to sort folders, but with Thunderbird 115 (Supernova), it is no longer available. It is time to make it a proper feature.

I was involved in the development of the add-on to make it Thunderbird 78 compatible and later as a collaborator. So, as an option, I have considered developing another add-on for Thunderbird 115. This may not be impossible. (John is providing a POC.) But I would like to consider implementing the ability to sort folders properly in Thunderbird.

My current thinking and the work required has been described here.

1846550 - add ability to manually sort (order) folders in folder pane (mozilla.org)

[othersurfer]

The inability to sort folders and sub-folders in the FOLDERS PANE of v115.x is the glaring #1 limitation that makes Thunderbird still look like old, obsolete software.

And of course it's highly inconvenient, the most used folders being sometimes way down off the first range of the pane, among a jumble of unrelated folders and requiring sometimes dozens of the same scrollbar and open/close arrows precise moves in a day.

We should be able to rely on a STATIC "All Folders" list, organized however we wish at each level.

"Folder modes" doesn't cut it. "..." should be replaced by a menu box with

Sort->

• By Name (or A-Z)

• Most used

• Recently used

• Unread count

• Favorites

• Tagged

and with the up/down arrow like in the Message List pane.

Come on guys, TB is great but this is the huge wart on the tip of its nose!

[leseb]

I'm using Thunderbird for many years both personaly and professionaly. Last years i get bored with how many times my system got doomed by "new changes in thunderbird UI".

Why ? for the simple reason that so many crucials add-ons had to be fully rewritten by theirs authors.

Without those add-ons, the use of thunderbird loose (almost) all its sense.

Manually Sort Folders is one of those add-ons, therefore i also add my vote here : this must become a native feature

Personal point : i do not need thunderbird to be nice and 2020's style compatible, i need it to be efficient

[peterpod]

I totally agree. I always wondered why this feature is not part of Thunderbird.

[jakb]

I kinda forgot that this was not a feature of Thunderbird until the addon got deactivated. And i was quite astonished that it hasn't be integrated into Thunderbird until now.
For users receiving many emails and sorting them by filter rules it is absolutely necessary to get a quick overview over the folders and access them fast. This is only possible by sorting them to ones needs. 

[Stekar]

Completely in agreement! I don't keep my emails online, so I save them all in my local folders and since this addon was disabled I am having a lousy time using Thunderbird. I hope it becomes a feature soon.

[Stekar]

Any idea why my comments don't show up? I've already tried twice and they disappear. Well, if this doesn't I am all for it becoming a permanent feature. I need to be able to sort my local folders manually.

[Itagaki]

A bit of good news. I have successfully implemented a drag-and-drop folder reordering feature in the core of Thunderbird 120 and submitted a patch for review today. I am not sure if it will be accepted or not. I think they should consider it carefully, of course.

[jilucorg]

Thanks a lot!! ✌️

[user230710]

Thank You and does anybody have any idea on how to move this (MSF) in a positive direction?  Will we have to wait for TB 120?  Tnx Again

[blacklion]

I've used only two add-ons to Thunderbird: Manually Sort Folders & Sieve editor. Thunderbird 115 breaks both.

Please, please, please, add "MSF" to Thunderbird, folders must be sorted by importance, not by alphabet, and only user knows importance, it can not be known to software.

Of course, there should be ability to sort whole tress of folders (and I have maximum nesting level of 5!).

[JLondon]

I have so many manually sorted folders, and, still using TB 102.x Glad I checked for compatibility of this add-on with TB 115.  I won't be upgrading until this feature is available once again.

[AlexiaG]

Dans l'attente de... Merci

Looking forward to... Thank you

[Stekar]

I was able to downgrade to 102.15 with online how-to's. Disabled automatic upgrade till we have a vesion that includes manual sorting.

[Xpinger]

Hello Thunderbird Devs - please, please, please seriously consider the request to be able to sort mail folders within the same hierachy as a high priority user need.  Thank you!

[Jon]

Hey all,

Quick update…

This idea is now a “Trending idea” here on Mozilla Connect, which means it’s one step closer to reaching our internal teams for review—learn more about The Idea Journey.

Please keep the conversation going and stay tuned for updates 😀