# A Quick Thunderbird Question

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-quick-thunderbird-question/428380>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 30, 2007, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-quick-thunderbird-question/428380 "2007-11-30T22:50:41Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\
**Post date:** [November 30, 2007, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-quick-thunderbird-question/428380/1 "2007-11-30T22:50:41Z")

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Something has changed in the way my Thunderbird email program operates, but I can’t figure out how it has changed. Originally when a new message arrived I would single click onto that message and it would open in the lower pane and the message would be shown as “read”. Now I have to double-click the message which then opens in a separate window. If I only single-click on the message it will not open and it remains as “unread”.

I have looked at all the tools and options to change back to the original format but cannot see where to do this. Have I missed something obvious?

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**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\
**Post date:** [November 30, 2007, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-quick-thunderbird-question/428380/2 "2007-11-30T22:57:29Z")

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Go to Tools -\> Options -\> Advanced -\> General and there is a check box labeled  
Wait 1 seconds before marking a message as read  
where you can select the number of seconds. On mine (Ver 2.0.0.9), I have that checked. I hink thi is the relevant setting.