This site will have limited functionality while we undergo maintenance to improve your experience. If an article doesn't solve your issue and you want to ask a question, we have our support community waiting to help you at @FirefoxSupport on Twitter and/r/firefox on Reddit.

Avatar for Username

Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

This thread was archived. Please ask a new question if you need help.

Is there a way to stop Thunderbird giving the keyboard focus to the message panel after clicking on a message in the inbox list ?

  • 1 reply
  • 1 has this problem
  • 12 views
  • Last reply by pochardc

pochardc
pochardc
more options

Hello.

I'm currently using Thunderbird 45.8.0 on a W7 box.

When I click on a message in the message list panel (inbox for example), it is automatically displayed in the message panel (which is what I expect).

But, the message panel immediately gains the keyboard focus, which is particularily annoying when I want to use the keyboard for additional input in the message list.

For example:

  • Using shift+<Down> to select a range of message from the last clicked entry
  • Using to immediately delete the last clicked entry
  • Etc.

This used to work on older versions of Thunderbird, but now I have to re-click on the same entry to restore the keyboard focus back to the message list.

I have searched for 'focus' related advanced settings, but none seems to be related to this behavior.

Any help welcome. Thank you

Christophe

Hello. I'm currently using Thunderbird 45.8.0 on a W7 box. When I click on a message in the message list panel (inbox for example), it is automatically displayed in the message panel (which is what I expect). But, the message panel immediately gains the keyboard focus, which is particularily annoying when I want to use the keyboard for additional input in the message list. For example: * Using shift+<Down> to select a range of message from the last clicked entry * Using <Del> to immediately delete the last clicked entry * Etc. This used to work on older versions of Thunderbird, but now I have to re-click on the same entry to restore the keyboard focus back to the message list. I have searched for 'focus' related advanced settings, but none seems to be related to this behavior. Any help welcome. Thank you Christophe

Chosen solution

Hi all,

I have found the reason of this 'focus' redirection out of the main message list.

This occurs only when the 'search in message' toolbar is displayed below the message pane. In this case, the search field in the toolbar always re-gains focus each time a new message is displayed in the message panel.

When the toolbar is closed, the focus remains in the main message list as expected, and the arrow keys can be used again to navigate in the list.

Hope this helps. Regards

Read this answer in context 👍 0

All Replies (1)

pochardc
pochardc Question owner
more options

Chosen Solution

Hi all,

I have found the reason of this 'focus' redirection out of the main message list.

This occurs only when the 'search in message' toolbar is displayed below the message pane. In this case, the search field in the toolbar always re-gains focus each time a new message is displayed in the message panel.

When the toolbar is closed, the focus remains in the main message list as expected, and the arrow keys can be used again to navigate in the list.

Hope this helps. Regards