Note that a few default key assignments of Thunderbird have been changed for better mnemonics or better equivalence with Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Express. For example, press F5 to refresh mail rather than Control+Shift+T, which brings focus to the Trash folder instead. Also, press Control+F rather than Control+L to forward a message.

Control+Shift+A=SelectThread
Control+Shift+B=AddressBook
Control+E=EditMessage
Control+F=ForwardMessage
Control+Shift+I=InboxFocus
Control+Shift+J=JunkFocus
Control+J=JunkMessage (mark a message as spam for the junk filter)
Control+K=KeepMessage (mark a message as not spam for the junk filter)
Control+Shift+L=ReplyToListMessage
Control+Shift+M=MoveMessage
Control+N=NewMessage
Control+Shift+O=OutboxFocus
Control+P=PrintMessage
Control+R=ReplyMessage
Control+Shift+R=ReplyToAllMessage
Control+S=SaveMessage
Control+Shift+S=SearchMessages
Control+Shift+T=TrashFocus
Control+Enter=SendMessage
F2=RenameFolder
F5=RefreshMail (get new messages)
Alt+Apostrophe=QuoteClipboard (say content of clipboard)
Alt+Shift+Apostrophe=ClearClipboard
Shift+Space=SaySelectedText (easier to press than JAWSKey+Shift+DownArrow)
Alt+Shift+F10=ScriptMenu (pick from a list of available scripts)

alt+1=SayFromField (spell if pressed twice quickly)
alt+2=SayToField
alt+3=SayCCField
alt+4=SayBCCField
alt+5=SaySubjectField
Control+F3=ForwardFind
Control+Shift+F3=ReverseFind
F3=FindNext
Shift+F3=FindPrior
F8=StartSelection (mark start of text to be selected)
Shift+F8=CompleteSelection (select text from start point to current position)
Control+F8=CopyAll (copy all text to clipboard)
Alt+F8=ReadAll (read all text without moving the cursor)
Control+C=Copy (copy current line if no selection)
Alt+C=CopyAppend (append to clipboard rather than replacing it)
Control+Space=SelectChunk (select contiguous text without stopping at punctuation)
Alt+Delete=SayActiveCursor (say line, column, and percent position of virtual cursor)
Alt+Y=SayYield (say number of characters, words, and lines in message)

Overview: this free tutorial shows you how to setup a POP3 or IMAP email account in Mozilla Thunderbird. No previous knowledge of Thunderbird is required. This information is useful to Windows, Mac and Linux users.
In this tutorial: Introduction
Setup an Email Account
POP3 or IMAP

Create a POP3 Email Account in Thunderbird

If you are planning to use Thunderbird with an email account you have already setup in Microsoft Outlook, Outlook Express, or Qualcomm Eudora, see how you can import settings in Thunderbird instead. It will be faster, and a lot easier.

Creating a New Email Account in Thunderbird

Thunderbird should now be open, and display the Welcome Screen.

The default "Local Folders" have been created in the left pane: Inbox, Unsent, Drafts, Sent, and Trash.

You can now click on the "Create a new account" link to associate an email address with Thunderbird.

Note: You 'll be able to add more email accounts to Thunderbird later on.

You can use Thunderbird as reader for RSS feeds or Newsgroup accounts; in this tutorial, we will setup an email account. Choose "Email account," and click Next.

Under "Your Name," enter your name as you would like it to appear when people receive emails from you. Enter your actual email address in the second field. Click Next.

POP3 (POP) is the most common type of email account

Thunderbird also supports IMAP email accounts. If you must use IMAP, simply select IMAP instead of POP3. IMAP and POP3 are email protocols, whose coverage is beyond the scope of the Thunderbird Tutorial.
Choose the email account type: IMAP or POP3. Most email providers use POP3, so you should try POP if you are unsure. (Contact your email provider, or check its documentation to obtain this information.)

In the Incoming mail server field, you should enter the mail server to which Thunderbird must connect to check your emails. In most cases, it will be of the form "mail.yourMailServer.com"

The checkbox "Use global inbox" is checked by default. You should uncheck it if you think that you will add more email accounts later, and if you want them separate in Thunderbird -and you probably will to avoid confusion. If you use only one email address, it makes sense to leave it checked.

Note: By default, if you have multiple email accounts (or at least one email account setup previously) Thunderbird will choose the same "outgoing server" information as the other accounts. In most cases, this will not work. But more on that later.

Enter your email account user name. This user name will vary depending on your email provider: it usually is either the part that comes right before the "@" character. In some cases, the user name may be the entire email address.

Click Next.

"Account Name" is the user friendly nickname you want to give to the email account you just setup. Take your pick!

If you are connected to the Internet (reading this tutorial, you probably are) leaving the checkbox checked will make Thunderbird check for email on your provider's server as soon as you click the Finish button.

Thunderbird should prompt you for your email account's password.

If you are the only one using your computer's current user name, you will probably want to leave the checkbox checked. Otherwise, Thunderbird will ask you for your password each time it needs it.

Overview: this free tutorial gives you a quick but thorough overview of Mozilla Thunderbird and its interface: the main window, default folders, search bar and toolbar:
In this tutorial: Introduction
Thunderbird's Main Window
The Search Bar
The Mail Toolbar
The Status Bar
Customize Thunderbird's Interface
Customize the Toolbars

Thunderbird's Program Interface

Up to this point, we covered the most boring parts of this tutorial! Now comes the point where you learn how to actually use Thunderbird as your email client.

Thunderbird's Main Window

By default, Thunderbird is divided in three panes:

The top left pane contains your folders, default and custom.

The top right pane displays the emails (if any) from the folder selected in the left pane.

The bottom pane displays the content of the selected email.

Unlike some email clients, Thunderbird lets you take advantage of the full width of your screen to read emails. In many other email programs, the so-called "Reading Pane" (bottom pane in Thunderbird) is only as wide as the top right pane.

On the top left pane, a listing of Thunderbird's default folders:

Inbox
where your incoming emails will be stored by default.

Unsent
where your unsent emails will be stored - until a connection is available, for example. (Called "Outbox" by many other email programs.)

Drafts
where Thunderbird stores your saved but unsent emails.

Sent
where a copy of every email you send is kept.

Trash
where all deleted emails will be stored.

Thunderbird's Search Bar

The "Search Bar" is a recent addition in Thunderbird, and a very nice one.

We will come back to it when showing you how to manage your emails, but for now let's just say that this drop-down menu and input field allow you to search and filter the emails of the current folder.

The Search Bar is a very intuitive tool, and once you have a few emails in your inbox, playing around with it will reveal its powerful capabilities.

Thunderbird's Mail Toolbar

The Mail Toolbar contains 80% of the functionality you will use daily in Thunderbird. The Mail Toolbar's buttons and associated functions are covered in our Mail Toolbar tutorial.

Thunderbird's Status Bar

The status bar is not too interactive, but more "informative", thus its name: the status bar informs us of the status of an action, the content of an email folder, etc. In the screenshot above, the status bar displays a progress bar indicating that Thunderbird is communicating with the email server. On the right, Thunderbird indicates how many unread emails (3) and how many emails overall (5) are in the folder currently selected.

On the left of Thunderbird's status bar, notice the electric cable icon: it allows you to toggle Thunderbird's Online/Offline state with one click. (Alternatively, you can go to File > Offline > Work Offline.) The red cross above the cable indicates that Thunderbird is offline.

Customizing Thunderbird's Interface

The first thing you'll want to determine is Thunderbird's "Layout". To change Thunderbird's Layout, click the View menu, choose Layout, and check each layout one after the other to get a better feel from each. There are three basic layouts:

- Classic View -

- Wide View -

- Vertical View -

This view allows you to take advantage of the height of your screen to see all folders in the left pane.
This view lets you take advantage of the full width of your screen to read your emails (that's our favorite!)
The Vertical View uses the full height of your screen to display folders, emails, and email content. The downside: email content is squeezed in some cases.

F8 Toggle the message pane's visibility

You can also choose to show or hide the Mail Toolbar, the Search Bar, or the Status Bar. To do that, click the View menu, click Toolbar, and check/uncheck the appropriate toolbar. By default, Thunderbird has all three toolbar visible.

Customizing Thunderbird's Toolbars

To learn how to customize Thunderbird's toolbars, please see our Customize the Toolbars tutorial.

Overview: this free tutorial shows you how to use Mozilla Thunderbird's Mail Toolbar, which contains 80% of the commands you will use to send & read your emails. Corresponding keyboard shortcuts are also listed.
In this tutorial: Introduction
The "Default Set" Buttons
The "Other" Buttons
Keyboard Shortcuts

Thunderbird's Mail Toolbar

Unless you use keyboard shortcuts to operate Thunderbird -more on that later- the Mail Toolbar is the feature you will use most. It will control most aspects of the way you use email.

Please find below a summary of Thunderbird's Mail Toolbar keyboard shortcuts.

To customize the Mail Toolbar's buttons and settings, please see our Customize the Toolbars tutorial.

Thunderbird's "Default Set" Mail Toolbar Buttons

This button checks for emails on the server. Thunderbird will check the mail server on its own, at a configurable interval, but this gives you control. Besides, there is a drop down arrow on the right of the icon: if you have multiple email accounts, this lets you select for which email account to check the server.

This button creates a new, blank, email message.

This button pulls up Thunderbird's address book, in which you create and manage contacts. It is useful to have at least the email address of the persons you email frequently.

This button (only enabled when an email is selected in the right pane) lets you reply to the current email. This replies only to the sender of the email, (see next.)

This button allows you to reply not only to the send of the email currently selected, but also to all the other people who received the email, ("recipients.") Example: Jane emails you and other friends about a party tomorrow evening; by clicking "Reply All" you will let her and all the others know that this time isn't convenient for you.

Enabled only when an email is selected in the right pane, this button allows you to forward the current email to another recipient.

This button deletes the email currently selected. And actually, the selected email(s) aren't really deleted yet: they are moved to the "Trash" folder, from where they can be restored. Once the emails are deleted from the Trash folder, they are gone forever.

This button toggles between "Junk" and "Not Junk," and determines how Thunderbird treats the email. Since images can let the sender know that the email was read (i.e. that the email account is active) Thunderbird and other email clients have started blocking images when an email is perceived as junk, to protect your privacy and fight spam. (More on that later.)

This button lets you print the email currently selected; (unlike other email clients, it will not print directly to the default printer, but pop open the print dialog and let you choose where to print.) The drop down arrow on the right of the icon allows you to see a preview of how the email will look on paper, ("Print Preview.")

This button stops the current incoming transfer. (It does not let you stop outgoing data, i.e. an outgoing email.)

Thunderbird's "Other" Mail Toolbar Buttons

This button allows you to file the selected email or emails: clicking on the File button deploys a menu of folders and sub-folders available for filing. This is especially practical when you have more folders in your folder tree than available vertical space on your monitor.

This button goes from the current email to the next unread email, from bottom to top. It stops once it reaches the last read email, going upwards (even if there are still unread emails in the same folder, below the starting point).

This button goes from the currently selected email to the next unread email, downwards. If it reaches the end of the current folder, it will start from the top of the current folder if there are still some unread emails in it. Otherwise, it will ask you if you want to read the next unread email, in folder [blank].

This button toggles the Read/Unread status of the email or emails currently selected, when you click on the glasses icon. The arrow pulls a drop-down menu which lets you define a "Read by Date" range.

This button launches a web browser window pointing to Thunderbird's Homepage.

Keyboard Shortcuts Summary

Functions covered above can also be performed using keyboard shortcuts. ("Ctrl+M" means "Hold down the control key and at the same time press the M key.")

F5 Send + Receive

Ctrl+M Create blank email

Ctrl+N (Also works)

Ctrl+2 Address Book

Ctrl+R Reply to email

Ctrl+Shift+R Reply to all recipients

Ctrl+L Forward email

Del Delete selected email

J Marks current email as junk

Ctrl+P Print current email

P Go to Previous unread email

N Go to Next unread email

M Toggles Read/Unread status

Overview: this free tutorial guides you through the process of truly using Mozilla Thunderbird as your email client: sending and formatting emails, using built-in smileys, and working with the spell checker.
In this tutorial: Introduction
Composing Emails
Formatting Emails
Using Smileys (Emoticons)
Sending Attachments
Sending Emails
The Spell Checker

Sending Emails with Thunderbird

This is where the action starts: using Thunderbird to communicate with your friends, colleagues and clients. Thunderbird was designed for the general public, as an alternative to Microsoft's Outlook Express, (or Outlook, but only Outlook Express is free.) For this reason, it is very user-friendly.

The icons are clean, large, and labeled, which makes it easy to use the program right after install. (Many other email programs are configured by default to displaying small, un-labeled icons.)

If you have ever used Microsoft Outlook or Outlook Express, Thunderbird will seem familiar. Thunderbird has more features than Outlook Express, but is just as user-friendly.

Creating a New Email

Click the "Write" button to create a new email, a blank email will popup. (Alternatively, you can press Ctrl+M on your keyboard.)

Ctrl+M Create a blank email
Ctrl+N(Also works)

The email account you have just setup should be visible in the top drop-down menu: from left to right, it should display your name (as you chose it to appear for outgoing emails), your actual email address enclosed in <angular brackets>, and the nickname you gave to your email account.

Below is the area where you'll pick email recipients for your email. There are four lines visible, but as you'll see, this number can be increased as needed.

The "Subject" line, where you'll enter your email title. If you leave it blank, Thunderbird will give you a last chance before sending your email with "(No Subject)" as email title.

Finally, the email content goes in the text area at the bottom. Although they are disabled until you focus in the text area, you can see the text control for "Rich Text Editing," that give you the possibility to format your emails: different font families and font sizes, bold, italic, underlined, numbered lists, etc.

Ctrl+SSave in Drafts the email you are editing

Formatting Your Emails

Thunderbird supports plain text emails and "rich format" emails, allowing you to format the content of your emails. Once you click inside the email content area, the formatting toolbar will show clickable buttons, (they are grayed-out when your cursor is in the text fields above it.)

Ctrl+B Bold

Ctrl+U Underlined

Ctrl+I Italic

The Insert Button on Thunderbird's formatting toolbar allows you to insert non-text elements in your emails:

A clickable link (like "www.FreeEmailTutorials.com")

An "anchor" (a link that points to an internal spot in your email content)

An image (from your hard-drive, or from the Internet)

An "H.Line" (an horizontal line to separate segments of text)

A table (to display tabular data)

Ctrl+L Insert Link

Using Thunderbird's "Built-In" Smileys

Thunderbird's Insert a Smiley Face menu allows you to enter smiley icons (also called "emoticons") to spice up your emails. To email clients not supporting expressions to smiley faces, a wink would simply appear as ";)"

Sending Attachments with Your Emails

Thunderbird lets you send emails with attachments, or
web pages! This is a very nice feature if you want to forward a whole web page to a friend. You will probably come to love this feature: sending the whole page saves your friends a link click.

To send a web page with Thunderbird, click the drop-down arrow to the right of the Attach button. Thunderbird will prompt you for the web page's address (or "URL").

The easiest is to copy-paste the address from your web browser; otherwise, type the complete URL, as in "http://www.FreeEmailTutorials.com/".

Be aware that some email providers or system administrators block attachments. Make sure your friends received your email before deciding not to speak to them ever again.

Sending Emails

Once you click Thunderbird's Send button, your email is queued: it is temporarily stored in the Outbox folder. If no Internet connection is currently available, Thunderbird will keep your emails stored in the Outbox until it can access your mail server.

Working Offline: you can force Thunderbird to work offline if you do not want it to check for new emails or send your emails. Under the File menu, choose "Offline", and "Work Offline." By choosing "Offline Settings", you can customize Thunderbird's offline behavior when opening Thunderbird, when going offline, and when sending emails while in offline mode.

Once a connection is successfully established with the mail server, Thunderbird will display an email delivery message, which should only appear for a few seconds.

The Sending Messages box would appear longer if your Internet connection is slow, busy, or if you are sending large attachments.

Ctrl+Enter Send an email

By default, Thunderbird stores a copy of the emails you sent in the Sent folder. This is useful, but can be turned off.

Don't want copies of sent emails in the Sent folder? Go to Tools, Account Settings, select your email account and Copies & Folders. Uncheck the "Place a copy in" checkbox, and Thunderbird will stop copying sent emails in the Sent folder.

Thunderbird's Spell Checker

Enabled by default, Thunderbird includes a spell-checker that will prevent you from sending out misspelled emails. Fortunately, Thunderbird allows you to add unrecognized words to the dictionary of the spell-checker.

To see what Thunderbird's spell-checker suggests instead, right-click on the word underlined with a red dotted line.

After clicking the send button, Thunderbird will popup the spell checker if any word in your email is not recognized. You can then choose to follow its advice, or disregard it by clicking Send.

Ctrl+KCheck spelling

If U.S. English isn't your primary or only language, you can download additional languages dictionaries from Mozilla.com: Mozilla.com/Thunderbird/dictionaries.html

To disable Thunderbird's Spell Checker, go to Tools, Options, click "Composition" and select the "Spelling tab"; uncheck "Check spelling before sending".

Overview: this free tutorial guides you through the process of using Mozilla Thunderbird as your email client to read and manage your emails: you will learn about email threads, group-sorting, flagging your emails, and customizing the email headers Thunderbird shows.
In this tutorial: Introduction
Customizing Column Headers
Email Threads
Group Sorting Emails
Flagging Emails
Email Headers

Receiving Emails with Thunderbird

If you are lucky enough to be in front of your computer when a new email arrives, you will see this small indicator appear for a few seconds on the bottom right of your screen. You can click the blue "has 1 new message" text to show Thunderbird.

By default, when a new email arrives, Thunderbird displays an envelope icon in the tray area of the Windows Taskbar, (next to the clock.) This one, unlike the popup New Email popup indicator, will remain visible in the system tray area until at least one of your emails has been (marked as) read.

New emails are shown in bold to distinguish themselves from read mail. You can determine how long Thunderbird will show emails as unread, from instantaneously becoming "Read" upon selection, or a few minutes - (it seems like Thunderbird lets you enter astronomical amount of seconds.)

M Toggles the selected email's "Read" status

You can change how long an email is left "Unread" in Thunderbird: under the Tools menu, choose Options, click Advanced, and check the box to type a number of seconds:

Customizing Email Column Headers

By default, incoming mail is sorted by date. Email order can be customized on the fly by clicking on the appropriate columns:
Clicking on a header button will sort the email folder in ascending or descending order; clicking the same header button will invert the sort order.

Column headers can be added or removed by clicking the right-most button header, and checking or un-checking the column names.

At the very bottom of the columns drop-down menu, the "Restore Natural Order" option resets Thunderbird's original column configuration: Attachment, Subject, Sender, Date, and Flag Status.

To change the left-to-right order in which your email columns appear in Thunderbird, hold down a column with your mouse, and drag it to the desired destination. (A visual feedback will appear in the form of a vertical bar.)

Reading Your Emails In Conversation Threads

Usually, sorting emails by date received is the preferred order. But, in addition to this sort order, Thunderbird can agglomerate all related emails in a thread. That way, it is easy to go back and forth through the discussion, all emails are together, as pictured on the left.

Thread-grouping your emails is the same as putting related paper correspondence in one stack: the whole email exchange is available in one convenient group.

A thread of emails can be expanded or collapsed using the (+) or (-) sign. A collapsed email thread looks like a normal email, with a (+) sign button on its left.

