A Thunderbird Nuisance.

[KGIII]

I'll toss this one under General Linux. It really only applies if you use Thunderbird *and* the Calendaring functionality. (It used to be an extension you loaded inside Thunderbird, but now I have to add it from the package manager.)

Restoring the Calendar or Tasks Tabs to Mozilla Thunderbird

Mozilla Thunderbird likes to close the calendar and tasks tabs and then gray out the options to restore them. This is how to make Thunderbird show the calendar and tasks tabs. I get a whole lot of

linuxtips.gq

As always, the site is mine. I almost didn't share, but this was very frustrating for a few months. So many times did I close Thunderbird only to re-open it and still not have it show the panes. I'd repeat that like a dozen times until those panes finally did magically appear.

So, this may actually save some serious frustration and urges to toss your laptop right out the window.

 

[Condobloke]

I use Thunderbird but have never used the calendaring functionality.

out of curiosity, I clicked on 'Today Panel in biottome right hand corner of Thunderbirds window.

Sure enough, a side window opens showing today's date, with the option of opening today, tomorrow or upcoming(5 days)...a double click on either one of these opens a new event window which I could fill out with details of a new event, date, and numerous other details including whether this event repeats itself and whether I need a reminder and just when I wish to be reminded !

Thus far it seems to work on my version 68.10.0

 

[KGIII]

Thus far it seems to work on my version 68.10.0

Oh, it works. Just wait, however. After a day or two, sometimes sooner, it'll magically disappear - sometimes resulting in two open versions of Thunderbird. Though it may need the calendar plugin to do so.

It does it here on multiple computers, even with entirely different Linux distros.

Computers don't really do random things, but I can't find any pattern to it. It just sorta happens whenever it wants to happen. It may also have something to do with the load I put on it. I have a dozen or more email accounts and get hundreds of emails per day.

 

[stan]

Hmmm, interesting. One or both are grayed out in my Thunderbird right now. I don't actually use these tools often (hardly ever)... but I don't remember calling them from the View menu either. Try the icons shown below. They always seem to work for me (upper right of Thunderbird window).

 

[KGIII]

When they're grayed out (see the image in the linked post) those icons don't work - on multiple systems.

At least not here. One is 68.12.0 and the other is entirely in another room and I'm too lazy to go there to check.

Hopefully they'll work for others. Thanks!

In my case, the keyboard shortcuts bring 'em up without fail. So, there's that.

I think, and don't quote me on this, that it fritzes out when you put a ton of email through it with multiple extensions. It may also be that my specific combination of extensions is causing the issue - something I did not investigate but probably should have.

 

[stan]

When they're grayed out (see the image in the linked post) those icons don't work

The icons work on mine every time that I try them. I noticed that with both Tasks and Calendar closed, both selections in the View menu are grayed out. When I open Calendar, the View menu for Calendar can now be selected. This pattern does not hold for Tasks, however. Tasks is grayed out in the View menu both with Tasks actually opened or closed.

Newly discovered by me: A few places to the right of the View menu, there is another menu called "Events and Tasks," and it also contains working selections for Calendar and Tasks (and also shows your shortcuts). These also seem to work every time for me, like the icons.

I think, and don't quote me on this, that it fritzes out when you put a ton of email through it with multiple extensions.

Oops, I quoted you! Just FYI, my Thunderbird (68.10.0) is only using 6 active accounts, and activity is quite low.... from just a few emails per day up to maybe 20 or so. I only have 2 extensions, one of which is the Lightning Calendar itself. I tried removing it (both icons went away with it) and reinstalled it, but it seems to respond the same as I described above (after briefly showing both items available in the View menu).

One more FYI, I have a newer Thunderbird (78.5.0) on a VM, and both Tasks and Calendar are removed from the View menu on that version... at least on an unconfigured copy of it. The icons remained in the same place and work, but there is no "Events and Tasks" menu either. I think that the Calendar is now integrated into this version as it does not show up as an extension. This article says the rollout to upgrade v.68 to v.78 began back in September, but it has not shown up yet with my Ubuntu-based Zorin OS.

 

[stan]

But wait... there's more!

In the new Thunderbird, v.78, I "enabled" the default calendar (which I had not done before because I don't really use this copy on a VM)... and the View menu now contains both Calendar and Tasks, and the "Events and Tasks" menu has reappeared. Like before, with both of these tools closed, both items are grayed out in the View menu, and with Calendar opened, it is available in the View menu. But different is that with Tasks open, now both Calendar and Tasks are available in the View menu.

[EDIT] I think that the "Events and Tasks" menu is the place to load these tools.... the options in that menu are a checkbox that stays selected until you uncheck it. Both Calendar and Tasks return after restarting Thunderbird. I think the View menu is only a means to change some of the options for each tool, so it is only active when the appropriate tool is active. The Tasks tool has options that also apply to it's access to Calendar, so both are available in my View menu when Tasks are open. But Calendar does not need to configure anything in Tasks. Just a hunch that this is all working correctly in v.78.

Well, that's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

 

[KGIII]

Well, that's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

I'll be on a new version shortly. I'm not sure which version is on the other box that gives me troubles - but in both cases clicking on the icons on the right do nothing, probably because Thunderbird hates me. Though, I have it stuffed with plugins and get absurd numbers of emails.

