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Thunderbird 128 Upgrades are now enabled

Martin Brinkmann
Jul 30, 2024
Thunderbird
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Users of the Thunderbird email client who still use Thunderbird 115.x will be upgraded to the new version automatically starting today.

The team released the new major version of the Thunderbird email client earlier this month. Thunderbird 128 is a major release that does not really look that different from the previous version. Highlights of the new version are improved theme and customization options, use of the Windows notification system on Windows devices, or improvements to the OpenPGP implementation.

The team is still working on core functionality, including Exchange support and native synchronization of data, among other things.

The current release version is Thunderbird 128.0.1 ESR, which fixed just a few minor issues.

Tip: if you run add-ons, you may want to make sure that they are compatible with the new version. If not, they get disabled automatically after the upgrade.

Thunderbird 115 to 128 upgrades

The upgrade to Thunderbird 128 is now available. Previously, users had to download the installer from the Thunderbird website to upgrade manually.

This is no longer necessary, as Thunderbird will inform users about the new version. The new Thunderbird 128 will also be offered when you click on Help > About Thunderbird.

Thunderbird users who do not want the update at this time have two main options:

  1. Disable the automatic check for updates on startup under Settings > General.
  2. Configure a policy to disable updates.

The policy requires a bit of work. You need to create a policies.json file and place it in the Distribution folder of the Thunderbird installation. You can download a very simple policies file with a click on the following link: policies

Download and extract the file. All that is left then is to place it into the Distribution folder of the Thunderbird installation. You should now see "Updates disabled by your system administrator" when you open Help > About Thunderbird.

Updates disabled in Thunderbird

If you want to upgrade, you need to disable the policy in the polices file first, e.g., by moving the entire policies.json file out of the distribution folder.

Pro Tip: You can use winget to upgrade Thunderbird, even if updates are disabled. Just run winget upgrade mozilla.thunderbird from the command line to do so.

Do you use Thunderbird as your main client for emails? Have you upgraded already? If yes, how do you like the new version? If no, what is keeping you? Feel free to leave a comment down below.

Summary
Thunderbird 128 Upgrades are now enabled
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Thunderbird 128 Upgrades are now enabled
Description
Upgrades from older versions of Thunderbird to the latest Thunderbird 128 release are now enabled by default.
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Comments

  1. Anonymous said on August 8, 2024 at 6:58 am
    Reply

    FYI,
    On August 8, 2024, I am running TB 115.13.0.
    I checked for updates, and I’m offered 115.14.0.

  2. TelV said on August 6, 2024 at 4:20 pm
    Reply

    There’s a tip on the Superuser site on how to downgrade and keep your current Profile by adding “-allow-downgrade” (without quotes) to your Thunderbird shortcut. https://superuser.com/questions/1692808/how-to-disable-automatic-thunderbird-updates

    I’m still on 102.15.1 and followed the other instruction in that link to create a .reg file to disable upgrades. Suggest you create a Windows System Restore point before running the .reg file just in case things go pear-shaped. ;)

  3. Anonymous said on August 2, 2024 at 5:58 pm
    Reply

    Version 102 is the best version!!! Version 128 is POS (=Piece Of Shit)

  4. iyrts said on August 2, 2024 at 12:28 am
    Reply

    As with all these things, I’m happy to wait a week for the rest of the world to work the inevitable bugs out before I “upgrade” from 115 portable.

    Life would be easier if some software wasn’t “upgraded” as often. This is an e-mail client, which, to me, is just a basic utility app, not a video game. I had it set up the way I wanted about a decade ago and don’t want or need it to be “improved” every few months.

  5. DavidGInNYC said on August 1, 2024 at 9:45 pm
    Reply

    Generally, I can’t tell the difference. HOWEVER, tb128 disables different sounds for mail arrival (of different Inboxes), and also no longer shows “new” messages when you hover cursor over Inbox. Two very useful features that have been eliminated!
    Disappointing when features go backwards!

  6. John C. said on August 1, 2024 at 11:46 am
    Reply

    In the past year or two, I’ve had to deal with multiple disabled extensions twice. I won’t do it again, and this update will disable several of my extensions YET AGAIN. I’m thinking very strongly about disabling TB updating altogether again.

  7. Anonymous said on July 31, 2024 at 8:14 pm
    Reply

    Someone, please provide updates on how the 128 upgrade goes.
    Thanks

    1. Anonymous said on August 2, 2024 at 5:39 am
      Reply

      It is terrible. TB freezes whenever you type/remove text from quick filter input box.

