thunderbird: very small windows and non-selectable text in address book
I don't know what's going on at Mozilla, but these guys hate giving users any control.
I just updated to Mozilla 3.04 and I'm working in the address book. It's a separate window now with contacts on top and a preview pane below. Fine so far.
First I cannot select ANY of the text in the preview window. WHY??? It's supposed to be there for easy access, but I can't access it! Second, when I open a contact by double-clicking on it, the window it brings up is tiny (like the bookmarks window in Firefox). WHY?? I can't even resize it. On the 'other' tab, the Notes section is now only a few lines long!! Notes can be LONG. I can't even view all the notes at once to edit them because this stupid window is so small and can't be resized!!
Is there any hope for this product?
I just updated to Mozilla 3.04 and I'm working in the address book. It's a separate window now with contacts on top and a preview pane below. Fine so far.
First I cannot select ANY of the text in the preview window. WHY??? It's supposed to be there for easy access, but I can't access it! Second, when I open a contact by double-clicking on it, the window it brings up is tiny (like the bookmarks window in Firefox). WHY?? I can't even resize it. On the 'other' tab, the Notes section is now only a few lines long!! Notes can be LONG. I can't even view all the notes at once to edit them because this stupid window is so small and can't be resized!!
Is there any hope for this product?
Jason Watkins
I am able to do all of the things you are having an issue performing. I am on a Mac with TBird 3.0.4. Have you tried reinstalling?
ASKER
Hi,
I've reinstalled, to no avail. I'm surprised you don't have these issues. You can resize your contact input window and you can copy information out of your preview window?
Maybe they're just issues on windows, but I don't know why they are issues at all. I have the non-resizeable window issue with Firefox bookmarks too, so it seems like a really bad decision on Mozilla's part to somehow make windows not resizeable on windows. I don't know if there are any addons that could correct this problem, but I haven't encountered any yet.
I've reinstalled, to no avail. I'm surprised you don't have these issues. You can resize your contact input window and you can copy information out of your preview window?
Maybe they're just issues on windows, but I don't know why they are issues at all. I have the non-resizeable window issue with Firefox bookmarks too, so it seems like a really bad decision on Mozilla's part to somehow make windows not resizeable on windows. I don't know if there are any addons that could correct this problem, but I haven't encountered any yet.
Could the problem be an add-on in FF? I can re-size all Windows and copy/paste info. freely.
I have the same version and same conditions. Windows Address Book used by Outlook Express works the same way. The SeaMonkey email client is actually Thunderbird in different colors.
ASKER
No, it's not an addon problem in FF. I've had that issue with no add ons. There used to be an add on to allow the resizing of FF windows, but it doesn't work in 3.6 so I'm back to square one.
Dave, are you saying you are running T-Bird 3.04 under windows and experiencing the same problems as I am? If so, have you found any add on (or other) workarounds?
Dave, are you saying you are running T-Bird 3.04 under windows and experiencing the same problems as I am? If so, have you found any add on (or other) workarounds?
Yes, I'm running the same as you, T-Bird 3.04 under windows, but I haven't tried to change any of the things you're talking about.
This is odd. I would remove TBird, delete the profiles, reboot and reinstall. Be sure to backup any mail and/or contacts in the address book you may have.
No, it's not odd, that the way it works. The main Address Book window is not editable or selectable like a Message window. It will not change anything to re-install it. T-Bird 2 work the same as does Windows Address Book.
Yes, Do not delete profile or remove TB at this time.
DaveBaldwin is correct. The issues that ugeb is describing will not be changed by removing.
DaveBaldwin is correct. The issues that ugeb is describing will not be changed by removing.
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Yes, that add-on at least lets you select what shops up in the Preview pane of the Contact so you can copy/paste out of it.
Sorry, the suggestions listed just don't persist on a Mac. Glad I gave-up Windows...
ASKER
Still hate the tiny input window, but at least I can copy and pasted out of the preview window now! Mozilla has a LOT to learn about user experience!
ugeb, I don't understand why they won't let you copy out of the Preview pane either. I do understand it's a Preview, but I would think copying should be allowed without an addon.
Maybe giving them a bug report, would bring it to their attention. Weird that Firebar says it works differently for him in Mac.
Maybe giving them a bug report, would bring it to their attention. Weird that Firebar says it works differently for him in Mac.
As an update, Firebar, I have TB 3.0.4 on Mac OS X 10.5.8 and I am seeing the same issues that ugeb has pointed out. I cannot physically resize the Address Contact Properties window. I cannot Copy out of the Address Book "Preview pane".
If you can, do you have any add-ons that are effecting the Address Book? I do not.
If you can, do you have any add-ons that are effecting the Address Book? I do not.
Hello,
Maybe I am not understanding the question properly. I have no plug-ins for TBird installed, just a plain IMAP connection to my mail server. What purpose is there in trying to resize the properties window for an address book or contact? Just enter in the information. If you highlight the entire entry for a single field, you can copy out with no problem. If you want all fields for a specific contact, just export them to a .txt or .ldif file.
Maybe I am not understanding the question properly. I have no plug-ins for TBird installed, just a plain IMAP connection to my mail server. What purpose is there in trying to resize the properties window for an address book or contact? Just enter in the information. If you highlight the entire entry for a single field, you can copy out with no problem. If you want all fields for a specific contact, just export them to a .txt or .ldif file.
That is fine, but the question was actually How to edit without opening the Contact and simply use the Preview of the Contact. Both ways now work with the add-on in place.
I thought it might be a confusion. I just wanted to confirm.
Thanks for the update.
I thought it might be a confusion. I just wanted to confirm.
Thanks for the update.
ASKER
There were 2 related issues.
1) How to copy from the preview pane. A preview pane loses half its value if you can't copy from it. The plug-in fixed this. Exporting data is not a solution. If I have to export data just to copy something that means it is extremely poorly designed. So if I can't copy from the preview pane, then I am forced to open the contact input window. That brings us to problem #2.
2) How to resize the input window. The input window is tiny and I have information in the notes section that is 30+ lines long. It was an extremely poor choice on Mozilla's part to make this window so small and non-resizeable. I now can see only a few lines at a time and have to scroll back and forth to find the right place to copy/put/edit information. There's no plug-in for this as far as I know.
There is absolutely no logical reason for these 2 issues. Why does it take a plug in to be able to copy something that every other program already allows? The only reason I can think of is that somebody right out of college implemented this and hadn't learned how to do things right yet. Nobody who uses this part of the program on a regular basis would find this acceptable.
I'd actually go back to Outlook if it weren't such a resource hog.
1) How to copy from the preview pane. A preview pane loses half its value if you can't copy from it. The plug-in fixed this. Exporting data is not a solution. If I have to export data just to copy something that means it is extremely poorly designed. So if I can't copy from the preview pane, then I am forced to open the contact input window. That brings us to problem #2.
2) How to resize the input window. The input window is tiny and I have information in the notes section that is 30+ lines long. It was an extremely poor choice on Mozilla's part to make this window so small and non-resizeable. I now can see only a few lines at a time and have to scroll back and forth to find the right place to copy/put/edit information. There's no plug-in for this as far as I know.
There is absolutely no logical reason for these 2 issues. Why does it take a plug in to be able to copy something that every other program already allows? The only reason I can think of is that somebody right out of college implemented this and hadn't learned how to do things right yet. Nobody who uses this part of the program on a regular basis would find this acceptable.
I'd actually go back to Outlook if it weren't such a resource hog.