> When I try to read Inbox emails, they open in Write mode

In the past few years I have seen this a couple times. Never figured out why, it just went away for a long time. Then it came back.

> If I copy the emails to the Local Folders Inbox, they open in read mode, not write mode. How do I get the Inbox to not think it holds drafts?

If you copy a message from drafts to inbox, it retains the drafts flag.

Only thing I can think to do is export all my Tbird data, uninstall Tbird, and then reinstall and reimport. Would that work?

You could try a couple of things first.

In 'Copies & Folders' for 'Drafts' Select 'Other' and select any folder but not Inbox. Restart Thunderbird.

then access same place again and reselect the correct Drafts folder on account. Restart Thunderbird.

Select Inbox and see if this opens correctly.

If that fails then try this addon extension: https://addons.thunderbird.net/en-us/thunderbird/addon/folderflags/

How to install: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/installing-addon-thunderbird

Right click on Inbox and selet Properties You will see a 'Flag' tab - select it. You can then uncheck the 'Drafts' checkbox. click on 'OK'

Only thing I can think to do is export all my Tbird data, uninstall Tbird, and then reinstall and reimport. Would that work?

Based on my personal experience, no. Exactly how long has this been happening?

Here are replies to Toad-Hall, and then Wayne Merv: 1. Toad-Hall:

 A.  Day before yesterday I tried the extension you suggested, it had no noticeable effect.
 B.  I did right-click on the Inbox and selected Properties.  In the dialog box that came up, I did NOT see a Flag tab.  Also didn't see a Flag tab on any of the 3 previous times I tried that while following various other Support suggestions I found.  What I see each time in the screenshot is shown in the Screenshot of Inbox Folder Properties dialog box....png file attached.

2. Wayne Merv - I did the following steps:

 A.  Changed the Drafts save folder to Local Folders, Drafts.
 B.  Started a new email (Subject: Test), then closed it without sending, and saw that it was saved in the Local Folders, Drafts folder.
 C.  Closed TB.
 D.  When I attempted to restart TB, a dialog box said that TB was already running, and did I want which of 3 options.  One option was Restart TB, I don't remember the other 2 options.  At that point, I started making these detailed notes.
 E.  I closed that dialog box, then right-clicked on the TB icon to select the Close option to force it to close before trying to restart it.
 F.  A dialog box appeared that said that TB had a problem and had crashed.
 G.  That was overwritten by a session dialog box that asked "Shut down this system now?" and it offered 4 options:  Suspend, Restart, Cancel, & Shut Down.  (See the attached file Screenshot of Shutdown Dialog box....png.)
 H.  I selected Cancel.
 I.   Back in the Mozilla Crash Reported dialog box, I selected Restart TB.
 J.  I opened the Test email in Local Folders, Drafts, but it then wouldn't let me send the email.
 K.  However, it did let me forward the Test to myself.
 L.  When Test arrived in the main account's Inbox, not the Local Folders Inbox.  And it still opened in Write mode (Edit Draft Mode), not the normal read an email mode.
 M.  I closed TB.
 N.  I rebooted the system.
 O.  I restarted TB.
 P.  Test email was still in the main account's Inbox, and still in Edit Draft Mode.
 Q.  I again changed the folder settings  to save drafts in Local Folders, Drafts.
 R.  I started a new test email (Test-01), then quit it without sending it.  Then saw that it was saved in Local Folders, Drafts.
 S.  I reopened Test-01 and sent it to myself.
 T.  When Test-01 arrived, it also showed as being in Edit Draft Mode.

Note: Even after I had opened and closed Test and Test-01 while they were in the main account's Inbox, both showed in bold font, as I normally see for unopened emails. However, I could right-click on each email and select Mark > As Read. Then they each lost the bold font, but when I opened each one, TB still showed "Write: Test-01 - Thunderbird" at the very top of the screen.

Again, I would appreciate any suggestions you may have.

