Hi Wade, Thunderbird stores preferences like sort order and pane layour in a file called session.json in the profile folder. It sometimes occurs that this file gets corrupted, which might lead to the behaviour your are facing.

Try deleting the session.json file in your profile folder (shut down Thunderbird before doing so) and see if that solves your issue.

Thanks for the response, but that did not help.

I shut down Thunderbird and deleted both session.json and session.json.backup. I then restarted Thunderbird and set the desired columns in just my Inbox.

I then shut down Thunderbird and noted that it created a new session.json at that time. I restarted Thunderbird and my Inbox still had the correct columns. I then switched to a different folder. When I switched back to my Inbox, the columns were correct for about 3 seconds, and then they popped back to the defaults with no interaction from me.

Which add-ons do you have installed in Thunderbird and is "Thunderbird Conversations" among them?

You could also try and delete the xulstore.json file in your profile to reset TB's window lay-out (Thunderbird should not be running while you delete the file).

Thanks for the new suggestion, but deleting xulstore.json did not change the behavior in any way. The layout went back to default, but when I changed the columns in my Inbox, they reset to default when I went to any other folder.

I am connecting to my email server via IMAP. Is it possible that something stored on the server is interfering? That might account for the timing of when the columns are changing.

Oh, an I have not installed any add-ons directly. When I look at the "Manage Your Extensions" screen, there is nothing listed.

-Wade

Along the lines of the server being involved in the problem, I actually have two email accounts set up in Thunderbird.

My main account is a Smarter Mail server, and I am connecting via IMAP. My second account is an old Hotmail account that I don't use very often. The Server Settings show that this is also using IMAP, but interestingly, the Inbox for that account does not have the same problem. I just looked at it, and the Inbox has my desired column layout, and it does not change when I visit other folders and then come back.

You mention your machine suffered from severe file corruption and you did a complete fresh install of the system and Thunderbird. What about your Thunderbird profile? Did you create a complete new one or did you try to recover this from the corrupted disk?

The data from pre-corruption was totally lost. Everything on the machine currently was a clean install.

I used a just-downloaded bootable ISO to install Kubuntu 22.04 LTS, and I installed Thunderbird from the repositories configured by that install.

I don't think something on the IMAP-server side is interfering with your column layout; no application specific lay-out settings are stored on the server. It's interesting though that it only occurs with one of the two IMAP-accounts you have set-up. Besides the files you already deleted earlier (session.json and xulstore.json) Thunderbird also stores folder settings and a cache of the folder listing in .msf-files. I suggest deleting the .msf-files for the account you are having issues with.

You can find them in your profile directory under the Imap-folder and the folder with the name of the mailserver (e.g. mail.smartermail.com). For example you will see:

• INBOX
• INBOX.msf
• Sent
• Sent.msf

etc.

Try deleting the files ending in .msf to see if that solves your issue. Of course, Thunderbird should be closed prior to deleting the files and after restarting Thunderbird it will start re-indexing the mailbox file, depending on the number of messages this may take a while. Your columns layout, sorting, conversation setting etc. are reset to default. Be careful not the delete the files without .msf-extension; these hold your actual e-mail messages and should not be deleted.

Sorry for the delay in responding. I've been away for a few days.

I did try deleting the MSF files, but there was no change in behavior.

This is getting pretty frustrating. I've been using Thunderbird for almost 2 years now, and have been pretty happy. At this point, though, I'm starting to think that I need to look for something else. The default column layout seriously does not work for me.

The fact that the column layout actually changes while I am looking at the folder suggests that there is some task that's running periodically and resetting them. That's what made me wonder if there is something about the mail server that's causing it. Are the other tasks that run periodically that could be candidates for the root cause?

Thanks, -Wade

The only thing I can think about is that the Thunderbird which is shipping with Kubuntu has some modification, but since I'm running Thunderbird on Windows 10 I cannot comment on what that should be.

I tried to replicate the issue you are having, but I can adjust the column layout on both e-mail accounts in my Thunderbird installation and they remain the same whatever I do.

You are running Thunderbird 91.11.0 (which is not the latest version). What happens if you update Thunderbird to the current version?

I'm happy to try updating to the current version.

The version that I have is the only one offered by the Kubuntu repo. Do you have a suggestion for where to look for the latest?

Thanks, -Wade

Never mind. I have the latest version installed.

It's a clean install, not an upgrade, so I have to configure everything again...

I'll report back after I have a chance to play with it.

Ugh.

Same problem with version 102.2.0.

I don't feel like I'm getting anywhere with trying random things. I may have to see if I can take a day to figure out how this actually works internally.

Earlier, it was mentioned that the column layout is stored in session.json. I've looked at many instances of that file, and I can't find anything in there about columns. It does appear to store some information about the view layout for a folder - but only one folder is ever visible in the file. The settings that are there seem to correspond specifically to the layout. For example, it lists visibility of panes, filter details, etc. Here is a redacted copy of the contents of my most recent session.json. This is the entire file, with just my username, server name, and folder name altered:

{"rev":0,"windows":[{"type":"3pane","tabs":{"rev":0,"selectedIndex":0,"tabs":[{"mode":"folder","state":{"folderURI":"imap://my-username.net@imap.myserver.net/Folder Name","folderPaneVisible":true,"messagePaneVisible":false,"firstTab":true},"ext":{"quickFilter":{"filterValues":{"text":{"text":null,"states":{"sender":true,"recipients":true,"subject":true}}},"visible":true}}}]}}]}

I have one other thing that I want to try. My IMAP and SMTP server host names are CNAME records that map to the A record of the actual mail server that is owned and managed by my ISP. When I set up my email account most recently, I used my personal host name. This triggers a certificate error, since it doesn't match the certificate on the mail server. Thunderbird offered me an option to store an exception for that cert mismatch, which I accepted. In my previous installs, before the drive was corrupted, I used the actual A record name of the mail server.

