Descending Sort Order Thunderbird

I prefer my most recent emails at the top of the list. Unfortunately Thunderbird (and many other mail clients) do this different.
So how do I change the default sort order?
Change the advanced options!

If you want to sort all mail by Date, Descending (newest at top), change the preferences in the config editor to:

mailnews.default_sort_order:    default     integer      2
mailnews.default_sort_type:     default     integer     18

So, what does that 2 stand for? And why 18?

In the options you will find:

Preference Name                   Status  Type    Value
mailnews.default_news_sort_order: default integer   x
mailnews.default_news_sort_type:  default integer   y
mailnews.default_sort_order:      default integer   x
mailnews.default_sort_type:       default integer   y

In the above, replace the x and y of the value by double-clicking the name of the preference and replacing it with one of the following values as required:

x (read here)

1 = Ascending
2 = Descending

y (read here)

17 = None
18 = Date
19 = Subject
20 = Author
21 = ID (Order Received)
22 = Thread
23 = Priority
24 = Status
25 = Size
26 = Flagged
27 = Unread
28 = Recipient
29 = Location
30 = Label
31 = Junk Status
32 = Attachments
33 = Account
34 = Custom
35 = Received

Have a nice day!