To view emails as conversation threads, go to View, Sort By, and choose Threaded, (Unthreaded to stop showing threads.)

Group-Sorting your emails

Thunderbird allows you to quickly sort your emails in logical groups.

Note that this is not a sort per se; rather, it visually connects emails according to your current sort-order: as soon as you change the sort order, groups will be "broken".

And unfortunately, there does not seem to be a way to make group behavior "persistent" in Thunderbird version 1.5.

In the screenshot above, emails are sorted by date. After choosing View > Sort By > Grouped By Sort, Thunderbird created collapsible groups of emails. Email grouping works for any sort order available: you can group emails by sender for faster filing, for example.

G Group-sort your emails

Flagging Emails

Thunderbird lets you "Flag" emails to make them stand out from the rest. Flagging emails is an easy "to do" reminder. You should see a red flag icon appear and disappear by hitting the letter "i", with the current email selected. If you don't see a flag icon, make sure that the Flag column is visible (see above, Customizing Email Column Headers)

i Toggles the selected email's "Flag" status

Email Headers

By default, Thunderbird shows you five pieces of information about any given email. In many cases, this information is redundant with the email column headers.

To save space, or limit information to the strict necessary, you can hide this information by clicking the (-) minus sign to collapse the email headers pane.

Overview: this free tutorial shows you how to use Mozilla Thunderbird's Address Book, where general contact information and email addresses are stored. You will also learn how to create an email distribution list.

In this tutorial: Introduction
Importing Contacts
Exporting Your Address Book
Multiple Address Book Support
Create Email Distribution Lists
Address Cards
Find Contacts
Add Email Addresses

Thunderbird's Address Book

Thunderbird's Address Book is used to store all your correspondents' contact information.

Aside from email addresses, Thunderbird lets you store physical address, website, phone/fax/mobile/pager numbers, 4 custom fields and notes.

By default, Thunderbird will add to the address book email addresses from people you respond to, a handy feature.

Ctrl+2 Show Address Book
Ctrl+1 Show Thunderbird

To customize Thunderbird's Address Book, please see the Customize the Address Book tutorial.

Importing Address Books and Contacts in Thunderbird

You can import contacts into Thunderbird from other applications' address books. Contacts can be imported from Qualcomm Eudora, Microsoft Outlook, Outlook Express, or text files (LDIF, Comma-separated or tab delimited). For more details, please see the Import Your Contacts tutorial.

Exporting Your Thunderbird Address Book (Contacts)

Thunderbird lets you export your Address Book as LDIF file (for LDAP directory), Comma-separated values (CSV) file, or tab-delimited file (TAB/TXT).

To export your Address Book, go to Tools > Export (from the Address Book window), and select your preferred export format.

This method can be used to backup your address book, but there are more efficient ways to backup your Thunderbird profile: please see the Backup and Restore tutorial.

Choosing to export your Thunderbird address book from the Tools menu will only export the address book currently selected.

You will need to repeat the operation as many times as you have address books.

Multiple Address Book Support

Thunderbird supports multiple address books, which lets you to efficiently manage your contacts. Two address books come by default, the "Personal Address Book", and the "Collected Addresses", (where Thunderbird adds email addresses from people you respond to.)

To create a new, custom address book, click the address book's File menu, then New, and Address Book.

Thunderbird will let you use any combination of words and characters for your new address books.

Thunderbird will not prevent you from using a name already taken for your new address book.

Email Distribution List

Thunderbird also lets you create "Lists", that are collections of email addresses. "Sales Team" would be an example of list, and would contain the email addresses of all the employees who work in the sales department.

Each email contact can be individually added. You can also add email addresses pre-existing in other address book; however, this will not carry over the rest of the information.

To share a contact between several address books and distribution lists, create the list without him/her. Then drag the contact from a pre-existing address book to the new address book or distribution list.

Likewise, updating a contact in one address book or email distribution list will not update the other instances of that contact: Thunderbird's address book is not a database, merely a receptacle for static information.

Address Cards in Thunderbird

Aside from displaying static text information about a given contact, Thunderbird transforms URLs and email addresses into clickable links. It also shows a Get Map button that opens a browser window to Google Maps for the physical address.

Ctrl+N New Address Book Card

By default, Thunderbird will add to your Personal Address Book email addresses from people to whose emails you respond.

Finding Contacts in Thunderbird

Thunderbird's address book contains an advanced search utility, which lets you specify very narrow filter to find information. This interface is well designed, and intuitive, so we'll just mention it, and let you discover it.

Ctrl+Shift+F Find a contact in address book

Adding an Email Address to Your Address Book

When a new email comes in, and its sender is not yet in your address book, right-click on the sender's email address in the email header, and choose Add to Address Book. The New Card dialog opens, pre-fills the Email field with the email address, and lets you add other information in the address card before saving it (if you click OK).

Overview: this free tutorial shows you how to export your contacts from the Mozilla Thunderbird address books as an LDIF, CSV, or plain text file (TXT). Contacts exported in these formats can then be imported in other email clients like Microsoft Outlook, Outlook Express or Apple Mail.

In this tutorial: Introduction
Export Thunderbird's Address Books
Working with exported Thunderbird Address Books
LDIF and Microsoft Outlook / Outlook Express

Export Thunderbird's Address Books and Contacts

To export your contacts from Mozilla Thunderbird, use the Address Book: to open Thunderbird's address book, go to Tools > Address Book from Thunderbird's main window.

Ctrl+2 Open Thunderbird's address book

Exporting Your Thunderbird Address Book Contacts

As we saw in the Thunderbird Address Book tutorial, all your contacts are stored in one or more address books, accessible from the Address Book tool.

Thunderbird supports multiple address books: the export address book functionality will export the contacts from the selected address book. To export contacts from other address books, repeat the procedure outlined below for each address book.

If you are planning on exporting your address books' contacts for another Thunderbird installation, look instead at the Backup and Restore tutorial, which shows you how to find your Thunderbird profile data.

Address Book Export Formats for Thunderbird

After having selected the address book you would like to export, go (from Thunderbird's address book window) to Tools > Export.

The Export Address Book dialog will open, and let you pick a file name, a location and a file format for your exported contacts.

Thunderbird lets you export contacts from your address book in three formats: LDIF, for LDAP directories, CSV (Comma-Separated Values), the most compatible used format (where contacts are listed on each line, and contact information is separated by commas), or Tab Delimited.

The CSV format enables you for example, to import the contacts you exported from Thunderbird's address book into Microsoft Outlook or Outlook Express.

Working with Address Books Contacts Exported from Thunderbird

When exporting address book contacts as CSV files, Thunderbird includes only values, and no header information.

Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Express, on the other hand, import and export CSV files using headers to import contacts.

You will still be able to import Thunderbird exported address books, but you will have to map custom fields, i.e. confirm to the importing email client which comma-separated ("column") value corresponds to which field type (first name, last name, primary email address, etc.).

LDIF Contacts and Microsoft Outlook / Outlook Express

Surprisingly, Microsoft Outlook does not natively import LDIF address book, but Outlook Express does. The easiest way to import LDIF contacts into Outlook is through Outlook Express.

Advantages of using LDIF as address book format are LDIF's "open-standardness"; the predictable format allows third-party application to either directly import it, or use an easy to write utility to convert from LDIF to a proprietary format.


vCards in Mozilla Thunderbird (v-cards)

Overview: this free tutorial explains what vCards are and how to use them, both for you, to be attached on outgoing emails, and to process from your senders. (vCards and v-cards are the same thing.)
In this tutorial: Introduction
Create Your vCard
Receiving vCards

vCards in Mozilla Thunderbird (v-cards)

vCards (or "v-cards") are an electronic file format used as repository for contact information. vCard is also an Internet standard, which means that a multiple applications on different platforms (Windows, Mac, Linux) and devices (Desktop computers, PDAs ) support them.

Internet Mail Consortium: vCards Overview

Creating Your Own vCard

Thunderbird supports vCards, which are digital equivalents of business cards. vCards can be imported into programs like Microsoft Outlook or Lotus Notes, which saves your email recipients the burden of having to manually enter your contact information.

To create (or edit) your vCard, go to Tools > Account Settings, select your email account, and click on the Edit vCard button.

Thunderbird can automatically attach your vCard to every email you send. To automatically include your vCard in outgoing emails, simply check the Attach my vCard to messages checkbox.

You can create as many vCards as you have email accounts and identities. Multiple identities can share the same email account. (Identities in Thunderbird)

Receiving vCards Through Emails

If someone sends you a vCard as attachment, Thunderbird will display it at the bottom of the email, with a business card icon (left).

To add someone (who sent you his or her vCard) to your address book, simply click the business card icon, and it will open the New Card for [sender's name] dialog. If you click OK, the person and all his or her contact information will have been added to your personal address book.

Thunderbird shows emails with vCards as having an attachment, which disappears as soon as you activate the email. The attachment was the vCard.

Overview: this free tutorial shows you how to print from Mozilla Thunderbird, and introduces you to the Page Setup, Print Preview, and Print dialogs
In this tutorial: Introduction
Printing in Thunderbird
Page Setup
Print Preview
The Print Dialog

Printing from Mozilla Thunderbird

Sooner or later you will want to print an email from Thunderbird. Here is how to print and customize the way your emails are printed.

Printing in Thunderbird

There are several ways to print an email from Thunderbird. The most intuitive way is to click the Print button on Thunderbird's toolbar. Also print the selected email by going to File > Print.

Another way to print an email from Thunderbird is to right-click on it and choose Print from the context menu.

Ctrl+PPrint the email(s) currently selected

Printing Multiple Emails at Once in Thunderbird

Thunderbird will print all emails that are currently selected. To select and print multiple emails in Thunderbird, hold down the control key (Ctrl, or Command key on a Mac), and click each email to be printed. Then, choose one of Thunderbird's Print commands.

Page Setup in Thunderbird

To determine how your emails will be printed from Thunderbird, go to File > Page Setup.

The Page Setup dialog will open.

The Format & Options tab allows you to determine the print orientation, Portrait (default) or Landscape.

By default, Thunderbird scales your emails to fit the print medium (Letter size/A4 paper). To customize the scale of the email printout, uncheck the Shrink To Fit Page Width checkbox and enter the desired scale percentage.

Under the Options fieldset, check the Print Background (colors & images) checkbox to include any watermark images or any background color used in the body of your email.

Margins & Header/Footer

The Margins & Header/Footer tab enables you to customize the margins Thunderbird will apply around the content of the emails to print.

By default, Thunderbird will apply half-an-inch padding on your sheets. 1 inch = 2.54 centimeters Under Headers & Footers, Thunderbird lets you customize which information will be added to your printed emails. The six drop-down menus have the following items:

--blank-- instructs Thunderbird not to insert anything in the corresponding field.

Title inserts the email's title (subject line)

Overview: this free tutorial will show you how to quickly import your email accounts settings into Mozilla Thunderbird from Microsoft Outlook, Outlook Express, or Qualcomm Eudora.
In this tutorial: Introduction
Import Email Accounts
Remove Email Accounts

Importing Email Accounts Settings in Thunderbird

If you have, at least once, checked your email account with Microsoft Outlook, Outlook Express or Eudora, no need to go through the steps of setting it up manually in Thunderbird. Thunderbird can import your email account information directly from these email clients.

Importing Your Email Accounts Settings in Thunderbird

If you are switching to Thunderbird from Microsoft Outlook, Outlook Express, or Qualcomm Eudora, you just need to use the Import wizard. In three steps, it will have added all the information necessary to use your email account.

To import settings from another email client, go to Tools > Import; the Import wizard will open. Click Settings, and Next.

In some cases, Thunderbird will not be able to import from another email client if it is running in the background. Make sure to first close the email program from which you are importing.

If Thunderbird gives you a confirmation message like Settings were imported from [blank], the operation went smoothly. Click Finish. To verify that Thunderbird did indeed import your email settings, go to Tools > Account Settings, and make sure that you see the email account(s) that should have been imported.

Removing Unwanted Email Accounts

If multiple accounts were imported, but you only wanted to import one of them, highlight the unwanted account, and click the Remove Account button.

Click the confirmation, and proceed until you are left only with the account(s) you wanted to import in the first place.

You can now import your contacts or import your emails.

Overview: this free tutorial shows you how to import email contacts and address books in Mozilla Thunderbird from Qualcomm Eudora, Microsoft Outlook, Outlook Express or text files, (like LDIF for LDAP).
In this tutorial: Introduction
Automatically Import Contacts
Import Contacts with Text Files

Importing Contacts in Mozilla Thunderbird

If you are switching to Thunderbird from another email application, you will be able to import address book contacts from the following email clients: Qualcomm Eudora, Microsoft Outlook, or Outlook Express. Additionally, you can import a list of contacts from text files.

In some cases, Thunderbird will not be able to import from another email client if it is running in the background. Make sure to first close the email program from which you are importing.

Automatically Importing Contacts

To import contacts in Thunderbird, go to Tools > Import. The Import dialog will open; choose Address Books and click Next.

Choose the email client from which you will import an address book, and click Next. (Alternatively, you can choose Text files, which supports LDIF, tab-delimited or comma-separated files.)

If the operation was successful, you should receive a message like "Addresses successfully imported from [blank] - Imported address book contacts"

Click the Finish button, and open Thunderbird's address book (Tools > Address Book)

In our case, we chose to import contacts from Microsoft Outlook 2003. Thunderbird's address book now shows a Contacts address book, with all email addresses collected from Outlook's address book. The two child nodes ("Sales Staff" and "IT Dept") are two distribution lists imported from Outlook.

Importing Contacts with Text Files

Thunderbird also allows you to import contact lists from text file. The Import dialog will launch an Open dialog, from which you will need to navigate to the text file you want to use. In our case, we imported an LDIF address book.

After we successfully imported an LDIF address book into Thunderbird, the address book now shows an address book entry named after our LDIF file.

LDIF stands for LDAP Data Interchange Format, (LDAP stands for "Lightweight Directory Access Protocol").

LDIF (ASCII text file format) allows synchronization between servers using LDAP directories.

Overview: this free tutorial will show you how to import your old emails into Mozilla Thunderbird from Netscape 4, Qualcomm Eudora, Microsoft Outlook, or Outlook Express.
In this tutorial: Introduction
Import Old Emails
Note on Performance

Importing Emails in Mozilla Thunderbird

If you are switching to Thunderbird from another email application, chances are that you will be able to import emails from other emails clients. Thunderbird 1.5 lets you import emails from Netscape 4, Eudora, Microsoft Outlook, or Outlook Express.

In some cases, Thunderbird will not be able to import from another email client if it is running in the background. Make sure to first close the email program from which you are importing.

Importing Old Emails in Thunderbird

To import emails from another email client, go to Tools > Import, and the Import dialog will open. Choose the email program from which you want Thunderbird to import old emails, and click Next.

In our case, we chose to import emails from Qualcomm's Eudora email software. Thunderbird has automatically created a "Eudora Mail" as a sub-folder of our "Local Folders" folder.

Notice that Thunderbird maintained the hierarchy of Eudora's folders: the sub-folders of Eudora Mail are the folders we have setup in Eudora. Clicking the sub-folders reveals emails as if they had always been in Thunderbird. No glitch, or partial imports; all emails were transferred. That's it.

Performance

Transferring your emails from another email client to Thunderbird is usually a smooth process. However, keep in mind that the speed of the transfer depends on the amount of emails your are importing. Also, note that rich-content emails (that contain text formatting and graphics) are much larger than plain-text emails.

Overview: this free tutorial shows you how to organize your emails in Mozilla Thunderbird - how to create, use and customize email folders, as well as the built-in email labels. This tutorial will also clarify the color-highlighted emails mystery, and show you how to remove color-highlights from your emails in Thunderbird.
In this tutorial: Introduction
Organize Emails by Folder
Customize Folders
Use Labels
Highlighted Emails!

Using Folders & Labels in Mozilla Thunderbird

Email is great fun, but can be overwhelming at times. Depending on how many "free newsletters" you subscribe to, only two days of inattention will make your inbox seem discouragingly crowded.

Fortunately, Thunderbird has several features to help you cope with the flow of mail.

Organizing Emails by Folders

The easiest, and most intuitive way to organize your emails is to use folders.

To create a new folder, right-click on the "Local Folders" label and choose New Folder. (Similarly, to create a sub-folder, right-click on a folder and chose New Subfolder.)

To move emails from your inbox to a folder, or from a folder to another folder, simply drag it from the current location to the destination folder.

Alternatively, you can use the Message menu, choose Move, and pick the destination folder from the unfolding menus and submenus representing folder locations.

To copy an email to a folder, rather than move it, drag it and drop it to the destination folder while holding down the Control key ("Ctrl").

Customizing a Folder's Behavior

Thunderbird lets you define custom behaviors for folders, independent from the email account's settings. To view or change these settings, right-click on the folder, and choose Properties. From the properties, you can rename the folder, determine its character encoding, and enforce character encoding on a per-folder basis.

The second tab of the Properties window is called Retention Policy, and allows you to define how old emails are handled: automatically delete after so many days, automatically delete read messages, or follow the settings you set for server.

Character Encoding is the way Windows (and other operating systems) treat text content. The default for Latin alphabet languages (like English, French, Romanian ) is Western ISO-8859.

The International Organization for Standardization
is an organization that standardizes technologies to ensure that vendors' products (even competing ones) can communicate with each other.

Using Labels in Thunderbird

Labels are a nice way to visually create relationships between email, and allowing you to isolate certain emails from the rest, (as we'll discover in the Thunderbird Search Bar tutorial.)

Conveniently, labels are color-coded. Fortunately, label names and colors can be customized, see tip below. Labels are "categories" to classify your emails. Unfortunately, there are only currently five labels available. Just enough to get you hooked.

Labels are color-coded, and can be customized. To customize your labels and label-colors: choose Tools > Options, click on the Display icon and pick the Labels tab.

The default labels in Thunderbird:

Important (Red)
Work (Orange)
Personal (Green)
To Do (pink)
Later (Gray)

1-5 Assign a label to the selected email
0 (zero) Un-label the selected email

My Emails Are Highlighted! (Red, Orange, Green, Pink, or Gray)

Using the numerical keyboard shortcuts is a handy feature, but we have come across a few puzzled users: if your emails are highlighted in green, red, pink, orange or gray, you have hit the key corresponding to a given label. All you have to do is hit zero when selecting the highlighted email, or right-click on the highlighted email(s), and choose Label > 0 None.

Overview: this free tutorial shows you how to setup filters in Mozilla Thunderbird to more efficiently manage your emails and deal with junk mail. Filters are rules you create, that are applied against incoming emails to ease some of the burden of your daily email management.
In this tutorial: Introduction
Create Filters
Run Filters
Create Filters from Emails

Creating, Using & Editing Filters in Thunderbird

Thunderbird includes "Filters", which allow it to automatically process emails as they come in, according to rules you set up. Actually, you may be familiar with the concept of filer: Outlook Express and Microsoft Outlook call them "Rules".

As you'll see in a minute, Filters are a lot easier to setup than you might think. Besides, Thunderbird's Filter dialog lets you see all conditions in one screen, making very easy to create and edit.

To setup a filter in Thunderbird, go to Tools, and click "Message Filters". The "Message Filters" window will pop up. Click New, and the Filter Rules dialog will open.

Make sure you type a descriptive Filter Name that you'll remember in six month - "Filter 1" is not ideal, for example.

