u/DifficultDerek

About a month ago, I wrote a post based on my initial impressions of Thunderbird: https://www.reddit.com/r/Thunderbird/comments/1tmuz7o/trying_thunderbird_some_things_i_dont_like_and/

I've done very little fiddling, and instead simply used it pretty much as was. I've removed the card view in favour of a top/bottom split with a more 'outlook' like appearance, and i added icons in the title bar. I seldom use the default reply/fwd/delete etc buttons on the mail itself. I find that when i'm reading emails, my mouse stays in the email list, rather than drift toward the email content itself. Which is why i am not a fan of the default placement of such buttons.

As even a dev was receptive to my previous feedback, i figure it's time for a little more :) And it's more positive this time :)

• The lack of 'minimise to tray' and 'start minimised' is probably the only thing that i really really would like to see. After a month, i STILL mouse down to the notification area expecting to be able to click the program. Also, it is a bit annoying having email open all the time when i'm alt-tabbling around. For my mind, this is the single biggest gripe i have with Thunderbird. P.S. when you do get this operational, please include the option to show or hide the number of unread emails. Sometimes, knowing you have unread emails is distracting. Right-click options for 'mute notification' and 'hide unread stats', one shouldn't need to go into settings to turn them on/off.
• In a thread, the new email is down the bottom. I have to expand the thread, then click on the newest email. This makes sense, especially if there's multiple new emails. When there's only one new email, it seems weird. But i get why it would be designed this way. I'm not sure if there's any tips for how people choose to manage this. Maybe i should just turn off threads :) Go old-school :)
• I still get confused by the way gmail handles threads, Thunderbird is easy. If i want to delete one email in a thread of 10, it does it. It's intuitive.
• I started using Thunderbird on Android and the QR code setup was awesome. However, i changed one of my provider's password after the setup, and there was no way i could change the password/be prompted in the app. I had to remove the account and re-import it. I don't mind this, but there was no indication that there was a problem. It just didn't fetch emails. It didn't tell me "incorrect credentials" or in the words of that guy in Spaceballs combing the desert: "we ain't found sh!t" :D
• A friend was deleting their Yahoo email account, and wanted a copy of all their emails. So i set up Thunderbird for him and it auto-discovered the necessary settings. That is SO GOOD! Only gotcha there is the cookie requirement for OAUTH. I don't know how common it is for people to disable or restrict cookies, but it caught him out and he had to look it up.
• Hilariously, i absolutely love the 'you have mail' sound :D It reminds me of something from decades ago.. Windows XP USB connection? Whatever it is, i love it :D
• Something i didn't expect to feel, having used webmail for so long, is the sense of relief i feel having a local copy of all of my emails. I think too often we overlook that Google or whoever can lock us out of our accounts and it's near impossible to talk to a human. If that were to happen, at least i have my years of email history saved.
• Having all of my email accounts in one interface has been fantastic, i only have two email accounts but it's perhaps a hugely underrated factor for those of us using webmail for years.
• EDIT - i forgot to add, for years i ignored calendars because it was just such a pain, Thunderbird has actually changed that habit. I love the calendar appearance and ease of use.

Thank you to the devs. I'm so glad Thunderbird was revived.

I went to donate and it wants my full name and email address. I would much prefer it if i could donate via means where my personal details are either already stored or don't need to be collected/stored (i've donated to other projects via OpenCollective, buymeacoffee, kofi, Patreon). Are there other donation pathways or must you have that info?

I have some auto-filtering that moves some emails to deleted automatically. They're not spam, they're just annoyingly frequent. I occasionally want to check one, so i don't unsubscribe.

Also if i'm selecting multiple emails and smashing the delete button and not reading emails they can move to deleted without being marked as read.

There's a setting for marking spam as read, but not for deleted (that i can see).

Thanks.

Hiya, i've been trying to replace my webmail with Thunderbird for a few days now and unfortunately i have some negative feedback :(

I'm a Linux user, using 151 via Flatpak. My experience with email clients is either ancient (maybe 15 years ago), or in more recent times Outlook (at work).

