Customizing the layouts
Hi, just have a few questions.
1. Can I have 1 inbox where all emails are sent to? I know I can use the Unified settings but this does not merge all the emails into 1 single inbox.
2. Is there anyway I can have all the information like 'subject, correspondents, date..' etc, condensed or layout more practically rather than having a separate column for every head?
3. Finally, My Thunderbird freezes when trying to load emails. I have about 50,000 unread emails but I have a 1tb SSD and 34gb RAM. Any idea if this is a bug or something I need to set up?
Thanks
All Replies (3)
1. Can I have 1 inbox where all emails are sent to? I know I can use the Unified settings but this does not merge all the emails into 1 single inbox.
The unified Inbox is like a virtual Inbox that would contain all the emails from all the mail account Inbox folders, so enabling you to see all incoming emails in one Inbox. At the same time, it retains the individual Inboxes which appear as sub folders to the Unified Inbox. This method works for both POP and IMAP mail accounts.
POP mail accounts can be created as using a 'Global Inbox' which would be the 'Local Folders' Inbox folder. These are called 'deferred accounts. In this case, only the 'Local Folders' mail account is used, so all 'Sent' etc also uses the same folder - the 'Sent' folder in 'Local Folders' mail account. NOTE: It is not possible to do this with any IMAP mail account because all imap account folders synchronise with server folders. This is only for POP mail accounts.
The pop mail accounts and all their folders will not appear in the left Folder Pane because only the 'Local Folders' mail account now contains all those accounts. If you choose to set this up, it means you would need to follow specfic instructions in order to get all working correctly. This includes copying all previously downloaded emails from all their various folders into suitably named folders in the 'Local Folders' mail account and changing all the Account Settings information regarding Copies & Folders', Junk Settings, Message Filters, etc so all point to the correct folder in 'Local Folders' mail account.
I would suggest that you go into 'Offline' mode before performing this as it will stop any downloads occurring whilst you are moving emails and ensuring nothing gets directed to the wrong folder. Menu app icon > File > Offline >Work Offline Or quick method - click on the far left icon in bottom Status bar
There are two helpful articles with good instructions. I suggest you have a read of both of them.
- http://kb.mozillazine.org/Global_Inbox#Changing_the_Global_Inbox_setting_for_an_existing_account
- https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/unify-your-pop-email-accounts-global-inbox
Work on one account at a time. The first thing you would need to do, is to get copies of all emails into 'Local Folders' and then go to the 'Account Settings' to change as required. They may be a little out of date when it comes to saying how to access the 'Account Settings', but all other information is still relevant. Various ways to access Account Settings, does not matter which you use.
- Menu app icon > Account Settings
- Select mail account name in Folder Pane and on right side select 'Account Settings'
- Right click on mail account name in Folder Pane and select 'Settings'
Once all the POP accounts have been set up and you are sure all emails from all accounts have been copied over to suitable folders in 'Local Folders' mail account, then you will need to restart Thunderbird.
If all goes correctly, all the POP mail accounts will disappear from the Folder Pane. All incoming mail afrom all the POP accounts will now be directed to the 'Local Folders' mail account.
2. Is there anyway I can have all the information like 'subject, correspondents, date..' etc, condensed or layout more practically rather than having a separate column for every head?
You cannot change the Thread Pane which displays the list of emails. You can enable/disable columns not required by using the icon on far right of the list of column headers. You could use 'FROM' instead of 'Correspondents'. You can move the columns to different positions - left click on column header name and hold down and drag to left or right. Notice the position of the vertical line/bar that appears showing youwhere it would be inserted. Release to drop into position. Each email will use one row.
The headers which are displayed just above the message content can be shown as 'All' which is Full Headers (which takes up a lot space) or 'Normal' which just displays the basic FROM, TO, Subject, Date.
- Menu app icon > View > Headers
3. Finally, My Thunderbird freezes when trying to load emails. I have about 50,000 unread emails but I have a 1tb SSD and 34gb RAM. Any idea if this is a bug or something I need to set up?
If you have an Anti-Virus product scanning incoming/downloading emails then it may interupt the process. The Anti-Virus product could also be set to scan opened files, which will also add to the slow down. You could stop the AV from scanning Thunderbird profile mail account files.
I'm not sure if you have IMAP mail accounts in which case you may be downloading full copies of emails or you might be only downloading headers. This can be set up on a per folder basis. You can also choose to only synchronise x number of days; you would need to compact more frequently to help maintain this state. This means some emails are fully downloaded and others are just headers. Suggest you read this info: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/imap-synchronization
I'm not sure how many folders you have created, but creating folders to store and organise emails will mean smaller files and may be quicker to access. You could use Message Filters to help sort incoming emails to specific folders. Suggest you try to keep the Inbox for new unread - need to be sorted - emails and not as a general storage. Any emails that are very old, which you are unlikely to need but do not want to delete, you could put into specific archive folders and then unsubscribe from seeing. Those emails are still stored on server and you could subscribe to see them if required. Alternatively, get full copies downloaded and then get 'copies' into a folder in 'Local Folders' mail account and then unsubscribe from the imap folder. This means you can still access old mail in Local Folders mail account; you still have them stored on server, but they are not displaying in the imap account. So less synchronising is occurring.