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I would like for Thunderbird to show replies to threaded messages in with the received messages. Is this possible, even with an extension?
The desired behavior would be something like how Zimbra's threaded email view works.
Colin Dean
Posted 2009-11-07T17:52:21.197
Reputation: 1 267
32
GMail Conversation View does what you want without having to copy replies into your folders. Sometimes it doesn't properly pull in your replies, and it doesn't start conversations if you initiated them, but it is the most similar to gmail I have found.
Colin M
Posted 2009-11-07T17:52:21.197
Reputation: 436
36
You need to go to the account settings for the account and select Copies & Folders, then check the box "Place replies in the folder of the message being replied to"
Also enable sorting by thread.
THis will replicate the gmail effect I think.
Combine this and user30075's answer and I've basically got what I want. Thanks guys! – Colin Dean – 2010-05-05T22:01:32.787
7This works but it goes against Google’s recommendations for IMAP clients (to not make copies of sent messages, sent GMail already does that anyway), and slows down mail delivery by a factor of two as the message is not just sent but also copied into your folder (including big attachments). What is needed is to just see the sent message in the folder, not to really copy it there. – Jesse Glick – 2013-03-07T16:10:03.750
2Obviously for POP and SMTP as opposed to IMAP setups this works a treat and doesn't duplicate messages. The sent replies only appear in your inbox, not in your sent mail folder, which actually works really well in practice. – Giles Roberts – 2013-11-11T10:10:03.000
19
It "is" built-in on thunderbird now, if you do the right steps:
There is the Global Inbox (if there isn't one, you have to activate it at View >> Folders >> Unified from this tip)
Go on its properties at "Select the folders to search:"
and click on "Choose...", you will see that your top inbox is checked;
just check the "sent" one, click "ok", and "Update".
Now, go to your top "inbox" that is the global one, activate the threaded column and you have a three with all incoming and outgoing messages!
Obs.: thunderbird version 31.4.0 here.
PS.: follow @hvd comment below to restrict the messages shown to a single account (in case of multiple email accounts)!
Aquarius Power
Posted 2009-11-07T17:52:21.197
Reputation: 545
9Or, if you prefer not to use the Global Inbox, create a custom search folder: right-click the account, choose "Search Messages", then "Save as Search Folder", and customise it exactly as you did. It's the same thing under the hood, but for me (with multiple mail accounts, that I do want to keep separate), looks closer to how I like my mail. – hvd – 2014-11-18T11:28:43.733
@hvd, worked great! I had to select "match all messages" option and it worked, thx! – Aquarius Power – 2014-11-18T18:04:57.740
Where exactly can I set the "Select the folders to search"? I enabled the unified folders but I can't find the further places. – marmistrz – 2015-05-12T09:45:26.600
1@marmistrz right click and select properties, btw, my thunderbird is v.31.4.0 – Aquarius Power – 2015-05-13T00:42:19.767
I went into the properties but I can't find the "Select the folders to choose" field/button/whatever – marmistrz – 2015-05-13T19:15:46.133
@marmistrz check the version of your thunderbird – Aquarius Power – 2015-05-13T19:31:50.943
1:31.6.0+build1-0ubuntu0.14.04.1 – marmistrz – 2015-05-13T19:34:59.103
1
@marmistrz I just saw that the global inbox (named simply "inbox") is also a saved search, most probably there is some problem with your installation. Here I found some other info, not sure if will help you.
– Aquarius Power – 2015-05-14T21:43:31.7804I just installed thunderbird on my Mac yesterday, newest version of course. the unified inbox is not a saved search, there's no "select folders to search" on the properties pane, I had to create my own saved search folder. – David Dai – 2017-01-10T15:35:14.800
@DavidDai cool, my answer is probably deprecated then, version 31.4.0. Add yours :) – Aquarius Power – 2017-01-10T23:45:39.380
1This answer thread does exactly what the OP asked for without requiring external add-ons – J. Paulding – 2019-12-12T16:47:34.223
4
If you use Gmail. Your thunderbird will sync the folder structure which includes an "All Mail". Use this folder instead of "Inbox" and use the threaded view will make the threads include sent replies.
I prefer this way to the plugin "Thunderird Conversations" because the plugin is very slow to load when the thread is very long. And sometimes the plugin doesn' t display attachments properly. And this way avoids the extra costs of the option "Place replies in the folder of the message being replied to" will incur.
For other mail users, adding a new virtual folder might also do, see: Combine in- and outgoing mail in Thunderbird in one folder . This inspired me that Gmail includes such a folder already.
xgdgsc
Posted 2009-11-07T17:52:21.197
Reputation: 976
3
If you set Thunderbird to place sent mails in the Inbox folder you can achieve it. This works great for me. I use my Inbox as 'ongoing issues'. So, placing the sent messages (that could be thought of a new issue or a reply to an ongoing issue) in inbox is ok.
Zsolt Vilagos
Posted 2009-11-07T17:52:21.197
Reputation: 31
1
I use the Copy Sent to Current extension to do what it says.... that way I have my sent emails in the sent folder for archival purposes as well as in the folder I was in when I composed the email. That combined with the threaded view gets me the perfect conversation.
Edit: the only problem is that when you search for a conversation, it displays the replies both from your inbox/archives folder AND the sent folder, so perhaps you don't want to use this. But I thought I'd put the option out there.
Asfand Qazi
Posted 2009-11-07T17:52:21.197
Reputation: 131
-2
Click on the header of the left-most (usually) column give you the threaded view.
huggie
Posted 2009-11-07T17:52:21.197
Reputation: 1 149
1Try ThreadVis addon for Thunderbird. – huggie – 2014-07-09T00:40:59.917
1While this enables thread view using mail in the inbox, it unfortunately does not show thread replies from the Sent folder--this is the behavior which I desire. – Colin Dean – 2009-11-29T05:06:02.233
The problem with this is when the thread is long , say more than 30 entries, it becomes too slow to be useful. – xgdgsc – 2014-06-29T14:35:39.433
2ThreadVis extension for Thunderbird – huggie – 2014-07-09T00:40:36.610
@huggie TreadVis sounds interesting but on clicking on the timeline items it jumps only to received emails; if my sent text is not on the body of the received, I get lost; do you believe there is some way it could jump to sent emails? or there could have a unique folder with them all so it could work that way? thx! – Aquarius Power – 2014-08-11T19:55:26.427
@AquariusPower Yes, it does jump between any folder. All mails, received or sent, are on the timeline. – huggie – 2014-08-12T03:53:19.973
2Combine this and gatorbrit's answer and I've basically got what I want. Thanks guys! – Colin Dean – 2010-05-05T22:01:16.327
Now if we could just prevent the automatic expansion of a thread upon the open of a folder.
– palswim – 2018-05-18T20:47:26.333Anyone just wanting to read mail threads on linux and not worry about anything else, you could try using the
gearymail client – user986730 – 2019-11-29T12:19:45.0532-year update: Switched to Postbox, has excellent conversation view. TB is still lacking in this (and most) respects. – Colin M – 2013-01-16T04:33:50.383
4This plugin unfortunately makes significant changes to the Thunderbird UI going far beyond just showing replies in the same folder. – Jesse Glick – 2013-03-07T16:19:17.493
2I don't know if it's improved but I was using GMail Conversation View a few years ago and it made Thunderbird a bit unstable. – Giles Roberts – 2013-10-23T09:57:20.043