I do not understand. I highlight several, press Delete once, and they're gone.

Sorry that my question was not clear; may I try again? What your mentioned -- "highlight several, press Delete once, and they're gone" -- is what I called one "Delete action". But notice what happens if you hold the Delete key down/don't release it immediately? - it continues deleting until released. That behavior of multiple unintended "Delete actions" is consistent with a number of questions that have been posted here, and that is my concern. It's the same if you have many selected or just one message selected (because you are in the message window, or because that's where your cursor is in the list view).

What I'm asking for is "only ONE Delete action per keypress" - and that there are no more deletions until you release the Delete key and press it again. That does mean handling the Delete key differently from other keys (which are allowed to repeat indefinitely until you release the key), and maybe that is the problem, but it seems (to me) justified, given that all keys (and especially Delete) are to some extent interpreted contextually[1] anyway.

[[1] For example, in the composition window, the Delete key's action is to delete characters or codes, while in the reading window its action is to delete the whole message.]

I still do not understand. I highlight a number of messages and press delete key. the messages are deleted and, if I continue to hold the delete key pressed, no further messages are deleted. In composition window, If I press delete key, only one character is deleted. If I continue to hold the key, it continues deleting after a short pause. That is the intended process.

David, I think you are right: There is a delay before Delete (or any other key) goes into repetitive mode, so the simple fact of auto-repeating Delete actions is probably not related to the reports of multiple deletions when a single message deletion is intended.

Your replies helped me think this through, and not worry about repetitive deletions. I appreciate that. Thank you, John

You are very welcome.

I noticed that the Repetitive Delete does NOT work any longer. I am using Thunderbird 128.1.0esr, which was installed on 08 Aug 2024.

Until then, I was using Thunderbird 115.14.0, where the Repetitive Delete worked and had always worked on NON-esr Release Versions.

First let me describe exactly what the issue is.

Lets say thet you have 20 Emails that are in the Trash Folder, where you want to delete all 20 of those emails.

You can highlight all 20 by entering Command-A which would change the backgrond color of all 2o of the email Subject Lines and then you would hit the Delete Key to delete all of them. That still works fine in Thunderbird 128.1.0esr.

But here's where it doesn't work.

Go to the Trash Folder and highlight one of the 20 Emails and HIT and HOLD the Delete Key. Only that ONE Email that you highlighted will be deleted

Before on Thunderbird 115.14.0 and all previous Non-esr Release Versions, the emails starting with the one that you highlighted until all of 20 emails were deleted or at least until you lifted your finger from the Delete Key.

That does NOT work in the esr Release Versions.

Some program coding was changed and is the cause of this problem.

I wish it could be corrected like it was in the Non-esr Release Versions.

All the best, Art

I did attempt to duplicate your issue by trying with release 115, but I had same results as in 128. Deleting all at once, as it does now, is the intended process, so I doubt the process you like will return. But I'm just a volunteer.

david, I found how to fix the problem in macOS Sonoma (it's the version where this problem started).

Anyway, go to Terminal and enter the following; defaults write -g ApplePressAndHoldEnabled -bool false

Now Restart the Mac and now if you go to for instance in TextEdit, Thunderbird or any program, you can hold down a key and the Characters will repeat until you let go of that key, just as it did before.

It seems that every time a new version of macOS starting with Sonoma is installed (updated), the key repeat defaults to DISABLED and you must enter the defaults write -g ApplePressAndHoldEnabled -bool false again and restart the Mac.

Now, if one wants to prevent the Key Repeat function, they would need to enter the following in Terminal: defaults write -g ApplePressAndHoldEnabled -bool true and Restart the mac. Once that is done, the Key Repeat no longer works.

Art

thanks for the update. I never would have guessed that. :)

Here's some info for people that need it...

How to Enable Key Repeating in macOS;

Discussion on Topic; https://discussions.apple.com/thread/255197331?sortBy=rank

To see current State (0 = Enabled, 1 = Disabled); defaults read NSGlobalDomain "ApplePressAndHoldEnabled"

To enable Key Repeat; defaults write NSGlobalDomain "ApplePressAndHoldEnabled" -bool "false"

To Disable Key Repeat; defaults write NSGlobalDomain "ApplePressAndHoldEnabled" -bool "true"

These do NOT work; defaults write -g ApplePressAndHoldEnabled -bool false

defaults write -g ApplePressAndHoldEnabled -bool true

Art

Here's some info for people that may need it;

How to Enable Key Repeating in macOS;

Discussion on Topic; https://discussions.apple.com/thread/255197331?sortBy=rank

To see current State (0 = Enabled, 1 = Disabled); defaults read NSGlobalDomain "ApplePressAndHoldEnabled"

To enable Key Repeat; defaults write NSGlobalDomain "ApplePressAndHoldEnabled" -bool "false"

To Disable Key Repeat; defaults write NSGlobalDomain "ApplePressAndHoldEnabled" -bool "true"

These do NOT work; defaults write -g ApplePressAndHoldEnabled -bool false

defaults write -g ApplePressAndHoldEnabled -bool true

Art