Betterbird: Release Notes

Betterbird 128 offers all the features and bug fixes mentioned in the feature table on the home page: Multi-line view, full account colours, attachments on top, complex search terms, regular expression search, search in encrypted messages, improved Windows and Linux system tray integration, and many more. Check the section below for features added before the 128 series, and check the release notes of the 115 series and the 102 series for features added before the 128 series.


Q: Why is there no Betterbird 128.7.1?
A: We shipped all but one of the fixes contained in Thunderbird 128.7.1 already in Betterbird 128.7.0.
If you want to get the "freshest" changes, install our "latest build".

128.7.0esr-bb22 "latest build" (14 February 2025, English for Windows only)

This version is not offered as an update. Changes will ship in the next release.

Fixed in this version:

CHANGED - No longer displays "No message found" as it adds no value
FIXED - Incorrect weekday display with preference mail.ui.display.dateformat.thisweek = 4 in some cases - Bug 1796042
FIXED - Incorrect auto-complete display with preference mail.autoComplete.commentColumn = 1 - Bug 1948134

128.7.0esr-bb22 (4 February 2025)

Based on Thunderbird 128.7.0esr, release notes, but fixes from Thunderbird 128.7.1esr already included, release notes.

Fixed in this version:

NEW - Search for more languages... now enabled to open Betterbird's download page and install language packs with a single click
CHANGED - Saving messages via drag&drop and the menu will result in the same filenames now, they contain date and time at the end - Bug 971085
FIXED - Status feedback returned to pre-128.6.1 state to avoid display lag and fix status on "Search Messages" panel - Bug 1945489
FIXED - Issue with sending using the OWL add-on after integration of Thunderbird's faulty fix for Bug 1900211 - GitHub #404

Features and fixes exclusive to Betterbird (new in the 128 series):

FIXED - New and renamed folders didn't show as recent when add-on Quick Folder Move Classic was used (128.6.1)
FIXED - Folder counts are doubled-up when IMAP folder is repaired (128.6.1) - Bug 1939698
FIXED - HTML text string not updated while colour is chosen for text in compose/Write window (128.6.1) - Bug 1942381
FIXED - Add-on blocking by version number didn't work, "Cardbook" below version 98.2 is blocked again (128.6.1)
CHANGED - Set preference mail.html_sanitize.drop_conditional_css to false to ensure correct rendering of conditional CSS (128.6.0) - Bug 1659362
FIXED - Some threading issues in virtual cross-folder views (128.6.0) (now in TB 128.7.1) - Bug 1939725
FIXED - Content of virtual folder not correct after update to base folders. Issue in caching of search results in conflicting Mork scope. (128.6.0) - GitHub #368
FIXED - Virtual folders sometimes added to unified folders (128.6.0) - Bug 1939350
FIXED - Issues when dragging Windows shell link (.lnk) to Write (compose) window (fix from version 91 was missing in 128) (128.6.0)
FIXED - Linux only: Movemail didn't work when system spool file was empty (128.6.0)
FIXED - Replaced references to "Betterbird Mobile" with "Thunderbird Mobile" (128.6.0)
FIXED - Feed messages with no Content-Base header didn't load as web page (128.6.0)
CHANGED - Incompatible add-ons are now blocked, including "CardBook" and "Tag Toolbar", details here (128.5.2)
CHANGED - Remote content now allowed in encrypted messages after unblocking on a RED banner. Use at you own risk as decrypted content of the message may be leaked to an attacker (EFAIL attack). (128.5.2)
FIXED - Linux: Minimise to tray not working on Wayland (since Wayland has no concept of minimising) (128.5.2)
FIXED - Images sometimes distorted, problem introduced in 128.4.3 and 128.5.0 with "improved" image resizing (128.5.2)
FIXED - Wrong icon on "Debug Add-ons" tab (128.5.2)
FIXED - Problem with Linux Movemail (128.5.2)
NEW - End-of-year appeal 2024 (128.5.0)
NEW - New preference mailnews.virtual_folders.verbose for logging virtual folder cache operations to the console (128.5.0)
CHANGED - Improved logging to the Error Console when mbox corruption is detected (128.5.0)
FIXED - Content of virtual folder not correct after update to base folders. Issue in caching of search results in the old Mork backend. (128.5.0)
FIXED - Virtual folder based on body search not working when message received via POP moved by filter. This also led to erroneous mbox corruption logging. (128.5.0) - Bug 1767190 Bug 1801464
FIXED - Fixed image dimensions ignored, problem introduced in 128.4.3 with improved image resizing (128.5.0)
FIXED - Messages moved from POP Inbox via filter remain in Inbox and reappear after Repair. Compact not always removes them. (128.5.0) - Bug 1890253
FIXED - Complex expressions not evaluated correctly in some rare cases (when double group ending was followed by additional terms) (128.5.0) - GitHub #365
FIXED - Quick filter by "subject only" not updating result correctly (128.5.0)
FIXED - Various issues with account colours: Account manager widget not correctly initialised, full row colour not working in cards view, compose window identity pulldown menu with incorrect background colour. These problems were caused by errors in the integration with Thunderbird's poor implementation. (128.5.0)
FIXED - Search folders based on multiple folders from one account needlessly showed the colour of this account. Now colours are only shown if more than one account is involved in the folder. (128.5.0)
FIXED - "Overflowing" images, also in links, could not always be resized satisfactorily (128.4.3)
CHANGED - Errors encountered while parsing an mbox file are logged to the Error Console (128.4.2)
FIXED - Enhancement of cache for virtual/search folders, console message when cache can't be used (128.4.2) - Bug 1923520
FIXED - Windows: Installer not correctly signed with Betterbird's certificate (128.4.0)
MAYBE FIXED - The Thunderbird team hopes that IMAP folder corruption is fixed with this release, see comment above (128.3.3)
FIXED - Ability to manually sort (reorder) folders in folder pane not working in 128.3.2esr-bb13 (128.3.3)
FIXED - Issue related to the performance improvements for virtual folders (128.3.3)
FIXED - Linux: Corrected DBus application name to betterbird, changed WM_CLASS/StartupWMClass to eu.betterbird.Betterbird (128.3.2)
FIXED - Crash when deleting/moving/copying messages stored in mbox format while option "Allow antivirus clients to quarantine individual incoming messages" was in use (128.3.1 build 2)
FIXED - Poor performance of virtual/search folders due to suboptimal use of cached results (128.3.1 build 2) - Bug 1923520
FIXED - Windows: Installer (installer.exe) not correctly signed with Betterbird's certificate (128.3.1 build 2)
NEW - Preference mailnews.database.global.indexer.max_body_part_size to allow Gloda (Global Database Index) to index larger messages (128.3.1)
NEW (experimental) - preference mail.notification.show_on_app_screen to show native Betterbird new mail alerts on application screen instead of primary screen (128.3.1) - Bug 637830
FIXED - Performance issue with search folders (128.3.1)
FIXED - Windows: Executables and DLLs not correctly signed with Betterbird's certificate (128.3.1)
FIXED - Mbox envelop dates not maintained when message moved/copied to another mailbox (128.3.1)
FIXED - Inappropriate yellow "new mail" star shown when saving IMAP draft or template (128.3.0)
CHANGED - New mail indicator will show on thread parent when collapsed thread receives a new message (128.3.0) - Bug 242300
FIXED - Account colour wasn't applied for "Unread Folders" and "Favorite Folders" in compact mode (128.3.0)
FIXED - Search with empty search values, for example |Subject is <empty>| or |To is <empty>|. (128.2.1)
FIXED - The so-called "cite prefix" On 21 Aug 2024 12:35, Betterbird looover wrote: was spell checked. Other spell check inconsistencies between inline and "normal" spell check. (128.2.0) - Bug 216235 Bug 635843
FIXED - Incorrect results with regex search "doesn't match" under some circumstances (128.2.0)
FIXED - Quick filter search with Address Book Match not working for LDAP address books (128.2.0)


