For some strange reason the Thunderbird developers seem to be trying to force threaded view on to users of the software.

Based on the number of search results for "disable threaded view" in Google this is not a popular option.

To disable threaded view - go to "Tools, Settings" and then right at the bottom find the "Config Editor" button.

Click on said button, at which point you'll get a warning "Here be dragons" or similar. Ignore this warning and proceed.

In the search bar, type (or copy / paste) mailnews.default_news_view_flags - double click on this and change it to "0".

Do the same again for mailnews.default_view_flags and again, change it to "0".

Close the tab and then go back to the menu (use the 'Alt' key to display the menu) - and click "View, Sort By, Unthreaded".

Unfortunately the last step has to be performed for every folder. It's an utter nuisance that this cannot be disable globally with one or two clicks.

I'm not 100% sure, however I think that threads are only enable in folders that you open before doing all the above steps. So if you just do this immediately after installation (or possible before you even set up any accounts) it should be ok.

Restart Thunderbird and threads should now be disabled.

This has worked on 115.12.1 (64-bit) and previous versions (I forget how far back).

Tags: Thunderbird , Email

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