Display of messages in my inbox (ubuntu 18.04)

[robbyx]

I would like to be able to move my message pane to a separate window outside of TB's main desktop window. Can it be done?

[DanRaisch]

Not as far as I am aware. Why would you want to do that? What would be the advantage?

[tanstaafl]

I'm not aware of a setting or add-on to do that. The closest to what you want that I'm aware of is to set "open messages in" to "A new message window" in the display -> advanced tab in the settings/preferences.

I normally read my mail using the message pane, using the compact header add-on to reduce the header size to one line. Sometimes I need to temporarily adjust the dividing line between the message pane and the folder listing to optimize the display. I like reading using the message pane because I find navigating using the folder listing more convenient than using prev/next keys, especially if I need to jump around in the folder listing. I'd lose that if I read messages in a new window, unless I had a really wide monitor and configure the Thunderbird main window and the message window side by side (which I don't think can be done). However, if the monitor was wide enough using view -> layout -> vertical view might be a close enough equivalent. My monitor is 24 inches and is nowhere near wide enough for that layout to be useful. What size is your monitor?

Could you elaborate on why you want to do this/what problem it would solve? Perhaps we could come up with a different solution such as using virtual desktops.

[robbyx]

I have two monitors which means I can move windows from one to another. I use the compact header display in the message pane. I find it is too cramped. I can display about 8 lines of a message without moving the side bar to show more. The message list only shows 3 liens at a time, as currently setup. If I want to see more of the text the list of messages displayed gets less. It is just not enough display to be able to efficiently review the inbox. It would make life a lot easier if I moved the message pane to my second monitor.

[tanstaafl]

You can drag the dividing line between the folder listing and the message pane to change their relative sizes, but I understand the issue.

Thunderbird supposedly has dual monitor support. What about not using the message pane, and having the window used by "open messages in -> new message window" use the second monitor? See https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1118938

If you don't want to do that, Its not recommended, but you can run two copies of Thunderbird at the same time. You could use one copy to see the folder listing and the other to read the message (not in the message pane, but in a new tab or new window). You'd lose the ability to navigate to a new message using the folder listing in the first instance. I suspect you'd want to use two profiles that both store their accounts data outside the profile, in common directories. Each instance of Thunderbird would use a different profile, but share access to the same messages. The reason for using different profiles is to let you have different view settings.

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Run_multiple_ ... _same_time
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Moving_your_m ... hunderbird

[robbyx]

I am not getting any where with your first suggestion. I am using the ubuntu 18.04 version.

Looking at Edit->Display I can not see an option "open messages in -> new message window" How do I find it?

[WaltS48]

I am not getting any where with your first suggestion. I am using the ubuntu 18.04 version.

Looking at Edit->Display I can not see an option "open messages in -> new message window" How do I find it?

Display should have 3 tabs, Formatting, Tags, and Advanced. Select the Advanced tab.

[robbyx]

I have found them, but they are not shown as tabs. Just three words above "reading". I did not know they were clickable.

[robbyx]

I have stumbled across a workable solution. I have always used the classic display. This is what I changed the layout to:

Vertical, folder pane, message pane

I have also minimised the number of columns in the message pane.

So I gave up on the separate window in favour of the changes above. The separate window did not work well because it opened up a new window for each message and it was automatic.


I would like to switch on and off the display of the toolbars so as to get some more space for the messages. Is there a way to quickly do this? At present my toolbars are all needed and they take up 6 lines. I don't mind hiding or collapsing them some of the time.

[tanstaafl]

I suggest you experiment with CompactMyBird at https://addons.thunderbird.net/en-US/th ... rd/?src=ss . It might have been the add-on I tried that supported toolbars that were not visible until you click on a small widget in the upper left corner.

You can disable the mail toolbar and when you press the ALT key it will display it temporarily. That is listed as toogle menu bar in https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/ke ... -shortcuts .

There are also shortcuts to the menu commands (notice which letters are underlined) that you can use with the ALT key. For example ALT V F N will change the view to unified folders. That's from ALT View Folders Unified . Unfortunately if you don't disable the Lightning add-on both Toolbars and Today Pane have the T underlined, and that makes it more complicated.