No Thunderbird doesn't work that way. The QuickFilter bar is probably the most appropriate tool on offer. Just start typing into its text box and it will instantly start hiding messages that don't match what you have typed. You can also select which field to apply this to; From, Subject etc. I'd also recommend either quick folder move or QuickFolders, both of which offer a similar mechanism to help choose the destination folder for a move. If you have a lot of folders this is much quicker than scrolling around in a long list of accounts and folders to find it yourself. I would advise you to try to break the habit of typing to sort messages. Thunderbird uses such keystrokes for shortcuts, so C is likely to mark the current folder as read, A will archive any selected messages, M might launch a move dialogue, and so forth.