Trying 67 from here:

https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/thunderbird/releases/

It won't work. It's got a warning that using an older version may currupt things, and it refuses to start, even through the update already corrupted it.

If you run an earlier version of TB on a profile that was used by a newer version, e.g. run TB 60 on a profile created by TB 68, you will have to select the profile with Profile Manager and include --allow-downgrade in the command line, e.g. for OS X:

/Applications/Thunderbird.app/Contents/MacOS/thunderbird -profilemanager --allow-downgrade

Thank you. I'm currently looking for instructions to see if I can get 68.3.1 to honor userChrome.css, or if I should use 67.0b3.

I will have to use the profile manager either way.

I have a userChrome.css and userContent.css working here in TB 68.3.1. If you have css files, the preference toolkit.legacyUserProfileCustomizations.stylesheets is automatically switched to true from its default. Future versions may not support style sheets.

The current beta is 72b2.

I went back to 68.3.1. found about:config.

Everything is unreadable small, because it's doesn't follow my user css, but toolkit.legacyUserProfileCustomizations.stylesheets is currently set to "true"... so it should follow my user css.

Okay, 67 doesn't work either, too recent, too broken.Since I was not able to get 68.3.1 working, I reinstalled 60.9.1, which automatically updated to 72.0b2.

I have disabled auto-update, but apparently Thunderbird doesn't respect that setting either.

If you're on the 'beta channel', then TB will update to 72b2, but if you're on the 'release channel', TB 60 will update to 68. Setting the update option to 'Check for updates but let me choose' will do just that unless there's a 3rd-party updater, such as the one that's part of Kaspersky or Avast.

If you uninstall TB, it won't affect your profiles, but restart the computer in order to eliminate any leftover settings, then download and run the full installer for the relevant channel.

I finally (a) reinstalled 60.9.1, (b) turned off my internet connection, (c) started 60.9.1 using the terminal command as above, (d) went into preferences and disabled all updates, (e) turned on my internet connection.

That's a crude workaround, and I'd prefer to be able to update my user css so it works in 68.

The advice on *how* to start with older versions was very helpful, it just took a few extra steps to an older older version and to prevent auto-update.

I admitted my own fix was a crude workaround. But:

(a) email matters. With this fix, I can stay in 60 for a time and keep using email. Without this fix, I get hijacked to 68 or 72 and lose access to my email until I have a better fix.

(b) if this is a user css issue, I can write updates to the user css without the update, though I can't test the updates without updating. And so far reverting. I have another possible fix to test today.

(c) if this is *not* a user css issue, I can't do much except wait for someone else to fix the bugs. Sorry.

(d) I don't have any 3rd-party updater, but "check for updates but let me choose" wasn't stopping auto-updates.

You'll probably find that some css code works equally well in older versions of TB as well as 68, but some code will need changes to work in 68, due to underlying changes in the core TB code. By now, there are quite a few online sources of 68-compatible userChrome examples.

Thank you.

I was able to make folder lists readable again by commenting out the old xul namespace line.

I had to switch the css to make blocked remote content alerts go away again:

    #mail-notification-top{
   display: none;
   }

Could one of you (much more capable than me) people make the add-on that used to work before TB68.3.1 to edit subject line of incoming emails work on TB 68.3.1? I am lost without this add-on and would never have updated had I known it would be lost. I was reduced to reverting to a previous version of TB, but upon reading all the above suggestions, I don't think it's a good idea and am not clear how to do it even if I wanted to.

renees1 said

Could one of you (much more capable than me) people make the add-on that used to work before TB68.3.1 to edit subject line of incoming emails work on TB 68.3.1? I am lost without this add-on and would never have updated had I known it would be lost. I was reduced to reverting to a previous version of TB, but upon reading all the above suggestions, I don't think it's a good idea and am not clear how to do it even if I wanted to.

Edit the Subject with HeaderTools Lite for TB 68.

Thanks for your suggestion. When I looked it up using Firefox( at this location: https://addons.thunderbird.net/en-US/thunderbird/addon/headertools-lite/) as you can see the note says it's compatible with TB68. But don't I need to actually install it from within TB? Because when I look it up from TB I don't get that screen but one that's almost the same but says HeaderToolsLite is not compatible with TB68. So my question is can I download it from the link above and skip downloading it from within TB?

If you search for add-ons from Tools/Add-ons/Extensions, and enter header tools, the drop down list will show Header Tools Lite, which is the original add-on, compatible with TB 60. The new one, HeaderTools Lite (no space between Header and Tools), doesn't show up in the search, but you can right-click the Download Now button, Save Link As..., download the xpi file, and install from TB Tools/Add-ons/Extensions by clicking the gear icon, Install add-on from file..., select the xpi. Remove the older add-on first if it's installed.

Hello sfhowes

Thank you a million times. What you said to do totally worked and all is well again. The weird thing is I could only open HeaderTools Lite with the link you gave - it does not appear when you search Firefox under add-ons so I'm curious how you found it. But no matter - the main thing is 'control H' works again to change the subject line!

The author of HTL has released Edit Email Subject for TB 68, for those who don't need all the options of HTL.