Enabling Preview Pane in Thunderbird


Abbie Taylor
 

I recently installed the Mozilla Enhancements add-on for NVDA and understand that I can read a message in the preview pane with this add-on without leaving the message list by pressing NVDA plus Down Arrow on my desktop PC. Since I like knowing at least a little of what's in a message before I open it, this sounds appealing. However, I can't seem to figure out how to enable the preview pane. Any ideas?

--
Abbie Johnson Taylor, Author https://www.abbiejohnsontaylor.com abbietaylor945@...


Rosemarie Chavarria
 

If you’re using thunderbird, I think it’s f-8 to get to the preview pane.

 

 

 

Sent from Mail for Windows

 

From: Abbie Taylor
Sent: Saturday, February 5, 2022 12:50 PM
To: NVDA List
Subject: [nvda] Enabling Preview Pane in Thunderbird

 

I recently installed the Mozilla Enhancements add-on for NVDA and

understand that I can read a message in the preview pane with this

add-on without leaving the message list by pressing NVDA plus Down Arrow

on my desktop PC. Since I like knowing at least a little of what's in a

message before I open it, this sounds appealing. However, I can't seem

to figure out how to enable the preview pane. Any ideas?

 

--

Abbie Johnson Taylor, Author https://www.abbiejohnsontaylor.com

abbietaylor945@...

 

 

 

 

 


 

Abbie,

F8 toggles the preview pane on/off when you are in any window where that would be appropriate.  In this case, I'm sure you're wanting to do this in the main Thunderbird window when you're either sitting in your inbox or the message list itself for the inbox (or, possibly, any other mail folder).  The preview pane applies to all folders or none, hence the reason it's very quick and easy to toggle on or off.
--

Brian - Windows 10, 64-Bit, Version 21H2, Build 19044  

I neither need nor want to be appeased, but apprised.  Inconvenient truth is preferable to convenient (for the liar) lies.

     ~ Brian Vogel

 


Jacob Kruger
 

In this version of thunderbird, under view menu, layout sub-menu, there's a message pane item, and, here the keystroke to toggle it is F8, but, I myself have always left it turned off since it would then otherwise mark a message as read after had just been focused on it for a couple of seconds, whether had actually taken note of it, or not.


Stay well


Jacob Kruger
+2782 413 4791
Skype: BlindZA
"...resistance is futile...but, acceptance is versatile..."
On 2022-02-05 10:50 PM, Abbie Taylor wrote:

I recently installed the Mozilla Enhancements add-on for NVDA and understand that I can read a message in the preview pane with this add-on without leaving the message list by pressing NVDA plus Down Arrow on my desktop PC. Since I like knowing at least a little of what's in a message before I open it, this sounds appealing. However, I can't seem to figure out how to enable the preview pane. Any ideas?


Tony Ballou
 

Hi Abbie,


There's no preview pane in Thunderbird, however, if you press f8 this will turn on the message pane and you'll be able to read your messages that way. Hope this helps.


tony

On 2/5/2022 3:50 PM, Abbie Taylor wrote:
I recently installed the Mozilla Enhancements add-on for NVDA and understand that I can read a message in the preview pane with this add-on without leaving the message list by pressing NVDA plus Down Arrow on my desktop PC. Since I like knowing at least a little of what's in a message before I open it, this sounds appealing. However, I can't seem to figure out how to enable the preview pane. Any ideas?


Gene
 

The toggle for the view pane is f8.  I don't know why you like to know a little of what is in a message before you open it, but if your concern is safety, it is no more safe to open a message in the view pane.  If something malicious is going to run, it can run then.  If you want to be safe from any possibility of malicious code but have things function like links, use the simple html option for reading mail.  It allows html to run that causes messages to display as intended and for things like links to work but nothing can run.


Gene

On 2/5/2022 2:50 PM, Abbie Taylor wrote:
I recently installed the Mozilla Enhancements add-on for NVDA and understand that I can read a message in the preview pane with this add-on without leaving the message list by pressing NVDA plus Down Arrow on my desktop PC. Since I like knowing at least a little of what's in a message before I open it, this sounds appealing. However, I can't seem to figure out how to enable the preview pane. Any ideas?