Creating a Sample Filter

Here's a sample Thunderbird filter:
Google News emails always have "Google Alert" in their subject line. We want to move all these emails to the "News" folder we created, so that they don't clutter our inbox until we have time to read them. We'll know where to find them when we have time.

The search terms you enter for your filters are not case-sensitive. In other words, Thunderbird will apply the filter whether the emails' subject line read "Google Alert" or "google alert".

+In most cases, you will find that one or two conditions will be sufficient to define Thunderbird's behavior. But you can add as many conditions as needed by using the plus-sign button. Click Ok when you are done. (You can always edit your filters later on.)

If you were to rename a folder contained in one of your filters, Thunderbird will automatically update the filter for you, to match the new folder name.

Run Your New Filter on Old Emails

Often, you will find yourself creating rule as a response to a flow of email. Fortunately, Thunderbird lets you run your filters on pre-existing emails: select your filter, and click the "Run Now" button.
Thunderbird will not give you a visual feedback or alert that the process has finished running (only a few seconds, usually) but looking at your email folders will show you if the filter achieved its goals. It did in our case, thanks Thunderbird.

If Thunderbird's new email ticker appears, but your inbox seems empty, check the folders where you told Thunderbird's filters to put some emails.

Create Filter from Message

Thunderbird lets you quickly define a filter based on an email's sender: right-click on the sender's email address in the email header, and choose Create filter from message. The Filter Rules dialog will popup, with a pre-populated rule like "From - is - [sender's email address]". This is useful when you want to create a filter based on the email's sender.

Overview: this free tutorial shows you how to use Mozilla Thunderbird's Search Bar, to filter and narrow down the emails you see, on-the-fly, by using Views and Quick Search.
In this tutorial: Introduction
Using Views
Customize Views
Using Quick Search
Save Quick Searches

Thunderbird's Search Bar

Thunderbird's Search Bar is a tool that allows you to alter the view of the current folder on the fly. If you are trying to search for email outside the current folder, please see the Searching for Emails tutorial.

Thunderbird's Search Bar is placed below the Mail Toolbar above the emails. If it is not visible, click on the View menu and choose Toolbars, Search Bar. The Search Bar allows you to find emails on the fly, or filter the content you view in the current folder. Using the Search Bar doesn't affect emails themselves, it filters what you see in the current folder.
The View drop-down menu lists filters: if it shows an option other than All, the content of the current folder has been filtered.

Alt+i Focuses on the Search Bar

Using Thunderbird's Views

All will show the unfiltered content of the current folder.

Unread will hide all read emails.

[Label Name] The highlighted section represents Thunderbird's default labels. Selecting any of these label names from the View drop-down will hide all emails not marked as that particular label.

Generic Filters will display only emails matching the given condition. Generic Filters can be removed or edited, and custom filters can be added. To add, edit or remove filters, choose Customize from the View drop-down menu. (Filters are similar to "Rules" in Microsoft Outlook or Outlook Express.)

Save View as a Folder allows you create "virtual folders" that will show only emails matching the current condition(s). To create multiple conditions, repeat the selections of the View drop-down, and save as you go.

You can change how long an email is left "Unread" in Thunderbird: under the Tools menu, choose Options, click Advanced, and check the box to type a number of seconds:

Customizing Views in Thunderbird's Search Bar

Thunderbird Search Bar's Views can be added, removed or edited. Aside from All (default), and Unread, the View drop-down menu shows your labels, (which can be edited too, see Using Folders & Labels tutorial), and the actual "Views".

Choose Customize under the View drop-down menu.

The Customize Message Views dialog will popup, and let you add, edit or delete Views. We added a View called "Larger Emails", whose condition is [Size] [is greater than] [3].

The effect is the addition of the Larger Emails item in our View drop-down menu. The ability to display exclusively emails whose size is greater than 3KB (Kilobytes) is now available across folders.

Finally, Thunderbird's Views can be saved as virtual folders. To save your View as folder, choose Save View as a Folder from the View drop-down menu.

Deleting a View saved as folder will not delete emails that appear under that saved View. Saved Views are virtual folders, not unlike a temporary filter.

Using Thunderbird's Quick Search

Thunderbird's Quick Search works quite similarly to the View drop-down: it lets you filter on the fly the emails in the current folder. And here too, this not affect the emails themselves, but merely which emails are displayed.

Type text in the input field and hit [Enter]: Thunderbird will display only emails matching the current condition. In our case, only emails containing the words "failure notice" in the subject line will be visible.

We can change the fields in which Thunderbird searches for the expression by clicking on the magnifying glass icon: Subject, Sender, Subject or Sender, To or Cc, Entire Message, or Find in Message.

Find in Message lets you use Thunderbird's Quick Search as an inline search tool: you can use it to find text in the body (content) of the email currently selected.

To clear your Quick Search query, click the "X" button, or delete manually the text in the input field. Your inbox (or current folder) will revert to showing all emails matching the current View ("All", by default).

Saving Your Quick Search as a "Virtual Folder"

If you find yourself using the same Quick Search action regularly, it makes sense to save it. Once you have specified your search's parameters, you can save them as a Search Folder. To do so, click the Save Search as a Folder on Quick Search's drop-down menu.

In our "failure notice" case, each time we click on the saved Quick Search "virtual folder", we will see emails in our inbox whose subject line contains the words "failure notice".

Overview: this free tutorial shows you how to find emails in Mozilla Thunderbird, how to create advanced searches and save them as dynamic folders, or Saved Search Folders.
In this tutorial: Introduction
Find Emails
Example Search
Save as Search Folder
Create a Search Folder
Edit a Search Folder
Delete a Search Folder

Searching for Emails in Thunderbird

As we saw in the Thunderbird Search Bar tutorial, Thunderbird's Views, Labels and Quick Search are a great set of tools when you know in which folder to look for an email. But it isn't always the case, this is where Thunderbird's Search Messages utility comes into play.

The search terms you enter for your queries are not case-sensitive. In other words, if you look for emails containing "Thunderbird" in the subject line, Thunderbird will find emails with subject line containing "THUNDERBIRD", "Thunderbird" or "thunderbird". Same word, different capitalization.

Thunderbird's "Search Messages" Utility

To open the Search Messages dialog, go to Edit > Find > Search Messages.

In the Search for messages in drop-down menu, pick your choice from the folder tree; the higher up the folder is hierarchically (the more to the left it is physically), the more encompassing your search will be.

Check or uncheck the Search subfolders checkbox, and define your search criteria. Let's take for example the case of the filter we set in Using Filters in Thunderbird. It took all Google email alert news and dumped them into an appropriate folder.

Well, since then, we have broaden the filter by making it distribute emails into subfolders, based on title. To see all emails that came in today, both in the inbox and its subfolder, we don't need to look at each folders' content.

We create instead a search query, whose only condition is that emails must have been received today.

Ctrl+Shift+FFind emails(The same shortcut from Thunderbird's Address Book pulls up the Advanced Address Book Search utility instead.)

Finding Emails Received Today in Thunderbird

In a case like the above, where emails are distributed in sub-folders, reading only today's emails can be cumbersome, since you have to click each subfolder to see their email content. Instead, we will create a Saved Search.

Thunderbird does not accept variables in date fields, "today" or "now". So we will use the Age in days parameter.

We will ask Thunderbird to match all emails in our inbox and its sub-folders, whose "Age in day" is zero. This will pull up only emails created today, not emails less than 24 hours old. This is probably intentional, and besides, it is exactly what we wanted to do.

The Recent mail view in Thunderbird's Search Bar performs that exact same search, but only for the current folder. The search you just created will also search in your inbox's sub-folders as well.

Saving Queries as Permanent Search Folders

Regardless, the Search Messages is perfect for query that do not involve variable data. And each search you create and are likely to re-use can be saved as a Search Folder.

Create a Search Folder in Thunderbird

To create a Search Folder, simply create your search query, click the Search button, and the Save as Search Folder button). The New Saved Search Folder dialog will open, and let you choose how you want to call your Search Folder, and where you want it placed in your folder tree. Click the OK button, and you should see a folder under a magnifying glass icon.

The content of a Search Folder is dynamic. That is, each time you select a Search Folder, you will not necessarily see the same emails as the last time you did. It basically performs the search again, to bring you up-to-date search results.

Better still, your saved Search Folder is updated with each new batch of incoming mail. It tells you, in realtime, how many unread emails match your query!

While Thunderbird updates the number of new emails indicator, it does not automatically refresh the content of the Search Folder.

If Thunderbird indicates that there are new emails in your saved Search Folder (bold number between parentheses), but they are invisible, click on another folder, and go back on the saved Search Folder.

Editing and Renaming a Search Folder in Thunderbird

If you wish to refine or change the terms of your Search Folder, simply right-click on the Search Folder and choose Properties. This will pull up the Edit Saved Search Properties for [blank] dialog, essentially the same tool you used to create the saved Search Folder in the first place.

To rename a saved Search Folder, right-click on it, choose Rename Folder, and type a new name. This will not affect anything other than the folder name, (which may move it up or down in the Saved Search section your folder tree).

Deleting a Search Folder in Thunderbird

To delete a Saved Search folder, right-click on it and choose Delete Folder. This will not affect any emails you see when selecting the saved search folder: remember that Saved Search Folders are only a "view", not a standard folder with email content.

Overview: this free tutorial shows you how to use Mozilla Thunderbird's spam/junk mail fighting capabilities. You will also learn why graphic content is blocked in emails perceived as spam.
In this tutorial: Introduction
Rich Email Content
Junk Mail Controls
Linked Content

Spam and Junk Mail in Thunderbird

Thunderbird comes with built-in junk mail filters. Moreover, Thunderbird's filters are "adaptative"; in other words, they learn. When junk mail isn't filtered as such, you can manually tell Thunderbird that this email should have been marked as spam.

J Mark email as "junk mail"
Shift+J Mark email as "not junk"

Rich Email Content and Junk Mail Filtering

Email providers increasingly protect you from rich content, images for examples. It is technically easy to create a "dynamic image", i.e. an image which transfers information to the server merely by being referenced in an email. For example, a spammer can use such an image to determine whether your email address is active or not. (See below for a few more details.)

Because images are potential relays to a server with bad intentions, Thunderbird eliminates "Rich Content" from emails it perceives as junk, or emails you tell it are spam. Below, the same email is displayed, treated as spam on the left, treated as safe on the right. Note how images are not visible in the left screenshot.

The same email, viewed as junk mail or safe mail

- Junk Email -

- Safe Email -

Thunderbird's Junk Mail Controls

Thunderbird comes with smart spam fighting capabilities, and has an entire utility devoted to junk mail, the Junk Mail Controls. To launch the Junk Mail Controls utility, go to the Tools menu and click Junk Mail Controls .

Under the Settings tab, you will find general configuration settings, such as telling Thunderbird to trust any sender in your address book, or to trust the judgment of third-party anti-spam software running on your mail server, (like the ubiquitous Spam Assassin, or SpamPal.)

Under the "Handling" fieldset, you can configure to your liking the way Thunderbird will handle emails perceived to be junk mail.

Mozilla Thunderbird Junk Mail Controls

Since no junk mail filter is infallible, we recommend that you do not choose to automatically move to the trash emails Thunderbird perceives as junk.

It is worth taking the time to manually delete your junk emails after review. Most customers whose emails remain unanswered will take it personally.

However, telling Thunderbird to delete emails you manually mark as spam is a great time saver:

The "Adaptative Filter" allows you to train Thunderbird to recognize by itself junk emails, by using the Junk button to declare emails as junk/not junk.

But ensure first that the "Enable adaptative junk mail detection" is checked, (on the Adaptative Filter tab.)

- JUNK MAIL AND LINKED CONTENT -

goodGuys.com/logo.gif is a static, harmless way to reference an image in an email/web page.

badGuys.com/logo.php?q=john@email.com is a sneaky way to determine that the image was successfully requested by the owner of this email address - thus that the email address is active.

(Note that we are not revealing anything new here.)

The above also applies to clickable links in the body of your emails: clicking on www.badGuys.com?q=john@email.com could have the exact same effect and server script behind it.

www.badGuys.com?q=X56XAD5765SD (or any similar looking gibberish) could too.

Bottom line: do not bother opening suspicious looking emails you were not expecting to receive. Even an email appearing as coming from PayPal or Amazon.com could be a fraud.

If you have added PayPal or Amazon to your safe list, and an email from them is caught as spam, trust your junk mail filters, the email is probably a fake.


Backup Thunderbird emails & profile (or restore from backup)

Overview: this free tutorial shows you how to backup and restore your Mozilla Thunderbird emails, contacts (address books), and profile using MozBackup, which is freeware for Windows, and manually.
In this tutorial: Introduction
Backup Your Profile with MozBackup
Thunderbird Default Profile Location
Backup Your Profile Manually
Restore Your Emails and Profile
Restore Your Profile with MozBackup

Backup Thunderbird Profile & Emails (and Restore from Backup)

Although it is unlikely to happen, a hard drive crash is always possible. In such event, even data recovery specialists may have a hard time saving your emails and contacts. Fortunately, it is easy to backup your emails and address book in Thunderbird. In fact, we suggest that you backup the complete parent folder, not just emails. This tutorial will explain how to backup your Thunderbird profile (and emails) two ways: first, using a free, third-party solution (for Windows users), and then, show you how to manually backup Thunderbird (that procedure applies to any operating system).

Tip: compress your email folders to reduce the size of your backup data. To compress your folders, go to File > Compact Folders.

To learn how to manually backup or restore your Thunderbird profile and emails, please scroll down to backup your profile & emails manually, or restore your profile & emails. (Note that, since MozBackup Mac does not (yet) exist, you will need to backup Thunderbird manually if your are running OS X: manually backing up your Thunderbird emails and profile only takes a minute though, since all your profile data is stored in a single location.)

Before starting the backup process, exit from Mozilla Thunderbird: this will ensure that the files reflect the latest settings and data, and prevent conflicts between processes.

Backup Your Thunderbird Profile & Emails Using MozBackup

MozBackup is a free utility (program) developed by Pavel Cvrcek, a Czech student, designed to backup your Thunderbird profile, (as well as other Mozilla applications'.) Unfortunately, MozBackup is currently only available for Windows. If you are using a Mac or Linux, please see below how to backup your Thunderbird profile manually.

MozBackup Download page

Once you downloaded and installed MozBackup, run it.

The welcome screen will open; click Next. MozBackup will switch to the Operation Type screen: from there, choose Backup a profile, and select Thunderbird from the applications listed; click Next.

The next screen, "Profile selection", lets you choose which profile to backup: you will probably see just one profile, "default". Select it, and click the Browse button; pick the folder where you want to place your backup file. (You can also take this opportunity to name the backup file as you like.) Click Save, and Next.

MozBackup will then offer you the option to password-protect your backup file, why not choose yes - just in case.

The next screen lets you pick which files to backup. We recommend that you pick at least emails and address books, and certificates (if any).

Click Next, and MozBackup will store backup information in the file your determined earlier.

The duration of the backup process will mainly depend on the amount of emails you have.

If you backed up your profile on your computer, it might be a good idea to store a copy of the file on an FTP server. (It is probably not feasible to email yourself the file to a free webmail account, as these backup files can get very large.)

Thanks, Pavel! The backup process is made smooth and easy. Pavel Cvrcek does not request donations, but encourages us to support the Bone Marrow Transplant Foundation

Thunderbird Default Profile Location

Unless you modified Thunderbird's default settings, your profile (all information used by Thunderbird for your profile) will be stored in the directory (folder) shown below. The default location of your Thunderbird profile folder you want to backup depends on your operating system, and OS version: and that directory contains all the files to backup.

Windows 7 C:\Users\[userName]\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird (same as Windows Vista)

Windows Vista C:\Users\[userName]\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird

Windows
2000/XP/2003 C:\Documents and Settings\[userName]\Application Data\Thunderbird

Windows NT C:\WINNT\Profiles\[userName]\Application Data\Thunderbird

Windows
98/98SE/ME C:\Windows\Application Data\Thunderbird

*** This assumes that Windows runs from the default "C:" drive/partition ***

Mac OS X ~/Library/Thunderbird

Linux/UNIX ~/.thunderbird

On Windows, note that your Thunderbird profile is located in "hidden" folders. To access hidden folders and their content, you can either copy the path to your Thunderbird profile (and substitute your actual Windows user name), and open it as a regular folder, or force Windows to show hidden folders. (From any folder, choose Options under the Tools or View menu -depending on your Windows version- and choose to show hidden files and folders from the View tab).

If you are running a portable version of Thunderbird from a Flash drive, your profile and emails will be stored on the Flash drive itself: in that case, to backup Thunderbird profile and emails, simply copy the folder containing your data onto another storage device, or on your main computer!

Manually Backup Thunderbird Profile & Emails

This section will show you where your Thunderbird profile information is stored, if you want to backup your profile manually, or need to obtain information on what to backup to integrate it in a third-party backup solution. This information also applies to Mac and Linux, for which the MozBackup application is not (currently) available.

Your emails, contacts, and general profile information is stored in a sub-folder of your user name directory if your operating system supports multiple users like most do.

To determine where your profile is stored, go to Tools > Account Settings, the Account Settings dialog will open. Select the Local Folders entry on the left (see above for default locations).

In the Message Storage fieldset, there should be a path under Local Directory. Copy the path, and navigate to it. (In Windows, after having copied it, click the Start button, choose Run, paste the path, and click OK.) This is the folder in which your email data is stored.

To back up the folder in which all your profile information is stored, go up three levels, so that you end up in the Profiles folder, of which Mail is a sub-directory. The Profiles directory contains a folder called [blank].default, (where [blank] is an unpredictable string of alpha-numerical characters.)

Restore Your Thunderbird Profile & Emails

If you have backed up your Thunderbird emails and profile in the past, the restore process will be easy. To restore your emails or Thunderbird profile, simply follow the inverse procedure as the backup process.

To restore your emails or profile manually, simply copy the folder you backed up into your profile folder. To restore emails only, copy the backed up email folder back into your Thunderbird Profile folder's subfolder which contains the Mail directory mentioned above.

Restoring Emails and Profile Using MozBackup

If you have used MozBackup to backup your Thunderbird profile, run MozBackup and choose "Restore a profile" from the Operation Type screen. If you password-protected your profile, you will need to supply it.

MozBackup will automatically restore Thunderbird to its state when you backed it up: MozBackup can restore just emails, or contacts, or your entire profile.

Make sure to close Thunderbird before attempting to restore your profile or emails with MozBackup.

Overview: this free tutorial shows you how to automatically add a signature to your outgoing emails in Mozilla Thunderbird. Automatically adding a signature to your emails will be quite a time-saver.
In this tutorial: Introduction
Create an Email Signature
Create an HTML Signature
Include an image in your Signature
Automatically Attach Your Signature
The Two Hyphens (--) Above the Signature

Creating an Email Signature in Mozilla Thunderbird

Thunderbird can automatically append a signature to every email you send. Unlike some email clients, Thunderbird lets you specify a signature per account. If you use two or more email accounts, this is a great time saver compared with hand-picking the signature depending on the occasion.
The two hyphens and what comes below are added automatically to every outgoing email. As you can tell, Thunderbird supports more than plain text signatures, and actually lets you use HTML, the formatting language used to create web pages like the one you're reading.

Thunderbird supports plain text signatures, which contain no formatting information, and HTML signatures, which allow you to add formatting information.

