Growing pains of a first-time Thunderbird user

[DanRaisch]

If you right click on the Trash folder you should find a context menu option to "Mark folder read" which will automatically switch any unread messages to "Read" status.

Also, in that same context menu, there is an menu item to "Empty Trash" which will clear the messages from that Trash folder.

Admittedly, these are not buttons but they require only one addition mouse click compared to having a button.

[andokay]

If you right click on the Trash folder you should find a context menu option to "Mark folder read" which will automatically switch any unread messages to "Read" status.

Also, in that same context menu, there is an menu item to "Empty Trash" which will clear the messages from that Trash folder.

Admittedly, these are not buttons but they require only one addition mouse click compared to having a button.

As stated in the opening posting I want unread mails to NOT be marked as read automatically when moved to the trash bin.
And yes, I know about the context menu options regarding emptying the ttrash, but they are inconvenient in comparison.

In general I find it very strange that when clicking a certain folder the buttons in the menu bar do not change whatsoever. For example, when I click the trash the buttons up there should be something along the lines of: empty trash, restore mails, etc., but they just stay the same all the time: check for mails, write mail, address book, quick filter.

[tanstaafl]

"In general I find it very strange that when clicking a certain folder the buttons in the menu bar do not change whatsoever."

Sounds like you expect Thunderbird to act more like Outlook/Office does. Thunderbird went the route of letting you customize toolbars instead. Right click on the main toolbar, select customize, drag & drop what buttons you want between that list and the toolbar (or drag and drop a button from the toolbar to the list to remove it), and press Done. Some add-ons provide buttons you can also add to the toolbar to use their features.

[andokay]

Yes, I can customize the toolbar, but that customization is a) a lot more limited than I want it to be (many buttons that might be useful, i.e. read/unread, show activities, etc., are missing) and b) the toolbar is always the same for each folder, meaning it wouldn't be of much use.

I have been using Firefox since 2004, so I know how its customization works, but I assume that there are several addons necessary here to make it more user friendly.

[Gone Postal]

I would also love to have just a button to empty the trash.

As I previously wrote on 29/04/22 (or 04/29/22 depending on your locale!):

"The Xpunge add-on (https://addons.thunderbird.net/en-us/th ... on/xpunge/) sorts that out for you. There is a button to add to the toolbar included as part of the add-on."

However, beware that there is a current TB bug where the instructions from menu, right-click or Xpunge only seem to work if the focus in on the Trash/Deleted folder.

[andokay]

Thanks, I looked at the addon when you suggested it previously, but the addon description and pictures did not show anything remotely close to what I want. I added the addon now, the "MultiXpunge" button is apparently what provides my wanted functionality. Very strange that there is only a button for MultiXpunge, not Xpunge alone, but whatever, it works =).