Join the AMA (Ask Me Anything) with the Firefox leadership team to celebrate Firefox 20th anniversary and discuss Firefox’s future on Mozilla Connect. Mark your calendar on Thursday, November 14, 18:00 - 20:00 UTC!

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

Date Sort defaults first to oldest

  • 2 respostas
  • 2 have this problem
  • 1 view
  • Last reply by Mr.Tom4

more options

Why does the Date sort column default to oldest first? When ever I click the "Sort by date" column it first goes to oldest first. Why would anyone want oldest emails at the top? It seems the GENERAL public would want the newest emails first.

Is there an option to change how the "Sort by date" sorts? It just seems like backward thinking to click a date sort column and have the oldest on top. Are the programmers from a mirror universe?

Every time I install Thunderbird for a customer I have to click every folder they have in their IMAP box and then click the Date sort twice to make sure their newest emails are at the top.

Or am I "using it wrong"? Should I just tell all my customers to keep scrolling to the bottom to find new emails? Seems backwards compared to every webmail provider out there.

Why does the Date sort column default to oldest first? When ever I click the "Sort by date" column it first goes to oldest first. Why would anyone want oldest emails at the top? It seems the GENERAL public would want the newest emails first. Is there an option to change how the "Sort by date" sorts? It just seems like backward thinking to click a date sort column and have the oldest on top. Are the programmers from a mirror universe? Every time I install Thunderbird for a customer I have to click every folder they have in their IMAP box and then click the Date sort twice to make sure their newest emails are at the top. Or am I "using it wrong"? Should I just tell all my customers to keep scrolling to the bottom to find new emails? Seems backwards compared to every webmail provider out there.

Chosen solution

the oldest mail arrives first and is stored in the mbox first. So by date oldest to newest is just about not sorted at all. I think the default dates back to when sorting was CPU intensive and default that were CPU intensive were to be avoided.

I agree with you whole heatedly, but the guy in charge (magnus) does not. See this 14 year old bug where he has arguedc against it repeatedly. https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=481143

I am sick of trying to get basic usability past the Linux mentality of the developers. They still think using the command line is ok for general users to fix things.

Ler a resposta no contexto 👍 0

All Replies (2)

more options

Chosen Solution

the oldest mail arrives first and is stored in the mbox first. So by date oldest to newest is just about not sorted at all. I think the default dates back to when sorting was CPU intensive and default that were CPU intensive were to be avoided.

I agree with you whole heatedly, but the guy in charge (magnus) does not. See this 14 year old bug where he has arguedc against it repeatedly. https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=481143

I am sick of trying to get basic usability past the Linux mentality of the developers. They still think using the command line is ok for general users to fix things.

more options

Matt said

the oldest mail arrives first and is stored in the mbox first. So by date oldest to newest is just about not sorted at all. I think the default dates back to when sorting was CPU intensive and default that were CPU intensive were to be avoided. I agree with you whole heatedly, but the guy in charge (magnus) does not. See this 14 year old bug where he has arguedc against it repeatedly. https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=481143 I am sick of trying to get basic usability past the Linux mentality of the developers. They still think using the command line is ok for general users to fix things.

Okay, stubborn programmers, got it. I'll try the about:config (mailnews.default_sort_order) fix for the next install I do.

It just sucks having to go to every folder and click the date sort twice when I setup my customer's email. I want it to be just like what they're used to using, like Yahoo webmail. You know how older people are, too much change confuses them. Thanks for the bug thread post dating back 13 years. Stubborn indeed!