Create an Email Signature

First, you will need to create a file with which Thunderbird can work. Thunderbird will not accept Microsoft Word or PDF files, (even if Word files are saved as RTF, Rich Text Format.) You can create a signature in Notepad (or any plain text editor), or supply an HTML file.

Create an HTML Email Signature in Thunderbird

HTML is the formatting language that is used to create web pages like this one. Unlike plain text signature files, using HTML signature files allows you to define colors, text formatting (bold, italic ), and insert email or website links.

For Joe Dohn's signature, we created an HTML file with the following code:
Joe Dohn

Daydreamer in Chief

Web: FreeEmailTutorials.com

Email: jdohn@freeemailtutorials.com

Phone: (800) 555-1212

To create an HTML signature in Notepad, use HTML code similar to the above, and save the file as HTML. Just replace plug in your personal data instead of Joe Dohn's. ( <br> stands for "line break" )

Attaching an Image to Your Email Signature

Thunderbird allows you to include a graphic file in your email signature; to make sure that the image will be embedded in your email, and appear to recipient, you do need to set the proprietary "moz-do-not-send" attribute to "false" inside the HTML tag. Example:
<img moz-do-not-send="false" src="file:///C:/image.gif" alt="Signature"> Joe Dohn
<img moz-do-not-send="false" src="http:///domain.com/image.gif" alt=""> Joe Dohn

This will ensure that Thunderbird does in fact include the image file in your email signature; if the moz-do-not-send attribute is set to "true", or omitted altogether, Thunderbird will ignore the image. A big thanks to Vick for raising the issue!

Whether you use a local image (on your computer) or a local image (online), you need to explicitly include the full image path in the signature file.

Attach the Signature File to Your Email Account

To attach the signature to your email account, go to Tools and click Account Settings . Highlight the email account for which you want a signature.

Click the Choose button, and navigate to the file you just created, and click Ok to dismiss the Account Settings dialog.

From now on, each email you send using this email account will automatically contain the content of the signature file you created.

The Two Hyphens Above Your Email Signature in Thunderbird (--)

Thunderbird's two-hyphen-above-signature qualifies a FAQ (frequently asked question). Many don't want these two hyphens to be inserted above their email signature.

Thunderbird automatically adds "--" (two hyphens / dashes / minus signs) above the content of the email signature file ("signature block") to follow an Internet standard ("convention"). This is also the case with HTML signatures.

There is currently now way to prevent Thunderbird from inserting two hyphens above your signature block, apparently not even with the about:config editor.

Overview: this free tutorial shows you how to obtain and install Themes (or Skins) for Mozilla Thunderbird, and customize or transform its appearance. Did you know that Thunderbird could look like Apple Mail?
In this tutorial: Introduction
Downloading New Themes
Installing a Theme

Themes in Thunderbird

Thunderbird comes with built-in support for Themes (or "Skins"), which allow you to give Thunderbird the look you want among the plethora of available themes.

On the left, here is Thunderbird themed with Apple Mail Tiger interface, by contributor Toyo Snow, a very convincing emulation of the Apple Mail email client.

( Thunderbird Tiger 2: The Theme
| The Creator
)

Mozilla Thunderbird Themes

Downloading New Themes for Thunderbird

Thunderbird does not come with any theme, (other than the one called "Thunderbird Default.") New themes can be downloaded, for free, from the Mozilla website.

To obtain themes, Go to Tools > Themes, and the Themes dialog will pop up.

The left pane shows you the themes you already have, (at least one.) To use a theme you already have, select it and click the Use Theme button. You will then need to close the Themes dialog, and restart Thunderbird, before seeing Thunderbird with the new theme you picked.

To download new themes, click the Get More Themes
link in Thunderbird's Themes dialog. It points to a section of the Mozilla website from which you will be able to browse themes available for downloads.

Pay attention to the version of Thunderbird for which the theme was developed, certain themes will not run under the latest version.

By the same token, you can check on updates for the themes you already have by using the Find Updates button, from Thunderbird's Themes dialog. It will crawl the Mozilla website for updates for the themes you already have installed.

Installing a theme in Thunderbird

You need to download a theme you liked, and save it on your computer. Then, from Thunderbird's Themes dialog, click the Install Theme button, which will open a dialog box as shown left. Navigate to your download location, select the theme, and click Open.

Confirm the installation, and Thunderbird will add the latest theme to the list on the left pane. Select Use Theme, close the Themes dialog, and restart Thunderbird. That's it!

Overview: this free tutorial shows you how to obtain and install extensions for Mozilla Thunderbird. Extensions allow you to extend functionality by adding third-party (trusted) utilities to Thunderbird. An example is the popular Minimize To Tray extension, which allows you to minimize Thunderbird to the system tray area of Windows.
In this tutorial: Introduction
Minimize Thunderbird to the Tray (Windows)
Minimize to Tray for Linux

Thunderbird Extensions

"Extensions" are mini-programs that extend Thunderbird's basic functionality. Thunderbird comes without extensions, (perhaps with the exception of Talkback, a crash reporting utility.)

( To minimize Thunderbird to the system tray on Windows or Linux, please see below )

You can obtain extensions in much the same way as themes, (see the Thunderbird Themes Tutorial.) To browse extensions available for your version of Thunderbird, go to Tools > Extensions, and the Extensions dialog will pop up. Click the Get More Extensions
link, which points to a secure area of the Mozilla website from which extensions can be downloaded.

Like Themes, some Extensions do not support all versions of Thunderbird. It is not dangerous to install an obsolete extension, it will simply waist your time, (by refusing to work.)

Mozilla Thunderbird Extensions

Minimize Thunderbird To The System Tray

Minimizing Thunderbird to the system tray is possible for Windows and Linux.

Minimize Thunderbird to the Tray (Windows)

The Thunderbird extension Minimize To Tray lets you minimize Thunderbird (as well as the Mozilla Suite & FireFox) to Windows' system tray.

Before downloading this extension, you may want to consider the ThunderTray Utility ("TB-Tray"), which includes several nice features, in addition to minimizing Thunderbird to the tray.

The Minimize To Tray extension can be downloaded from the Mozilla website:

The Minimize To Tray Homepage

Minimize Thunderbird to the Tray (Linux)

To answer a common question: Yes, you can minimize Thunderbird to the tray on Linux, but not with the Minimize To Tray extension (at this point).

To minimize Thunderbird to the tray on Linux (Gnome, KDE, XFCE 4, Fluxbox and WindowMaker), download Alltray. Alltray is not a Thunderbird extension, but allows you to do the same - for all apps.

Alltray Homepage @ Alltray.Sourceforge.net

Overview: this free tutorial shows you how to customize the buttons and settings on the Mail Toolbar, show or hide toolbars available in Mozilla Thunderbird.
In this tutorial: Introduction
Customize the Mail Toolbar
Add or Remove Buttons from the Mail Toolbar
Adjust the Toolbar's Settings
Customize the Search Bar
Toggle the Toolbars Visibility

Customize Thunderbird's Toolbars

By default, Thunderbird's toolbar shows certain buttons, all with large icons and text underneath. Visible icons, their size, and descriptive text's visibility all can be changed.

Customize the Mail Toolbar

Right-click on the Mail toolbar (any button), and choose Customize. The Customize Toolbar dialog will popup. (Alternatively, you can go to View > Toolbars > Customize.)

Add or Remove Buttons to Thunderbird's Mail Toolbar

To add buttons to the Mail toolbar, simply drag them from the Customize Toolbar to the area of the toolbar where you would like them to appear.

To remove buttons from the Mail toolbar, drag them from the toolbar and drop them above the Customize Toolbar dialog.

You can also add or remove the same way vertical Separators, Spaces, or Flexible Spaces.

Unlike a Space which has a fixed width, a Flexible Space adjusts itself proportionately to the width of Thunderbird's window; the flexible space before the Thunderbird Homepage button flushes it to the right; it always appears in the same place, regardless of your Thunderbird window's width.

Adjust the Mail Toolbar's Settings

In addition to the possibility of adding or removing buttons, notice the controls at the bottom of the Customize Toolbar dialog.

These controls allow you to refine the appearance of Thunderbird's Mail toolbar: large (default) or small icons. Optionally display icons only, text only, or both (default).

The Restore Default Set button does not change the settings described above, but reverts visible buttons to their default, (see the Mail Toolbar tutorial).

Customize the Search Bar

To learn how to customize Thunderbird's Search Bar, please see the Search Bar tutorial.

Toggle Thunderbird Toolbars' Visibility

All visible by default, Thunderbird's three toolbars can be hidden by going to View > Toolbars > Mail Toolbar/Search Bar/Status Bar.

We recommend that you really understand the inherent functionality of each of the three toolbars before you decide to hide them.

Showing or hiding the status bar or Search Bar in Thunderbird's main window is independent from the Address Books equivalent settings.

Overview: this free tutorial shows you how to customize Mozilla Thunderbird's Address Book.
In this tutorial: Introduction
Show or Hide the Card Summary Pane
Show or Hide Toolbars
Customize Name Display
Customize Sort Order and Columns

Customize Thunderbird's Address Book

Thunderbird's Address Book is used to store all your correspondents' contact information, from name and email address, to physical address and job description.

For more information on the Address Book itself, please see the Thunderbird Address Book tutorial.

We will now show you how to customize the Address Book.

Ctrl+2 Show Address Book
Ctrl+1 Show Thunderbird

Show or Hide the Card Summary Pane

By default, the Card Summary Pane should be visible. If it isn't, go to View > Card Summary Pane, or pull it up into visibility as shown on the left. Your cursor will change from an arrow into a double-headed vertical resize arrow.

Show or Hide Toolbars

Thunderbird Address Book's toolbars can be shown or hidden by going to View > Toolbars.

These settings are independent from Thunderbird's main window: for example, the status bar or Search Bar can be visible in one and hidden in the other.

Customize Display Names

The way in which contacts' names are displayed can be customized by going to View > Show Name As First Last/Last First/Display Name.

"Display Name" is a separate, customizable field available for each contact's card, where you can for example enter a nickname.

Change Sort Order and Customize Columns

Both sort order and visible columns can be customized too. To show or hide columns of contacts' information in Thunderbird's Address Book, click the column drop-down menu (highlighted on screenshot): it will display all columns available in Thunderbird's Address Book.

Check or uncheck column names until you have the column headers you wanted.

To change the order in which your contacts are sorted, click on the column header. To invert the sort, click again on the same header. An embedded icon arrow should appear, pointing upwards or downwards, whether the sort is ascending or descending.

Overview: this free tutorial guides you through the General options available in Mozilla Thunderbird, from general settings like making Thunderbird the default email client, setting a Start Page, to new email ticker or sound and Internet connection settings.
In this tutorial: Introduction
Default Settings
The Start Page
New Email Ticker
Internet Connection

General Options in Mozilla Thunderbird

To access Thunderbird's Options dialog and modify its settings, go to Tools > Options, click the desired topic and select the appropriate tab, as applicable.

Default Settings

Thunderbird's General Options let you configure generic settings.

The Default Settings fieldset allow you to make Thunderbird the default email client, the default RSS reader, and the default news reader on your computer.

Just tick the checkbox next to the application type for you wish you want Thunderbird to become the default handler.

Example: if you tick the checkbox to make Thunderbird the default mail client, a Thunderbird email will popup each time you click an email link.

Thunderbird's Start Page

Thunderbird can load a web page when it starts. By default, the page is an internal one: chrome://messenger/content/start.xhtml. You can turn off this feature by unchecking the When Thunderbird launches ( ) checkbox.

Alternatively, you can tell Thunderbird to load an web page, from your computer or from the Internet.

In this screenshot, Thunderbird with the Google News page for Mozilla Thunderbird. All news and press releases recently indexed by Google that contain the terms Mozilla and Thunderbird are aggregated into one page organized chronologically, most recent on top.

The URL (web address) for Mozilla Thunderbird news via Google is:

Mozilla Thunderbird news via Google News

The change will take effect the next time you start Thunderbird. To see the Start Page you just entered, at any time, go to Go > Mail Start Page. (To restore Thunderbird's default start page, click the Restore Default button.)

Ctrl+Q Exit Thunderbird

New Email Ticker

The Show an Alert checkbox will make the ticker on the left appear at the bottom of your screen each time one or more emails were downloaded from the server.

If the Play a Sound checkbox is checked, Thunderbird will play a small beep sound every time new emails arrive. You can choose the sound Thunderbird will play by clicking the Advanced button, and choosing a sound file on your computer.

The Choose Sound dialog box's filter lets you see all file types, but Thunderbird expects a WAV sound file. To hear the sound you selected, click the Preview Sound button. Click OK to validate, or Cancel to keep the default sound.

Connection

To customize the way Thunderbird connects to the Internet, click the Connection Settings button. By default, Thunderbird tries to establish a direct connection to the Internet.

If you use a local or remote proxy to connect, configure it as appropriate. If you are at work, you may need to contact your System Administrator to setup a manual proxy. It is likely that you are connecting directly to the Internet. If you are unsure, try leaving Thunderbird's default settings.

Overview: this free tutorial explains Display options in Mozilla Thunderbird pertaining to email formatting, and settings for HTML and plain text emails.
In this tutorial: Introduction
Email Formatting
Plain Text
HTML Formatting
Labels
Fonts

Mozilla Thunderbird's Display Options

To access Thunderbird's Options dialog and modify its settings, go to Tools > Options, click the desired topic and select the appropriate tab, as applicable.

Formatting

Typical emails are exchanged in one of two formats: HTML or Plain Text.

HTML formatting allows "rich content", i.e.: bold, italic, colored text, images, and even Flash animation content. Plain text is bare to the bone: plain text emails only contain the email message and email headers (metadata used by mail servers to convey emails from sender to recipients).

HTML stands for HyperText Markup Language, and is the formatting language used to create web pages.

Thunderbird lets you customize the way your plain text or HTML emails will look.

Plain Text Emails

Thunderbird can force a carriage return (new line) when plain text messages' lines exceed the available with of the email window or reading pane: by default, the Wrap text to fit window width checkbox is checked.

By default, Thunderbird will display emoticons as graphics: when a sender includes a :) smile in his or her email, Thunderbird will render it as a yellow smiley face with a smile:
. If you prefer to see the punctuation equivalents of these symbols, uncheck that checkbox. This option applies to plain text emails.

Processing of punctuation symbols to smiley faces happens on your computer: enabling Thunderbird to display graphical representations of emoticons does not mean that it will insert graphic attachments in your email reply, for example.

Most email clients display plain text emails in a monospace ("Fixed-width") font. Thunderbird gives you the option to use a fixed-width or variable-width font for plain-text emails. (We go into more details about fonts in the next section of this tutorial, Display Options: Fonts.)

The section labeled When displaying quoted text messages lets you customize how original text will appear in Thunderbird when you reply to or forward an email. Quoted text refers to the original portion of text of the email. You can choose a different text style, size, and color.

HTML Emails

Thunderbird lets you customize the color of plain text messages you receive; by default, plain text emails have black text (foreground) and white background.

On the left, a plain text email shows a custom white text over a dark blue background; notice that the links in the signature are indicated under their text label. Also notice how the :) was displayed as an icon, in spite of the fact that the email was sent as plain text. The bold Joe Dohn text in the HTML signature we created earlier (Your Email Signature) was replaced by *Joe Dohn*, (asterisks for emphasis).

Since your emails are not actually changed by these setting, (only displayed differently), changing back to a more conservative black over white will affect all emails that appeared white over blue a minute ago. Again, nothing was ever changed in the emails' formatting information.

Emails Labels

On the Labels tab of Thunderbird's Display options, you can customize the color and names of your five labels. For more details about labels in Thunderbird, please refer to the second section of Using Folders and Labels, or using labels with the Search Bar.

Email Fonts

Because the Fonts tab of Thunderbird's options invites so much side information, it is covered on its own tutorial page: Display Options - Fonts

Overview: in this free tutorial you will learn about font options in the Mozilla Thunderbird Display options, and settings for character encodings policies for incoming and outgoing emails. We will also give you an overview of font-families.
In this tutorial: Introduction
Fonts in Thunderbird
Font Families
Font Settings
Character Encodings

Mozilla Thunderbird's Display Options: Fonts

To access Thunderbird's Options dialog and modify its settings, go to Tools > Options, click the desired topic and select the appropriate tab, as applicable.

For Thunderbird's Display options outside the Fonts tab, please see the Display Options tutorial.

Fonts in Thunderbird

The Fonts tab in Thunderbird's Options dialog lets you determine your font preferences, and more generally how fonts are handled in Thunderbird.

To Configure the fonts used by Thunderbird, click the Fonts button, the Fonts dialog should open.

The first drop-down menu shows your default settings, Western if your operating system default is latin alphabet. Thunderbird lets you edit settings for multiple character encodings, which is useful if say, you send and receive emails in multiple languages, some of which do not use the same alphabet as the others.

Character Encoding is the way Windows (and other operating systems) treat text content. The default for Latin alphabet languages (like English, French, Romanian ) is Western ISO-8859.

The International Organization for Standardization
is an organization that standardizes technologies to ensure that vendors' products (even competing ones) can communicate with each other.

Overview of Font Families

There are three main font families: serif, sans-serif, and monospace. Often, serif and sans-serif are referred to as Variable-width fonts, while monospace fonts are also called Fixed-width fonts.

On Windows and Mac systems, the default serif font is respectively Times New Roman and Times. Sans-serif usually is defaulted to respectively Arial and Geneva on Windows and Mac. Monospace fonts usually appear as Courier New (Windows) or Courier (Mac).

Serif, variable-width:
The Quick Brown Fox Jumps Over The Lazy Dog.
Sans-serif, variable-width:
The Quick Brown Fox Jumps Over The Lazy Dog.
Monospace, fixed-width:
The Quick Brown Fox Jumps Over The Lazy Dog.

A serif font is distinguishable by embellishments at the end of the letter's strokes. In French, Sans means Without: a sans-serif font does not have serifs.

Fixed-width ("monospace") fonts are called that way, because each character has the same width, unlike a variable-width font in which for example the letter "i" is narrower than the letter "m".

Thunderbird's Fonts Settings

With the Proportional drop-down menu, Thunderbird allows you to choose between a serif or a sans-serif font to represent variable-width ("proportional") fonts, and which size to use by default.

While Thunderbird follows your operating system's default in representing types of font families, it gives you the option to change them, as well as the default font size.

Pixel is a variable unit determined by the smallest point that can be display by your computer's monitor. Pixels are called a variable unit because the monitor's size and resolution determine the actual (absolute) proportions of a pixel. The white dot below is a 1x1 pixel square.

Thunderbird allows you to customize the resolution of your emails' font. The Display Resolution drop-down menu is set by default to 96 dpi, and offers alternate choices of 72 dpi or "Custom".

DPI stands for Dots Per Inch, and measures the resolution quality of an output, whether digital or printed. 72 dpi is generally accepted as the norm for digital media, while 300 dpi is the minimal resolution for high-quality, commercial printing.

Thunderbird also allows you to force fonts to be at least a certain size, from 9 pixels to 24 pixels. By default, Thunderbird does not enforce a minimal font size, ("None").

Finally, you can restrict your emails' font face to the three font-families described above. By default, Thunderbird lets emails determine that.

Character Encodings

Thunderbird lets you enforce character encoding defaults for incoming and outgoing emails.

Western ISO-8859-1 should be the default preselections if your operating system uses the latin alphabet. By default, character encoding for outgoing emails follows your operating system's default, and character encoding for outgoing emails should follow the incoming email's character encoding.

