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

Inconsistent marking of displayed messages as read

  • 1 phendula
  • 1 inayo le ngxaki
  • 8 views
  • Impendulo yokugqibela ngu Matt

more options

I have Thunderbird 45.3.0 on a MacOS 10.8.5 system. Under Preferences->Display->Advanced, I have "Automatically mark messages as read" and "Immediately on display" checked off and the radio button clicked, respectively (see attached screenshot). Yet, this only works for *SOME* messages in the same thread (i.e., the received messages are all located in the same IMAP account). Why do only some messages get automatically marked as read but not others even if all are displayed one-by-one (i.e., I click on each one to display it in the preview pane and even when I double-click it to open it up in its own tab or window)? This non-marking as read occurs no matter how long I leave them displayed (so it's not a timer issue). Even if I select the "After displaying for __ seconds" and make it 1 or 2 or 5 or 10 or 20 or 30 seconds, Thunderbird *STILL* won't mark some displayed messages as read even after the requisite time has elapsed. As a result, I have to manually mark them as read. I'm perplexed. Can anyone explain why this is happening and what I can do to fix it? This inconsistency when all the messages are in the same IMAP account doesn't make sense to me and is quite infuriating.

I have Thunderbird 45.3.0 on a MacOS 10.8.5 system. Under Preferences->Display->Advanced, I have "Automatically mark messages as read" and "Immediately on display" checked off and the radio button clicked, respectively (see attached screenshot). Yet, this only works for *SOME* messages in the same thread (i.e., the received messages are all located in the same IMAP account). Why do only some messages get automatically marked as read but not others even if all are displayed one-by-one (i.e., I click on each one to display it in the preview pane and even when I double-click it to open it up in its own tab or window)? This non-marking as read occurs no matter how long I leave them displayed (so it's not a timer issue). Even if I select the "After displaying for __ seconds" and make it 1 or 2 or 5 or 10 or 20 or 30 seconds, Thunderbird *STILL* won't mark some displayed messages as read even after the requisite time has elapsed. As a result, I have to manually mark them as read. I'm perplexed. Can anyone explain why this is happening and what I can do to fix it? This inconsistency when all the messages are in the same IMAP account doesn't make sense to me and is quite infuriating.
Iqhotyoshelwe imifanekiso ekwisikrini

Ilungisiwe ngu Tanster

All Replies (1)

more options

To diagnose problems with Thunderbird, try the following:

Restart Thunderbird with add-ons disabled (Thunderbird Safe Mode). On the Help menu, click on "Restart with Add-ons Disabled". If Thunderbird works like normal, there is an Add-on or Theme interfering with normal operations. You will need to re-enable add-ons one at a time until you locate the offender.