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Date shown on threaded messages in Thunderbird

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  • Last reply by Toad-Hall

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In the overall list of messages in the thunderbird inbox there are some threaded messages. That's OK so far. The problem is that the date shown is the date of the first single message, which started the thread. Any new message coming in does not change that date shown. Therefore I am not aware and cannot see that an additional message is received. How can I change the behavior such as the date of the newest message received will be shown? Thanks for any help Willi

In the overall list of messages in the thunderbird inbox there are some threaded messages. That's OK so far. The problem is that the date shown is the date of the first single message, which started the thread. Any new message coming in does not change that date shown. Therefore I am not aware and cannot see that an additional message is received. How can I change the behavior such as the date of the newest message received will be shown? Thanks for any help Willi

All Replies (1)

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It sounds like you have 'threaded' option selected. If you have not expanded that thread to see all the subthreads then you will see the following:

If top level thread is collapsed - it will have a right pointing chevron to the left of the Subject.

  • If email thread has new unread mail, that top level thread will have bold text and will be underlined indicating it has new unread mail.
  • If email has unread mail, that top level thread will have normal text and will be underlined indicating it has unread mail.
  • If email has only read mail, that top level thread will have normal text and will Not be underlined indicating it has only read mail.

If you expand a collapsed thread by clicking on the right pointing chevron, it will change to downward pointing chevron and will display all threads indented. If there are any new unreads threads they will get appended to conversation and will appear in bold text. You will also see a green dot in the 'sort by read status' column for that new unread email. Each email in thread will display the date for that email.

If you quickly want to see just unread mail then you can use the Quick Filter Bar filters.

  • Click on the 'Show only unread messages' icon button (looks like an envelope)

To go back to showing full list, click on the same button again to remove the filter. This is actually a really useful option if you want to see all unread both new and previously received but still unread mail.

If you do not want to use threaded view then switch it off and all emails will appear as a list sorted by whatever option you choose. So if you want new mail at the top then use:

  • View > Sort by > Date, Descending, Unthreaded

Modified by Toad-Hall