You can ask Thunderbird to override these settings by applying your default character encoding to both incoming and outgoing emails. You should not change Thunderbird's default behavior unless you know that you will never receive emails from a character encoding different from yours. This is hard to know in advance, and will likely cause problems in case you do get emails of another character encoding.

Our recommendation is not to ask Thunderbird to enforce anything regardless of the email.

Overview: this free tutorial goes over the Composition options available in Mozilla Thunderbird, such as forcing Quoted Printable MIME type for SMTP, email domain settings (HTML vs. plain text), and covers return receipts in Thunderbird.
In this tutorial: Introduction
General Options
Send Options
HTML Options
Return Receipts
Addressing Options
Outgoing Options
Spell-Checking Options

Composition Options in Mozilla Thunderbird

To access Thunderbird's Options dialog and modify its settings, go to Tools > Options, click the desired topic and select the appropriate tab, as applicable.

Thunderbird's General Composition Options

The first option Thunderbird lets you define is how to forward emails: Inline or As attachment. Inline means that the body of the email you want to forward will be appended to the new email message you create by asking Thunderbird to forward. (Otherwise, it will be an email sent as attachment.)

Unless you have specific reasons not to include an email forward inline, you should let emails be forwarded inline, by consideration for the recipient: scrolling down is a lot easier than double clicking an email attachment.

The 8-bit characters checkbox allows you to force Thunderbird to use Quoted Printable MIME encoding when it encounters email from a character set other than ASCII. Basically, ASCII doesn't have enough character to represent some symbols or ideograms. Enabling usage of Quoted Printable when 8-bit characters are found in your emails allows Thunderbird to use a 3-character combination of ASCII digits to represent the desired symbol or non-latin letter.

ASCII is the only character encoding supported by SMTP, the protocol that allows emails to travel over the web. MIME allows binary content of emails (like graphic content) to be encoded as a string of ASCII characters. MIME is an Internet standard supported by all modern email clients with a graphical user interface, (vs. a command line virtual terminal).

ASCII = American Standard Code for Information Interchange
SMTP = Simple Mail Transport Protocol
MIME = Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions

By default, Thunderbird warns you before sending an email using a keyboard shortcut, (like Ctrl+Enter or Alt+F,D). This is practical in case you happen to be holding down the Ctrl key while trying to insert a new line. Thunderbird lets you turn off this reminder either from the popup confirmation dialog or from the Options dialog's Confirm when using keyboard shortcut to send message checkbox.

Thunderbird can automatically save the email you are editing to the Drafts folder. Unless you email novels to your friends, no need to add an event listener, most emails will be composed and sent before 1 minute. Besides, you can manually save (Ctrl+S) the email while editing it.

Plain text emails can be wrapped after any number of character you want: this number depends on your monitor's resolution, and the size of the Thunderbird window when you read your emails. 72 characters with the default monospace font works fine at 800x600 pixels resolution.

Ctrl+SSave in Drafts the current email

Thunderbird's Send Options

Click the Send Options button: the Send Options dialog will open, and let you customize how Thunderbird formats emails by default, and depending on the domain (@hotmail.com, @aol.com,
) The per-domain settings will override the global setting chosen from the Text Format drop-down menu.

Thunderbird lets you choose between the following: always send HTML emails, always send text emails, send both (HTML with a text attachment), or ask every time.

Ask every time gets irksome after a while, Send both more than doubles your email size, Always HTML means that your emails will look like gibberish to some people, and Always text will make your emails boring to most people. Your pick, the decision depends on your usage and correspondents, we have no absolute recommendation.

Thunderbird's HTML Options

Click the HTML Options button, and you will be able to determine Thunderbird's settings when you create HTML (rich content) emails.

You can choose a generic font style (see Display Options - Fonts), a cross-platform alternative ("Helvetica, Arial", "Times", or "Courier"
common, but surely installed on your recipients' computer), or a font installed on your computer, (your recipient may not have it and see it, but he or she should be able to read your email with his or her email client's default alternative font).

Thunderbird also lets you pick the default relative font size and color. For font size, medium is safe, and should make your emails easily by older people, while not look huge to younger ones.

Foreground (text) and background colors can be set too. We recommend that you stick to a conservative, high-contrast, dark grayscale over light grayscale: your recipients may have different tastes from yours when it comes to a "cool color combination".

You can always use the Restore button if you feel like you went overboard.

Thunderbird's Return Receipts Options

Thunderbird supports Return Receipts: return receipts allow you to know that an email has been successfully delivered. (You may know return receipts as Delivery Receipts in other email clients, which are not the same as Read Receipts.)

To ask Thunderbird for a return receipt every time you send an email, simply check the When sending messages, always request a return receipt checkbox.

When a return receipt comes back, Thunderbird can automatically file it in the Sent folder, or drop it in your inbox, (pick your preference under When a receipt arrives).

Additionally, you can choose how Thunderbird handles itself requests for return receipts: by default, Never send a return receipt is selected. Use the radio buttons (
) and the drop-down menus to customize your return receipt settings.

Return receipt requests are handled at the mail server level, which is beyond Thunderbird's control. Many mail servers and email clients do not send anything upon receiving an email. This does not mean that your email was not delivered.

On the other hand, receiving a return receipt does confirm that your email has been delivered.

Thunderbird's Addressing Composition Options

When you address an email, (typing email addresses in the To, Cc, or Bcc fields), Thunderbird auto-completes email addresses for you. (If it doesn't find a match, the addressee's yet incomplete email address becomes red.)

By default, Thunderbird uses your Local Address Books for autocompletion. While you type, it performs a quick search against your contacts' email addresses in the relevant address books.

Not only can you prevent Thunderbird from searching local address books by unchecking that checkbox, you can also use network LDAP address directories. To enable Thunderbird to (also) search against remote address books, check the Directory Server checkbox, and add directories with the Edit Directories button.

If you are using Thunderbird from work, check with your System Administrator, your corporate network may support or already have LDAP directories.

Outgoing Emails' Addressee(s)

By default, Thunderbird will add the email addresses of all outgoing emails to your default local address book, (Personal Address Book normally).

Using the drop-down menu, you can choose in which address book Thunderbird will add (if enabled) your recipients' email address. (Remember, Thunderbird supports multiple address books.)

If you want to keep email addresses from people to whom you send emails, but do not want them listed in your primary address book, just create a "junk" address book from which you can selectively drag contacts in your main address book.

Thunderbird's Spelling Composition Options

By default, thunderbird's built-in spell-checker is enabled. It checks the spelling of your emails before sending them, but also checks their spelling as you type them.

For more on Thunderbird's spell-checker, please see the sending emails with Thunderbird tutorial.

Overview: this free tutorial gives you a thorough overview of the privacy and security options available in Mozilla Thunderbird, including linked content (like images or JavaScript scripts) and email scams notices, anti-virus (AV) integration, Master Password and Password Manager.
In this tutorial: Introduction
General
Scams
Anti-Virus
Password
The Password Manager
Security

Mozilla Thunderbird's Privacy and Security Options

To access Thunderbird's Options dialog and modify its settings, go to Tools > Options, click the desired topic and select the appropriate tab, as applicable.

Thunderbird's Privacy Options: General

The first option, enabled by default, is Block loading of remote images in mail messages; you should leave it checked, unless your email address is only used in an internal network.

Images, among other embeds (or "linked content"), can be used by spammers to determine if an email address is active or not. An email address that appears inactive is much less likely to be used and re-distributed. (The potentially harmful effect of linked content is explained in the spam & junk mail tutorial.)

An easy way to avoid receiving (more) spam is to use a "junk" email address to sign up for unimportant things, and keep your "real" email address for more serious stuff, (like contact email for banking, credit cards, your school,
) If your email address is listed anywhere on the Internet, spammers will find it.

The Allow images if the sender is in my [blank] address book checkbox might safely be checked: it mainly depends to whom you reply.

From a practical standpoint, it means that by simply adding a newsletter subscription's email address to your address book, you will see the newsletter's rich content in all its glory.

The last option is Block JavaScript in mail messages: you should always leave this option checked. While most modern email clients are safe within limits, someone will always come up with a way to exploit an undocumented vulnerability. With JS scripts automatically turned off, you greatly reduce your exposure to such exploits.

JavaScript is a web scripting language originally developed in the early nineties by Netscape Communications, maker of the Netscape Navigator browser. JScript (by Microsoft) and ECMAScript (ECMA-standardized version of core JavaScript) are basically the same thing.

JavaScript (the all-encompassing denomination) is a programming language interpreted by web browsers, which allow to add interactivity to the online experience.

Google Maps and Live.com are examples of the kind of interactivity JavaScript can bring to a web application. (To be precise, both of these apps are created with AJAX, a set of technologies in which JavaScript plays a major role.)

Bottom line: web scripting is a great thing, but enabling it in emails is asking for trouble.

Thunderbird's Privacy Options: E-mail Scams

Thunderbird can try to detect if some incoming emails are scams. The method it uses are not explained, but they are likely to include things like mismatch between mail server used and mail domain the email comes from.

Thunderbird does not delete emails it perceives as scam, it merely warns you of the possibility; you should leave this option enabled.

Thunderbird's Privacy Options: Anti-virus

Typically, your anti-virus (AV) software will analyze data as it comes in from the Internet. When you launch Thunderbird, it will check the mail server for new emails. If found, new emails are downloaded. This is where -if your antivirus supports it- emails are scanned for viruses.

By checking the Allow anti-virus clients to quarantine individual incoming messages checkbox, you tell Thunderbird to authorize your anti-virus software to store separately emails in which it found a virus. Typically, your anti-virus software should let you decide what to do with quarantined emails.

This option was added in Thunderbird 1.5, after incidents of entire inboxes being deleted by anti-virus software. With this option enabled, Thunderbird stores emails being downloaded from the mail server in temporary, individual, email files.

The MozillaZine Knowledgebase has an article dedicated to Thunderbird and anti-virus software interactions, and has compiled a (partial) list of anti-virus software packages that are known to have compatibility issues with Thunderbird.

Thunderbird and Antivirus Software

Thunderbird's Privacy Options: Passwords

Thunderbird can optionally remember passwords for all your email accounts. This is a handy feature of which most of use will gladly take advantage. the alternative is to supply passwords manually each time Thunderbird needs them.

Especially if you use Thunderbird in a public environment -like surrounded by colleagues with a dubious sense of humor- be sure to take advantage of the Thunderbird's Master Password feature.

Additionally, Thunderbird's Change Master Password dialog has a Password quality meter progress bar. To reach Thunderbird's top grade for your password, it will need to contain letters, numbers, plus a combination of !@%$#-type characters.

After a master password has been set, you will not be able to view existing passwords in plain text unless you supply the master password. Moreover, the master password is used to encrypt (or "scramble") the file in which Thunderbird stores that information.

Obviously, Thunderbird will ask you to supply the Master Password before try disabling it by clicking the Remove Master Password button. (Same applies if you try to change the Master Password.)

Thunderbird's Password Manager

To see the passwords Thunderbird has saved, click the View Saved Passwords button. The Password Manager window will open.

There are two tabs: Passwords Saved and Password Never Saved; between the two tabs, you should see references to all email accounts that were ever created or imported into Thunderbird. Since the Password Manager has a Show Passwords button, you want to make sure that you do not leave any unnecessary email account information.

To delete references to these email accounts, and related passwords, click the Remove or Remove All buttons.

Thunderbird will not ask for a confirmation before deleting an email account after you click the Remove button, even if you end up clicking the Cancel button afterwards. Make sure you select the right account!

Security in Thunderbird

Handling of security, certificates and secure emails in Thunderbird will come in a later tutorial, in which we will revisit the Security tab of Thunderbird's Privacy options.

Overview: this free tutorial explains the email attachments options available in Mozilla Thunderbird, shows you how to set default actions based on attachments file types, and gives you an overview of the mimeTypes.rdf download actions configuration file.
In this tutorial: Introduction
Attachments Folder
Download Actions
mimeTypes.rdf

Email Attachments Options in Mozilla Thunderbird

To access Thunderbird's Options dialog and modify its settings, go to Tools > Options, click the desired topic and select the appropriate tab, as applicable.

Thunderbird's Attachment Folder Options

By default Thunderbird will ask you every time where you want to save email attachments. If you have a preferred folder to save general attachments, (like Windows' Desktop), you can make it Thunderbird's default.

To select a default email attachments folder, select Save attachments to this folder, and click the Browse button to pick your folder of choice. Click Ok to validate.

Thunderbird's Download Actions Options

You can register default handlers for attachment types in Thunderbird. If you frequently open Word documents from trusted partners, for example, you could tell Thunderbird to remember that the default action for Word files is to open them. And that the default action for ZIP archives is to save them, and so on.

To associate a non-default application with a given file type, simply select Other from the Open with drop-down menu.

Click the View & Edit Actions, the Download Actions window will open. From it, you can delete or edit registered actions using the Remove Action or Change Action buttons.

Troubleshooting Download Actions: mimeTypes.rdf

If you experience problems with Thunderbird Download Actions, a MozillaZine Knowledgebase article suggests to delete or edit manually your Thunderbird profile's mimeTypes.rdf file.

Thunderbird keeps track of default handling actions for various attachment types in a file called "mimeTypes.rdf" in the root of your profile directory.

Every time you exit Thunderbird, the file will be updated if you defined new handling actions and asked Thunderbird to remember them as default handling procedure for the future.

To find the root of your Thunderbird profile directory, go to Tools > Account Settings, and select Local Folders. The email directory is listed under Local Directory, and navigate up two levels.

Overview: this free tutorial guides you through the advanced options available in Mozilla Thunderbird, from the General options, to Offline and Disk Space settings as well as advanced configuration with about:config.
In this tutorial: Introduction
General Options
about:config
Offline Options
Disk Space
Updates

Advanced Options in Mozilla Thunderbird

To access Thunderbird's Options dialog and modify its settings, go to Tools > Options, click the desired topic and select the appropriate tab, as applicable.

Thunderbird's Advanced Options: General

Thunderbird's advanced options include settings that cover many parts of Thunderbird's operation and behavior.

The Show only display name for people in my address book shortens the email sender's information to Display Name for the email currently selected, if the sender is in Thunderbird's address book.

The Wait [blank] seconds before marking a message as read, if checked, lets you determine how many seconds must pass after the email is selected before Thunderbird marks it as read. there doesn't seem to be a limit in the amount of seconds Thunderbird should wait.

If Remember the last selected message is checked, Thunderbird will activate the last email you selected in any given folder or subfolder.

Rather than explain, see for your self on the left what the Show expanded columns in the folder pane checkbox does.

Thunderbird Connection Timeout setting is by default 60 seconds. This should be plenty, most transactions with a mail server (excluding email download time) should happen in less than 10 seconds. If your mail server is slow, or experienced extreme peak times, raising the connection timeout setting might be indicated.

When you double-click an email, or hit enter when the email is selected, Thunderbird opens a new email window. By default, if you double-click on another email without having closed the previous email's window, Thunderbird will re-use the pre-opened window email, and focus on it, rather than open another one.

Select the A new message window if you wish to have as many email windows opened as emails double-clicked.

Thunderbird's Advanced Configuration (about:config)

To open Thunderbird's Advanced Configuration window, click the Config Editor button.

Thunderbird's about:config advanced configuration console is not unlike Windows' registry. It is a repository of settings, and for each a status attribute, an acceptable data type, and a value.

The about:config interface lets you define manually settings imported from the pref.js and user.js JavaScript files, as well as other user interface preferences.

Unlike the manual edition of the profile's JS files, the about:config editor allows you to make changes to the Thunderbird's settings at runtime. Most settings are relatively easy to guess without instructions; however, we do not recommend that you tweak them, unless you are prepared to the eventuality of a forced re-install of Thunderbird.

Official about:config Documentation & Links

Manually customize the pref.js or user.js files

Thunderbird's Advanced Options: Offline & Disk Space

Thunderbird lets you choose how it should try to establish a connection with your mail server(s) when it starts: pick between Always start online (the default), Remember previous online state (were you working online or offline when you last shut down Thunderbird), or Ask me for online state at startup. All choices are purely a matter of personal preferences. Since Thunderbird is smart enough not to give you error messages every two minutes when an Internet connection is not available, we opted for always online.

When going online (i.e. Thunderbird establishes a successful connection with your email server), Thunderbird can automatically send emails that may be in your Unsent folder (outbox), ask you if it can do it, or not do it. Here again, Thunderbird is very flexible: if you send an email while working offline, or without an active Internet connection, it will simply store outgoing emails in the Unsent folder, until a connection becomes available.

Before you decide to explicitly work offline, (File > Offline > Work Offline), Thunderbird can check one last time for new emails on the server (and download any it finds), not do anything, or give you the option. Matter of personal preference here too, we have no recommendation.

Thunderbird's Disk Space Settings

If you have limited disk space, (or tons of emails), Thunderbird can automatically Compact Your Folders one your emails in your profile exceed a certain size. (Compacting folders means compressing their content so that they use less space on your hard drive.)

To manually compact an email folder in Thunderbird, go to File > Compact Folders. It will compress the your folders and its sub-folders (if any).

For tips on managing disk space in Thunderbird, please see the General Maintenance tutorial.

Thunderbird's Advanced Options: Update

The Update section of Thunderbird's advanced settings lets you define how Thunderbird will check for updates and handle any updates it finds. Configuring Thunderbird's Update options is explained in our Thunderbird Updates tutorial.

Overview: this free tutorial gives you a series of tips that allow you to temporarily override the default or global options available in Mozilla Thunderbird.

In this tutorial: Introduction
Forward Email
Email Window
Spell Checking
Quote Message
Return Receipts
Character Encodings
Email Format
Email Priority
Email Security

Mozilla Thunderbird's "On-The-Fly" Options

You will find on this page a series of seemingly unrelated tips in Thunderbird. It is the fact that they allow you to temporarily override Thunderbird's global options that binds them. It isn't as confusing as it sounds; please read on.

Forwarding an email

Depending on your preferences, emails are forwarded either inline (in the body of the forward email), or as attachments (the forwarded email appears as an attachment to a blank email).

Whether from Thunderbird's main window, or from an opened email window, use the Message > Forward as sub-menu to pre-select an inline or attached forward email.

Email Window Options

All the options described below are available under the Options menu, a new email window. Most of the application-wide ("global") version of these options are covered under Composition Options in Thunderbird, which we will assume you have read.

Invoke the Spell-Checker, Check Spelling as You Type

To invoke the spell-checker while writing an email, go to Options > Check Spelling.

Using Options > Spell as You Type, you can toggle on or off Thunderbird's on-the-fly spell-check feature, regardless of global options set under Composition > Spelling.

Ctrl+KCheck spelling

Quote Message

While not necessarily an "option", this feature is available under the Options menu; it allows you to replicate on top of your email the body of the email you are forwarding, or to which you are replying. It is lined on the left with a blue border, like the paragraph you are reading.

Return Receipt

Regardless of the global Thunderbird options you may have set under Composition > Addressing > Return Receipt, you can toggle the return receipt request setting on or off for the current email by using Options > Return Receipt.

Character Encoding

You can override Thunderbird's character encoding settings for an individual email by going to Options > Character Encoding. This will not affect your Display > Fonts settings.

Email Format

Regardless of global email formatting options, you can use the following formatting for a new email: Auto-Detect, which should accommodate your sender's format, Plain Text Only, Rich Text (HTML) Only, or Plain and Rich (HTML) Text. These choices are available under Options > Format.

