Three times in the last 24 hours, I've gone to click on a folder but
moved the mouse slightly while clicking, thus making it a subfolder
of a neighboring folder. Obviously it's user error, but I'm not great
with a mouse; this has happened in the past and will undoubtedly
happen in the future. It's a nuisance, as the properties and message-
list layout of the folder seem to get lost when it becomes a
subfolder.

Is there any way to inhibit click-and-drag from changing a folder to
a subfolder? I suspect not -- in that case, is there a way to recover
from this mistake without having to recreate the folder properties?

(I'm using Betterbird, but I assume the answer is the same as for
Thunderbird.)

--
Stan Brown, Tehachapi, California, USA https://BrownMath.com/
Shikata ga nai...

On 3/8/2024 at 10:04 AM, Stan Brown wrote:
>
> Three times in the last 24 hours, I've gone to click on a folder but
> moved the mouse slightly while clicking, thus making it a subfolder
> of a neighboring folder. Obviously it's user error, but I'm not great
> with a mouse; this has happened in the past and will undoubtedly
> happen in the future. It's a nuisance, as the properties and message-
> list layout of the folder seem to get lost when it becomes a
> subfolder.
>
> Is there any way to inhibit click-and-drag from changing a folder to
> a subfolder? I suspect not -- in that case, is there a way to recover
> from this mistake without having to recreate the folder properties?
>
> (I'm using Betterbird, but I assume the answer is the same as for
> Thunderbird.)
>

I'm not sure I completely understand what you are describing, but I use
the add-on "Disable DragAndDrop (Thunderbird)" to prevent me from
dragging folders around. If you want to temporarily allow dragging so
you can move a folder, you just have to disable the add-on, move the
folder, and enable the add-on again.

Stan Brown <the_stan_brown@fastmail.fm> wrote:

> Three times in the last 24 hours, I've gone to click on a folder but
> moved the mouse slightly while clicking, thus making it a subfolder
> of a neighboring folder. Obviously it's user error, but I'm not great
> with a mouse; this has happened in the past and will undoubtedly
> happen in the future. It's a nuisance, as the properties and message-
> list layout of the folder seem to get lost when it becomes a
> subfolder.
>
> Is there any way to inhibit click-and-drag from changing a folder to
> a subfolder? I suspect not -- in that case, is there a way to recover
> from this mistake without having to recreate the folder properties?
>
> (I'm using Betterbird, but I assume the answer is the same as for
> Thunderbird.)

Does Tbird provide a context menu (right-click) entry to choose Copy,
Move, Paste, and other object actions? Instead of clicking to select a
folder, you right-click on it to get the context menu.

Alternatively, if the mouse is that sensitive to the number of pixels
moved when clicking, maybe try lowering the sensitivity of the mouse.
Don't know which OS you are using. The mouse may have multiple
sensitivity settings, like pointer speed (i.e., slow down the mouse, or
increase the number of pixels it must move before detecting movement).
Another option may be "enhance pointer precision". Try toggling it to
see if the mouse is less sensitive to miniscule movement when clicking.

I'm assuming "mouse" means a mouse, and not a touchpad or trackball.
With a trackball, lift your fingers off the ball before pressing a
button to perform the click action. With a touchpad, try lowering its
sensitivity which is based on capacitance. Hovering a finger close to
the pad can be interpreted as a touch.

On Fri, 8 Mar 2024 10:25:07 -0800, Bill H wrote:
> On 3/8/2024 at 10:04 AM, Stan Brown wrote:
> > [quoted text muted]
> >
> > (I'm using Betterbird, but I assume the answer is the same as for
> > Thunderbird.)
> >
>
> I'm not sure I completely understand what you are describing, but I use
> the add-on "Disable DragAndDrop (Thunderbird)" to prevent me from
> dragging folders around. If you want to temporarily allow dragging so
> you can move a folder, you just have to disable the add-on, move the
> folder, and enable the add-on again.

Thanks, Bill. That's exactly what I want to accomplish: prevent me
from dragging folders around. I'll try out that add-on.

--
Stan Brown, Tehachapi, California, USA https://BrownMath.com/
Shikata ga nai...

On Fri, 8 Mar 2024 12:32:52 -0600, VanguardLH wrote:
>
> Stan Brown <the_stan_brown@fastmail.fm> wrote:
>
> > Three times in the last 24 hours, I've gone to click on a folder but
> > moved the mouse slightly while clicking, thus making it a subfolder
> > of a neighboring folder. Obviously it's user error, but I'm not great
> > with a mouse; this has happened in the past and will undoubtedly
> > happen in the future. It's a nuisance, as the properties and message-
> > list layout of the folder seem to get lost when it becomes a
> > subfolder.
> >
> > Is there any way to inhibit click-and-drag from changing a folder to
> > a subfolder? I suspect not -- in that case, is there a way to recover
> > from this mistake without having to recreate the folder properties?
> >
> > (I'm using Betterbird, but I assume the answer is the same as for
> > Thunderbird.)
>
> Does Tbird provide a context menu (right-click) entry to choose Copy,
> Move, Paste, and other object actions? Instead of clicking to select a
> folder, you right-click on it to get the context menu.

True enough. Maybe I'm missing something, but I don't see how that
prevents me from accidentally moving the mouse while clicking. I
hoped you were implying that right-clicking a folder would also open
the folder, but I tried it and it doesn't. I still have to left-
click.

> Alternatively, if the mouse is that sensitive to the number of pixels
> moved when clicking, maybe try lowering the sensitivity of the mouse.
> Don't know which OS you are using. The mouse may have multiple
> sensitivity settings, like pointer speed (i.e., slow down the mouse, or
> increase the number of pixels it must move before detecting movement).
> Another option may be "enhance pointer precision". Try toggling it to
> see if the mouse is less sensitive to miniscule movement when clicking.

I seem to have this problem only with Thunderbird or Betterbird. But
you did give me an idea: I had View » Density set to Compact.
Changing it to Default puts a bit of space between the folder names,
so a small mouse movement is not enough to drag one folder into
another.

I wish that was separately settable for the folder tree versus the
message list. Bill H suggested the Disable DragAndDrop add-on, and if
I can't stand the wide spacing I'll use that.
> I'm assuming "mouse" means a mouse, and not a touchpad or trackball.
> With a trackball, lift your fingers off the ball before pressing a
> button to perform the click action. With a touchpad, try lowering its
> sensitivity which is based on capacitance. Hovering a finger close to
> the pad can be interpreted as a touch.

Yes, "mouse" does mean mouse. The first thing I do on any new laptop
is disable the trackpad, and I've never had a trackball.

--
Stan Brown, Tehachapi, California, USA https://BrownMath.com/
Shikata ga nai...