Databases, Systems & Networks

To change the order of the accounts in Thunderbird simply edit

~/.thunderbird/<your profile>/prefs.js in GNU/Linux,

C:\Documents and Settings\<your profile>\Application Data\Thunderbird\Profiles\****.default\prefs.js in Microsoft Windows XP,

and C:\Users\<your profile>\App Data\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles\****.default\prefs.js in Microsoft Windows Vista and 7.

user_pref("mail.accountmanager.accounts", "account5,account3,account2,account4,account1,account7");
user_pref("mail.accountmanager.defaultaccount", "account5");

Edit those two lines to change the order of the accounts. The default account is always first. Simply swap the order of the other accounts. If you want Local Folders to appear first you need to use that as the default account.

You find the identities when you look for « mail.identity.id<n>.useremail » and the relation between identities and accounts looking for « mail.account.account<n>.identities ». If you have several identities for an account, you can’t influence the order of these or order them separately; you can only have these identities together in a different position.

You can also do the same edition in thunderbird itself :

• Tools > Options > Tab: Advanced > Tab : General > Config editor : « I’ll be careful, I promise! »
• search for « account »
• edit the variable « mail.accountmanager.accounts » and change your order here
• quit thunderbird
• launch thunderbird, change are now effective