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)

[FireMarshalBill]

That was in September. It is now January and I still do not see a way to do this most important task. Any idea on what is happening?

In the meantime, I am going to use Betterbird, etc. 

[Hunker]

I also beg and squirm for this,

[markpotts]

Please!!!

[FireMarshalBill]

Thank you.  Yes, we need this feature. 

[FireMarshalBill]

What is so illogical and puzzling is that this feature was there all along in previous versions but all of a sudden TB is regressing for no valid reason. Don't change horses in the middle of a stream! This is why I am starting to like BlueMail more - it has this feature, among others. 

[Dooku]

Sorting folders is NOT a cosmetic feature but is vital to many people as a part of their workflow. There is a reason EVERY other email client has this feature natively built in. So please ad this feature to TB instead of an add-on option. What is the use of an email client if you can not adjust it to the way you work concerning the most basic options like sorting folders??? If this is not implemented any time soon I will just stop my donations to TB and switch to The Bat! completely instead, works like a charm.

[FireMarshalBill]

Right on, Dooku. That is exactly how I feel. Thank you.

[sophieemma]

I recently updated Thunderbird on an employee's computer and after the update, the new folders she created started forming a new alphabetical list, separate from the ones she created before the update, even though they were nested in the same master folder. They aren't dropping into line alphabetically with the before-update ones. I will run a "repair folder" command soon, but she has a huge amount of folders and messages in that master folder and at the time I was working with her, I didn't want to disrupt her workflow waiting for that to happen. I figured in the meantime that I would install the "manually sort folders" add-on that I love so much as a stop-gap work-around to the problem, only to find it is no longer compatible. I'm crushed. That is such a useful tool for when I'm doing email archiving for the entire office. I really hope it comes back or gets made into an official feature. 

[MrKistic]

This really seems like missing functionality now. I used the manual sort folders extension because it did exactly this and it did it well. Ideally we should have the functionality built in but if not we should at least be able to use an extension just like we previously did. Having something for years and then having it taken away with no consideration for users workflows is not great.

[FireMarshalBill]

Right now, I am resorting to removing all the folders and adding them back in the order I want. Unacceptable to have to use such a primitive measure for this simple task.

[FireMarshalBill]

The last post here was in October!!! Evidently, nothing has been done. How long does it take to add a measly little function? All talk and no action. Meanwhile, people migrate to a more suitable email client. Anyway, users get what they want, in the end, leaving Thunderbird far behind.

[jevangelho]

We're trying to get better about posting here, but I do apologize for the silence.

We know many of you used the "Manually Sort Folders" Add-on in Thunderbird (which is what handled this functionality for lots of folks), and are frustrated that it's not compatible with Thunderbird 115. But we do have a positive takeaway to share:

While the developer has decided to discontinue the Add-on, they are working on a patch to make it part of Thunderbird's core functionality! So in the future this will be a built-in ability.

~Jason

[KWolf]

Good news! Hope the patch is released soon! I now spend so much time scrolling around to folders that are my primary project resources. I've begun to rename folders so that they move to the top of the folder list. But this is so confusing as my cognitive tracking of the new, random names doesn't register (I'm an environmental psychologist so this is kind of a self-study).

[joserod]

Totally agree with this need. I mean, it's so great working with Thunderbird, that's is really difficult to explain why this feature to sort folders is not there as part of the system. The add-on was great, very very useful, and it's a clear step back having to rename the folders (1-fdf, 2-fdfa, etc) to have some order in our folders. Please, consider putting an effort to this. Thanks.

[gkessler001]

This thread is now 6 months old. I get it that Thunderbird development is a volunteer activity, but a 1/2 a year is long time to not release (at least patch) a functional regression. Can anyone shed light on when we might see a version of Thunderbird with this functionality?