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Setting changes in Thunderbird don't change.

  • 3 replies
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  • Last reply by sfhowes

chris_gulli
chris_gulli
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I am running Thunderbird 115.7.0 (32-bit) on a Windows 11 Home Dell laptop. Whenever I go to make a change in the settings or the account list, it does not save the next time I log in. 2 examples. I change the top of the message window menu from "Icons besides text" to "Icons Only", but if I close Thunderbird and come back in, the menu bar is back to "Icons besides text". This is annoying but bearable.

But recently, I tried to add another email/gmail account. I can add it without a problem, see my inbox, receive and send messages, etc. But again, when I exit the Thunderbird application and re-enter, the new account is gone and I have to add it again. Somewhere, a config file is not updating, but I don't know where. Any ideas? This is more of a "well, I guess I need to look for another mail client" problem.

Thanks, Chris

I am running Thunderbird 115.7.0 (32-bit) on a Windows 11 Home Dell laptop. Whenever I go to make a change in the settings or the account list, it does not save the next time I log in. 2 examples. I change the top of the message window menu from "Icons besides text" to "Icons Only", but if I close Thunderbird and come back in, the menu bar is back to "Icons besides text". This is annoying but bearable. But recently, I tried to add another email/gmail account. I can add it without a problem, see my inbox, receive and send messages, etc. But again, when I exit the Thunderbird application and re-enter, the new account is gone and I have to add it again. Somewhere, a config file is not updating, but I don't know where. Any ideas? This is more of a "well, I guess I need to look for another mail client" problem. Thanks, Chris

All Replies (3)

sfhowes
sfhowes
  • Top 10 Contributor
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Do you have any kind of app like CCleaner or Privazer that acts on the TB profile?

Open the profile from Help/Troubleshooting Info, Profile Folder, Open Folder. Are any config. files like prefs.js or session.json or xulstore.json read-only files?

chris_gulli
chris_gulli Question owner
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There are prefs-1 through prefs-11 js files dated from 2020 to July 2023. There's a session.json.backup and sessioncheckpoints.json file dated today. There's a xulstore.json file dated today that's read only.

I don't think I have any applications that act on the TB profile, but it's possible I clicked on something at some point and didn't realize it.

sfhowes
sfhowes
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The prefs-N.js files are created when TB crashes. There must be a prefs.js file that stores the current settings, and like xulstore.json and session.json, it should not be read-only.

Right-click the Windows Start button, Task Manager, and look on the startup tab for any app that might be resetting TB settings.