With Thunderbird in vertical view, and the message pane visible:
- after I click (or select something) in the body of an e-mail, it’s unreasonably difficult to reach the list of messages with the keyboard alone.
I can either:
- Tab
- Tab
- Tab
- Tab
- Tab
- Tab
- Tab
– or:
- F8
- Shift-Tab
– which is quicker, but the second key combination is physically uncomfortable:
- little finger on left Shift, arch my hand then middle finger (above little finger) on Tab.†
In addition, there’s often a bug, with the message pane visible:
- Tab never enters the list of messages
– pressing and holding the key cycles through various elements of the UI without focusing on any listing 
– I should find, or report, this bug.
Bugs and multi-step operations aside
Is there any way for the list of messages to gain focus with a single step?
(Using the keyboard, not a pointer.)
Is there a internal hook of some sort, that might allow a future extension to serve this purpose?
Screenshots (two-step)
† I know, I should learn to use the little middle finger of my right hand for right Shift, but old habits die hard. I simply don’t enjoy back-tabbing.