Bug 246146

Summary:	Mail list columns width shrink when sorted or view changed
Product:	[Applications] kmail2	Reporter:	osavill
Component:	message list	Assignee:	kdepim bugs <kdepim-bugs>
Status:	RESOLVED INTENTIONAL
Severity:	normal	CC:	alex.merry, bugs, kdenis, pancho.s
Priority:	NOR
Version:	5.3.2
Target Milestone:	---
Platform:	Mandriva RPMs
OS:	Linux
Latest Commit:		Version Fixed In:
Sentry Crash Report:

Description osavill 2010-07-29 13:03:41 UTC

Version:           1.13.3 (using KDE 4.4.3) 
OS:                Linux

When any sort header is clicked in the mail list or the view is changed to a different folder all the visible columns shrink dramatically. Each time a table header is clicked the columns shrink further until they become impossible to click in!

I am using KMail within KDE. I have the message viewer to the right of the message list and the Subject, Sender, Date and Attachment columns are visible. The problem doesn't seem to occur when the message viewer is below the message list.

I have Compiz disabled but 3D acceleration enabled in X. I have Desktop Effects enabled in KDE, Compositing active using OpenGL. Disabling Desktop Effects appears to make no difference.

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
Launch KMail
Click a column header

Actual Results:  
All visible columns shrink to almost nothing.

Expected Results:  
The column width should not change

Comment 1 Justin T. Frisch 2012-01-25 13:25:35 UTC

i can confirm this behaviour with Kontact 4.8 rc2 in KDE 4.7.97 Arch Linux
the issue does NOT occur when I directly run the kmail executable.
the column shrinking only happens to the mail listing inside kontact (also with message viewer below the list). the rss articles or to-do lists for example, are not affected.

Comment 2 Justin T. Frisch 2012-02-09 09:20:20 UTC

the shrinking also happens when changing to different imap mail folders! it's really annoying

Comment 3 Bernd Oliver Sünderhauf 2012-08-24 12:50:52 UTC

According to #1, this still applies to kmail2, component: message list.
However I can't reproduce this bug using kontact 4.9. Can someone else?

Comment 4 Myriam Schweingruber 2012-08-27 22:27:13 UTC

Setting status correctly.

Comment 5 Alex Merry 2014-05-23 10:31:06 UTC

I can reproduce this with standalone KMail 4.13.1, using kdelibs 4.13.1, on ArchLinux (Qt 4.8.6).

As with the others, I have the message list on the left (under the folder list), and the message pane on the right. I also have a very small screen real estate (1024x600). The columns shrink whenever I change the sorting (by clicking a column header) or change mail directory.

I don't recall having this issue even a few months ago (I don't use email much on this machine, so I'm not sure quite what the timing was). I'm going to try playing around with configuration settings, and possibly building a local copy of KMail and/or kdepimlibs and putting debug statements in.

Comment 6 Alex Merry 2014-05-23 11:16:30 UTC

The precise bit of my kmailrc that seems to be causing issues is:

[MessageListView::Themes]
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I have no idea what any of this means, but the problem goes away if I delete my kmail2rc and restart kmail, but if I then select the "show the message preview pane next to the message list" (this is actually the only way I can see the message list on my small screen), quit kmail, replace the existing MessageListView::Themes section of my kmail2rc file with the above and start kmail again, the problem comes back.

Comment 7 Justin T. Frisch 2015-10-30 07:42:11 UTC

This issue still exists even with KMail 4.14.10.

Like suggested by Alex Merry, it can be worked around be deleting the [MessageListView::Themes] section in kmail2rc config file.

Comment 8 Justin T. Frisch 2016-10-29 16:46:27 UTC

with 16.08.2-1, the workaround deleting [MessageListView::Themes] section from kmail2rc no longer works.
the columns not only shrink when re-sorting but also when changing imap folders. this renders the list view fundamentally unusable

Comment 9 osavill 2020-02-24 10:59:15 UTC

This report is very old now. Kmail won't start on my system as I don't use Akonadi so I can no longer even test it. Will set status to resolved