Betterbird has rolled out a new build of its email client. Version 140.7.1esr-bb18 continues the steady run of updates built on top of Mozilla Thunderbird’s ESR base, and this release introduces a mix of new features, behavioral changes, and bug fixes, while keeping the project closely aligned with Thunderbird.
For anyone unfamiliar with the project, Betterbird is an open-source email client that starts with Thunderbird and then pushes it that bit further (“Thunderbird on steroids” as the developers refer to it).
It’s often described as a soft fork, meaning it tracks Thunderbird’s Extended Support Releases for security and compatibility, while layering on features and fixes that Thunderbird either hasn’t accepted yet or hasn’t prioritized.
Betterbird 140.7.1esr-bb18
Version 140.7.1esr-bb18 is based directly on Thunderbird 140.7.1esr, so users get the same security baseline. On top of that, Betterbird adds changes that focus on usability, long-standing feature requests, and bugs that have yet to be fixed.
This release includes a change to the Activity Manager, which now switches to a grey icon when no messages were downloaded. It’s a small, but welcome tweak.
This build also includes fixes to IMAP behavior. Problems with “after sending” filters under certain conditions have been addressed (again), building on earlier mitigation work in the 140 series.
Looking beyond point fixes, the wider 140 series shows where Betterbird has been focusing its attention. One of the most notable additions is a multi-line message list view, a feature Thunderbird users have been requesting since the early 2000s. It allows more information to be shown per message, closer to what users might expect from enterprise-focused email clients.
The 140 series also introduces address book categories for both local and CardDAV address books that support vCard 4.0. Global search has been expanded too with new boolean facets and more control over how many results are shown initially, making it easier to narrow down large mail archives.
Smaller but practical changes are scattered throughout Betterbird. Users can reveal passwords in authentication prompts, enable a dark reader mode in the compose window, and view attachments above messages instead of below them. Recent Destinations has been reworked multiple times, adjusting how folders are sorted and displayed based on actual usage rather than modification time.
Linux users now get a native system tray icon showing unread message counts, and multi-monitor quirks with notifications have been addressed. On Windows, font rendering tweaks and signing fixes improve compatibility with newer versions of the OS.
Betterbird can be installed alongside Thunderbird and even run against the same profile.
Version 140.7.1esr-bb18 is available now for Windows (installer and portable versions), Linux, and macOS (for both Intel and Apple Silicon).
What do you think about the latest Betterbird release? Let us know in the comments.