Email Priority

Email priority is not a global options, and needs to be set for each email, (which makes sense). The default for Thunderbird and other email clients is "Normal", in other words, no priority information. Most email clients support 3 levels of priority: high, normal, and low. Thunderbird offers five: Highest, High, Normal, Low, and Lowest. Microsoft Outlook 2003, which supports three levels of priority, recognizes Thunderbird's High and Highest as High, which is good.

Email Security

Thunderbird offers the option to digitally sign and/or encrypt an email. We will cover email security for Thunderbird in an upcoming tutorial. Stay tuned!

Overview: this free tutorial shows you Local Folders settings available in Mozilla Thunderbird, as well as global disk space management for your email accounts.
In this tutorial: Introduction
Local Folder Settings
Storage Settings
Disk Space Settings

Local Folder Settings in Mozilla Thunderbird

To open Thunderbird's Account Settings dialog, go to Tools > Accounts Settings.

Thunderbird lets you customize a couple things relating to Local Folders. Local folders are a local (on your computer) repository of information independent from the email account(s) you have setup in Thunderbird.

Local Folders Settings

The Account Name field lets you give a custom name to your Local Folders. In our case, we just renamed our Local Folders Local Emails. As you can see, this change is visible in Thunderbird's folder pane.

Local Folders' Message Storage Settings

You can optionally ask Thunderbird to automatically Empty Trash on Exit by checking the appropriate checkbox. (While useful, enabling this option assumes that you never did -nor will- delete an email mistakenly. Your call!)

The Local directory input field tells you where your Thunderbird emails and profile are stored. You can change it, but we don't recommend you do without a good reason, (such as current hard drive or partition critically running out of space).

To find the root of your Thunderbird profile directory, go to Tools > Account Settings, and select Local Folders. The email directory is listed under Local Directory, and navigate up two levels.

Local Folders' Disk Space Settings

The Local Folders' Disk Space settings are an derivative of the Local Folders item in the left pane of the Account Settings window. (If hidden, click the plus sign next to Local Folders.)

Thunderbird lets you automate the deletion of old emails, either using a numerical or chronological factor: emails more than X days old, or everything but the last Y emails. By default, Thunderbird never deletes emails without your explicit request.

If you receive enormous numbers of emails, you can check the Always delete read messages checkbox.


Outgoing Servers Settings in Thunderbird (SMTP)

Overview: this free tutorial explains how to add, edit or remove SMTP mail servers in Mozilla Thunderbird, and surveys the default and standard ports for various authentication methods, (plain text, TLS and SSL).
In this tutorial: Introduction
Outgoing Server Settings (SMTP)
Security and Authentication

Outgoing Servers Settings in Thunderbird (SMTP)

Emails are sent from your computer to their recipients using your email account's Outgoing Server (SMTP). This server is also the one to which Thunderbird normally authenticates at least once per session. Most of the time, the physical mail server for incoming and outgoing emails is the same. Often, the address is also identical, as in mail.yourEmailProvider.com

SMTP, which stands for "Simple Mail Transport Protocol", is the Internet protocol (standard language) that allows emails to travel over the web.

Outgoing Server (SMTP) Settings in Thunderbird

Thunderbird supports multiple (outgoing) email servers. Outgoing mail servers are automatically added to the list every time you add an email account in Thunderbird.

To access Thunderbird's list of SMTP server, go to Tools > Account Settings, and select Outgoing Server (SMTP) on the left pane of the Account Settings dialog.

Thunderbird keeps track of SMTP information separately from email accounts. By default, when an email account is created, Thunderbird adds the new SMTP server's information to the Outgoing Servers list, (and automatically attaches it to the email account).

To manually add an SMTP server, click the Add button, which will open the SMTP Server dialog. Likewise, the SMTP Server dialog popup when selecting an existing SMTP server and clicking Edit.

Keep in mind that editing an SMTP server settings will affect all email accounts using this it. Settings will most likely be the same for all email accounts sharing an SMTP server, so this should not create problems.

Thunderbird lets you add and edit things like server description (friendly name), server name (address), port number, as well as user name.

The Importance of Outgoing Authentication Above is the screenshot of a successful email sent through Telnet (a free program that comes with Windows), bypassing any user authentication.

Because this (former) email provider did not mandate outgoing authentication, its mail server could be used as relay for spam (junk mail).

Your provider's mail server being used as spam relay has direct repercussions on you:

Your mail server's IP address (a unique numerical ID on the Internet) is blacklisted by spam-fighting software, and your legitimate emails are blocked as potential junk mail by other email providers.

Your email address is used to spam others, reflecting poorly on your organization - since most people will assume that you are spamming them.

Because the mail server deals with so much illegitimate emails, its performance takes a hit, to the potential point of crashing, leaving everyone without email service.

It is in all email users' interest to encourage your email provider to mandate outgoing authentication, a simple extra step to drastically reduce the volume of worldwide junk mail.

Security and Outgoing Authentication in Thunderbird

Thunderbird also lets you customize the security settings for outgoing authentication: by default, outgoing authentication happens in plain text (not secure), which all email providers support. Some email providers, however, demand that authentication be done in secure mode, (not a bad thing).

The standard SMTP ports are as follows:

No security: Port 25 or 587

TLS: Port 25 or 587 (unlike SSL, TLS doesn't require that another port be opened)

SSL: Port 465

Your email provider may require another configuration, generally for security reasons, like a four-digit port. If you have problems sending emails, check with your ISP and email provider(s).

Thunderbird offers the following options: No [security] (default), TLS if available (else plain text), TLS (mandated), or SSL (mandated). Email accounts created in Thunderbird are automatically set to use the most common configuration: plain text and port 25.

Outgoing (SMTP) mail server information remains in Thunderbird even after an email account has been deleted. To permanently remove an SMTP server, select it from the list and click Remove.

Port 25 is the standard for outgoing emails. A sizeable exception is AOL which, to limit the amount spam relayed from its network, forces third-party email providers to support port 587 for SMTP.

In practical terms, this means that the user must use 587 as outgoing port for any non-AOL email account. The majority of email providers do, but this means that after an email account is setup, the user must go back to his or her email client's port settings and modify port information.

If your Internet Service Provider is AOL, this is what you need to do to use Thunderbird with a non-AOL email account.

Overview: this free tutorial gives you an overview of the general email account settings in Mozilla Thunderbird, such as Reply-to email, email signature and vCard, outgoing SMTP email server and identities.
In this tutorial: Introduction
Attaching Your vCard
Outgoing Server (SMTP)
Manage Identities

General Email Account Settings in Mozilla Thunderbird

To access Thunderbird's email account(s) settings, go to Tools > Account Settings. In the Account Settings dialog, select the email account whose settings you'd like to modify.

Thunderbird's General Account Settings contain mostly email settings determined when you first created or imported an email account in Thunderbird.

Under default identity, you will find your name and your email address. You also have the option to give the selected email account a friendly nickname, and the possibility to enter a Reply-to [email] address: in some cases, matching your email address and reply-to address, or simply entering explicitly a reply-to email address, reduces your likelihood of seeing your emails filtered as junk.

Thunderbird also lets you enter an organization name, and an automatic signature for outgoing emails. (See how to configure an email signature in Thunderbird.)

Attaching your personal or business vCard

Thunderbird can automatically attach your vCard to every email you send. (vCards are digital equivalents of business cards, and can be imported into programs like Microsoft Outlook or Lotus Notes.)

To automatically include your vCard in outgoing emails, simply check the Attach my vCard to messages checkbox.

(To learn more about vCards, please see vCards in Thunderbird.)

Outgoing Server (SMTP)

Thunderbird supports multiple email accounts, and multiple SMTP servers. But although it attaches the original SMTP server to each email account you setup, Thunderbird keeps track of each SMTP server as a separate piece of information. It gives you the advantage of being able to edit an SMTP server in one place, and see all email accounts using it be updated at once.

To learn more about managing and configuring outgoing multiple SMTP servers in Thunderbird, please see the Outgoing Servers (SMTP) tutorial.

Managing Identities in Thunderbird

Thunderbird allows you to change identity without log off and back in. This is especially useful when a help desk is shared by multiple employees for example. Multiple identities can be attached to a single email address. Please see the Managing Identities tutorial for more information.


Managing Identities in Thunderbird (General Settings)

Overview: this free tutorial introduces you to the concept of multiple identities in Mozilla Thunderbird, with example. You will learn how to create, manage and use identities from Thunderbird.
In this tutorial: Introduction
Adding Identities
Switching Identity

Managing Identities in Thunderbird (General Settings)

To add or edit identities, go to Tools > Account Settings, and select an email account name (bold-face, in the left pane). Click the Manage Identities button. The Identities for [email account name] dialog will popup. Click the appropriate button to add, edit or remove an identity.

Adding an Identity in Thunderbird

Thunderbird supports multiple email accounts and identities, and lets you switch from one the other on the fly. (In Outlook Express, for example, you must in effect log off and log back in to switch identity.)

Practical example: Nina is morning receptionist, and Lisa works in the afternoons. Both answer to the same email address: info@theirCompany.com. With identities, they can both have their own signature without having to switch email client, operating system credentials, or computer.

Switching Identity

After a second identity has been setup, Thunderbird gives you the available choices under the From drop-down menu. The From drop-down menu is used both to let you choose which email account or which identity to use.

Identities are not the same as email account. In fact, identities are tied to an email account (email address), and Thunderbird will automatically use that email account's settings when you pick the identity that has it listed as email address. You can attach a vCard for each identity.

Overview: this free tutorial exposes you the server settings available for each email account in Mozilla Thunderbird, like security authentication options, the Fetch Headers Only feature, and automated and actual email deletion.
In this tutorial: Introduction
Security Settings
Server Settings
Fetch Headers Only
Empty Trash on Exit

Email Accounts' Server Settings in Mozilla Thunderbird

Thunderbird's Server Settings allow to tweak your email account's settings after the initial setup.

The top part allows you to change the incoming mail server. Even though it reads "Server Name", this is not where you enter your email account's friendly nickname; most often, the incoming mail server is of the form mail.emailProvider.com.

You can also edit your email account user name after the fact, or change to port number (110 is the default, used by the vast majority of email providers).

Security Settings

Thunderbird email accounts' Security Settings allow you to specify the authentication process for this email account. Remember that Thunderbird stores SMTP server (outgoing email server) information separately, so that multiple email accounts can all use the same outgoing mail server.

If authentication requirements are different for one of these email accounts, this is where you would override the global options of the SMTP server for this particular email account.

Server Settings

Thunderbird's email account Server Settings allow you to define how Thunderbird interacts with the mail server: if it checks for new emails on startup, how often you want to check that email account for new emails, if messages should be automatically downloaded, and if headers only should be downloaded (see Fetch Headers Only, below).

You can also determine from here if and when Thunderbird should delete emails from the mail server. You can leave them for the server "forever", delete them after a specifiable amount of days, and/or until you delete them from your inbox.

Fetch Email Headers Only

Thunderbird can optionally download the email information excluding the content of the email. You would then see the new emails as usual, but the download of the content of the body's content download will only be downloaded on request. Left, the content of your emails' body if Fetch headers only is checked.

Empty trash on Exit

Thunderbird can automatically delete emails from the Trash folder when it exits, but remember that emails are only invisible at that point: to permanently erase them, use File > Compact Folders.

Overview: this free tutorial explains Copies and Folders options available for your email account in Mozilla Thunderbird, such as drafts and templates, sent email copies, or automated email blind carbon copies send to one or more email addresses.
In this tutorial: Introduction
Drafts and Templates

Copies and Folders Settings in Mozilla Thunderbird

You can choose a keep a copy of all emails you send (including replies and forwards) in any folder you want. Make sure the Place a copy in checkbox is checked, and choose your folder.

Additionally, any email you send from this particular email address can be Bcc'd (blind carbon copy) to one or more email addresses.

This can be very useful when you are part of a team who collaborates on a project, for example. From there on, every email you compose will have one or more Bcc entry for each of the email addresses specified.

In the Bcc these email addresses field, use a comma (,) to separate email addresses, not a semi-column (;)

Drafts and Templates

The email account whose settings you are editing can also save draft emails and templates in a custom folder. The defaults are respectively Drafts and Templates, both in Local Folders.

Thunderbird can also give you a confirmation message when you save the email you are editing as draft. ("Your message has been saved to the folder [blank] under [blank]", [Drafts] and [Local Folders] by default).

To enable successful saving notification, simply click the Show confirmation dialog when messages are saved checkbox. The confirmation dialog itself contains a checkbox that lets you turn off these notifications.

Ctrl+SSaves current email in Drafts

Overview: this free tutorial covers the Composition and Addressing options available in Mozilla Thunderbird for your email account settings, as reply format and position, and selection of specific LDAP directory per email account.
In this tutorial: Introduction
Composition Settings
Addressing Settings

Composition and Addressing Settings in Mozilla Thunderbird

In addition to the global options under Tools > Options > Composition, Thunderbird also lets you customize composition and addressing options on at the email account level. Settings under the email account supersede Thunderbird's global options under Tools > Options.

Composition Settings

Composition settings allow you to customize the format in which you send emails: plain text, or HTML ("rich content").

Thunderbird lets you choose where to place the cursor (insertion point) when you reply to an email: above the quote, below the quote, or start by selecting the quote.

You can also choose where to append your email signature: below the quote, or below my reply (above the quote). Thunderbird recommends the former, we tend to prefer the latter, for ease of use.

Addressing Settings

If you use an LDAP server for contact directories, these settings allow you to use a different LDAP directory than the one under the global options. If you aren't using LDAP directories, simply leave the Use my global LDAP server preferences for this account selected.

Overview: this free tutorial explains the disk space options in Mozilla Thunderbird, as available at the email account settings level.

Email Accounts Settings in Thunderbird: Disk Space Settings

If you are working with a limited storage capacity hard drive, Thunderbird can help by only downloading emails below a certain size.

By default, all emails are downloaded. To setup a maximum allowed size, go to Tools > Account Settings, and select the email account for which you would like to set a size limit.

Click on the Disk Space settings on the left pane.

Check the Messages larger than checkbox, and enter a size.

The email size value is in KB ("Kilobytes"); to prevent Thunderbird from downloading emails larger than one megabyte (1 MB), enter 1000 in the size field.

1,000 KB (Kilobytes) = 1 MB (Megabyte)

For tips on efficiently managing disk space in Thunderbird, and general maintenance tips, please see the tips section of the General Maintenance tutorial.


Return Receipt Settings in Thunderbird (Email Accounts Settings)

Overview: this free tutorial shows you the Return Receipt options available in Mozilla Thunderbird under your email account settings.
In this tutorial: Introduction
Return Receipt Settings

Return Receipt Settings in Thunderbird (Email Accounts Settings)

To access Thunderbird's email account(s) settings, go to Tools > Account Settings. In the Account Settings dialog, select the email account whose settings you'd like to modify.

Thunderbird's Return Receipts settings can be set for all your email accounts under the Compositions Options (covered in our Composition Options tutorial).

Thunderbird, however, lets you customize return receipts policy at the email account level. This means that whatever is defined under an email account's Return Receipts settings will supersede the global options set under Tools > Options > Composition.

Thunderbird's Return Receipts Options

Thunderbird's Return Receipts settings for an individual email account are exactly the same as the global options. The difference is that they have precedence over the global options when it comes to that particular email account.

Return receipts allow you to know that an email has been successfully delivered. (You may know return receipts as Delivery Receipts in other email clients, which are not the same as Read Receipts.)

To ask Thunderbird for a return receipt every time you send an email, simply check the When sending messages, always request a return receipt checkbox.

When a return receipt comes back, Thunderbird can automatically file it in the Sent folder, or drop it in your inbox, (pick your preference under When a receipt arrives).

Additionally, you can choose how Thunderbird handles itself requests for return receipts: by default, Never send a return receipt is selected. Use the radio buttons (
) and the drop-down menus to customize your return receipt settings.

Return receipt requests are handled at the mail server level, which is beyond Thunderbird's control. Many mail servers and email clients do not send anything upon receiving an email. This does not mean that your email was not delivered.

On the other hand, receiving a return receipt does confirm that your email has been delivered.

Overview: this free tutorial will soon cover the email account security settings available in Mozilla Thunderbird. Stay tuned.

Email Accounts Security Settings in Mozilla Thunderbird

Handling of security, certificates and secure emails in Thunderbird will come in a later tutorial, in which we will revisit the Security section of your email accounts settings. Please stay tuned.

Overview: this free tutorial gives you a few tips to optimize the performance of Mozilla Thunderbird over time, such as disk space management, compacting folders, keeping Thunderbird up-to-date, cleaning up trashed emails and using retention policy options for your email folders.
In this tutorial: Introduction
Thunderbird Updates
Conserve Disk Space Tips
Leave Emails On Server
Empty Trash
Compact Folders
Folder Retention Policies

General Maintenance for Mozilla Thunderbird

As soon as emails are downloaded on your computer, your Thunderbird Profile's size increases. Especially as time goes by, there are a few good-practice actions to take to ensure that Thunderbird runs at its best.

Maintaining Thunderbird Up-To-Date

The best maintenance you can start with is ensuring that you are always running the latest version of Thunderbird.

Although you can turn off automatic checks for updates under Advanced options, we strongly recommend against it. By default, Thunderbird will check for, download, and install any updates it finds.

(For more information, please see the Thunderbird Updates tutorial.)

Tips For Conserving Disk Space in Thunderbird

If you are working with limited storage space, here are a few tips that will help you keep your profile and mail files to a minimum size.

Leave Messages on Server

The easiest way to conserve space is to leave messages on the server in the first place, (if you need to conserve a copy of these emails), so that you can delete copies from your computer after you read the emails.

To leave your emails on the server, and manage if and when they are to be automatically deleted, please see the Server Settings section of our Server Settings tutorial.

Empty the Trash

Emails you deleted are not really deleted; they remain in the Trash folder, and still use disk space on your computer. To get rid of these emails, you can either right-click on the trash and choose Empty Trash, or go to File > Empty Trash.

This time, deleted emails are gone for good, and the Trash folder will be completely empty.

Thunderbird can automatically empty the Trash when exiting. To enable this option, go to Tools > Account Settings, choose the email account(s), select Server Settings, and check the Empty Trash on Exit checkbox.

Emails are not completely deleted until you empty the Trash and compact your folders (see below).

Compact Your Folders

Thunderbird allows you to compress your folders so that they use less space on your hard drive: Thunderbird calls is Compacting Your Folders. To compact your folders, go to File > Compact Folders. Unless you have enormous amounts of emails, or have not compacted your folders in a long time, the entire process should take but a few seconds.

As explained in the Advanced Options tutorial, Thunderbird can automatically compact folders when the amount of emails locally stored (i.e. on your computer) exceeds a certain size.

Use Email Folders' Retention Policies

Email Folders' behavior can be customized in Thunderbird, so that emails can be automatically deleted regardless of server or email account settings, or rules such as Always delete read messages.

To view or change individual folders' settings, right-click on the folder, choose Properties, and navigate to the Retention Policy tab.

Overview: this free tutorial guides you through the update process in Mozilla Thunderbird, the available update options, update history, release notes, how to manually check for updates and know the version of Thunderbird you are running.
In this tutorial: Introduction
Check For Updates
Download and Install Updates
Update Options
Update History
Release Notes

Thunderbird Updates

Maintaining an up-to-date version of Thunderbird is crucial. Fortunately, the update process is not only smooth, but happens automatically (by default), from simple stability updates, to critical security updates. Updates are tested before being released, so the chances of an update creating havoc are minimal.

