Toolbar or windows layout not working

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Revision as of 02:24, 8 February 2012 by Tanstaafl (talk | contribs) (customized columns for a folder)
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This article was written for Thunderbird but also applies to Mozilla Suite / SeaMonkey (though some menu sequences may differ).
  • If the Mail or Message Pane toolbar doesn't seem to work correctly (for example, can't add or delete buttons):
  • Right click on the "broken" toolbar, select "customize", press the "Restore Default Set" button, and press the Done button. If you are using the CompactHeader add-on for the message pane (preview pane) you many need to either expand the headers or disable the add-on in order to customize that toolbar.
  • If that doesn't help select Help -> Troubleshooting Information. Depending upon what version you are running you will see either a "Open Containing Folder" or a "Show Folder" button. Press it. That will launch windows explorer (or whatever file manager your operating system uses). It will display the contents of your profile. Exit Thunderbird and delete localstore.rdf . That stores the toolbar , window layout and size/position settings. Restart Thunderbird. That will create a new version of that file with default settings.
  • If the menu bar is missing either right click on the toolbar and select Menu Bar in the list box, or press the ALT key (requires Thunderbird 10 or later).
  • If the Send button is missing when composing a new message something hid the "composition toolbar". Either press F10 or use View -> Toolbars -> Composition Toolbar to get it back.
  • If you customized columns for a folder but that setting is forgotten when you restart select the folder in the folder pane, select properties, the general tab, and then press the "repair folder" button.
  • If something else in the windows layout is broken :
  • Try running in safe mode using "Help -> restart with add-ons disabled" to rule out it being a problem due to an add-on.
  • If the windows layout is okay but some of the window pane contents/controls is clipped (not visible) try pressing the "restore down" button (between the minimize and close buttons) to stop using full screen mode and then drag and drop a corner of the window/pane to resize it. If that doesn't work try moving part of the window off-screen so that there is more room to drag and drop the corner.
  • Select Help -> Troubleshooting Information. Depending upon what version you are running you will see either a "Open Containing Folder" or a "Show Folder" button. Press it. That will launch windows explorer (or whatever file manager your operating system uses). It will display the contents of your profile. Delete localstore.rdf . That stores the toolbar, window layout and size/position settings. Restart Thunderbird. That will create a new version of that file with default settings.
  • If deleting localstore.rdf doesn't help, try deleting localstore.rdf, localstore-safe.rdf (special version of that file used in safe mode), directoryTree.json , foldertree.json (used by folder pane) , mailviews.dat (message views) , search.json, session.json (snapshot of the windows layout), and XUL.mfl (cached user data) instead. Linux uses xul.mfasl instead of xul.mfl, while OS X uses "XUL FastLoad File". You will lose any customizations stored in those files but Thunderbird will recreate those files as needed using default values when you restart it.
  • If you just updated Thunderbird and get gibberish near the bottom of the main window that is due to it unsuccessfully trying to find a copy of translated text. See Label="&blockImageCmd. label;.

If you are worried about deleting files in your profile, backup your profile first using either Mozbackup or one of the programs mentioned in this article

See also

External links

  • Bug report about [[1]Folder panel has no content[/url]