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Change the default sorting order in Thunderbird

Fresh7 days ago
Mar 15, 2026128708 views
Confidence Score1%
1%

Problem

Thunderbird (2.something here as 3 is still not stable and had some nasty bugs last I tried) sorts mails by date by default. This is fine, however, it sorts them so that the newest ones are at the bottom of the list, which ... is not fine. Since Thunderbird saves its sort settings on a per-folder basis (and I have many folders) I regularly run into folders I've rarely or never been in which still have the old sorting order. Is there any way to globally change the default sorting order to "Threads, newest messages at the top" (or anything else, which, I assume might be possible as well then)?

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Fix for: Change the default sorting order in Thunderbird

Low Risk

Open the Config Editor from the following menu options: Preferences > General > Config Editor You might also find it at: Tools > Options > Advanced > General > Config Editor Or if you are using an older version of Thunderbird: Preferences > Advanced > General > Config Editor Type in the Filter bar to bring up a small list of preferences to configure. It will display similar to below: In the above, replace the and of the value by double-clicking the name of the preference and replacing it with o…

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