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Thunderbird 78.0 unusable and impossible to revert?

  • 4 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 6 views
  • Last reply by Wayne Mery

dyer216
dyer216
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I can't comprehend how an update/upgrade to a product could go out, especially one which performs a permanent profile change that prevents ever going back again, when it's completely, absolutely unusable.

I literally can't send an email. I create a new draft, I plug my own email address in, it doesn't believe it's a usable email address. I go to Address Books, I can't see any directories so I don't know if they still exist. I add a new one, it's not visible either. I do a search, I enter the password for a directory, I get zero results. So it never trusts the email address I used as being real. And whether that's the reason or some other utter rollout disaster issue, the send button is _never_ pressable, it's always grayed out.

The inbox selected email pane doesn't show any headers.

The data is permanently changed (no backup created before making a permanent change??) so it's impossible to go back to 68.10.0.

How is this possible? Agile is one thing but who rolls out a product that's completely unusable and explicitly breaks the ability to roll back to a previous working version??

I can't comprehend how an update/upgrade to a product could go out, especially one which performs a permanent profile change that prevents ever going back again, when it's completely, absolutely unusable. I literally can't send an email. I create a new draft, I plug my own email address in, it doesn't believe it's a usable email address. I go to Address Books, I can't see any directories so I don't know if they still exist. I add a new one, it's not visible either. I do a search, I enter the password for a directory, I get zero results. So it never trusts the email address I used as being real. And whether that's the reason or some other utter rollout disaster issue, the send button is _never_ pressable, it's always grayed out. The inbox selected email pane doesn't show any headers. The data is permanently changed (no backup created before making a permanent change??) so it's impossible to go back to 68.10.0. How is this possible? Agile is one thing but who rolls out a product that's completely unusable and explicitly breaks the ability to roll back to a previous working version??

All Replies (4)

Toad-Hall
Toad-Hall
  • Top 10 Contributor
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Bug reported : https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1653234

Exit Thunderbird.

Uninstall Thunderbird.

Access profile folder:

  • rename: 'abook.mab.bak' as 'abook.mab'
  • rename: 'history.mab.bak' as 'history.mab'


Get download from this link:

If using Windows OS clickon the win32 link, select language eg: en-GB = English British and then download exe file and run.

Report on results.

HLD
HLD
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I'm using Thunderbird on Mac (Mojave). My security administration forced me to upgrade to Thunderbird 78, but it doesn't work - it neither sends nor receives email. Your link shows me how to download Thunderbird 68.10.0. But I am seeing posts saying that the database was changed and you can't go back. Which parts of the database were changed? I don't care much about the addressbook. I care about my saved emails both on the server and on my local Mac. If I downgrade to 68, will I lose my saved emails? I cannot go back to 68 until I know it is safe. Your instructions seem to be specific to Windows. Please reply regarding Mac. (If I lose saved emails, where can I find them in my Time Machine backup?)

Or should I wait until Thunderbird 78 is fixed? How soon is that expected? I can use Mac Mail until then.

Note that the check-for-updates feature in 68 had said that Thunderbird was up to date. So the authors must have know that there was something wrong with 78? But there was no warning on the download page, so I downloaded 78 and got screwed.

Incidentally, the user interface for this forum is so arcane, I cannot figure out how to post a new posting.

Toad-Hall
Toad-Hall
  • Top 10 Contributor
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HLD

re : I'm using Thunderbird on Mac (Mojave).

At the link I gave previously, you click on the 'mac' option, then select language and download file.

The 78 version should convert address book .mab files to .sqlite files. It should not effect emails, although you may initially discover it has not selected the correct profile.

If you go back to previous version and it does not select the normally used profile then you can reselect it.

  • Help > Troubleshooting Information

The last item under 'Application Basics' says 'Profiles' - 'about:profiles'

  • click on 'about: profiles'

It will show you all profiles and tell you what is currently set as default. For a profile that is not set as default, it will have a 'set as default profile' button below it.

  • click on 'Set as default profile'
  • Exit and restart thunderbird.

re Note that the check-for-updates feature in 68 had said that Thunderbird was up to date.

Agree. It says the same in my Windows 10, TB 68.10.0 version. I have not as yet got an auto update request.

re: I cannot figure out how to post a new posting.

If you are already in the forum eg looking at this question, top of page,

  • click on 'Get Help' and select 'Ask the community', select 'Thunderbird' and then click on 'Ask now'

If in Thunderbird,

  • Help > Thunderbird Help

This gets you to general area to search for articles or find posts of similar issues. Often you can find answers via this route which means you do not even need to ask a question. This page ideally should have an 'Ask now' but it doesn't ! So jump through some hoops....

  • Click on 'Ask the community', select 'Thunderbird' and then click on 'Ask now'.

Modified by Toad-Hall

Wayne Mery
Wayne Mery
  • Moderator
  • Top 10 Contributor
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To test a fix: 1. download and extract https://firefox-ci-tc.services.mozilla.com/api/queue/v1/task/WAxn9pUkSVix7EHar9_6PA/runs/0/artifacts/public/build/target.zip 2. Navigate to the Thunderbird directory and run thunderbird.exe directly from there 3. Please post your results.

After testing, at the point where you want to get back to version 78 or 68, you'll need to use --allow-downgrade at the dos command prompt.