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.

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

How to completely reset Thunderbird preferences except for configured accounts?

  • 12 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • Last reply by Matt

more options

How to completely reset Thunderbird preferences except for configured accounts? I mean all visualization preferences, menus, themes, buttons, whatever. But don't touch e-mail accounts.

How to completely reset Thunderbird preferences except for configured accounts? I mean all visualization preferences, menus, themes, buttons, whatever. But don't touch e-mail accounts.

All Replies (12)

more options

Hello there We have read the question We try to help


What do you mean, what are you referring to? Reset your account Request a regular reset for your settings? It is also possible to simply delete and reinstall your account, the icon on your desktop?you would like to keep your filters during this reset and not erase them when restarting the program?

Greetings Firefox volunteer

Helpful?

more options

Hello there

Why do you want to reset the setting back to their initial values? If I may ask?

Greetings Firefox volunteer

Helpful?

more options

Hello there

Are there any graphical errors in your system or software at the moment?


Greetings Firefox volunteer

Helpful?

more options

Googlethunderbird said

Hello there We have read the question We try to help What do you mean, what are you referring to? Reset your account Request a regular reset for your settings? It is also possible to simply delete and reinstall your account, the icon on your desktop?you would like to keep your filters during this reset and not erase them when restarting the program? Greetings Firefox volunteer

Thunderbird is a program that has configuration: account settings, preference settings like theme, views, etc. I'd like to reset all preferences to defaults without losing account configuration. So, wiping the profile won't work. There is at least one button to reset part of the settings to default, but not all.

Helpful?

more options

Googlethunderbird said

Hello there Why do you want to reset the setting back to their initial values? If I may ask? Greetings Firefox volunteer

Because I have changed some settings and I don't know how to revert them one by one, since I don't even don't what the default is. It's pretty common for programs to have a "reset to factory settings" feature.

Helpful?

more options

Googlethunderbird said

Hello there Are there any graphical errors in your system or software at the moment? Greetings Firefox volunteer

No. Besides the issues this new generation of Thunderbird has it's working reasonably. I am using GNU/Linux and I am a software developer.

Helpful?

more options

Hello there


Thunderbird software is not a multi settings or directly expandable program but a standard adjustable program if the options for this are not present they cannot be added or used in combination with them, filters made by yourself would respond.

I might have a look at all the resetting for you.

Greetings Firefox volunteer

Helpful?

more options

Hello there

Reset of the toolbars and buttons can be set when holding down shift at startup and rebooting to an option, if the filters you are using are likely to want to be reset then this can be done manually or when clearing.

If you have missing parts or not functioning subjects or small things, you can also start in trouble shoot modes and these will be replenished by this startup and you can remove disabled add-ons and when you find faulty software they will also be manually removed from you.

I understand that the topic of reverting everything to default values is okay, also you don't lose a specific account yourself.


Greetings Firefox volunteer

Helpful?

more options

Helpful?

more options

Sorry, no, there is no way to reset "settings" in Thunderbird.

The closest you can get is create a new profile and recreate your accounts in the new profile. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/using-multiple-profiles

Helpful?

more options

Wayne Mery said

Sorry, no, there is no way to reset "settings" in Thunderbird. The closest you can get is create a new profile and recreate your accounts in the new profile. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/using-multiple-profiles

Yes. I ended up backing up my profile, then I created a new profile and configured Gmail account (IMAP). After that, I copied all local folders to the new profile with exception of index files. These Local Folders have archived e-mails since 2008.

I noticed that Thunderbird probably has issues with upgrading because the behavior is now different than before (because I have created a fresh profile). I mean, having upgraded since I don't know how many years keeping the same profile probably introduced issues. Perhaps Thunderbird does not upgrade the format of the mail files or so.

I also got dozens of corrupted e-mails, many empty with the date of the beginning of the epoch. Some others with HTML code in the body.

But I only noticed that after moving some mails from Gmail All Mail folder to the Local Folders archive.

Helpful?

more options

While there is no reset all option the reset all. The options offered in the troubleshooting mode startup will reset many settings. It just depends what prompts the need in the first place.

Helpful?

Ask a question

You must log in to your account to reply to posts. Please start a new question, if you do not have an account yet.