New Update Mozilla Thunderbird (updates and discussion)

[silversurfer]

Version 115.2.0, first offered to channel users on August 30, 2023​

Thunderbird version 115 is only offered as direct download from thunderbird.net and not as an upgrade from Thunderbird version 102 or earlier. A future release will provide updates from earlier versions. For more on all the new features in Thunderbird 115, see What’s New in Thunderbird 115.

New​

• Thunderbird MSIX packages are now published on archive.mozilla.org

Changed​

• Size, Unread, and Total columns are now right-aligned
• changed
• Newsgroup names in message list header are now abbreviated

Fixed​

• Message compose window did not apply theme colors to menus
• Reading the second new message in a folder cleared the unread indicator of all other new messages
• Displayed counts of unread or flagged messages could become out-of-sync
• Deleting a message from the context menu with messages sorted in chronological order and smooth scroll enabled caused message list to scroll to top
• Repeatedly switching accounts in Subscribe dialog caused tree view to stop updating
• "Ignore thread" caused message cards to display incorrectly in message list
• Creating tags from unified toolbar failed
• Cross-folder navigation using F and N did not work
• Account Manager did not resize to fit content, causing "Close" button to become hidden outside bounds of dialog when too many accounts were listed
• Remote content exceptions could not be added in Settings
• Newsgroup list file did not get updated after adding a new NNTP server
• "Download all headers" option in NNTP "Download Headers" dialog was incorrectly selected by default
• "Convert to event/task" was missing from mail context menu
• Events and tasks were not shown in some cases despite being present on remote server
• Various visual and UX improvements
• Security fixes

Thunderbird — Release Notes (115.2.0)

www.thunderbird.net

 

[silversurfer]

Thunderbird 115 is the latest major version of the open source email client. Users of the application, who wanted to upgrade to the new version, had to download and install Thunderbird 115 to do so, up until now.

This changes today, as the email client's automatic updating system is now offering to upgrade Thunderbird 102 installations to version 115.

The updates are not done automatically, as users of the email client need to seek for the Thunderbird 115 update manually. A click on Help > About Thunderbird opens a small popup window that lists the current installed version and any update that is available at the time.

Thunderbird 102 users will see the update to Thunderbird 115 here. It is still necessary to activate the "update to 115.2.0" button to download and install the new Thunderbird version on the device.

Thunderbird 102 to 115 upgrades are now enabled - gHacks Tech News

Thunderbird 102.x users may now update their version of the email client to Thunderbird 115 using the built-in updating feature.

www.ghacks.net

 

[franz]

I can't use 115.2.0. When I start it, it opens and closes again immediately. If I'm lucky and it finally opens, the language has been replaced. This one will not be used and if Thunderbird is not fixed I will have to use another one. Anyone have a tip for an equally good one?

 

[Oldie1950]

I can't use 115.2.0. When I start it, it opens and closes again immediately. If I'm lucky and it finally opens, the language has been replaced. This one will not be used and if Thunderbird is not fixed I will have to use another one. Anyone have a tip for an equally good one?

115.2.0 works for me without any problems on 3 computers with Windows 11. I haven't read any reports of general problems so far. I therefore suspect that it has to do with a special configuration of your computer.

 

[franz]

There are many complaining with problems. Here is one:

"1. sep. 2023
Hello, after installing the new version supernova, Thunderbird started to become unresponsive very frequently. Anyone have experience on this?"

