Thunderbird upgrade to 115 hurts the eyes.

[rarula]

The automatic upgrade to 115 on my Windows 10 notebook happened today.
The list of eMails shows up in a new font and font size.

It really hurts the eyes. I hardly can read it. For sure it stresses the vision when you work on lists of many many eMails. Even after trying to fix it with the "Density" buttons that are described as a workaround to this (seemingly already known) issue, it still hurts. I experimentally bumped up the font size from 12 to now 27pt (huge) to read it cleanly. And I can see that there are spurious grey or black pixels around the characters. I turned it back to a reasonable font size. There is either a new rendering method used now that blurs the character borders against the background, or there are used new fonts that enhances that blurring. But choosing a different font from the selection that is presented, did not help. There seem to be some aliasing effects going on. It changes at different font sizes, but it never really goes away. As I said, it hurts the eyes!

Thunderbird is a tool, like a hammer or a screwdriver. Used every day for many many years. I need it. Why do you change it? I even do not want my hammers or my screwdrivers to change. And for sure not to worse... it massively affects productivity of day-to-day work!

Please fix this!

[rarula]

additional question: how can I downgrade back to the version that was installed on my computer up to yesterday? Is there an easy way to fix this?

[DRocket]

I feel the more important point that needs to be said is that Thunderbird upgrades are probably necessary for security reasons and trimming down the excessive amount of computer memory needed to run Thunderbird. These are good reasons to put together new revisions. After all, Thunderbird is a very ancient desktop email client. It has remained very popular and free of corporate interference with email clients like Outlook. I have used Outlook at work because of company policy and it is not really user friendly. I had to spend hours changing things so it would work for me. 

I'd like to see an easier way to compact Thunderbird files and have an automatic backup process. There has been a bug in the message filters for a long time. Sometimes the folder index .msf file is damaged and the filters don't work. Then you have to go into folder properties and repair the folder. But honestly if you have, say 100 filters, how much time do you want to spend opening each folder and repairing the folder? There isn't really a way to determine which folders failed until you are looking at a folder's emails and realize that there haven't been any emails sent to the folder in 6 months. These are some of the true needs of Thunderbird, cleaning up the back room. 

[rarula]

my current workaround now is:
go to settings within thunderbird.
Disable automatic updates
Got to windows settings -> apps
uninstall thunderbird
get old version from
"https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/thunderbird/releases/102.15.1/win64/de/Thunderbird Setup 102.15.1.msi"

(sorry, the link is broken due to the space within the file name. A typical windows issue....)
Install that file, then run in a cmd window

"C:\Program Files\Mozilla Thunderbird\thunderbird.exe" --allow-downgrade

After that, thunderbird can be started again as usual via mouse click.

This somehow fixed it, but it seems that some of my configurational experiments with 115 also now affects the look of the 102 version. Need to find out how to get back to the old settings 😞

I wrote my first program in 1978.
I still use my computers up to 10 hours per day.
Some of my software still runs each night for 2 decades now on production systems of a major German bank.
I currently still support that software.
So, I know what I am talking about here.

My question still is:

Why do you break a sucessfully working tool by doing unnecessary "upgrades"?????
Bug fixing is fine.
But why do you completely modify something that is just working fine?????
You will hurt millions of users that had been satisfied up to that point in time!

This reminds me very much of the "upgrade" of Firefox on Android last year.
It literally left it unusable. Every configuration from before was lost. Every regular process that included Firefox was broken. So I switched to a different browser in Android at that time after decades of using Mozilla / Netscape software.
Do I need to expect a similar situation now with Thunderbird???? I don't hope so!!!

Please fix this!

[DRocket]

This could be considered a violation of the rights of individuals with special needs. For the blind, messing with the setup for email structure could truly be a problem.

The fact that everyone is complaining about something that is in a different location, or they can't read it well, or it used to do "this" and now I can't, is sad. We depend on the stability of the app from day to day. We don't have time to spend hours trying to change all the settings so we can get our work done.

[Mustangfoxhunt]

I agree that the new version is much more difficult to read. It's almost too compact.

[Mustangfoxhunt]

I find the new version harder to read.

[DRocket]

I have spent a hours trying to find a way to change the fonts in the folders column and the messages column. I would also like to tone down the bright white background behind the messages and folders. Only when a message has been read and there are no outstanding unread items in the folders, will the sharp black font on the white background change to a softer grey background and a grey font. I really shouldn't have to explain why these fonts on a white background are like someone with a flashlight in my face. I was able to change the bright white background inside a selected email to a light grey. 

I did find an answer to this from looking at Support. But guess what you need to do. If anyone can tell me where the CSS is located in the desktop software, it would be nice to point us to that. Or better yet, you shouldn't have changed this in the first place. I know what CSS is, but how many people using their email understand that??

Threads and Folder Pane fonts and backgrounds can be changed with css.

/* threads pane bg, font */
table[is="tree-view-table"]{
background: #87CEFA !important;
font-family: Times, serif !important;
font-size: 16px !important;
color: navy !important;
}

/* folder pane font, bg */
#folderPane {
background-color: #87CEFA !important;
font-size: 14px !important;
font-family: Times, serif !important;
color: navy !important;
}

[Mustangfoxhunt]

I believe most users would not be able to use CSS to modify their display settings. In Quickbooks, they have a button that allows the user to view the page in the prior format. I would not want to do that every time, however I'm wondering (as others might be) if we can go back to the old version. The new version is far too compact, even when I increase the font size.

[Agentvirtuel]

Hello

How to restore https://connect.mozilla.org/t5/discussions/thunderbird-upgrade-115-3-2-32-bit-absolutely-horrible/m-... ?

[DRocket]

Okay, today I noticed another "fart" in incoming emails. They arrive in the inbox with bright blue font for the subject line. If you click off of the inbox to look at another folder, when you come back to the inbox, the blue font is gone and now it's not clear how many emails arrived today. This is like an easter egg hunt. I have never liked excessive fussing with fonts and colors. If you are doing something like reading an email, who cares what color the subject line is. I'd rather have a clean looking inbox, not a magazine headline for every email. That's my complaint of the day. Well, meanwhile I can't figure out how to add anything more to the filter of the emails other than time and date which are jammed up against the right of the screen. No "type of file" no "attachments" no "file size" etc. I've wasted a half hour here, and I need to get things done.