Thunderbird 17 due for release on/around November 20th features a redesigned user interface. Like Firefox, Thunderbird is going to have a cleaner and simpler user interface. This means by default removing the Menu bar (which can be brought back temporarily via the ALT key and restored by going to View > Toolbars > Menu Bar) and using an App Button/Menu like Firefox. However, unlike Firefox it is not a ‘Thunderbird’ button and it is not at the top left. Instead it is a little button with 3 horizontal lines on the far right (yet another design ‘borrowed’ from Chrome which…
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Once in a while Firefox or Thunderbird does not close gracefully. This could be caused by the application crashing or simply the application didn’t do some “housekeeping” after it closed. You go to run Firefox or Thunderbird and you get the message it is already running, but it is not. The majority of the time, going into the Windows Task Manager via Control+Shift+Esc and clicking the Processes tab you will find firefox.exe or thunderbird.exe listed. Highlight the process and click ‘End Process’ and confirm. Once the process has been ended, you should be able to launch the application again. But what…
Thunderbird 15 has been released and with that is an update to Lightning to the new 1.7 version which was released a couple days ago. I restarted Thunderbird after the updates and while I had my tasks, I had no calendars. I looked at the add-ons manager and saw I was running Provider for Google Calendar version 0.13 which is the most current release version. I checked under developmental versions and found a link to download the 0.16pre version. Installed this version, restarted and I had my Google Calendars back in Thunderbird. I am not sure if it is the…
Thunderbird 15 is coming out this Tuesday, August 21st and there are a couple User Interface (UI) changes as part of the new Australis UI. The tabs have been redesigned to look like well tabs (similar to what you see in Google Chrome). There has been some other small refinements in appearance of the UI as well. Also, when you are customizing your toolbars, there is no longer an option for ‘small icons’. Note: The ‘small icons’ change currently only affects Windows builds. Linux builds still had the ‘small icons’ option (have not heard about Mac users). Interestingly though, looking on my Windows 7…
It is possible to change the display font and the size of the font on the Thunderbird User Interface. However, it is not something that can be done within Thunderbird. You will need to modify your userChrome.css file within your Thunderbird profile folder. Follow these directions below to make the modifications: From within Thunderbird go to Help > Troubleshooting Information In the Application Basics section next to Profile Folder, click the Show Folder button An Explorer/Kernel Window should open to the location of your profile folder. CLOSE Thunderbird Go the Chrome folder and locate the file userChrome.css and edit. Note: Some installs of Thunderbird may not include a chrome folder. If this the case create…
Mozilla announced on Monday (May 7th) they are looking for freelance help with their wishlist of features they would like to the Thunderbird roadmap. The idea is really simple: there are plenty of features we would love to add to the Thunderbird roadmap but we badly lack the resources to complete them. So we decided to put them in an open repository, up for anyone to grab one and get it developed. In doing so, you will be working closely with the core Thunderbird team members who will support and guide you all along the way. For more information and…
Starting with Thunderbird 9.0 Beta 3 (released November 25, 2011) hardware acceleration is now turned off by default. While the premise was good to allow Thunderbird 5.0 and newer to utilize video hardware acceleration, for many user it caused issues including blurry fonts. Thunderbird 9 Beta can be downloaded from the Mozilla Thunderbird builds page.
Thunderbird 8 has been released on November 8th, 2011. Current Thunderbird 7.0.1 users can update via Help > About Thunderbird. Lightning users, after you have updated to Thunderbird 8.0, your calendars will be broken. To fix this go Tools > Add-ons and then in your add-ons list, find and right-click on Lightning, selecting Find Updates. Lightning will update to version 1.0 and once you restart Thunderbird, your calendars will be working again. Users can also manually download Thunderbird 8.0 via getthunderbird.com and then install over your existing Thunderbird 7.0.x install. For more information as to what’s new in Thunderbird 8.0,…
Thunderbird 8 comes out later today and there are some minor changes. Some good and some not so good. Add-ons check first run. On your first run after you have updated to Thunderbird 8, you are going to see an add-ons screen similar to that below. This will let you know which add-ons are currently installed, if they are compatible (or can be updated) and who installed them note add-ons installed by 3rd party programs will be disabled by default) . Further, you have an option to choose to keep the installed add-on or remove it (always good to do…
May be I am one of the few people who use the Folder Pane View Switcher feature in Thunderbird.The switcher appears on top of the folder list allows you to choose via left/right arrows: All Folder, Favorite Folders, Unread Folders, Recent Folders and Unified Folders). It is going away in the upcoming (November 8th) Thunderbird 8 as it was deemed to be “heavy and ugly” (Bug 667245). You can still switch your Folder Pane View via View > Folders and then choose the option you want, but having this at the top of the folder pane is more handy. Since…