It's a bit of a stretch, but if there is interaction with the server when I change the column layout, it could be hitting an internal certificate error that's not being handled by the exception. This would offer some explanation as to why only one mail server is affected. At this point, I have nothing to lose by changing this and giving it a try...

Just a quick note that changing the server host names did not have any effect. This is what I expected, but it was a difference between the old and new configurations, and it was easy to test.

I just noticed something interesting.

If I go to any folder other than Inbox, I can change the columns and apply them to all folders for this account. The columns stay put fine, until...

Until I view the Inbox. It's only when I view the Inbox that the columns pop back to the defaults. After that, visiting any other folder will cause it to snap back to defaults.

So whatever the root cause, it has something to do with the Inbox folder.

Try compacting the Inbox-folder and see if that helps. If the issue still remains try running Thunderbird in Troubleshoot mode .

I came across a topic in this support forum where somebody has a similar issue on MacOs. Can you try updating your Thunderbird install to the latest available version 102.2.0 and see if that solves the issue for you?

I have been running 102.2.0 for my last three posts. The problem is the same.

I compacted the Inbox, with no difference in behavior. Note that this seems like a rather random thing to try. If I understand the documentation correctly, it just defragments the file. Since this is a brand new install, the file wasn't fragmented to begin with. Why did you suggest it? Am I missing something?

I ran in Troubleshoot Mode. It made no difference.

I also took a look at the other topic. It looks like the person with the Mac is seeing the same thing that I am seeing. Like me, he has no resolution.

Is there some way to engage the development team to look at this? There is clearly a bug somewhere. I suspect that it's not an easy to repro bug, or else everyone would be complaining about it. I am willing to run under a debugger, or to run private instrumented bits.

Thanks, -Wade

I suggested the compacting of the folder as a possible solution. It might be a new install, but you had been adjusting your column layout already several times which might lead to the folder being fragmented.

As a last try: did you check the Error Console (you can find in the Tools menu under Developer Tools and Error Console) for any message that occur while the column layout is being reset?

If that doesn't provide any clues and you feel this is a bug in Thuderbird you can enter a bug in Bugzilla

I ran with the error console and I am seeing some exceptions. Below is the output from the Error Console. The first entry happens immediately when I return to the Inbox from another folder. The second entry (which is just one line, with no call stack) happens just a little bit later, at the moment that the columns revert to default:

Uncaught RangeError: BigInt division by zero

   quotaUsagePercentage chrome://messenger/content/commandglue.js:149
   UpdateStatusQuota chrome://messenger/content/commandglue.js:169
   _updateContextDisplay chrome://messenger/content/folderDisplay.js:1632
   makeActive chrome://messenger/content/folderDisplay.js:1839
   onDisplayingFolder chrome://messenger/content/folderDisplay.js:1131
   _enterFolder resource:///modules/DBViewWrapper.jsm:1204
   open resource:///modules/DBViewWrapper.jsm:821
   show chrome://messenger/content/folderDisplay.js:849
   FolderPaneSelectionChange chrome://messenger/content/commandglue.js:368
   onselect chrome://messenger/content/messenger.xhtml:1
   MozTreeChildren chrome://global/content/elements/tree.js:69

commandglue.js:149:39

   quotaUsagePercentage chrome://messenger/content/commandglue.js:149
   UpdateStatusQuota chrome://messenger/content/commandglue.js:169
   _updateContextDisplay chrome://messenger/content/folderDisplay.js:1632
   makeActive chrome://messenger/content/folderDisplay.js:1839
   onDisplayingFolder chrome://messenger/content/folderDisplay.js:1131
   _enterFolder resource:///modules/DBViewWrapper.jsm:1204
   open resource:///modules/DBViewWrapper.jsm:821
   show chrome://messenger/content/folderDisplay.js:849
   FolderPaneSelectionChange chrome://messenger/content/commandglue.js:368
   onselect chrome://messenger/content/messenger.xhtml:1
   MozTreeChildren chrome://global/content/elements/tree.js:69

BigInt division by zero commandglue.js:149

I know what each of the exceptions are, but without being familiar with the source code, it's not terribly meaningful. It's also not helpful that I don't have an installation anymore that doesn't exhibit the problem. Perhaps it means more to you (or anyone else reading this thread).

Thanks, -Wade

​

It's also not helpful that I don't have an installation anymore that doesn't exhibit the problem.

Do you mean that your Hotmail IMAP-account is showing the same behaviour currently? If yes, at least it rules out the relationship with Smarter Mail.

The output of the error console doesn't give me any clues on where the issue might be, neither am I able to reproduce the behaviour your are experiencing. I am sorry I am not able to help you any further.