    2. Anonymous said on August 2, 2024 at 2:03 am
      Reply

      bad very bad.
      Can not send emails from web.de, gmx, google, god sure every other mailer too …

      DO NOT INSTALL TB.

      And I say bye to them and no payments ever again

  8. Straspey said on July 31, 2024 at 3:53 pm
    Reply

    Only because Windows Live Mail would not run on Windows 10 – when I moved from Windows 7 – do I use Thunderbird. I prefer simplicity in my email client and have not upgraded Thunderbird since version 102.15.1

    While I was able to turn off auto-updates, it became very tiresome to reject the update nag screen on an almost daily basis.

    Below is the solution I found, which works perfectly. Just make sure to keep a copy available, should you decide to undo the change:

    Exit Thunderbird.

    Type ‘Run’ in search and select ‘Run’ app

    In ‘Run’ app type regedit and click on Ok

    Locate HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies

    Right click on ‘Policies’ – select ‘New ‘ > ‘Key’ – name it ‘Mozilla’
    so you have : HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Mozilla

    Right click on ‘Mozilla’ – select ‘New ‘ > ‘Key’ – name it ‘Thunderbird’

    Now you have: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Mozilla\Thunderbird

    Right click on ‘Thunderbird’ select ‘New’ > ‘DWORD 32 bit’

    On the right, will appear ‘new Value’ -REG_DWORD – right click on ‘new value’ and select ‘Rename’ and rename as ‘DisableAppUpdate’.

    NOTE: Even if you are running 64-bit Windows you must still create a 32-bit DWORD value.

    Double click on ‘DisableAppUpdate’ and Set its value to 1. Then click on OK.

    Start Thunderbird

    Menu icon > Options > Options > Advanced > ‘Updates’ tab Thunderbird updates It will state current version number. Options are removed and replaced by: ‘Updates disabled by your system administrator’

    To undo the change, remove the DisableAppUpdate 32-bit DWORD value you have created, then restart Thunderbird.

    1. Anonymous said on July 31, 2024 at 9:03 pm
      Reply

      Windows Live Mail works on Windows 10 without any problems.

    2. Belga said on July 31, 2024 at 6:17 pm
      Reply

      Thanks for the tip !

      For my part i did the update, but have a bug when i create new messages : all field names are virtually invisible.
      I went back to the version 115.13.0 !

  9. hg said on July 31, 2024 at 1:29 pm
    Reply

    Too many incompatible add-ons ATM. I have reverted to 115.

    1. Anonymous said on August 1, 2024 at 2:53 am
      Reply

      How does one revert from 128 to 115 without losing thousands of messages across several accounts? On the following system, 115 was responsive and 128 is unusably slow.

      Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-8850H CPU @ 2.60GHz 2.59 GHz
      Installed RAM 32.0 GB (31.5 GB usable)
      Edition Windows 11 Pro
      Version 23H2

      1. hg said on August 2, 2024 at 10:49 am
        Reply

        You just install 115 over the top. Doesn’t effect messages, but you might have to create a new profile – personally, I create a zipped copy of my Profile folder before I update.

  10. Anonymous said on July 30, 2024 at 8:13 pm
    Reply

    From Betterbird site:

    Note that Thunderbird 128 and hence Betterbird 128 is shipping with a broken backend causing IMAP folder corruption under some circumstances. IT MUST NOT BE USED IN PRODUCTION!!

  11. 8-bit supremacy said on July 30, 2024 at 4:31 pm
    Reply

    If you set it to launch minimized in the tray, the notifications won’t work.

  12. Tachy said on July 30, 2024 at 3:56 pm
    Reply

    When I looked to see what version I had it updated to 128.0.1.

    I don’t see any difference. It was already using windows notifications, that’s not new. I already had the UI highly customized using css, so nothing new there either.

    It did try to open 2 tabs in my default browser which I closed before they could fully load.

    Do devs not realize how forking irritating that is?

  13. Jody Thornton said on July 30, 2024 at 2:42 pm
    Reply

    So is v115 still being updated? If so, for how long?
    Also with Betterbird (which is based on Thunderbird), can on stay on v115?

    1. Wayne said on September 9, 2024 at 11:43 pm
      Reply

      > So is v115 still being updated? If so, for how long?

      Thunderbird’s run of v115 ends this month with 115.15.

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