Maintaining columns shown in all folders and child folders o

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Oyle
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Joined: November 13th, 2004, 4:54 am

Maintaining columns shown in all folders and child folders o

Post by Oyle »

Since one can apply one's preference of which columns are shown in all folders and child folders of all accounts (although it has to be done manually per account) is there any way to make this stick, until one changes something oneself, willingly?

I seem to have to apply the changes again and again. And no rhyme or reason why the columns shown change haphazardly.

Thanks for any help
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DanRaisch
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Re: Maintaining columns shown in all folders and child folde

Post by DanRaisch »

In a normal Thunderbird installation those setting would persist after shutdowns and restarts.
Are you running any sort of clean up utility (like Ccleaner) on that computer.
Oyle
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Joined: November 13th, 2004, 4:54 am

Re: Maintaining columns shown in all folders and child folde

Post by Oyle »

No.
This has been happening ever since I can remember through all the TB versions. I am now on Ver 91
Very strange
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tanstaafl
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Re: Maintaining columns shown in all folders and child folde

Post by tanstaafl »

Did you choose "apply columns to folder" or to "folder and its children"? Even then if you have a folder that isn't a child of the inbox you need to apply the changes to it too. You also need to do it for each account.
Oyle
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Joined: November 13th, 2004, 4:54 am

Re: Maintaining columns shown in all folders and child folde

Post by Oyle »

I choose "apply columns to folder and its children"and for each account.
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tanstaafl
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Re: Maintaining columns shown in all folders and child folde

Post by tanstaafl »

I'm not sure exactly where column data is stored. It might be xulstore.json (toolbar , window layout and size/position settings), foldertree.json (used by folder pane), mailviews.dat (message views) , session.json (snapshot of the windows layout) , directoryTree.json or panacea.dat. Buts its safe to delete those files in the profile and have Thunderbird replace them with ones using default values when it restarts. You would have to customize your toolbar again if you made any customizations.

I suspect your problem is due to one of those files being corrupt.

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Toolbar_or_wi ... ot_working
https://searchfox.org/comm-esr91/search?q=column
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1206510
Oyle
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Re: Maintaining columns shown in all folders and child folde

Post by Oyle »

Thanks to all - I will try the solution suggested by @tanstaafl.
On a related issue - but pls do not hesitate to correct me if this has already been asked somewhere else:
- I have accumulated a mass of old files in my profile covering all the years since I started with TB and going from one version and update to the next.
The oldest date back to 2003 ! That's nearly 20 years back!
Is there any list somewhere of which files I can safely delete in my profile ?
I am now on TB 91.8.1 (64 bit)
Thanks for any good tips !
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tanstaafl
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Re: Maintaining columns shown in all folders and child folde

Post by tanstaafl »

There are about a dozen obsolete files but none of them should be large. The safest ones to delete would be the backups it made for the *.mab files (address books), Thunderbird switched from *.mab to .sqlite in version 78.

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Files_and_fol ... hunderbird hasn't been updated for version 78 and 91. It does mention some obsolete files such as signons.sqlite , urlclassifier2.sqlite , secmod.db , cert8.db , xul.mfl , extensions.sqlite , cookies.txt, addons.sqlite, extensions.rdf and localstore.rdf but we don't maintain a separate list of obsolete files. The obsolete files tend to be due to changing the format used to store passwords and security data or to switching to a .sqlite or json file.
Oyle
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Joined: November 13th, 2004, 4:54 am

Re: Maintaining columns shown in all folders and child folde

Post by Oyle »

Thanks! Very helpful. I will do some weeding on a rainy Sunday, adding "old" to files I think can be deleted and restarting TB to see if it hangs or crashes, before deleting them.
Will keep me busy for a few hours...
Thanks again
Oyle
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Joined: November 13th, 2004, 4:54 am

Re: Maintaining columns shown in all folders and child folde

Post by Oyle »

Coming back to my original question (posted 29th April 2022) "...preference of which columns are shown in all folders and child folders of all accounts (although it has to be done manually per account) is there any way to make this stick, until one changes something oneself, willingly?"

I had hope that in Ver 102, this would be fixed, but no, every time I open TB, the send later column reappears, even though I have unticked it in columns ordering list. Also, the notes column goes back to the left-most position every time I open TB, even though I have relegated it to the far right.

Any solution for this? It is so annoying to have to reorder the columns every time AND apply the selected order to all folders and child folders in all the accounts.

Thanks for your help

BTW: have still not weeded ot all the old/obsolete files in the active profile... waiting for a rainy day, we've had a drought here in Switzerland, all spring and summer!
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tanstaafl
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Re: Maintaining columns shown in all folders and child folde

Post by tanstaafl »

No idea why it doesn't stick but my first suspicion would be a side effect of some add-on that needs updating. I remember a thread about 102.* where the thunderbird conversations add-on had some bad side effects on the folder listing but don't remember the details.

I'm used to thinking that "apply columns to -> folder and its children -> account name" only applies to one directory tree. But if you select the account name (rather than the folder tree) in the next context menu the change applies to every folder/folder folder tree in the account regardless of whether folders are peers or children of the inbox.
Gone Postal
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Re: Maintaining columns shown in all folders and child folde

Post by Gone Postal »

Oyle wrote: . . . every time I open TB, the send later column reappears, even though I have unticked it in columns ordering list. . . .
It's a Send Later bug. It happens on my system but the Send Later column disappears from all except the Drafts folder when you move from the opening folder to any of the other folders; after the first change of focus the Send Later column behaves itself.
Oyle
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Joined: November 13th, 2004, 4:54 am

Re: Maintaining columns shown in all folders and child folde

Post by Oyle »

Thanks, Gone Postal!
I checked it and yes, that's what happens with the send later column.

But I still have no explanation for the "Note" column moving to the extreme left from the right, where I want it to be, every time I open TB

I also experienced a freeze in sending messages, due to either the Check & Send and/or the Textmarker extension.
Have disabled them and will try again in the next TB update (I am on TB 102.2.0 (64-bit)
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