bigleaf33, are you on version 150.0.1?Tools>Settings>General>Folder Management Options has selections to set"Sort Order" to either Alphabetical or Most Recent and"Maximum number of recent folders" anywhere from 1 to 50
Thank you to everyone who played a part in this fix! My Thunderbird is much more versatile now and having alpha sort is saving me a ton of time when filing email to local folders.
I prefer the files be listed in Alphabetical order as it has been that way for years. I think a viable alternative is have an option for Alphabetical or Most Recently Used, with the default being Alphabetical.