diff --git a/src/qtgui/confgui/confguiindex.cpp b/src/qtgui/confgui/confguiindex.cpp
index 75381f3c..580ab176 100644
--- a/src/qtgui/confgui/confguiindex.cpp
+++ b/src/qtgui/confgui/confguiindex.cpp
@@ -295,7 +295,14 @@ ConfSubPanelW::ConfSubPanelW(QWidget *parent, ConfNull *config)
 	    SLOT(subDirChanged(QListWidgetItem *, QListWidgetItem *)));
     connect(m_subdirs, SIGNAL(entryDeleted(QString)),
 	    this, SLOT(subDirDeleted(QString)));
-    list<string> allkeydirs = config->getSubKeys(); 
+
+    // We only retrieve the subkeys from the user's config (shallow),
+    // no use to confuse the user by showing the subtrees which are
+    // customized in the system config like .thunderbird or
+    // .purple. This doesn't prevent them to add and customize them
+    // further.
+    list<string> allkeydirs = config->getSubKeys(true); 
+
     QStringList qls;
     for (list<string>::const_iterator it = allkeydirs.begin(); 
 	 it != allkeydirs.end(); it++) {
diff --git a/src/utils/conftree.h b/src/utils/conftree.h
index 8c77d425..9489f05a 100644
--- a/src/utils/conftree.h
+++ b/src/utils/conftree.h
@@ -105,6 +105,7 @@ public:
     virtual int eraseKey(const string &) = 0;
     virtual void listall()  {};
     virtual list<string> getSubKeys() = 0;
+    virtual list<string> getSubKeys(bool) = 0;
     virtual bool holdWrites(bool) = 0;
 };
 
@@ -205,6 +206,7 @@ public:
     /**
      * Return all subkeys 
      */
+    virtual list<string> getSubKeys(bool) {return getSubKeys();}
     virtual list<string> getSubKeys();
 
     virtual string getFilename() {return m_filename;}
@@ -435,7 +437,8 @@ public:
 	return nms;
     }
 
-    virtual list<string> getSubKeys() 
+    virtual list<string> getSubKeys(){return getSubKeys(false);}
+    virtual list<string> getSubKeys(bool shallow)
     {
 	list<string> sks;
 	typename list<T*>::iterator it;
@@ -443,6 +446,8 @@ public:
 	    list<string> lst;
 	    lst = (*it)->getSubKeys();
 	    sks.insert(sks.end(), lst.begin(), lst.end());
+	    if (shallow)
+		break;
 	}
 	sks.sort();
 	sks.unique();