Gene
 

Its just a different name for the same thing.


Gene

On 2/5/2022 3:21 PM, Tony Ballou wrote:
Hi Abbie,


There's no preview pane in Thunderbird, however, if you press f8 this will turn on the message pane and you'll be able to read your messages that way. Hope this helps.


tony

On 2/5/2022 3:50 PM, Abbie Taylor wrote:
I recently installed the Mozilla Enhancements add-on for NVDA and understand that I can read a message in the preview pane with this add-on without leaving the message list by pressing NVDA plus Down Arrow on my desktop PC. Since I like knowing at least a little of what's in a message before I open it, this sounds appealing. However, I can't seem to figure out how to enable the preview pane. Any ideas?



 

On Sat, Feb 5, 2022 at 04:27 PM, Gene wrote:
Its just a different name for the same thing.
-
Exactly.  Preview pane and reading pane get used interchangeably when talking about email clients in general.  Though each may have chosen one term over the other, this is one of those, "those making the references are not at all unclear about the exact what that's being referred to."
 
--

Brian - Windows 10, 64-Bit, Version 21H2, Build 19044  

I neither need nor want to be appeased, but apprised.  Inconvenient truth is preferable to convenient (for the liar) lies.

     ~ Brian Vogel

 


 

On Sat, Feb 5, 2022 at 04:03 PM, Jacob Kruger wrote:
I myself have always left it turned off since it would then otherwise mark a message as read after had just been focused on it for a couple of seconds,
-
Just for the record, that is configurable.  Mind you, if you land on an unread message and walk away, even the maximum number of minutes will not save you from eventually having it marked as read.  But most don't do this in that they either read first and walk away or quickly shift focus on to a previously read message so that they will still have the one they don't have time to read now remain marked as unread.
--

Brian - Windows 10, 64-Bit, Version 21H2, Build 19044  

I neither need nor want to be appeased, but apprised.  Inconvenient truth is preferable to convenient (for the liar) lies.

     ~ Brian Vogel

 


Abbie Taylor
 

Thank you, Gene. I'm not asking for security reasons. I receive a lot of email from the Facebook groups to which I belong, and I want to know if those messages are worth opening. Some of them are, and some of them aren't. Other email programs I've used have the option to read a few lines of a message when displaying it in the message list. Since Thunderbird doesn't seem to have that option, this is the next best thing. It just saves me a little time, not having to open a message, only to find out it's something I don't want. Thanks again.


Gene
 

You can see if it saves you time.  It wouldn't save me time because the feature itself has a slight delay between when you issue the read command and when the e-mail is read.  You can see what the case is on your machine and for the way you read mail.


Gene

On 2/5/2022 4:25 PM, Abbie Taylor wrote:

Thank you, Gene. I'm not asking for security reasons. I receive a lot of email from the Facebook groups to which I belong, and I want to know if those messages are worth opening. Some of them are, and some of them aren't. Other email programs I've used have the option to read a few lines of a message when displaying it in the message list. Since Thunderbird doesn't seem to have that option, this is the next best thing. It just saves me a little time, not having to open a message, only to find out it's something I don't want. Thanks again.


 

On Sat, Feb 5, 2022 at 05:25 PM, Abbie Taylor wrote:
Other email programs I've used have the option to read a few lines of a message when displaying it in the message list.
-
Abbie, there's actually a Thunderbird Add-On, Message Preview, for that you may wish to play with.  You probably would not want the hover feature enabled but the display in a column option.

https://addons.thunderbird.net/en-US/thunderbird/addon/messagepreview/ 
--

Brian - Windows 10, 64-Bit, Version 21H2, Build 19044  

I neither need nor want to be appeased, but apprised.  Inconvenient truth is preferable to convenient (for the liar) lies.

     ~ Brian Vogel