Thunderbird (2.something here as 3 is still not stable and had some nasty bugs last I tried) sorts mails by date by default. This is fine, however, it sorts them so that the newest ones are at the bottom of the list, which … is not fine. Since Thunderbird saves its sort settings on a per-folder basis (and I have many folders) I regularly run into folders I've rarely or never been in which still have the old sorting order.
Is there any way to globally change the default sorting order to "Threads, newest messages at the top" (or anything else, which, I assume might be possible as well then)?
Best Answer
Open the Config Editor from the following menu options:
You might also find it at:
Or if you are using an older version of Thunderbird:
Type
mailnews.default
in the Filter bar to bring up a small list of preferences to configure. It will display similar to below:In the above, replace the
x
andy
of the value by double-clicking the name of the preference and replacing it with one of the following values as required:x (see https://developer.mozilla.org/en/nsMsgViewSortOrder)
y (see https://developer.mozilla.org/en/nsMsgViewSortType)
So if you wanted to sort all mail by Thread, Descending (newest at top), the preferences in the config editor will look like this:
There are also
default_(news_)view_flags
settings (for mail and news), which allow to turn on the "Threaded" flag:(See also: https://bugzil.la/86845#c74)