The new Thunderbird UI is now available and has been updated for a long time

i am using thunderbird For a very, very long time. In fact, it’s been so long, I can’t remember the email client I used before this.

The only complaint I have with Thunderbird is that the UI has been out of date for a while. For too long, it just felt…old. I even find that I try to add a theme so the app doesn’t feel too monotonous.

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Fortunately, as of version 115, Thunderbird has finally begun a slow, steady move toward modernization.

Now, not that this should surprise you at all. The new look isn’t a dramatic change from the old UI. Instead, it’s a subtle change that gives the Thunderbird a more in-touch experience that’s not only more pleasant to look at but also easier to use. It’s more efficient and it provides a clean default font that renders text much better (especially on Linux desktops).

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The good news is that the facelifted Thunderbird isn’t such a dramatic change from the old one that you’ll struggle to get up to speed. The changes the developers and designers made are all that matter, and anyone who’s used Thunderbird will automatically feel at home.

If you compare the previous release with the new refresh, you will notice that both are presented very similarly. There’s still the email account/folder hierarchy on the left, the inbox pane on the upper right, and the reading pane on the lower right. Both have tool buttons on the left sidebar (for email, contacts, calendar, to-do, and chat), but that’s where the similarities start to fade.

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The new iteration breaks the search bar from the standard toolbar and places it in the header. There’s also a Quick Filter button. When Quick Filter is enabled, you’ll see Unread, Starred, Contacts, Tags, and Attachments filter buttons available to the right of the message filter search bar.

If you disable the Quick Filter option, the UI becomes even cleaner – and you can still quickly enable Quick Filter with the click of a button.

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Another very cool addition is found directly to the right of the Quick Filter button and allows you to switch the message list from the standard table view to the new card view. Card view displays each email as a separate card. From the same popup menu, you can sort your email by several different options, such as Date, Received, Star, Priority, and Sender.

One thing I like about card view is that it makes email previews easier to read. You get recipients and subjects together instead of in separate columns. At first, I wasn’t too keen on Cards View, but the more I use it, the more I like it. I’m up for anything – even something very small – that makes my day a little more efficient, and the new card view does just that.

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One final achievement I discovered are the new density settings, where you can make the UI slightly smaller or larger. If you click the menu button in the top right corner (the three horizontal lines), you can choose between Compact, Default, and Relaxed densities (Compact is the smallest UI and Relaxed is the largest).

I’ve set up my new Thunderbird instance with the Card View and CompactDensity, and I’ve found that it looks and performs great.

As long as you don’t expect massive changes to the Thunderbird UI, you’ll be pleasantly surprised to see how these subtle changes make the app even easier to use.

If you’re using MacOS or Windows, you should be able to install the latest version the usual way. However, if you’re using Linux, the easiest way I’ve found to get the new version is to install it via Snap with the command:

sudo snap install thunderbird --candidate

If you install the new version via Snap, you’ll need to configure your email accounts, as it will install separately from previous versions. If you install on MacOS or Windows (as long as you have Thunderbird already installed and configured), this should simply update the app, so there’s no need to re-add your accounts.

Enjoy the new Thunderbird UI.