I'm hopeful that the newer version will treat me nicer.

 

[stan]

I'm hopeful that the newer version will treat me nicer.

Use caution. I've read the new version will break a lot of extensions. My own trouble with it was connecting to my ISP.... due to TLS version issues. I found the fix for it, but it was not straightforward and needed tweaking in about:config. Good luck!

 

[jglen490]

Running T-bird 78.6.1 here. Have Calendar and Task icons. Both work for me, and have

I have heard of issues with Google calendar and T-bird, but I don't run my Google account through the T-bird client, so I can't confirm.

 

[KGIII]

Good luck!

Thanks!

When I get to it, I'll also update the article to show the method you use as 'reported as a possible solution' though it doesn't work in my case. I can click on either one and not a darned thing will happen. The keyboard shortcuts work without fail.

 

[stan]

I can click on either one and not a darned thing will happen.

How about the checkboxes in the Events and Tasks menu? Fail like icons? These selections actually show your shortcuts too, so I would hope that they would work, but maybe not.

Similar to my experience above in post #7, I found that if I create a Task, now both Calendar and Tasks are accessible in the View menu. But this is my old Tbird, v.68. This does make me think that a real event needs to be created... in Calendar, or Tasks, or both.

 

[KGIII]

How about the checkboxes in the Events and Tasks menu? Fail like icons? These selections actually show your shortcuts too, so I would hope that they would work, but maybe not.

I'm not sure specifically what you're referring to. If tasks won't open, the mini-tasks panel still works just fine. The calendar does not.

Alas, I'm also not the only one that has this happen - I did a bunch of searching prior to writing the article. When the menu items get grayed out, the only things that work correctly (and every time) are the keyboard shortcuts.

The small icons that you highlighted in your previous post have no impact at all. You can click 'em until your fingers are raw and they helpfully do nothing - not even tossing an error into any logs that I could find.

 

[stan]

I'm not sure specifically what you're referring to.

I know you are having a problem, but it is hard to identify since it seems random to you. At least you do have a solid workaround with the keyboard shortcuts. I think that mine is working correctly, but maybe it isn't. I am establishing repeatability though, which helps me to think it is working correctly. The differences in behavior between v.68 and v.78 are only slight (for me).

(I use the term "tabs" below instead of "panes." They remind me of browser tabs.)

Prerequisites (with Calendar and Tasks tabs both open, by using shortcuts or any means):

v.68 - I had to create a real task (I already had a single calendar enabled)
v.78 - I had to enable a calendar (but Tasks worked without creating a real task)

1. With the above conditions met, I can shut down and restart Thunderbird and both Calendar and Tasks tabs return every time in both versions. If I understand correctly, your Post #1 says this does not work for you, so I would confirm that you do have at least one calendar enabled and at least one real task set up.

2. With only the Calendar tab open, the View menu shows Calendar options and is not grayed out. All Calendar options are available here. The Tasks options in the View menu are grayed out.

3. With only the Tasks tab open, the View menu shows both Calendar and Tasks options and are not grayed out. However, the Calendar options available in the View menu are limited to just "Calendar Pane." This must be the only feature in Calendar that is used by Tasks.

4. With both Calendar and Tasks tabs open, the View menu shows both Calendar and Tasks options and are not grayed out. The full Calendar options in the View menu are available now because the Calendar tab is open too.

5. With neither tab open, the View menu shows both Calendar and Tasks grayed out.

These are repeatable without fail for me in both v.68 and v.78, but it has taken me a bit to figure it out because I don't really use either Calendar or Tasks in Thunderbird. Or RSS reader, or Chat, for that matter.

I'm afraid this may not help you (unless you find you did not have any current/active tasks enabled) and it may indeed by a problem due to your high email activities and number of extensions, which I cannot replicate. You might wish to try starting Thunderbird in safe mode which could at least rule out an extension as your possible problem.

Again, good luck! I'll chime in again if I can think of anything else. BTW, I did confirm that the Lightning Calendar is integrated in the new version v.78 release notes, but it did not specifically mention this problem you're having.

 

[KGIII]

I'm afraid this may not help you (unless you find you did not have any current/active tasks enabled) and it may indeed by a problem due to your high email activities and number of extensions, which I cannot replicate.

I just use the shortcut keys, so that 'works'. Thanks for digging into it! Also, the events and tasks has zero impact when that happens. Nothing clicked in there does a darned thing with regards to making the tabs visible again.

In some instances, Thunderbird will magically open a second instance (window, not an entirely new process) of itself (which definitely shouldn't happen) with either the calendar or tasks tab in it. It's bizarre.

Curiously, opening the tabs with the keyboard shortcuts seems to negate all that and it functions just fine!

I'll be moving on to 20.04 shortly (when time allows) and expect the problem to disappear. I found others with the same symptoms and one thing that seemed to be a commonality was that a number of them mentioned a high volume of email and/or multiple accounts.

I also have a bunch of read-only calendars loaded for various events.

So, it's something in that area (presumably) that causes this. It's mildly comforting to know that I'm not alone, so I figured I'd write the article. I actually wrote another article last night and had it scheduled to publish today. I'm not sure if it's worth sharing as it's just about Ubuntu's restricted extras. So, nothing all that special.