Setting column widths differently for different folders
1. How can I adjust the column widths in one folder without affecting the column widths in another folder.
Every time I resize the columns in the Sent folder, the columns also resize in the Received folder (which I do not want, because I already have the Received folder set up the way I want it). It's like the column widths are linked somehow, even though I am displaying different columns in each.
I have tried resetting the columns, but as soon as I start to arrange the Sent folder columns the way that I want, then all my Received folder columns get messed up (even though I haven't touched them).
2. Also, is there a way to specify column widths in pixels (like you can do in Windows Explorer) rather than haphazardly dragging by hand?
All Replies (5)
The general info is this:
This sounds like you have the 'apply column layout on other folders' selected or thunderbird is stuck on that setting.
Try this: Make hidden files and folders visible:
In Thunderbird
- Help > Troubleshooting Information
- click on 'show folder' button
a new window opens showing the contents of your profile folder name.
- Close Thunderbird now - this is important
Look for and delete the following files:
- panacea.dat
- session.json
- xulstore.json
Restart Thunderbird The files you deleted will be recreated.
Now try to increase column header width.
Report back on results.
Thanks for your reply.
I thought that this was going to work when I saw that my layout was completely reset, but unfortunately the same issue still exists.
As an experiment, I temporarily removed my entire profile folder. After Thunderbird created a new profile from scratch, I set up one email account and tried the column adjusting again. Still no luck. Resizing columns in one folder affects the sizing in another (although they are not identical, they are just linked in terms of scale).
This led me to believe that it must be an extension rather than a corrupted profile setting. So I disabled all extensions and let Thunderbird generate another new profile from scratch. To my amazement, still the same problem.
I'm using Thunderbird v45.2.0 and, unless there is a bug with this version, then it can only mean that this is just how Thunderbird works (all columns are linked in all folders - even across entirely separate mailboxes) which seems bizarre to me seeing as Thunderbird provides tools to copy column settings from one folder to another, which assumes that they can be set differently in the first place.
I suppose as a final test I should try a fresh download (possibly of a different version) just to make sure that I am not losing my mind.
There is someone over on the newsgroup having the same issue, but other users, myself included, cannot replicate it. This is a funny one.
Glad to hear that it's not just me.
I downloaded an older copy of Thunderbird Portable (v38.4.0) to try with a totally fresh installation that does not use anything to do with my existing Thunderbird install.
Thunderbird Portable uses its own profile and it does not read or write to the AppData folder on Windows, so it's completely self-contained and unaffected by anything on my operating system (Windows 7 64bit).
However, exactly the same issue still occurred even with this new portable install. <sigh>
What's annoying about this is that I cannot even hope for a fix anytime soon if most other people cannot replicate the symptoms.
I basically just open Thunderbird, choose a folder (e.g. 'Sent' mail), drag the Subject column to be really tiny (just as a test) so that it's barely the width of its display title, then check the other folders (e.g. Inbox, Drafts, Deleted) and they all have massively reduced subject columns too, even though those folder were never touched or even viewed prior to that.
This behaviour is something that is hugely annoying to me (because I am constantly having to widen columns to be able to see dates properly etc.) so I am pretty sure that this never used to be the case when I first started using Thunderbird a couple of years ago. It would have driven me crazy from the get go, so I'm sure that I would have remembered if that was always the case from the beginning. It seems as if somewhere along the line the behaviour changed for me, but unfortunately I don't have concrete evidence of that.
I might just have to install the Stylish extension and see if it's possible to force column widths using CSS.
Modified by Quisquose
This is so weird that I think other ideas need to be explored.
When you run Thunderbird are you using something like GridMove ? Something that arranges opened windows neatly on the desktop; snap to a grid. If yes, please disable it and close open and retest Thunderbird.
Can you start your computer (not Thunderbird) in 'Safe mode with networking' and then open Thunderbird to test moving column width.
Please report back on findings / results.