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How can I see all unread messages from all folders together?

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I try to get a view which shows me all unread mails from all folders and subfolders. As the mails are moved to subfolders by filters upon reception, it's difficult to see all new mails at a glance.

I try to get a view which shows me all unread mails from all folders and subfolders. As the mails are moved to subfolders by filters upon reception, it's difficult to see all new mails at a glance.

All Replies (8)

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Either via 'Mail Toolbar': 'Menu icon' > 'Folders' > 'Unread' Or via 'Menu Bar': 'View' > 'Folders' > 'Unread'

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That's not what I want. This will still show me the folder tree for all folders where at some level there are new messages. As I have many folders with 3 or more levels, this is useless to me. I want to see all the messages in a single view in a "virtual" folder, as other email clients do (ex. eM Client)

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No "thank you" for what seemed to me to be a perfectly reasonable answer? No, it doesn't show the full tree; just those folders with unread content. It doesn't seem to me that you even tried this suggestion.

The "Unread" toggle in the Quickfilter bar will further reduce the display to just unread messages.

Anyway, you can create that virtual folder for yourself.

File|New|Saved Search

As far as I can see, that's just one of the many things you can't do in eM Client.

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Thank you for what? For an answer that doesn't answer my question? Sorry, but you started to be rude ...

Back to civilisation.

Of course, I tried what you suggest and as I said in my previous post, that's not what I want. What you propose shows me a reduced tree view with the folders that contain unread messages, but I want a virtual view of all my unread messages, regardless of where they are located.

The "Unread" toggle only works for the currently displayed folder. Again, not what I asked for.

As to eM Client, I wanted to try Thunderbird again (used it years ago) because I had frequent connection problems in eM Client and I wanted to see if Thunderbird would have the same.

You do have Smart folders and Search folders in eM Client, so your statement that it doesn't have something like "File|New|Saved Search" is wrong.

As to the "File|New|Saved Search", that's what I found in the doc, but not in my Thunderbird (see attachment)! Hence my question here.

I can't tell you what version it is (couldn't find out how to check, as there is not Help|About), but I downloaded it from the Mozilla site about 2 weeks ago as version 52.1.1 and it says that it doesn't need any updates.

I hope this clarifies my problem.

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That's the new Application Menu. Search through it and you will find the option you seek. Probably, bizarrely, under "New message". Help|About is hidden in there too. I don't know where for sure because I intensely dislike that menu and choose not to use it.

The only sure way to learn of a program's capabilities is to explore its menus. I am not getting any feeling that you have done this.

Most advice on the 'net for Thunderbird relates to the old traditional menu across the top. F10 or alt will reveal this on a Windows or Linux computer. If you are using a Mac you wouldn't have needed to ask because they don't use the Application Menu. I hope from this that you start to see why offering help can be so complex; clarity is essential and a lot of time can be spent establishing what the user sees in front of them. So, thank you for the screenshot.

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Menu_differences_in_Windows,_Linux,_and_Mac

Civilised people say "please" and "thank you". You say "I want" a lot and that seems rude to me so I answered in kind.

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Hi and sorry if "I want" comes over as rude. It surely wasn't meant so.

What I found rude was the fact that when in a previous post I said "This will still show me the folder tree for all folders where at some level there are new messages." and then I get the answer "No, it doesn't show the full tree; just those folders with unread content". Isn't that what I said?

Unfortunately, the saved search is an unflexible solution as I have to select each and every folder (way too many of them for this) and it won't automatically add newly created folders in the search. And even just selecting the Inbox, it's extremely slow, to the point of making it useless. Also, it doesn't seem to work correctly (it should show at least 50 unread messages, but only 2 appear, although I explicitely checked some folders to be included). Or maybe they will correctly display in an hour or so ... it's still saying "searching" bottom left. Worse, those it showed disappeared when I switched to the containing folders (without even previeweing those emails and without changing their status). I'm not sure if I was even able to create the correct search as there is no option to select a status of "unread", only "new". Not the same thing???

Looks like there is no simple solution for this.

I really would have liked to go back to Thunderbird (switched to eM Client when there was talk of dicontinuing Thunderbird). But it doesn't seem to be workable for me anymore.

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This will locate all unread messages in all selected mail accounts or any specific set of folders and display as a virtual list in one folder.

To auto create a new folder containing search results; Via 'Mail Toolbar':

  • 'Menu icon' > 'New Message' > 'Saved search'

via 'Menu Bar':

  • 'File' > 'New' > 'Saved Search'
  • specify name of folder
  • specify where to create folder
  • click on 'Choose...' button
  • select all or some 'mail account name' folders.
  • click on OK
  • select 'Match all of the following'
  • Select: 'Status' 'isn't' 'Read'
  • click on 'Create'


Alternative: To only get search result with option to save as a folder, but search confined only on one specified mail account.

Via 'Mail Toolbar':

  • 'Menu Icon' > 'Find' > 'Search Messages'

via 'Menu Bar':

  • 'Edit' > 'Find' > 'Search Messages'

Use the following:

  • Search for messages in: Select the name of the account
  • Select: 'Search subfolders'
  • select 'Match all of the following'
  • Select: 'Status' 'isn't' 'Read'
  • click on 'Search'

You have the option to save the results as a folder if desired.

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Thank you for the clarifications. Somehow I missed the "isn't" & "Read" combination (it's way too hot here to think straight). Still, both options do not solve my problem. In your first scenario, I would have to manually select each and every folder/subfolder (there are more then 400). In the second scenario, it seems like it does what I want as it seems to select all subfolders, but it doesn't automatically include newly created folders. Acceptable, but not optimal (I'll surely forget to add new folders in the search, comes with age ...)