Luckily, you do not have to re-download Thunderbird to have the latest version, updates detection and installation process are fully integrated in the application.

The bottom line is that you only can benefit from ensuring that you are running the latest version of Thunderbird. Besides, updates are typically very small downloads, and quick to install, so that the complete update usually doesn't take more than a couple minutes.

To quickly see which version of Thunderbird you are running, go to Help > About Mozilla Thunderbird.

The About Thunderbird dialog will open, and indicate major and minor versions, (like 1.5.0.2).

Manually Checking for updates

You can always check manually if you have the latest version of Thunderbird by going to Help > Check for Updates.

The Software Update window will open, and request information from Mozilla's server. If your copy of Thunderbird is up-to-date, you will receive a There are no new updates available confirmation.

Otherwise, Thunderbird will start downloading and installing updates. After an update is installed, Thunderbird will restart, but leave you the option to do it later. Our recommendation: do it asap.

Downloading and Installing Updates

Whether you check manually for updates, or have Thunderbird set to automatically check for them (default, recommended), the Thunderbird update window will open if updates are available for download.

Thunderbird will then download and install the updates. It will also check for compatibility with themes and extensions you may have, and give you a notice if any of theme isn't compatible.

There is no need to uninstall incompatible themes or extensions. You will simply not be able to use them until their creator updates them.

Once updates have been installed, Thunderbird will notify you, and give you the option to restart it right away, or later. We recommend that you restart it right away.

Who knows? Restarting it right away may have saved you from being the target of a critical security exploit against which only this latest update protects you.

Update Options in Thunderbird

Thunderbird's update settings can be configured by going to Tools > Options, selecting Advanced, and clicking the Update tab.

By default, Thunderbird's update settings are the most secure: periodic check-for-updates will be done automatically, for both the Thunderbird email client, and any extensions or themes you may have installed.

When updates are found, Thunderbird will automatically download and install them, and warn you if any theme or extension is not compatible with the latest version of Thunderbird.

We strongly recommend that you leave Thunderbird's settings for updates the way they are by default.

Thunderbird's Update History

At any point, you can look at Thunderbird's update history by going to Tools > Options, and choosing the Update tab under Advanced options.

The Update History dialog will open and list all updates downloaded and installed since Thunderbird was installed on your computer.

Thunderbird Updates' Release Notes

If you are curious about the changes made in Thunderbird's latest version, simply go to Help > Release Notes. This will bring you to the Mozilla.com website, on the page that details improvements made, security fixes (if any), and Known Issues for the version of Thunderbird you are running. Known Issues are secondary effects that were experienced by some users, and that have been reported to the Mozilla developers team.

Overview: this tutorial shows you what happens if Mozilla Thunderbird crashes, and the steps you will optionally go through if you want to improve the stability of your email client.
In this tutorial: Introduction
The Quality Feedback Agent
Crash Data Collection
Crash Reporting (Windows)
Restart Thunderbird

Mozilla Thunderbird Crashes and Quality Agent Feedback

In spite of its relative young age, Thunderbird is a mature application, so you should not come across a crash too often.

The Mozilla Quality Feedback Agent

The first two screens of the Mozilla Quality Feedback Agent will introduce you to the Agent, and its privacy policy (no emails are being sent, only data necessary to troubleshoot the crash). You can click Next (recommended, don't you want to improve Thunderbird?) or Cancel.

the last step gives you the option to uncheck the Turn Agent on checkbox. Here again, we recommend leaving it checked, so that your crash will contribute to bettering future releases of Thunderbird.

Data Collection by Quality Agent Feedback

In the next screen, the Agent gives you the option to enter your email address, signup for Mozilla-related information updates, and describe what happened, and possibly directly send incident information in the future.

From this screen, you can also click the Show Details button, which will reveal details meaningless for mere mortals: a description of Thunderbird's state at the time of the crash.

If only for the fun of it, you can save you crash data information as a text file, after which you can allow the Agent to report your crash data to the Mozilla developer team, and claim your fair share of contribution to the next release of Thunderbird.

Crash Reporting on Windows

If you are running Windows XP (Home or Pro), chances are that the Windows crash utility will popup too. This behavior is normal, and simply part of a similar process to ameliorate Windows by reporting crash data.

As for the Mozilla Quality Feedback Agent, we recommend that you do let the Windows crash utility report the problem to Microsoft, (even if the problem may have been more relevant for Thunderbird than Windows developers).

Restarting Thunderbird

After all the crash reporting is done, restart Thunderbird, and ensure that all your emails are still there, etc. This would be a good time to have a look at our Thunderbird maintenance tutorial.

Overview: this free tutorial gives you a comprehensive listing of keyboard shortcuts for Mozilla Thunderbird. Learning how to use Thunderbird without taking your hands off the keyboard can be quite a time-saver.
In this tutorial: Introduction
Menu Indicators
Keyboard Shortcuts Table

Thunderbird Keyboard Shortcuts

This is a partial list of keyboard shortcuts for Thunderbird on Windows. We picked the ones you are most likely to use all the time. Keyboard shortcuts allow you to do quickly, without forcing your hands away from the keyboard, things that you would naturally do with the mouse; they're a great time saver!

The terms Return and Enter refer to the same key on your keyboard, the one that inserts a new line in a text editor, the bottom right one on your numerical keypad. Typically, the term Return is used for Macs, and Enter for Windows.

Keyboard Shortcuts Indicators on Menus

Whether you are using Windows, Macintosh, or UNIX, the menus of most applications actually reveal many keyboard shortcuts.

The (modified) screenshot on the left is Thunderbird's "Message" menu, with the keyboard shortcuts artificially highlighted in green.

To reply to an email, for example, you can hold down the control key ("Ctrl") and press "R", (while still holding down the Ctrl key.)

To reply to all recipients of the email, hold down both Ctrl and Shift, and press "R"

Thunderbird Keyboard Shortcuts

The keyboard shortcuts in this tutorial focus on Windows. Mozilla published a cross-platform list of keyboard shortcuts (Windows, Mac and UNIX):

Mozilla Thunderbird Keyboard Shortcuts

General Thunderbird Keyboard Shortcuts

F8 Toggle the message pane's visibility

F2 Rename current folder

F5 Send + Receive

Ctrl+U View current email's source

Ctrl+M Create blank email

Ctrl+N (Also works)

Del Delete selected email

Ctrl+Q Exit Thunderbird

Email Organization Keyboard Shortcuts

J Mark selected email as "junk mail"

Shift+J Mark selected email as "not junk"

M Toggles the selected email's "Read" status

Ctrl+Shift+C Marks as "Read" all emails in current folder

G Group-sort your emails

i Toggles the selected email's "Flag" status

1-5 Assign a label to the selected email

0 (zero) Un-label the selected email

* Expand all threads

/ Collapse all threads

Ctrl+A Select all emails in folder

Ctrl+Shift+A Select all emails in thread

Email Reading Keyboard Shortcuts

Ctrl++ Increase email text size

Ctrl+- Decrease email text size

Ctrl+0 (zero) Normal email text size

F Next email (tip: F as in Forward)

B Previous email (tip: B as in backward)

N Next unread email (tip: N as in Next)

P Previous unread email (tip: P as in Previous)

T Next unread thread

Ctrl+O Open current email

Ctrl+P Print current email

Email Message Keyboard Shortcuts

Ctrl+R Reply to email

Ctrl+Shift+R Reply to all recipients

Ctrl+L Forward email

Ctrl+Enter Send an email immediately

Ctrl+Shift+Enter Send an email later

Email Formatting Keyboard Shortcuts

Ctrl+B Bold

Ctrl+U Underlined

Ctrl+I Italic

Ctrl+L Insert Link

Ctrl+A Select All

Ctrl+X Cut selected text

Ctrl+C Copy selected text

Ctrl+V Paste

Ctrl+K Check spelling

Finding & Searching Keyboard Shortcuts

Ctrl+F Find text in current email

Ctrl+G Find again (find next)

Ctrl+Shift+G Find previous

Ctrl+Shift+F Search messages

Address Book Keyboard Shortcuts

Ctrl+2 Show Address Book (when in email side of Thunderbird)

Ctrl+1 Show Thunderbird (when in Address Book)

Ctrl+N New Address Book Card

Ctrl+I Opens current contact's properties

Ctrl+Shift+F Find a contact in address book

Overview: this free tutorial shows you how to set Mozilla Thunderbird as the default email client on your computer, both using Thunderbird options and using the control panel on Windows.

In this tutorial: Introduction
Thunderbird's Startup Check
Set Thunderbird as default email client from Options
Set Thunderbird as default email client from Windows' settings

Setting Thunderbird as Default Email Client

Setting Thunderbird as the default email client (or "default mail handler") means that it will be called anytime you click on a link that contains the mailto: "protocol", or perform operations that involve composing email.

Setting Thunderbird as default email client means that clicking an email address link on a web page will automatically open a new Thunderbird email window, addressed to the email address contained in the link.

Thunderbird's Default Email Client Startup Check

Every time you start Thunderbird, it will check if it is (or should be) the default email client on your machine, and show you a message in some circumstances.

The message reads "Do you want to use Mozilla Thunderbird as the default mail application". This message will stop appearing either if Thunderbird is the default email client, or if you checked the Do not display this dialog again checkbox.

There are two ways to set Thunderbird as the default email client: from within Thunderbird (all operating systems), or using the Internet Options settings (focus on Windows).

Setting Thunderbird as Default Email Client from the Options Dialog

From Thunderbird's main window, go to Tools > Options, and make sure that the General icon is highlighted.

Under Default Settings, check the Mail checkbox. (Likewise, check the appropriate checkboxes if you want Thunderbird as the default news or RSS reader.)

Click OK to validate your choice. Thunderbird should now be your default email client. Check it: this email link should open a Thunderbird new email window.

Setting Thunderbird as Default Email Client using Windows Settings

To set Thunderbird as default email client using Windows' settings, go to the Start Menu, choose Control Panel and Internet Options.

Depending on your Windows settings, the Control Panel may not expand, and instead open the Control Panel window: in this case, simply double-click the Internet Options icon.

The Windows Internet Options are also available from Internet Explorer, by going to Tools > Options, and selecting the Programs tab.

The common Internet program types are listed on the program tabs of the Internet Properties window/dialog.

Under E-mail, all email programs recognized as such by Windows will be listed: Thunderbird will be among these if it is installed on your computer.

Select Thunderbird from the E-mail drop-down, and click OK to validate your choice.

Check the success of the change with this email link: it should open a Thunderbird new email window.

Overview: this free tutorial shows you how to obtain and install ThunderTray (TB-Tray) to minimize Mozilla Thunderbird to the system tray area of Windows, and hide it from the taskbar.
In this tutorial: Introduction
Overview
Configure ThunderTray
Download ThunderTray

ThunderTray (or "TB-Tray", or "Thunderbird-Tray")

First, there seems to be several names for this utility: for the record, ThunderTray, TB-Tray and Thunderbird-Tray are all denomination of the same Windows utility developed to minimize Thunderbird to the Windows system tray, start Thunderbird minimized, and more.

Alternatively, there is a Thunderbird extension called Minimize To Tray, also for Windows, which allows you to minimize Thunderbird to the system tray, as well as FireFox and the Mozilla Suite set of applications. Read more

ThunderTray Overview

ThunderTray is a very practical utility (small computer program) for Thunderbird users on Windows. ThunderTray allows you to minimize Thunderbird to the tray area (near the clock) instead of the taskbar, where other minimized windows usually appear.

ThunderTray is not part of the Thunderbird package, but developed by Felix Geyer, an independent German programmer, who offers it as a free download - he accepts donations though.

Aside from its basic functionality, ThunderTray can start at the same time as Windows, run Thunderbird at the same time, etc. There are several configurable options.

Configuring ThunderTray

To change or add functionality to ThunderTray, setup profiles, add items to its menu, start Thunderbird minimized, etc., you need to run a separate program, but it is very easy to do.

Go to the C:\Program Files folder, locate the ThunderTray folder, and open it. Once inside, double-click the program called TBTray-Config.exe. (Depending on your Windows settings, you may or not see the ".exe" at the end.)

Restart ThunderTray after your changes, and you're done!

Download ThunderTray

To download ThunderTray, or look at other programs developed by Felix Geyer, visit:

www.SniperBeamer.de/Tbtray/

Overview: this free tutorial introduces you to the Lightning Calendar extension for Mozilla Thunderbird; after the standalone calendar Sunbird, now comes fully integrated in your email client, what brings Thunderbird closer to a much coveted category, that of the personal information manager, like Microsoft Outlook or WordPerfect Mail.
In this tutorial: Introduction
Lightning Calendar Overview
Menu and Date Picker
Lightning Options

Lightning Calendar Extension for Mozilla Thunderbird

The Lightning Calendar extension is a response to numerous requests to add calendaring functionality into Thunderbird. And quite frankly, the absence of calendar was a big setback to a wider adoption of Thunderbird.

Keep in mind that currently, the Lightning Calendar is at its earliest stage. The functionality is still limited, but that shouldn't last too long.

The Lightning Calendar extension is available for Windows, Mac and Linux. The installation of an extension in Thunderbird is similar across platforms.

The Lightning Calendar Home/Download Page

Once you have downloaded the Lightning Calendar extension, go to Tools > Extensions, and click the Extensions window's Install button.

For security reasons, the Install button is disabled (grayed-out) for a few seconds. Once enabled, click it, locate your Lightning Calendar download, and double click it.

Thunderbird needs to be restarted, and next time you run it, it will have the Lightning Calendar integrated, and visible underneath your email folder tree.

Lightning Calendar for Thunderbird: Overview

To view the current months, click on a date in the date picker on the left, below your email folders.

To add an event or a task go to File > New > Event/Task.

Alternatively, double click a day to add an event, and double click on the white area below the To Do tab to add a task.

Lightning Calendar's Menu and Date Picker

Notice that a Calendar menu has been added to Thunderbird. It allows you to view a day, a week, or a month at a time. Calendar > Go to today shows the calendar (if you we in an email folder) and highlights the current day.

To collapse Lightning Calendar's date picker, which tends to use an overwhelming amount of screen real estate, use the handler highlighted in green on the screenshot, and drag it downwards, either to resize it, or hide it completely.

To bring back up the date picker, grab the handle near the bottom of Thunderbird's window, and drag it back up.

The Agenda tab gives you an overview of upcoming events and tasks. By default, both are visible, but you can exclude one or the other by using the View drop-down menu.

Lightning supports multiple calendars. To add a calendar, click on the Calendars tab, and the New button.

Options for Lightning Calendar

A calendar icon (left) has been added to Thunderbird Options dialog (Tools > Options). This is where you can configure the Lightning Calendar's settings

On the Alarms tab, you can set Lightning's default behavior for alarms (play a sound or not), and the length of the sound, to remind you about calendar events.

The Week View lets you configure your general day's start and end time (the default, 17, means 5PM: 17-12=5, military time), as well as the day on which you want each week to start.

The My Time zone tab lets you find a city that shares your time zone to set yours.

Overview: this page gathers in one place Internet links to official Mozilla Thunderbird documentation, and online resources from various places.

Thunderbird Links

This page features useful links to Thunderbird-related topics. All links open a new window.

The official Thunderbird website

The official Thunderbird Help Website

The official Thunderbird Support Forum, where users like you can ask questions and (most of the time) get answers.

The Thunderbird Knowledge Base gathers in one place all kinds of articles and walkthroughs about the email program, as well as some general advice.

The Thunderbird Themes (or "Skins") page

The Thunderbird Extensions (or "Add-ons") page

The list of Thunderbird's Keyboard Shortcuts, and a few mouse shortcuts.

Official Thunderbird Documentation Links

A presentation of Privacy and Thunderbird

A presentation of Message Grouping in Thunderbird

A presentation of Thunderbird's Saved Searches

A presentation of the concept of Global Inbox

A quick start tutorial on using Thunderbird as RSS Reader

A discussion of Junk Mail Controls in Thunderbird

Overview: this page contains noteworthy Mozilla Thunderbird news and press releases we came across.

Mozilla Thunderbird News

Note: All external links open a new window

Thunderbird 2 Released Last Week (April 23, 2007)

The long awaited Thunderbird 2 was released last week, and includes all the features we reviewed on our Thunderbird 2 Preview page. Rather than differentiate old and new features in the same tutorial, we have decided to create a new Thunderbird 2 Tutorial focused solely on Thunderbird 2, which will progressively go live over the coming weeks.

Download:
Thunderbird 2 (Windows, US English)
Thunderbird 2 (all platforms & languages)

Thunderbird 2 Beta 2 Is Out! (January 25, 2007)

Thunderbird 2, Beta 2, is now available for download from Mozilla's website. Keep in mind that although Beta 2 is close(r) to a final product, the version of the email client is not meant for a production environment. If you decide to download and install it, it would be a good idea to tell the installer to create a new folder, rather than install it on top of your stable Thunderbird 1.5.

Download:
Thunderbird 2 Beta 2 (Windows, US English)
Thunderbird 2 Beta 2 (All available platforms and languages)

Thunderbird 2 Beta 1 Is Out! (December 13, 2006)

Mozilla released Thunderbird 2 (Beta 1) yesterday. While it is a more stable release than the Thunderbird 2 Alpha 1 made available last July, it is not meant for a production environment. Testers and developers can download it; make sure to participate by reporting bugs to Mozilla developers, the more the merrier. Thunderbird 2 adds quite a few improvement to an already mature email client; see for yourself some of Thunderbird 2's new features.

Source: Thunderbird 2 Beta 1 Announcement and Download Page from the Mozilla website.

Thunderbird + Eudora = Penelope (October 13, 2006)

Here is a big event in the history of email clients: Qualcomm, founder of the once prevalent Eudora email client, has made an arrangement with the Mozilla Foundation. Looking at Qualcomm's current focus, Eudora seems out of place: "QUALCOMM has decided not to remain in the email market because it is not in alignment with the core business or strategic goals", explains Qualcomm's website.

Eudora will become an open-source email client based on Mozilla's code base. Actually, a very promising new email client: indeed, many of Eudora's innovative features have not yet been integrated in other, newer email clients.

On the other hand, Eudora has been in desperate need of a major interface overhaul. Changes in usability expectations and interface design norms and tastes make Eudora look like a travel in time to the days of Windows 95.

Mozilla's announcement on mozillaZine: "The Mozilla Foundation and Qualcomm have announced that future versions of the Eudora mail client will be based on Mozilla Thunderbird ( ) available in the first half of 2007 and will be both free and open-source ( ) will retain "Eudora's uniquely rich feature set and productivity enhancements". Thunderbird and Eudora will remain separate products ( )"

Source: Mozilla's Announcement, Qualcomm's Eudora FAQs, and the resulting Penelope Project.

Multiple Vulnerabilities in Mozilla Thunderbird (September 16, 2006)

"Some vulnerabilities have been reported in Mozilla Thunderbird, which can be exploited by malicious people to conduct man-in-the-middle attacks, bypass certain security restrictions, and potentially compromise a user's system." writes security firm Secunia.

"The problem is that scripts ( ) can be executed even when JavaScript has been disabled" (Original source: Secunia advisory)

An appropriate update is available from: Mozilla.com/Thunderbird.
Or more simply, run Thunderbird, and go to Help > Check for Updates.