Fixes in early preview releases before 128.2.0:
NEW - New preference mail.startup.focus to set focus after startup: 0: no focus, 1: focus spaces toolbar, 2: focus folder pane, 3: focus message list - Bug 425025 Bug 1620310
NEW - Reversed threading when view is sorted by date descending, needs to be enabled with preference mailnews.reversed_threading - Bug 305741
NEW - Quick Filter Search can now also match Display Name and Nickname from the address books - Bug 460737
NEW - Preference mail.server.serverNN.disabled to disable accessing inactive servers now exposed in user interface
NEW - Unified folders can be added as favourite folders and are restored at startup or mode change - Bug 537342
CHANGED - mail.addressDisplayAuthor and mail.addressDisplayRecipients replaced by Thunderbird's mail.addressDisplayFormat: 0 = both, 1 = e-mail, 2 = name, also available in the UI
CHANGED - Improved feedback during Quick Folder Search
CHANGED - Improved performance when restoring view with secondary sort
CHANGED - Reduced thread indentation from 16px to 10px, fixed indentation of correspondents column in multi-line view
FIXED - Problem when moving a folder to a different parent when manually reordering subfolders
FIXED - New and renamed folders don't show under "Recent Folders" - Bug 1367034
FIXED - Wrong summary string in Window List panel widget on Linux Mate
FIXED - Status bar counts not updating for Gloda views
FIXED - Adding a folder which is not an inbox/sent/drafts/archive/trash folder to a unified folder made it disappear from the folder list if the folder was not a child of the inbox/sent/drafts/archive/trash folder. This led to update errors on the unified folder. - Bug 1913806

Various minor fixes that Thunderbird isn't shipping yet:

Bug 188598 Bug 1836511 Bug 1900211 Bug 1902597 Bug 1911477 Bug 1912658 Bug 1912727 Bug 1917465 (in TB 128.7.1) (fixed in BB 115.7.0, TB caught up after a year) Bug 1918145 Bug 1919144 Bug 1924047 Bug 1927048 (in TB 128.7.1) Bug 1928803 Bug 1934417 Bug 1938281 Bug 1939852 Bug 1941911 (in TB 128.7.1) Bug 1942348


After initial problems with the 128 series, version 128.5.0 and later should be safe to use. See our home page for details.


Previous release notes for the 115 series
Previous release notes for the 102 series
Previous release notes for the 91 series