@Lemay1 and Wayne, Toad-Hall and I have seen several variations on this recently (twelve that I know of). Toad-Hall did a lot of research on it, identified two separate problems, and has some good strategies. In some cases there may be a yellow banner warning 'A unique identity matching the From address was not found...' in the draft edit screen, and other misbehaviour. There are a few bugs reported https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1762192 and https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1753825. However none of the cases I know of actually crash TB. @Lemay do you happen to see that banner warning? It may mean nothing even if it does appear. We are still looking for more cases and information to define what's going on. Back to Toad-Hall and Wayne.

re: A. Day before yesterday I tried the extension you suggested,

Is the extension called FolderFlags listed here: Menu app icon (3 lines) > Addons and Themes > select 'Extensions'

Is the addon enabled ?

Does https://addons.thunderbird.net/en-us/thunderbird/addon/folderflags/ actually work in version 91? (I know at some point it was broken)

Does https://addons.thunderbird.net/en-us/thunderbird/addon/folderflags/ actually work in version 91? (I know at some point it was broken)

Tested: Using TB 91.8.0 and it is working.

Thanks. I see it also working in a non-release build, which is great

I've received multiple responses, so here are replies in the order I got the questions: 1. Exactly how long has this been happening?

    Since 04/04/22, or maybe 04/05/22.

2. @Lemay do you happen to see that banner warning?

    I believe that I did see a yellow banner, at some point early in this, but not recently, and then only maybe once.

3. Is the extension called FolderFlags listed here: Menu app icon (3 lines) > Addons and Themes > select 'Extensions' & Is the addon enabled ?

    The addon is not listed.  See the attached screenshot.

Looks like my answer to question #2 above did not survive the upload intact. It should have said "I believe that I did see a yellow banner at some point early in this, but not recently, and I don't think it was more than 1 time."

If the addon is not listed then it is not installed so it cannot work.

Did you download the addon? Is it in your computer 'Downloads' folder as an xpi file ? If yes: Menu app icon > Addons and Themes select 'Extensions' Click on gear icon to see drop down and select 'Install add from file' locate that download xpi file and click on 'Open'.

Yes, I did attempt to download and install the https://addons.thunderbird.net/en-us/thunderbird/addon/folderflags/ addon. After downloading it, I double-clicked on the xpi file. When I did that, a new email window opened, with the To: and Subject: lines blank, and with "Write (no subject) - Thunderbird" showing in the bar at the top of the window. (See the attached screenshot.) Based on the post I found at that time ("Does https://addons.thunderbird.net/en-us/thunderbird/addon/folderflags/ actually work in version 91? (I know at some point it was broken)"), I assumed that the addon was broken and that's why it opened the new email window.

Just retried. Clicking on the link above downloaded a file (folderflags-1.4.2-tb.xpi) to Downloads. When I double-clicked on that file, it again opened a new email window with blanks in To: and Subject:. I then tried to search in Add-on Manager for that URL, and it found nothing. I finally just tried searching for "folder flags" and the addon came up. I installed it and it worked - I was able to uncheck the Drafts flag on the Inbox's Properties.

Sorry this thread went on so long, but I'm pretty new to Linux and I misunderstood that the URL in the comment above was NOT how to install the addon. Thanks for the help.

Many people get a bit confused. Many times people have tried to open the .xpi file itself rather than allow thunderbird to install it. Good to hear it's all sorted ok.

Here's how I fixed it. See attached screenshots. 1. Go to Add-ons menu and then Extensions. 2. Search for folderflags. It will take you to thunderbird.net. 3. Click Add to Thunderbird and confirm. That's all it takes. 4. Right click on your Inbox folder. 5. Click "Flags" tab. Unclick "Drafts" then OK.

P.S. My theory how the problem came about: I'm a heavy user of keyboard shortcuts. But I also make mistakes and hit unintended key sequences. I speculate that there's an undocumented key sequence that toggles draft mode on/off for a folder, and I hit it accidently. But not knowing what I did, I don't know the sequence to undo it.