Betterbird: Release Notes

Betterbird 115 offers all the features and bug fixes mentioned in the feature table on the home page: Multi-line view, complex search terms, regular expression search, search in encrypted messages, improved Windows and Linux system tray integration, and many more. Check the release notes of the 102 series for features added before the 115 series.

115.5.2-bb20 "preview" (08 December 2023, Build-ID 2023-12-08*, English on Windows only)

Fixed in this version:

NEW - End-of-year Donation campaign: Betterbird will ask for a donation. This is only once per profile per year.
NEW - More layouts: "Wide thread" (thread pane wide on top, folder and preview pane below), "Stacked" (folder pane and thread pane both on the left)
NEW - Attachment list on top in Write (compose) window
NEW - Make tabs session restore optional. Option to restore no tabs, system tabs or all tabs. - Bug 506526
CHANGED - Thread pane can now be collapsed to the height of one row - Bug 1855611
FIXED - Minimise to tray not working on Linux if attempted before tray icon shows for the first time - GitHub #227

Various minor fixes that Thunderbird isn't shipping yet:

Bug 1865548 Bug 1866819 Bug 1868974

115.5.1-bb19 (27 November 2023)

Based on Thunderbird 115.5.1, release notes.

Fixed in this version:

NEW - Quick filter and folder search in S/MIME encrypted messages
FIXED - Global search in S/MIME encrypted messages not working
FIXED - Problem with manually sorting (ordering) IMAP folders in folder pane
FIXED - Empty "phantom" content tabs appearing after startup-up

Fixed in Betterbird, not fixed in Thunderbird 115.5.1 yet:

Fixes provided by the Betterbird project and integrated into Thunderbird to be released later

FIXED - Saving draft/template didn't respect the original storage location in a subfolder - Bug 263114
FIXED - Status feedback when loading messages and downloading IMAP messages - Bug 1832149
FIXED - Unwanted security prompt when image was copied from message display - Bug 1862674

Various minor fixes that Thunderbird isn't shipping yet:

Bug 1827973 Bug 1837152 Bug 1840500 Bug 1842420 Bug 1846127 Bug 1852428 Bug 1855758 Bug 1858461 Bug 1860322 Bug 1862232 Bug 1862247 Bug 1862519 Bug 1862521 Bug 1863449 Bug 1864338 Bug 1864339 Bug 1864352 Bug 1865269 Bug 1866553 Bug 519687

Features and fixes exclusive to Betterbird (new in the 115 series):

RESTORED - Windows system notifications (fixed in 115.5.0)
NEW - Ability to manually sort (order) folders in folder pane (most of the work by the Thunderbird team, adjustments by Betterbird) (fixed in 115.5.0) - Bug 1846550, Bug 1864510, Bug 1864582
NEW - Introduced pref betterbird.update.checkIntervalDays to configure time between update checks (in days) (fixed in 115.5.0)
FIXED - Turning multi-line view on/off wasn't immediately reflected in the thread pane/message list (fixed in 115.5.0)
FIXED - After restart, unread/total message counts not shown for collapsed servers in the folder tree, now also working for favourite and unread modes (fixed in 115.5.0) - Bug 1835548
FIXED - Performance issue when using search/virtual folders (fixed in 115.5.0) - Bug 1864247
FIXED - Very busy status bar (fixed in 115.5.0) - Bug 1864776
FIXED - Checking for add-on updates hung at "Updating add-ons" under some circumstances (fixed in 115.5.0)
FIXED - Error Console output when checking updates for add-ons not hosted on ATN (fixed in 115.4.2) - Bug 1861372
FIXED - Window/tab closed when downloading rest of POP3 message when "close on move/delete" option was selected (fixed in 115.4.2) - Bug 1861886
FIXED - After restart, unread/total message counts not shown for collapsed servers in the folder tree (fixed in 115.4.2) - Bug 1835548
NEW - Shift+Click on "Mark Folder Read" will also mark all sub-folders as read (fixed in 115.4.0) - Bug 500762
CHANGED - On Windows Betterbird now uses its own registry entries to better co-exist with a Thunderbird installation (fixed in 115.4.0)
FIXED - Bad X-MOZ-LASTACK attributes from iCloud CalDAV calendars not tolerated (fixed in 115.4.0) - Bug 1849849
FIXED - Couldn't open or save encrypted message attachment (fixed in 115.4.0) - Bug 1689326, Bug 1837247
NEW - Pref mail.download.open_attachments_readonly to disable that attachments are opened read-only (fixed in 115.3.2)
FIXED - Undo/Redo not working on stand-alone message window (fixed in 115.3.2) - Bug 1855643
FIXED - Undoing deletion of local messages needed two undo actions (fixed in 115.3.2) - Bug 1856427
FIXED - Fixed broken activation when clicking system tray icon on some Linux KDE installations (fixed in 115.3.2)
CHANGED - Improved activation when clicking system tray icon on Linux Mate (fixed in 115.3.2)
NEW - "Open Link in Browser" in compose window via context menu (fixed in 115.3.1) - Bug 695142
FIXED - SMTP: Limit messages per connection with new pref mail.smtpserver.default.max_messages_per_connection (fixed in 115.3.1) - Bug 1854567
RESTORED - Menu bar at the top of the main window (not underneath the new unified toolbar)
RESTORED - Total and unread/selected count removed from status bar (further improvements in 115.1.0, GitHub #183) - Bug 1831667
RESTORED - No more connecting lines in threaded view - Bug 1829470
RESTORED - Visual feedback during Quick Filter Search - Bug 1831500
RESTORED - Broken feed functionality, a lot of breakage in Thunderbird "Supernova": Feed updates, icons, etc.
MITIGATED - Problem with restoring message and folder tabs after restart on large profiles with many calendars - Bug 1841411
NEW - Vertically aligned tabs
NEW - Attachment list on top
NEW - Header pane resize
NEW - Minimize to system tray on Linux (KDE, Gnome and Xfce desktops), improved in 115.2.1
CHANGED - Improved portable launcher. Portable installation can now be moved without loss of functionality
CHANGED - New program icons for Mac (compliant with Apple rules)
CHANGED - Tab titles restore quicker (not a fix for tab restoral problem, see above)
CHANGED - More Troubleshooting Information now also displays identity and server keys
NEW - New preference gloda.list.immediate to show the search result as list immediately without having to click "Show results as list". Values: 0: Facet view, 1: Facet view and list view, 2: List view only. - Bug 580252
FIXED - Can't cancel sending message - Bug 1816540
FIXED better - Display/repair of some messages (incl. subject) with incorrect charset headers - Bug 1739609
FIXED - Can't drag contact on mailing list in other address book - Bug 1782397
FIXED - Invalid Atom feeds with missing title not accepted, for example German Heise c't feed
FIXED - Delivery status notification (DSN) request not working when "Send Later" is used - Bug 815638


After initial problems with the 115 series, version 115.3.0 and later should be safe to use. Some work is still in progress, see a list of various "Supernova" bugs not fixed in the 115 series yet. For important bugs Betterbird 115 already includes fixes.

Previous release notes for the 102 series
Previous release notes for the 91 series