Thunderbird Profile UserContent.css

I have upgraded Thunderbird to Ver. 1.5.0.4, and although I never noticed before, when I print email there is a background color that depletes my printer cartridge even faster than normal. I do not want background color when printing email copies. Mozilla Knowledge base says I can change the color by editing the usercontent.css file. It even tells me where to find it but so far I cannot find it in my Profile folder. Yes, I have removed restrictions on hidden files and system file viewing/editing. Where do I edit the usercontent.css file and change the backgound color to NONE ???

 

Hi summerdale,

The userContent.css (yeah, that's how they spell it) file should be in your profile's chrome folder. I show nothing in my userContent.css file that has anything to do with background colors (except for quotes), so you may have to remove something.

Good luck, and please let us know how you make out.

 

The short answer is that there is no usecontent.css file in Thunderbird. I have some twenty such files, but they are in Firefox, and other browsers.
For more helpful answer, I don't have the time now. Check the excellent FAQs . It is long, but it has a wealth of info.
I never had the problem which you have.

 

I've got one, and have always had one.

 

I appreciate the replies but find no answers. My chrome folder contains nothing ... zip. Mozilla Knowledge Base on "userchrome.css" and "usercontent.css" both indicate examples of what to use for editing. The Knowledhge Base Tips and Tricks indicates the files can be edited but first one must find them ... In the site on Profiles <http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_folder#Folders> it states neither the Chrome or UserContent files exist by default and have to be created (?). So I guess I have come up against another brickwall. Guess I'll have to go back to the previous Thunderbird version as I do not recall it coloring the background of my email printouts. It doesn't make sense there isn't a way to correct this problem.

 

I hope that Jim can be more specific, i.e. where is the usercontent.css file located in his TB. I have three profiles for TB. The oldest is for 1.0.7, then I have one for 1.5.0.4, and, finally one for the 3.0a1 nightly. The first two have a chrome folder, with the overlayinfo folder. There is no usercontent.css there. and a chrome.rfd file.
I did a search of my WinXP Home (all files/folders are unhidden), and none of the twenty or so usercontent.css files belonged to TB.
Surely, I could create such file, but is not there natively, nor in the respective programs. So, I rephrase my former statement: "There is no TB usercontent.css file on my computer ".

 

summerdale ...

As I think about it, I've been using the same profile for dogs' years, and my chrome\userContent.css file may have come from a much earlier version of TB.

In any event, I've just uploaded a copy of mine here. You can download it by right-clicking on the file and selecting Save Link As.... It's editable with any text editor, such as NotePad.

Good luck.

Westside ...

How much more specific would you like me to be?

 

Use WordPad to open the file, as using Notepad will render the file difficult to read.

 

My problem was that I never had a usercontent.css file in Thunderbird.
On second thought I have had a userChrome.css file to modify display or opening of Flash. The file did not exist, but I created, just user.js is.
I have had the same TB since the earlier 1.0.x, and, I guess I never had a need for it. I found this link which told me a lot {/url]. It seems that a simple script takes care of some apparently hidden preferences.

 

summerdale,

It is the userChrome.css file that you want to create. It is really very simple, and I'll spell it out for you:

Close Thunderbird
Open Windows Explorer
Browse to:
C:\Documents and Settings\user_name\Application Data\Thunderbird\Profiles\1234abcd.profilename\chrome

Next:
Open WordPad
Copy the below code if you want a background color:

Code:

#folderTree,
#folderTree .tree-bodybox { background: #FFF8DC !important; }

#messagesBox, #threadTree { background: #FFF8DC !important; }

.header-part1 {
background-color: #FFF8DC !important;
}

For reasons unknown to me, the Header background color doesn't appear in TB, although it did work in Mozilla... I've been a bit lazy about finding out why it works in Mozilla and not in TB.

Once you have copied the above code in WordPad, then click on the file and save it as userChrome.css[/url] and place it in the above chrome folder location.

Of course if you want no color, then forget the whole thing. I have actually been trying to print a message with the background color, and for the life of me can't seem to accomplish what you are trying to eliminate. Could this perhaps be a Printer setting?

As you have learned, there is no userContent.css, or userChrome.css file in Thunderbird. Most of us have copied those files from our Mozilla Profiles.

 

Ramona ...

That may well be true, but I've been using TB for more than three years (since it was 0.1a), and never have used Mozilla for email. Yet, when I look at the userChrome.css file in my profile folder, the only entries, curiously enough, are about tabs:

Code:

/* Change color of active tab */
tab[selected= "true"] {
   background-color: rgb(255,1,234) !important;
   color: black !important;
}

/* Change color of normal tabs */
tab {
   background-color: rgb(200,196,188) !important;
   color: gray !important;
}

Apparently (since they're not created in a new profile), the only time TB needs, or uses, the userChrome.css and/or userContent.css files is when one wants to change a default setting. In fact, TB doesn't even seem to need the information contained in the "overlayinfo" folder, which seems to refer to the Mozilla/Netscape suite, anyway (browser, communicator, messenger, navigator, etc).

As a test, I just closed TB and moved the "overlayinfo" folder and both .css files to a temporary location, then reopened TB. I can detect no difference in the way TB looks or works.

summerdale ...

You've not said anything about this, but I'm assuming that the unwanted background color does not appear when you view the email onscreen.

In her last post Ramona suggested that a printer setting might be responsible, but I'm leaning more towards the possibility that a TB extension could be causing the problem. Do you have any installed that have settings that might affect your printouts?

 

SORRY ... I haven't been paying attention. I will process what Romona has suggested and also check for anything that has a setting that could effect my printer. It is strange that email is on a white background when composed or read but has a light blue or grey background when printed. I have already had to change a color cartridge ... bummer. I really appreciate your responses JSS3D and Ramona. I always know I can depend on the BBS to straighten out my thinking. Later....

 

Eureka ... thank you for suggesting it was a printer setting. I checked an email copy printed last month and it doesn't have a background. The problem is a printer setting ... actually a TB printer "Page Setup" setting. Under Format & Options there is a box that when checked causes a background tint when printing email. It mentions "colors and images" so guess it also prints watermarks. I must have checked that box for a reason and forgot to uncheck it. Dumb ... forgive me for causing this havoc ... but I did learn a new lesson in my never ending computer education. BTW, I printed test copies of an email with and without the box checked ... one came out with a background and the other without ...

 

summerdale,

Glad to hear that your problem is resolved. The background color in Thunderbird is eye candy for the user only.

 

Jim,

That is definitely code for Firefox.

At one point in time, (memory fails me) there was a userContent-example.css, and userChrome-example.css file in the Profiles directory. When one wished to add CSS code to make changes, it could be done in the userChrome/Content-example.css file, then renaming the file to userContent/Chrome.css. If you have that file in your Profiles directory, then its presence indicates a user change.

Since I'm not a programmer, I have no idea why removing the overlayinfo folder has no effect on Thunderbird?