Sunbird and Lightning: Test Case Writing Day (August 8, 2006)

"As Mozilla prepares to release updates for its calendar applications Sunbird and Lightning, project developers are calling on the user community to participate in the final stages of testing. Mozilla has proclaimed today as Test Case Writing Day, and users worldwide are encouraged to participate."

Although most Thunderbird fans would participate anyway, Mozilla offers US$25 gift certificates to the two most prolific writers: Mozilla Test Case Writing Day

Thunderbird 2 Alpha 1 (July 28, 2006)

The next version of Thunderbird promises some very exciting features, such as favorite folders, email tags, inline incremental search for emails, folder hints, and a consolidated Add-ons Manager for themes and extensions. Preview some of the new features
Official Release Notes

"Mozilla users warned--upgrade now" (April 19, 2006)

"CERT advises people who use Mozilla's e-mail software, Thunderbird, and the Internet application suite Seamonkey to also upgrade to the latest versions (Thunderbird 1.5 and Seamonkey 1.0.1). CERT warned that any other products based on older Mozilla components, particularly the Gecko rendering engine, may also be affected."

Read the rest of the article
Apparently, anyone running Thunderbird 1.5 or Seamonkey 1.0.1 should be fine. One more reason to have version 1.5 As far as FireFox goes, make sure you upgraded to 1.5.0.2.

USB-Portable Thunderbird (April 1, 2006 - No Joke)

"Portable Thunderbird is a safe and fast email client that is easy to use. It has all the great features of the regular Thunderbird including quick message search, customizable views, support for IMAP/POP, RSS and more. ( )"

(Article from The Daily Star - no longer online)
Portable Thunderbird allows you to carry your email client (and other applications) on a simple USB flash drive: Portable Thunderbird Homepage

A Calendar for Thunderbird (March 20, 2006)

"The Calendar team is proud to announce the first official release of the new Lightning extension: Lightning 0.1 for Windows, Linux and Mac OS X. This is a major milestone on the road to an integrated calendar for users of the award-winning mail-client Mozilla Thunderbird 1.5. Thanks go to all developers, testers and other supporters of the project. More information and download instructions are available on the Lightning Homepage. ( )"

Read the rest of the article
Lightning, still in early stages of development, is a calendar extension for Thunderbird: Lightning Homepage
Our brief Lightning Calendar tutorial

E-Mail Programs Still Don't Deliver (March 12, 2006)

"To a lot of people, e-mail has become something that only lives on the Web in free services such as Yahoo's or Google's. Why bother running a separate program just for your mail when you can pile up messages by the gigabyte on somebody else's server, then access it from anywhere?"

An interesting -albeit slightly biased- article on Thunderbird's position among modern email clients for the desktop
Read the rest of the article.

Overview: this is where we admit we made mistakes, and take the opportunity to give official recognition to our readers who took the time to let us know we were incorrect.

Mozilla Thunderbird Tutorial Errata

While we strive to achieve the utmost accuracy in our tutorials, we make mistakes. We don't just welcome, but encourage you to let us know when we're mistaken.

April 21, 2006
Thunderbird is distributed, not created, by the commercial arm of the Mozilla Foundation. (Our thanks to Ekhart, from Finland, for pointing it out.)

Microsoft Outlook Express has for a number of years been the
leading application for sending and receiving e-mails. This is not
only due to a good functionality, but also due to the
monopolization from Microsoft, and the lack of competitive
programs.

Thunderbird is one of those programs which can compete with MS
Outlook Express, not only because it has similar functionality, but
it's also user friendly, and it's freeware.

Thunderbird, and other Open Source programs, are products
developed by a community of developers. As everything else, this
community ain't flawless. IMHO it seems they use too much energy
and time developing programs, and fighting the everlasting battle
against monopoly. I'm sure I'm not the first one to think about
this, but what if the community had spent more time enlightening
the masses? I don't see myself as a guru when it comes to handling
programs, yet Thunderbird is quite easy to use.

People's fear of the new and unknown might be a missed issue,
which needs to be put on the agenda. Throughout this article, I
will try to help you understand Thunderbird, as the excellent, free
program it is.

Why Thunderbird?

It's user friendly, easy to install, easy to use.

It's Free, meaning, you can download it from the web, no
charge.

Cross platform, you can use it with Windows as well as the
GNU/Linux operating system.

These reasons alone should make you consider using this
program.

How to download?

At the URL http://www.mozilla.org/products/thunderbird/
you will always find the newest version of Thunderbird, you will
also find additional information about Thunderbird there, as well
as links to upgrades and extensions, if you are interested in those sorts of
things. :)

How to install?

Download the installer file from the page above, and double-click
the file.

If you got any programs running, close them as advised. Press
next.

Read the agreement, if you agree, check the box and press "Next".
:)

If you want to choose what to install and where to install it, mark
the custom box, if not choose standard.

The installer will tell you where Mozilla Thunderbird will be
installed, most of you will have the same path as I have in this
screenshot.

And voila. Press finish to start Thunderbird for the first
time. :)

Configuration?

When you open Thunderbird for the first time, you need to create
a new account, I will try to show you this step by step.

First click on "Create a new account".

Select "Email account" and press next.

Fill in your name and email address, press next.

Now you are asked to fill in the incoming server, for me it's
"mail.nidelven-it.no", you may be asked for outgoing server aswell,
usually this is the same server, press next.

Now you are asked to fill in your user name for your email
provider, for example "jsmith", press next.

Now you are asked what you would like to call this account, choose
yourself, press next.

You will get a summary, check your information, and if everything
is OK press finish.

Mark your email address and press "Get mail".

You are immediatly asked for the password to your email account,
fill in and press OK, you can also choose if you want Thunderbird
to remember the password. Don't save the password until you're
sure it's typed in correctly - as it is hard to change it once it has
been saved.

If you have filled in everything correctly, you should now be
able to enjoy Thunderbird. :)

Hopefully, at this point you will have Thunderbird up and running. As the next step in the
process you will need to get familiar with the program. This part will evolve around basic buttons/options and how to read mail.

A short explanation of the options you got on the hot-bar:

Get Mail:

The get mail button will connect your Thunderbird client to your mail server and look for new
messages. In the bottom right corner you will get a message if you have new email.

Write:

The write button opens a new window, where you can compose a new email message, add attachments
and finally send it.

Address Book:

Pressing the address book button will also open a new window, you
will now be able to see which
mail address you currently got, you can also add new cards, send a
message to someone who is in your address book, I will elaborate on the
address book in part 4.

Reply:

The reply button will open and new window, including the text from the mail highlighted in your
inbox.

Reply all:

Will include all recipients of the email replied to,
i.e. everybody listed in the To or Copy field will receive the reply.

Forward:

The forward button opens a new window, with the highlighted message either as an attachment,
or inlined (included as text) in the new message.

Delete:

The delete button will delete the highlighted mail message, if you're a fan of the keyboard the delete button has the same function.

Junk:

The junk button will mark the highlighted message as junk (AKA spam).

Print:

The print button will print the highlighted message.

Stop:

The stop button will abort the current action,
useful for example if you want to abort sending a big message,
or stop downloading thousands of messages from newsgroups.

How to read mail:
When opening your Thunderbird client it will automatically connect to mail server and look for new mail,
these mails will then be downloaded to your inbox, viewed as a subfolder of your email address
on the left. Click on the inbox and your mail messages will show to the right.

Having Thunderbird up and idle, you need to press the Get mail
button to make the client check for new messages, unless Thunderbird is
configured to check for messages automatically (it is possible to
configure this under Tools -> Account settings).

Well, you should now be able to receive mail, in this part of the introduction i will try to show
you how to write/send an email and attach a signature. Functions that add a nice touch to your mailing skills. :)

How to make a signature:

Open your notepad or any text editing program, any will do, just
remember to save the file as plain
text. It's up to you what you want in your signature, however, I would
suggest you add your name
and how you can be reached. A link to your personal and/or business
webpage can also be added. Save your signature as a text file
wherever you like.

How to attach a signature:

Open your Thunderbird, go to Tools--> Account Settings.

Highlight your mail address on the left hand side.

Check the box which says "Attach this signature".

With the browse button to the right, locate your signature.txt.

Press OK.

There, easy? Send a mail to yourself to see the result, if you don't like it you can always edit the text file.

How to write/send mail:

In this part of the introduction I will only show you how to send a mail, address book and other more
"advanced" features will come in part 4.

You got two options, either use the button on the hotbar, or press "Write new message", this will open a
new window, where you can edit your mail and send it.

As you see, my signature is already added in the bottom, all I have to do is add the message I want to send.
For anyone to receive your mail message you need to fill in a mail address, this is done in the "to"
field, just click on it and a cursor will appear to show you that you're in the right field.

In the "subject field" add a topic of your mail message,
if you don't specify a subject (you don't have to) you will be asked to do so before the mail message is sent.

Press Send :)

Once in a while, you may need to attach a file to your email message. Part 4 will mainly
revolve around editing attachments and what buttons you got on the hotbar in the address book.
By now you should be able to navigate fairly well in the Thunderbird user interface,
so I'm going to give a few more pointers in this part than the previous :)

How to edit attachments:

The first thing you need to do is open a new message.

Having done that, you need to press the attachment button, right next to the attachment button
is there also an arrow; you've got 2 choices, either attach a file or a web address. Click on the attachment button, and a window for browsing your folders will appear for your hard drive.

Locate the file you want to attach from your local directory, and
press open. Your mail message now has a file attached. If you want to
add more attachments to the same email simply repeat the process. If
you want to attach a web page, simply choose "Attach web page" and fill
in the URL (for example http://www.mozilla.org).

A short explanation on the address book and hotbar:

New card:

This button will allow you to create a new card in your address book, a new card can be a friend, a business relation and so on.

New list:

This button will open a window where you can create a mailing
list. These lists are handy if you want to send emails to a group
of people, for example friends at the golf club.

Properties:

Lets you edit the highlighted card in your address book.

Write:

Will open a new window for writing a message to the person highlighted in the address book.

Delete:

The delete button will delete the highlighted card from your address book.

Hope you have enjoyed this part as much as I enjoyed writing it :)

One of the best features about Thunderbird is the spam (junk) mail filter. Thunderbird has a built-in filter which can be adjusted and tuned in for your needs.
You may need to spend a week or two teaching it what is spam and what's not,
but it will be worth it. :)

The first you need to do is localize the settings panel for the spam filter,
if you go Tools > Junk Mail Controls you should get this window:

In this screenshot you can choose which account these settings will apply for,
as some accounts require their own filter settings.

In this screenshot above you see the junk controls are turned off by default, so the first thing you want to do is check the box which says "Enable junk mail controls."

The junk button

Now, Thunderbird uses something called "Bayesian filtering", in other words you need to teach the mail client what is spam, and what isn't. You can either highlight a mail message and press the junk button, or you can right click on a mail
and mark it as "Junk" or "Not junk". By checking and unchecking mail you're teaching Thunderbird which emails are spam. After a few weeks the client should be able to remove most of the spam
that dumps into your inbox.

Images

Another trick for preventing spam is to disable remote images from
loading. This ensures spammers cannot embed secret images in their
e-mail and track you when you open them. Go to Edit > Preferences
and
disable "Loading of remote images" - this will stop spammers from
verifying your email address with images, and reduce the amount of spam
you'll receive.

Importing e-mail and addresses

Changing to a new mail client doesn't have to be difficult, as long
as you have a proper guide
to help you. :) In this part of the introduction I will try to show you
how to import and migrate
all your information from your old mail client.
The client
I will use as an example is Outlook Express, and the procedure should
be similar for other supported clients. Big topic, so buckle up.
:)

If you go to Tools > Import, you will get this window, here you have 3 choices, I'll talk about two
of them, importing email and address books.

Importing mail

Now, the first I will do is import mail from my other account,
I check the box which says Mail, then press next.

Depending on which client you used before switching to Thunderbird, you check the box, I will for this
example use Outlook Express, press next.

As you see, you will get a notification of what Thunderbird has imported from your other mail client,
the last step to finish the import is to press the "Finish" button. :)

As you see, I've highlighted my folder for imported mail. Thunderbird will make a sub-folder in your
local folders, so your mail doesn't get mixed up with other mail. To import mail from another client simply
repeat the procedure. Now, was that difficult?

Importing address book

Importing your address book is a must for many, to import your address book from the other
client, check for Address Books and press next.

Choose what client you want to import from and press next, I will use Outlook Express in this example.

Once again you get a notification of what action Thunderbird has done, this message will vary depending
on what type of address book you have imported.

Opening your address book, you will see Thunderbird has added the imported address book as folder in your address book.

Before I start this part of the Thunderbird series, I would like to apologize for not being
able to answer all the questions coming to my inbox. :) I appreciate all the positive feedback,
and I will try to answer as soon as possible. Regardless, some of the issues will be coming shortly
in a future part of this series.

Filters, sorting your emails to different folders

Having a big flow of e-mail's dropping in your inbox can be time consuming to read,
to deal with this and save yourself some time, and be able to read the right e-mails first,
you might want to add a filter so Thunderbird can place the different mails in different
folders. In this article I will try to show you how to make such a filter.

First thing you need to do is create a new folder, I will use the folder "Sales"
as the target mail folder.

As you see I've highlighted "Local Folders", right click in "Folders" menu and choose "New folder",
you will now get this window:

Name your folder (I used "Sales", choose whatever you like), choose
where it should be located and press "OK". If things are done right, you
should now have a new subfolder under "Local folders". You can also
choose
to make a new folder during the setup of making a filter, but I found it
more easy to make the folder first.

Go Tools > Message Filters and you will get this window, to make a new filter press "New".
As you see from the screenshot you can choose which account this filter will apply for.
Pressing "New", you will get this window:

First you want to give the new filter a name, I use "Sales" for this
example. Now, the settings
are the real limit for what you want here. The best way is to explore a
bit on your own for what settings
you want. I made a filter which filters mail with comes to the mail
address "sales@nidelven-it.no", and place them in the folder "Sales"
and labels it as Important (gives it a bright, easy to spot
color). When you are done, press "OK", and you'll get this window:

You now have a new filter. :) You can change the settings/add/remove/disable/enable filters as you like.
Play a little, explore. :)

Newsgroups

I've got a lot of questions about when/if Thunderbird will have a newsgroup option, the
answer is simple, it's already there. :) In this article i will try to show you how to set up
such an account.

First, go Edit > Account Settings > Add Account..., and you will get this window:

Choose "Newsgroup" and press "Next"

Fill in your e-mail address and the name you want displayed, when this is done press "next".

Now you need to fill in the news server, now I don't know which one you want to use for this
account, however, I'm going to use "news.mozilla.org".

Name this newsgroup, choose whatever you like, I'm going to use "news.mozilla.org" for
this example.

Check your input, verify it by pressing "Finish". :)

You should now have a new folder located under Local folders named
"news.mozilla.org",
highlight and rightclick the new news folder and choose "subscribe".
Now you're presented with a window to choose which groups you want to
subscribe to. There's a group called mail-news on
news.mozilla.org that is a valuable resource for new users - if you
would like to subscribe to it, search for mail-news and subscribe to
the group that comes up. With other news servers, you could also
search for groups with the name car and so on.

Unless you have a good connection or a lot of time, choose to
download 500 headers - these will give you the subject line of the last
500 messages which you can read.

Ready to go. :) Enjoy.

Thunderbird and themes

From one time to another you can grow tired of looking at the same
theme all the time, by "theme" I mean the the look of the user interface. If
you do grow tired of the theme, there is something you can do about it,
throughout this article I will try to show you how you can swap the
looks on the Mozilla Thunderbird interface.

Start up the Thunderbird client, head to Tools > Themes, if you navigated correctly, you should be looking
at this window:

In the bottom right corner of the window you have a hyperlink which says
"Get new themes"; press it. Thunderbird will now open the link
using your default browser, and you are directed to the Themes download
page. Download the theme you want to try, remember it's really not a
hassle to remove it if you don't want it. When you have downloaded the
new theme, go back to Thunderbird, Tools > Themes.
In the bottom right corner of the window you have a button named
"Install New Theme", press it. Locate your downloaded file and press "OK".

Select the newly installed theme and press "Use theme". You will
now have to close Thunderbird and start it again to use the new theme,
if you have done the process correctly your Thunderbird should now have
a completely new look, check out the one I tested:

There you go, almost like a whole new application. :) As you download
new themes you can chose a new one whenever you feel like it. All you
have to do is go Tools > Themes and choose one of the
other themes. Bon apetit! :)

If you have an account at GMail or Yahoo, it could be nice to have
access to email from those accounts locally in your Thunderbird
client. Through this part I will show you how to access email
accounts from those services.

As luck would have it, Google has already provided a great tutorial for how to setup GMail with Thunderbird so I'll cover how to get Yahoo mail working with Thunderbird. There is also a Webmail extension available (with setup instructions) that supports a number of webmail providers.

The first thing you need to do is download a program that creates a
mail server that sits between Yahoo mail and Thunderbird, called
YPOPs.
The installation file (ypops-win-0.7.3.exe) can be found at this page. After it's been downloaded, double-click the file and you should get this screen.

Read through the license, and if it's OK, press next. :)

Next you're asked where to install YPOPs; the default is OK, so just press next.

Here you're asked about where to put the program's shortcuts - the default is OK here as well, so just press next.

On the following screen you're asked whether the installation program should
add a desktop icon - this is handy if you for some reason should need
to start YPOPs manually. Check the box if you want to, and press
next.

Finally you get a confirmation window with your options, if everything is OK, press Install.

As the program is getting installed, you'll get asked whether YPOPs
should be started automatically when the computer starts. This is
a good idea, as you don't have to do it yourself - and it doesn't take
up much memory or RAM when it's running - so press Yes here.

At the end of the setup you get this screen, with an option to start YPOPs immediately. Check the box and press finish.

Setting up YPOPs

When you're running YPOPs for the first time, you have to agree to the
terms of use for the program. Read it through, and if it is OK,
press "I Agree".

On YPOPs you can configure how it should run on your local
computer. Changing the default settings here is a good idea, as
virus scanners may interfere with the application when it's running with its default settings. So change
the POP3 port to 111 instead of 110, and SMTP port to 26 instead of
25. Press OK and restart your computer or restart YPOPs for the
changes to take effect.

Setting up Thunderbird for YPOPs

Finally we have to setup an account in Thunderbird that will access
YPOPs running on your computer. Go to Edit > Account
settings... and select Add account... - you should get the following
window.

Select "Email account" and press next.

Here you enter the name associated with the Yahoo account, as well as the email address. Press Next.

In this window you enter settings for the type of account and where
it is accessed - select POP as the type, and use the incoming server
'localhost'.
You might also be asked for an outgoing server
here, if so, also enter 'localhost' in that box. Press next.

Here you are asked for the username of your Yahoo account. Enter it and press next.

Finally you're asked for the account name - the email address will do just fine here. Press next.

Check that everything is OK and press Finish. :)

Now, since we're running YPOPs on a non-standard port, we need to
tell Thunderbird to connect to port 111 instead of 110, as it usually
does. Enter 111 in the port box, and press OK. If you're
also using localhost as the SMTP server, go to Outgoing server and
enter port 26 there.

Now, after all this hard work, we can go to local folders and click
on "Get mail". You'll be asked for your Yahoo accounts'
password; enter it and
voila! There's your email.

Enjoy. :)

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