 

[silversurfer]

Thunderbird Supernova Version 115.2.1, first offered to channel users on September 11, 2023​

New​

• Column separators are now shown between all columns in tree view

Fixed​

• Crash reporter did not work in Thunderbird Flatpak
• New mail notification always opened message in message pane, even if pane was disabled
• After moving an IMAP message to another folder, the incorrect message was selected in the message list
• Adding a tag to an IMAP message opened in a tab failed
• Junk/Spam folders were not always shown in Unified Folders mode
• Middle-clicking a folder or message did not open it in a background tab, as in previous versions
• Settings tab visual improvements: Advanced Fonts dialog, Section headers hidden behind search box
• Various visual and style fixes

Thunderbird — Release Notes (115.2.1)

www.thunderbird.net

 

[cofer123]

Thunderbird 115 is what has finally made me move to eM Client for good (yes, I paid for it). While I understand the reasons for the upgrade, the amount of new bugs introduced is beyond what I would call reasonable. I now also require several userChrome.css modifications to undo bad UI/UX decisions, like placing the Menu Bar below the ribbon (which the devs defend and don't see as an issue), poor contrasting dark theme colors, among other changes. Dark mode is also broken even with the Dark Reader extension, which worked flawlessly before, because every new mail tab has a short white flash while rendering its contents. Too bad, because while far from perfect, I liked having the free open source e-mail client which served me for several years.

Maybe it will take the devs a year or two to iron things out, but given the piles of decade-old bugs still unfixed, and all the new issues appearing now, I very much doubt they will manage it.

 

[franz]

Are there any other programs similar to Thunderbird that are also free and can be recommended

 

[silversurfer]

Important update for Thunderbird Supernova 115.2.2 and also for the previous version 102.15.1

Security fixes

Thunderbird — Release Notes (115.2.2)

www.thunderbird.net

Thunderbird — Release Notes (102.15.1)

www.thunderbird.net

 

[silversurfer]

Thunderbird developers plan to revive Firefox Send

Sending large files via email is still a major problem on today's Internet. Most email providers cap the size of emails. Attempts to send emails that are too large are met with a "can't do" error message in the client.

Email users have a small number of options at their disposal to send large files to recipients: from uploading files to cloud storage and linking to them in the email to using integrated solutions.

The development team of the Thunderbird email client plans to revive Firefox Send for the purpose. Firefox Send was launched in early 2019 to the public as a way for users to share files privately online.

The service grew in popularity quickly, as it allowed users to share files with a size of up to 2.5 gigabytes. Misuse skyrocketed as well, which led to the temporary termination of the service in 2020 and the permanent shutdown of Firefox Send in the same year.

The developers of Thunderbird revealed the plan in the fourth episode of the ThunderCast podcast. They did not provide details on the plan at this stage, which means that we are in the dark right now regarding changes, the actual integration in Thunderbird, potential monetization or the planned release schedule.

Thunderbird does not leave users alone when they attempt to attach files that are too large in emails right now. Integration with file sharing providers, called FileLink, is available already.

Thunderbird highlights this, when users add files that exceed a certain amount of storage.

Thunderbird developers plan to revive Firefox Send - gHacks Tech News

The Thunderbird email client could soon get support for a file transfer feature that is based on Firefox Send.

www.ghacks.net

 

[silversurfer]

Thunderbird Supernova Version 115.2.3, first offered to channel users on September 20, 2023​

Changed​

• Card view and vertical layout are now default for new profiles

Fixes​

• Go > Folder menu was disabled
• "Tools" menu was blank when opened from compose window on macOS
• Deleting an attachment from a message on an IMAP server corrupted the local copy when configured with "mark as deleted"
• Manually entered passwords were not remembered for OAuth-authenticated accounts such as Yahoo mail
• Quick Filter's "Keep filters applied" did not persist after restarting Thunderbird
• Top-level Quick Filter settings did not persist after restart
• Notifications for new messages with non-ASCII characters in the subject were garbled
• "Mark Thread As Read" did not work when some messages in thread were already read
• New Groups tab in NNTP subscribe dialog id not work as expected
• Negative values were allowed in "Share for files larger than" field
• Thunderbird sometimes crashed when deleting a parent folder with subfolders
• "Send Message Error" appeared intermittently while Thunderbird was idle
• Focused but not selected messages were missing visual indication of focus in card view
• Notification dot did not disappear from taskbar icon on Windows after messages had already been read
• Multiple selected messages could not be opened simultaneously if selection included more than 19 messages
• Email replies received via BCC incorrectly populated From field with default identity
• User was not always notified of message send failures in outbox
• Tag dialog did not close properly after editing tag
• Newsgroup field in compose window did not autocomplete with suggested newsgroup names
• Canceling newsgroup messages did not check if sender matched user's own identity
• Event dialog with several invitees expanded beyond screen height
• Message check boxes were partially obstructed in message list

