Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

email inbox wont show emails without opening in a new tab, only for last week or so

  • 4 replies
  • 3 have this problem
  • 8 views
  • Last reply by johnrudolph

more options

For the past week or so, when I open Mozilla Thunderbird ( I have 5-6 email boxes there ) all of a sudden when I click on any of the email boxes "inbox"...or any folder for that matter...it wont show anything to the right in my preview pane without me right-clicking and asking it to open in a new tab. Twice now I have solved the issue by doing a restore point to 2 weeks ago, but it keeps going back to this same issue. No updates (that I can see ) have been done to cause this, no new program downloads, etc. Essentially, what is shows is the same look one would see when they click on one of their email addresses, and it shows the 3 tabs for "Emails" "Accounts" and "Advanced Features"... only it sows all those things when clicking any email inbox or any folder under the inboxes of any of my accounts.

Making me a bit crazy  ;-)

Thanks in advance for any help here folks. John R

For the past week or so, when I open Mozilla Thunderbird ( I have 5-6 email boxes there ) all of a sudden when I click on any of the email boxes "inbox"...or any folder for that matter...it wont show anything to the right in my preview pane without me right-clicking and asking it to open in a new tab. Twice now I have solved the issue by doing a restore point to 2 weeks ago, but it keeps going back to this same issue. No updates (that I can see ) have been done to cause this, no new program downloads, etc. Essentially, what is shows is the same look one would see when they click on one of their email addresses, and it shows the 3 tabs for "Emails" "Accounts" and "Advanced Features"... only it sows all those things when clicking any email inbox or any folder under the inboxes of any of my accounts. Making me a bit crazy ;-) Thanks in advance for any help here folks. John R

Chosen solution

Start Thunderbird in safe mode: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/safe-mode

Then

  • go to Tools (Alt-T) - Add-ons
  • remove the Lightning add-on
  • restart Thunderbird
  • if you need the Lightning add-on, add it back at Tools - Add-ons
Read this answer in context 👍 2

All Replies (4)

more options
more options

Here is a screen shot of what it looks like. For 2 weeks now, about every 2nd-3rd day it seems like some sort of update takes place and it goes into this funky mode/view (see screenshot) and I cant highlight/open any folders. The only way I have been able to return to "normal" view, has been to go to system restore to a few days prior. Thanks for any help/suggestions folks. John

more options

Chosen Solution

Start Thunderbird in safe mode: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/safe-mode

Then

  • go to Tools (Alt-T) - Add-ons
  • remove the Lightning add-on
  • restart Thunderbird
  • if you need the Lightning add-on, add it back at Tools - Add-ons
more options

Thanks so much "Christ1"...that appears to have solved my issue. Will report back in a few days to be certain.