Sep 8, 2020

Customize message header toolbar of Thunderbird 78

Thunderbird 78 removes customization of message header toolbar. Toolbar buttons occupy large area of the header.

It is filed as the following bug but it seems a long term activity.

[Bug 1556261] Implement message header button customisation

So, I created add-on to change the buttons as a workaround. Please feel free to use it if you need it too.

Download: Message Header Toolbar Customize

The following is an example.

Thunderbird 78 default (without add-on):


Changed by add-on:
Icon only, Junk button is hidden, More menu is moved to end


Configuration

The customize window is invoked from the followings:
  • Right-click menu on the toolbar
  • Menu in the "More" button of the toolbar
Please note customization from add-ons' option is removed from v2.0.3.


From v2.0.3, you can customize main window and message window separately as Thunderbird 68 does.

Icon display
You can choose one from the followings:
  • Icons beside text
  • Icons
  • Text

Order and button display
You can change order of buttons and hide unnecessary buttons. Up and Down buttons change the button order. If you want to hide a button, click Hide button. To show the button again, press the Show button.

In case you want to go back the Thunderbird default order, click Reset button. And then a message offers you to restart Thunderbird. After you restart it, the order is back to original.
 

Constraints

The add-on has some constraints:
  • Toolbar button without ID is not supported.
  • "Hide" just hides (collapsed = true) button. The hidden button may appear by some functionalities.
  • Toolbar will go back to the default when you uninstall the add-on
  • Temporally added button such as add-on debugging is not supported 

 

See also:

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

I sent a german locale for this addon per email, but got no reaction and the "de" locale ist still not included in your 2.0.8 release and beta release.

Regards
Thunderbird Mail DE

h.ogi said...

I still have implemented some functionalities and strings are not frozen. Currently, I don't plan to add other locales before freeze.

Hunter said...

Thanks for this! I just discovered release 78 yesterday, and was really bummed to see that they had gotten rid of this feature. Your add-on works perfectly!

Unknown said...

Thank you very much for this addon. I've been using Thunderbird for years, and can't see any advantage in the recent updates (Ver 78 +): In particular, all my legacy extensions that I've gotten used to over the years to no longer work. If there's a technical improvement in these new updates, it's very transparent to the user.

I was about ready to ditch this program, but now being able to customize the menu somewhat has caused me to wait, at least for a while.

Unknown said...

This sounds great, and I have downloaded it. Now how do I install it into Thunderbird?

Beverly Daniel said...

Install Microsoft 365 for Home
Use the computer where you want to install Office.
Go to the Microsoft 365 portal page and sign in to your Microsoft account.
Select Install Office.
On the Microsoft 365 Home web page, select Install Office.
On the Download and install Microsoft 365 Home screen, select Install.
for more information click here: how to add another email account to outlook 2016

Anonymous said...

This works for the "Inbox" message pane but not the "Sent" message pane. I need some way to add a "Reply All" button to the "Sent" message pane, but this extension doesn't seem to affect the "Sent" message pane buttons at all. :(

Gerald Reynolds said...

Responding to Anonymous:
Gmail uses Reply or Reply All to send a response or further comment to a Sent message. Thunderbird uses Edit As New Message instead, which is actually a more versatile way to do it. Right click on the Sent message you want to "Reply All" to and select Edit As New Message. It will come up in edit mode as a new message to all of the original recipients and with the Sent text intact. Then you can edit or add to both the recipient list, the subject, and the message body as needed, and even send it from a different email address if you have more than one set up in Thunderbird. Once you get used to this functionality you'll wonder why other email products don't do something similar.

chuck starck said...

I downloaded 2.2.1, it does not allow you to customize the top tool bars. It allows you to move an item ONE TIME and only one time.

YOu can not move items from one bar to the other.

Thunderbird 91.3.0

McBobby said...

I love this addon, but it stopped working in Thunderbird 102.0. I would appreciate a compatibility update for Thunderbird 102.0, please.

Anonymous said...

Super, thank you for your work!!

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