Known Issues​

• Unresolved: Some folders missing from Unified Folders

Thunderbird — Release Notes (115.2.3)

www.thunderbird.net

 

[silversurfer]

Thunderbird Supernova Version 115.3.0, first offered to channel users on September 26, 2023​

Fixed​

• Thunderbird could not import profiles with hostname ending in dot (".")
• Message header was occasionally missing in message preview
• Setting an existing folder's type flag did not add descendant folders to the Unified Folders view
• Thunderbird did not always delete all temporary mail files, sometimes preventing messages from being sent
• Status bar in Message Compose window could not be hidden
• Message header was intermittently missing from message preview
• OAuth2 did not work on some profiles created in Thunderbird 102.6.1 or earlier
• In Vertical View, decrypted subject lines were displayed as ellipsis ("...") in message list
• Condensed address preference (mail.showCondensedAddresses) did not show condensed addresses in message list
• Spam folder could not be assigned non-ASCII names with IMAP UTF-8 enabled
• Message header was not displayed until images finished loading, causing noticeable delay for messages containing large images
• Large SVG favicons did not display on RSS feeds
• Context menu items did not display a hover background color

Thunderbird — Release Notes (115.3.0)

www.thunderbird.net

 

[silversurfer]

Are there any other programs similar to Thunderbird that are also free and can be recommended

I saw recently this software Betterbird "soft fork of Thunderbird" but I have no user experience

Betterbird. Simply better.

Betterbird. Simply better. A soft fork of Mozilla Thunderbird

www.betterbird.eu

What is Betterbird?​

Betterbird is a soft fork of Mozilla Thunderbird. Soft fork means that it is closely following the Thunderbird Extended Support Releases (ESR) therefore avoiding the mistakes of other forks which quickly lost track of upstream Thunderbird, thus opening users up to security vulnerabilities.

Why Betterbird?​

Betterbird aims at providing a better user experience by fixing annoying bugs in Thunderbird and implementing new features. We will submit all changes to upstream to eventually benefit Thunderbird. So far, Thunderbird has accepted these changes recently (full list) with more pending acceptance.

A big improvement was the implementation of the much-requested multi-line view, as you can check here.

A decent system tray ("systray") tooltip showing new messages and their folders. Also avaialble on Linux, it helps people who filter mail into many folders.

Source: Betterbird: FAQ

 

[eonline]

Thunderbird Release Notes​

Version 115.3.1, first offered to channel users on September 29, 2023

FIXED​

In Unified Folders view, some folders had incorrect unified folder parent

FIXED​

"Edit message as new" did not restore encrypted subject from selected message

FIXED​

Importing some CalDAV calendars with yearly recurrence events caused Thunderbird to freeze

FIXED​

Security fixes

AnnouncedSeptember 28, 2023ImpactcriticalProductsFirefox, Firefox ESR, Firefox Focus for Android, Firefox for Android, ThunderbirdFixed in

• Firefox 118.0.1
• Firefox ESR 115.3.1
• Firefox Focus for Android 118.1
• Firefox for Android 118.1
• Thunderbird 115.3.1

#CVE-2023-5217: Heap buffer overflow in libvpx​

ReporterClément Lecigne of Google's Threat Analysis GroupImpactcritical

Description​

Specific handling of an attacker-controlled VP8 media stream could lead to a heap buffer overflow in the content process. We are aware of this issue being exploited in other products in the wild.

