Solved Problem with Thunderbird

I've just upgraded to Win 11 and as windows live mail is dead, I'm using Thunderbird.
I have it configured but I can't seem to manually add an email contact. When I try to add, the page goes grey and I can't figure out why.
Hopefully someone here can solve my issue?, but please remember that this is totally new to me, so please be patient with me. :)

You need to fix your screen resolution first of all.

Go to the desktop, right click and select Display settings. Then about half way down the page click on the Display Resolution drop down menu and select a better screen resolution. Look for the recommended option.



After that, you should be able to see the new contact panel in Thunderbird properly:



You may also close the Import, Chat tabs etc. you don't need to have them open all the time. To reopen them, click on the icon (top left of window) and select the tab you wish to open from the menu.

@HowdyDo

@trumpy81's advice is spot-on, as usual. But if you just click the "full screen" square up toward the right top of your tiny window, you'll see the whole thing.

trumpy81 said:

You need to fix your screen resolution first of all.

Go to the desktop, right click and select Display settings. Then about half way down the page click on the Display Resolution drop down menu and select a better screen resolution. Look for the recommended option.

View attachment 81646

After that, you should be able to see the new contact panel in Thunderbird properly:

View attachment 81648

You may also close the Import, Chat tabs etc. you don't need to have them open all the time. To reopen them, click on the icon (top left of window) and select the tab you wish to open from the menu.

Click to expand...

I have a sight problem, so I need 125%. I tried setting it back to normal but that didn't fix the problem, the page goes grey when I try to add a contact manually. I did however, I did close the chat & import tabs. Thanks :)

I think maybe you didn't understand my post. I run at 125% all the time, because I, too, need the larger view, and when I open the address-book panel and click New Contact, the left-hand panels go gray. That's the normal, default behavior of Thunderbird. The list of address books and the list of contacts in the highlighted address book are suddenly gray when you click New Contact. The New Contact panel opens on the right, and it's white by default, and shows you all the blanks to fill in. But you are using a very small window for your Thunderbird, and you can't see the right-hand panel as a result. If you will just enlarge that Thunderbird window to Full Screen by clicking the Maximize button (just to the left of the X in the title bar), you'll see the full New Contact window, even with your 125% scale setting.

Just give 'er a try.

@HowdyDo
In your post #1, your screen shot shows the left-hand edge of the New Contact window, with part of the person icon in a gray circle. You just need the bigger window to see the REST of the New Contact panel.

@HowdyDo
Go and correct the display resolution as I described earlier.

Set the scale back to 100% and then go to Settings > Accessibility > Text Size and move the slider until the text is at a suitable size for you and click apply.

That way you should have the best of both worlds and do note that the text size should affect all programs and windows.

At the moment you cannot use Thunderbird contacts because your screen resolution is set too small for you to see the full Thunderbird window.

This is a failing on behalf of Thunderbird and it needs to be corrected, but until then hopefully this will solve your issue.

It is worth a try at least.

Wisewiz said:

@HowdyDo
In your post #1, your screen shot shows the left-hand edge of the New Contact window, with part of the person icon in a gray circle. You just need the bigger window to see the REST of the New Contact panel.
View attachment 81701 View attachment 81702

Click to expand...

OK, I have this now, but it's not centered and I can't drag it

I'm afraid @trumpy81 and I are working at cross-puposes here, but we are both really trying to help you.

If you click your mouse on the title bar of the Thunderbird window, you can drag that whole window to the left, even until part of it is off your screen, and then you can drag the right edge of the Thunderbird window to the right until you see the whole New Contact window. Don't try dragging anything that's INSIDE the Thunderbird window, just drag the right edge of the whole TBird window.

@Wisewiz
He does not have the titlebar enabled, for some reason Thunderbird defaults to the titlebar being hidden.

@HowdyDo
You can enable the title bar by going to Thunderbird Settings > General tab and then under Language & Appearance uncheck the Hide system window titlebar.

Please see my previous post regarding Text Size.

Also, you can hold down the Windows key on your keyboard and then press + on the keyboard to invoke the magnifier. Press the Windows key then press + or - to increase/decrease magnification. Press the Windows key + ESC to quit the magnifier when you wish to.

Move the mouse to the edges of the screen to scroll around.

trumpy81 said:

@Wisewiz
He does not have the titlebar enabled, for some reason Thunderbird defaults to the titlebar being hidden.

Click to expand...

It was really stupid (and blind) of me not to notice that. I hope he/she does go to Settings > General > Language and Appearance, and UNhide that title bar.

Thanks for correcting me.

Not your fault at all @Wisewiz, you probably just did not notice the change when Thunderbird updated.

I did not notice it until I read this thread, I then set out to find how to enable it ... lol

trumpy81 said:

@Wisewiz
He does not have the titlebar enabled, for some reason Thunderbird defaults to the titlebar being hidden.

@HowdyDo
You can enable the title bar by going to Thunderbird Settings > General tab and then under Language & Appearance uncheck the Hide system window titlebar.

Please see my previous post regarding Text Size.

Also, you can hold down the Windows key on your keyboard and then press + on the keyboard to invoke the magnifier. Press the Windows key then press + or - to increase/decrease magnification. Press the Windows key + ESC to quit the magnifier when you wish to.

Move the mouse to the edges of the screen to scroll around.

Click to expand...

I know the problem is "not displaying the title bar", but for the life of me, I can't see any general tab under settings.

@HowdyDo
See the red box in the image below, the option you need to uncheck is in the smaller red box:

trumpy81 said:

@HowdyDo
See the red box in the image below, the option you need to uncheck is in the smaller red box:

View attachment 81708

Click to expand...

OK, I unchecked that. Now what lol

@HowdyDo
Now, you can use the Thunderbird titlebar to drag it's window around which should let you see the Contact panel etc...

Drag the window a little to the left, then drag the right edge of the window to the right.

Wisewiz said:

Drag the window a little to the left, then drag the right edge of the window to the right.

Click to expand...

I still can't "drag" it. I'm thinking I should just give up

I can't be sure what you're missing, but let's try this: in this picture, there's an oval on the Title bar (top) with an arrow pointing to it. On YOUR Title Bar, put your mouse pointer roughly where my oval is, hold down the left mouse button, and move the pointer to the left. The TBird window will move.

Then put your mouse pointer where my lower arrow points, on the right edge of YOUR TBird window, hold the left button down, and move the pointer to the right.

Wisewiz said:

I can't be sure what you're missing, but let's try this: in this picture, there's an oval on the Title bar (top) with an arrow pointing to it. On YOUR Title Bar, put your mouse pointer roughly where my oval is, hold down the left mouse button, and move the pointer to the left. The TBird window will move.

Then put your mouse pointer where my lower arrow points, on the right edge of YOUR TBird window, hold the left button down, and move the pointer to the right.
View attachment 81739

Click to expand...

As you can see by the screen shot. My view is not the same as yours.