Here's one crude workaround for the misplaced *BBDB* buffer when creating new frames for vm folders. The new vm calls vm-select-message-hook while the previous frame is selected. This advice prevents bbdb's pop up of the initial window until after the vm operation has completed (and selected the created frame). ;; vm 5.8x has odd behavior with bbdb when creating frames. (defadvice vm-visit-folder (around vm-visit-folder-suppress-bbdb first activate) "temporarily disable bbdb-use-pop-up" (let ((bbdb-use-pop-up nil)) ad-do-it) (bbdb/vm-pop-up-bbdb-buffer t) ) (defadvice vm (around vm-suppress-bbdb first activate) "temporarily disable bbdb-use-pop-up" (let ((bbdb-use-pop-up nil)) ad-do-it) (bbdb/vm-pop-up-bbdb-buffer t) )