References​

• Bug https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-5217
• Bug https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1855550
• Bug https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=1486441

Thunderbird — Release Notes (115.3.1)

www.thunderbird.net

 

[eonline]

Version 115.3.2, first offered to channel users on October 11, 2023​

Thunderbird — Release Notes (115.3.2)

www.thunderbird.net

 

[silversurfer]

Version 115.3.3, first offered to channel users on October 18, 2023​

Check out the notes below for this version of Thunderbird. As always, you’re encouraged to tell us what you think, or file a bug in Bugzilla

For help and a quick start on Thunderbird 115, see Thunderbird 115 Supernova FAQ

---

Fixed​

• Modifier keys did not work as expected when dragging a message over the folder tree on macOS
• "Folder Location" toolbar button did not work for local folders
• "Copy to again" option disappeared from context menu after copying to Gmail folder with non-ASCII name
• Default reply identity did not use "Delivered-To" address when catch-all was active
• "View Headers All" did not work when selected in standalone message window
• Viewing the mail filter log displayed an error if no log file was present

Thunderbird — Release Notes (115.3.3)

www.thunderbird.net

 

[eonline]

Version 115.4.0, first offered to channel users on October 24, 2023

WHAT’S NEW​

NEW​

Added account context menu to Unified Toolbar "Get Messages" button, creating quick access option to retrieve new messages for individual accounts

NEW​

"Manage Newsgroups Subscription" now displayed on Account Central when using newsgroups

FIXES​

FIXED​

"Send Autocrypt key in header" preference was available on accounts with no encryption key

FIXED​

Manually configured authentication methods on accounts did not always persist

FIXED​

"Folder Location" toolbar button did not work for local folders

FIXED​

"Copy to again" option disappeared from context menu after copying to Gmail folder with non-ASCII name

FIXED​

"Move/Copy to again" was sometimes displayed in the folder context menu when it should not have been

FIXED​

Tools > Filters dialog did not open in Unified Folder view if no messages were selected

FIXED​

Modifier keys did not work as expected when dragging a message over the folder tree on macOS

FIXED​

"View Headers All" did not work when selected in standalone message window

FIXED​

Default reply identity did not use "Delivered-To" address when catch-all was active

FIXED​

"From" address was editable when creating a new message from a template if the account identity contained Unicode characters

FIXED​

"Reply to List" option was always enabled, even with no list to reply to

FIXED​

"Archive" button in message pane was enabled on messages that could not be archived

FIXED​

Multiple message drafts or message templates could not be opened simultaneously for editing

FIXED​

"Edit as New", "Reply", and "Redirect" could not be used on multiple messages simultaneously

FIXED​

Opening a saved .eml file in compose window did not preserve message subject from file

FIXED​

Viewing the mail filter log displayed an error if no log file was present

FIXED​

"Followup-To" label was incorrectly labeled as "Newsgroups"

FIXED​

"Save image as" option did not work for RSS feed items displayed as a webpage

FIXED​

Calendar ICS parser improvements for more reliable event import

FIXED​

Permission description strings were missing from Add-Ons Manager

FIXED​

Selected chat conversation did not display accent bar on left indicating selection

Thunderbird — Release Notes (115.4.0)

www.thunderbird.net

 

[eonline]

Version 115.4.1, first offered to channel users on October 25, 2023

Thunderbird — Release Notes (115.4.1)

www.thunderbird.net

• Spoiler: Thunderbird Release Notes

  Thunderbird Release Notes​

  
  Version 115.4.1, first offered to channel users on October 25, 2023
  
  
  
  

  ​

  What’s New​

  ​

  ​

  new​

  
  "Manage Newsgroups Subscription" now displayed on Account Central when using newsgroups
  
  ​

  ​

  Fixes​

  ​

  ​

  fixed​

  
  Manually configured authentication methods on accounts did no always persist
  
  ​

  ​

  fixed​

  
  "Send Autocrypt key in header" preference was available on accounts with no encryption key
  
  ​

  ​

  fixed​

  
  SHA-1 certificates were not accepted in Thunderbird 115; acceptance of SHA-1 messages can now be enabled via optional preference
  
