Quick Tip :: How to Change Thunderbird Default Sorting Order

The default sorting order for emails in Mozilla Thunderbird is by ascending order of the Date column.

The following are the steps to change the default sorting order:

• Click on the Edit menu options as shown in Fig.1 below:

  

  Fig.1

• Click on the Preferences option from the drop-down menu as shown in Fig.2 below:

  

  Fig.2

• Select the Advanced tab from the top and click on the Config Editor button as shown in Fig.3 below:

  

  Fig.3

  This will pop open the warning window.

• Click on I'll be careful. I promise! button as shown in Fig.4 below:

  

  Fig.4

  This will pop open the config editor window.

• Enter the text mailnews.default_news_sort_order in the search box as shown in Fig.5 below:

  

  Fig.5

  Double-click on the searched item and change the value 1 (ascending) to 2 (descending).

• Enter the text mailnews.default_sort_order in the search box as shown in Fig.5 below:

  Double-click on the searched item and change the value 1 (ascending) to 2 (descending).

• Close the Config Editor window and the Preferences window.

  Restart Mozilla Thunderbird.

We should now see the emails in the descending (latest first) order.

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