Join the AMA (Ask Me Anything) with the Firefox leadership team to celebrate Firefox 20th anniversary and discuss Firefox’s future on Mozilla Connect. Mark your calendar on Thursday, November 14, 18:00 - 20:00 UTC!

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.

Moving Thunderbird attachment pane in the message composition window

  • 6 replies
  • 2 have this problem
  • 1 view
  • Last reply by alta88

tim_mw
tim_mw
more options

A recent distro upgrade has brought in a new version of Thunderbird. I have just one small niggle with this, when composing a new message the list of attachments used to be on the top right of the window, inline with the from/to/subject fields, it has now moved to the bottom of the message window. Is there any way to move this back to the top right?

The top right made much more sense to me since it doesn't waste vertical space in the main message window whereas it's pretty rare to have a subject or to field that is so long that having the attachments on the right causes them to be clipped. I also much prefer to have my attachments in a vertical list vs the horizontal display I now get.

At a bare minimum I'd like to be able to move the attachments list to the top of the message, instead of having it isolated at the bottom (it would be nice to do the same for the incoming message display as well).

I've hunted through all the options I can find and done google searches with all the key words I can think of, but haven't managed to find an answer to this, so I'm hoping somebody here can help.

A recent distro upgrade has brought in a new version of Thunderbird. I have just one small niggle with this, when composing a new message the list of attachments used to be on the top right of the window, inline with the from/to/subject fields, it has now moved to the bottom of the message window. Is there any way to move this back to the top right? The top right made much more sense to me since it doesn't waste vertical space in the main message window whereas it's pretty rare to have a subject or to field that is so long that having the attachments on the right causes them to be clipped. I also much prefer to have my attachments in a vertical list vs the horizontal display I now get. At a bare minimum I'd like to be able to move the attachments list to the top of the message, instead of having it isolated at the bottom (it would be nice to do the same for the incoming message display as well). I've hunted through all the options I can find and done google searches with all the key words I can think of, but haven't managed to find an answer to this, so I'm hoping somebody here can help.

Chosen solution

MoreLayouts v6.7 (also on ATN) lets you configure Compose window attachments list location/behavior.

Read this answer in context 👍 0

All Replies (6)

Stans
Stans
more options

It's baked in, I don't think it can be moved back. See https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/new-thunderbird-91#w_new-user-interface-for-adding-attachments

Moesito
Moesito
more options

I too hate the new location of the attachments pane.

With monitors becoming wider and more squat, we have ample space for things in the side to side direction, but the top-down space is at a premium. So why would Mozilla change what was perfectly suited for our wider monitors?!!

Also, if the "Attach" button is up on the top right, wouldn't it make sense to have the attachment list there as well?

What I'm left questioning is why bother redesigning this in the first place? Really?!! This change is what was missing to make Thunderbird a better program? Come on Mozilla, stop messing around with this thing and just leave what is working alone.

At the very least, give us the option to have it on top or at the bottom!

Modified by Moesito

alta88
alta88
more options

Chosen Solution

MoreLayouts v6.7 (also on ATN) lets you configure Compose window attachments list location/behavior.

tim_mw
tim_mw Question owner
more options

@alta88, the plugin does the trick. I now have a sensible attachment pane again.

Thankyou.

That said I also agree with @Moesito, this design changes makes no sense for a typical widescreen monitor, the behaviour restored by the plugin ought to be the default.

BarnRat1
BarnRat1
more options

I have tried installing MoreLayouts (v6.7 and others) from both links above and TB v91.3.0 will not let me install - says it is not compatible, Firefox says it has not been verified. Any suggestions? I'm hoping this lets me view the attachment pane in the TB main window - I find it really frustrating having to scroll down to the bottom of a message to find attachments.

alta88
alta88
more options

@tim_mw, you're welcome; some of the ux design decisions are incomprehensible to me, done on a whim or for a few squeeky wheels. the concept of making changes additional behind a pref instead of replacing 20+ years of learned user behavior, getting data to see preference -- standard good practice -- is alien to this project.

@BarnRat1, you can't install it in firefox.. if Tb really says it's incompatible, first uninstall ML, then remove the xpi from [profile folder]/extensions, if there, on a closed Tb. restart and install again.