  ​

  ​

  fixed​

  
  Various Flatpak enhancements
  
  ​

  ​

  fixed​

  
  Opening folder in new tab by clicking scroll wheel/middle mouse button did not work in Folder Pane
  
  ​

  ​

  fixed​

  
  Message list did not automatically scroll to new messages when switching folders
  
  ​

  ​

  fixed​

  
  "Move/Copy to again" was sometimes displayed in the folder context menu when it should not have been
  
  ​

  ​

  fixed​

  
  Multiple message drafts or message templates could not be opened simultaneously for editing
  
  ​

  ​

  fixed​

  
  Tools > Filters dialog did not open in Unified Folder view if no messages were selected
  
  ​

  ​

  fixed​

  
  Printing dialog could be opened, even with no messages selected
  
  ​

  ​

  fixed​

  
  "From" address was editable when creating a new message from a template if the account identity contained Unicode characters
  
  ​

  ​

  fixed​

  
  Opening a saved .eml file in compose window did not preserve message subject from file
  
  ​

  ​

  fixed​

  
  Replying to some plaintext messages with desired quote selected in original message did not preserve formatting of quote
  
  ​

  ​

  fixed​

  
  "Edit as New", "Reply", and "Redirect" could not be used on multiple messages simultaneously
  
  ​

  ​

  fixed​

  
  "Reply to List" option was always enabled, even with no list to reply to
  
  ​

  ​

  fixed​

  
  "Archive" button in message pane was enabled on messages that could not be archived
  
  ​

  ​

  fixed​

  
  "Followup-To" label was incorrectly labeled as "Newsgroups"
  
  ​

  ​

  fixed​

  
  "Save image as" option did not work for RSS feed items displayed as a webpage
  
  ​

  ​

  fixed​

  
  OTR verification dialog was blank, preventing verification of OTR chat sessions
  
  ​

  ​

  fixed​

  
  Calendar ICS parser improvements for more reliable event import
  
  ​

  ​

  fixed​

  
  Permission description strings were missing from Add-Ons Manager
  
  ​

  ​

  fixed​

  
  Various visual fixes​

  
  
  

  ​

  fixed​

  
  Security fixes

 

[silversurfer]

Thunderbird Supernova, Version 115.4.2​

Updating manually via the Thunderbird UI or downloading from here: Download Thunderbird in your language

Thunderbird — Release Notes (115.4.2)

www.thunderbird.net

Fixed​

• No messages or calendar items were displayed on startup
• Toolbar & Folder View widget fixes
• Insert image dialog was not properly sized on some localized builds
• The "unencrypted subject" icon was always briefly displayed when replying to a message
• RSS feeds with lengthy attachment filenames cut off visible content
• RSS feeds with no favicon displayed default icon in the folder color
• NNTP messages that were previously downloaded were not displayed if the server went offline
• Vcard photos were not imported when using opening the file with Thunderbird
• Publishing calendars to invalid URLs did not display a helpful error
• Publishing calendar events via authenticated WebDAV failed
• Converting a message to an event failed when the message pane was not displayed
• Redirect dialog displayed for WebDAV calendars was too small
• Visual and Theme improvements

 

[silversurfer]

Thunderbird Supernova, Version 115.4.3

Thunderbird — Release Notes (115.4.3)

www.thunderbird.net

Version 115.4.3, first offered to channel users on November 16, 2023​

Fixed​

• Forwarding multiple messages as attachments failed
• Message list scrolling fixes
• Some text remained incorrectly visible in the message list when using "Grouped By" sorting
• Subject lines were excessively indented in "Grouped by" views
• "Open Message in Conversation" was incorrectly enabled for selections of multiple messages
• States of collapsed and expanded threads were not maintained when switching folders
• Pressing "n" to move to the next unread message on an unread, collapsed thread opened the thread and selected the second message instead of the first
• Search Folders dialog improvements
• "Read Messages" button in Account Central did not retrieve mail from POP accounts
• Events canceled by the organizer were incorrectly sent cancelation message