The stuff i'm not liking:

• No minimise to tray. This is surprising for an email program.
• No minimise on start-up. :(
• Very confusing spam management behaviour. For one of my IMAP providers, i'm struggling to avoid having two Spam folders, or a Spam and a Junk folder. Not enough guidance offered for what these settings do.
• Confusing spam moving options. I can chose my email provider in two different boxes. I have no idea what the difference is other than the icon appears to be different. Or if i should even turn this on.
• When sending an email, a dialogue box appears to say it's sending it. Why? This takes time and gets in the way. Just use an indicator in the main UI somewhere. (note: this doesn't happen if you send an email that is in Drafts)
• Not a fan of the mail management icons (Delete, Reply, FWD etc) on the far right. Especially delete. I've set up such icons in the titlebar, it feels faster and more intuitive for me.
• Card view appears a bit cramped, cluttered.
• Dark mode is almost black. To be blunt, it's awful. Very unpleasant to read with it (poor default font choice too?). I use dark mode everywhere, except Thunderbird. Light mode looks pretty good, but my god it's bright. I couldn't find anything to adjust it. a bit of grey or charcoal would be nice.
• Sometimes freezes for too long when asked to do something like delete a folder (not a local folder).
• VERY limited themes, the ones i tried didn't seem to affect the main reading window or left pane.

That's quite negative, sorry about that.

Positives...

• I hadn't tried Thunderbird for over a decade. It's vastly improved with the appearance. Light mode looks quite nice, but could be improved. Thank you.
• Onboarding my IMAP accounts was super easy. I really appreciate that.
• Transferring the profile from one installation to another was super easy (.thunderbird folder). Thank you.
• I was surprised how well the calendar works with Google. I like using Thunderbird for calendar now (i don't like calendars :D)

I hope this is seen as somewhat constructive and not too mean.

I will keep using Thunderbird for a while (maybe long-term). Maybe some things will get better (minimise!), or i'll adapt/learn how to tweak things better (spam).

Thanks for the program :)

EDIT:

• I really appreciate the link clicking "protection". I clicked a link and it wasn't exactly what the text indicated it would be, and Thunderbird alerted me. It was harmless in this instance, but so nice.

I've scoured opendesktop, store.kde.org and gnome-look but the themes rarely mention the resolutions supported (or look good with). It's time consuming and there's every chance that some support it but don't say they do.

Is there somewhere that allows filtering for resolution?

Feel free to show off your choice in themes and where you got it.

I've been looking at store.kde.org and gnome-look but they don't have a resolution search so some themes might look good, others look rubbish.

Do you have any recommendations for which themes might work better, or if there's somewhere specifically for the higher res/uw screens?

Hi there!

I'm more familiar with/prefer Ubuntu-based distros, so i was leaning towards Kubuntu (with backports). I've been using Linux for a few years. I'm moderately capable, not a sysadmin. I've used KDE Neon, Mint, Arch, Nobara in that order. I've only recently started look into Debian options which brought me here :)

I'll summarise my reasons and wants...

Reasons:

• I like the Ubuntu-based distros for what they offer.
• I like Ubuntu-based distros like Mint for their reliability and relative ease of use/configuration/maintenance/packages/support etc.
• I like Plasma.
• While i can disable Snaps in Kubuntu, i'd rather not have to fight a corporation right out of the gate.
• I'd prefer the "more pure" Debian over Ubuntu.

Wants:

• Not bleeding edge, not stable - the sweet spot in-between.
• I like "newer" but i don't like untested newer :)

Use-case:

• I play games, but i'm not a "gamer"
• Daily driver.

The above summary is why the title is what it is: mxLinux KDE - what backports are available for more recent kernels, mesa, kde/plasma?. With the context provided i hope people can advise if mxLinux works for me, or if something else (perhaps Kubuntu) is better for my desired setup.

Thanks!