Editing Configuration Files
Many of the tips and tricks mentioned on this site require you to edit configuration files for Thunderbird. There are two files that you should know about:
- user.js - Used to change various preferences.
- userChrome.css - Used to change the appearance of the program.
- userContent.css - Used to change the appearance of mail messages.
Both files are plain text files stored in your profile folder, and can be edited using a standard text editor. For example, Notepad or Texturizer on Windows and gedit or kate on Linux.
The Profile Folder
Before the configuration files are presented, you should know how to find your "profile folder", as it is commonly called. The profile folder is where Thunderbird saves all your settings and refers to a location on your hard drive.
On Windows 95/98/Me, the path is usually C:\WINDOWS\Application Data\Thunderbird\Profiles\default\xxxxxxxx.slt\, where xxxxxxxx is a random string of 8 characters. Just browse to C:\WINDOWS\Application Data\Thunderbird\Profiles\ and the rest should be obvious.
On Windows 2000/XP, the path is usually %AppData%\Thunderbird\Profiles\default\xxxxxxxx.slt\.
On Linux, the path is usually ~/.thunderbird/default/xxxxxxxx.slt.
On MacOS X, the path is usually ~/Library/Thunderbird/Profiles/default/xxxxxxxx.slt.
Note: Thunderbird is capable of handling more than one user and thus, more than one profile. The path examples above refers to the default profile that is automatically created when you start Thunderbird for the first time. You can manage any number of profiles by using the Profile Manager.
%AppData% is a shorthand for the Application Data path on Windows 2000/XP. To use it, simply enter %AppData% in a normal Explorer address field and press Enter. You will be instantly taken to the "real" folder, which is normally C:\Documents and Settings\[User Name]\Application Data.
user.js
This is a user preferences file for Thunderbird and is located in your profile folder. The file does not exist by default, so you need to create it before you can start adding your preferences.
Windows users: If you know how to create a file, just skip this section. Before you can create the file, you must make sure that you can see the file type extensions in Windows. Start Explorer (just click on the My Computer icon on your desktop) and select File | Tools | Folder Options...
. Click the View tab and uncheck the Hide extensions for known file types option. Now, go to your profile folder and select File | New | Text Document
. The default name New Text Document.txt
should be displayed. Change the name to user.js
(click Yes on the file type warning that appears).
Linux users: I assume that you know how to create a file if you're running Linux. Just create user.js in your profile folder.
userChrome.css
This file sets the display rules for various elements in the Thunderbird user interface and is located in the sub-folder called chrome in your profile folder. As with user.js, this file does not exist by default, so you need to create it before you can start adding your preferences. There's actually an example file that exists by default, called userChrome-example.css
. Basically, you can just rename that file by removing the -example
part.
userContent.css
This file sets the display rules for mail content and is located in the sub-folder called chrome in your profile folder. As with user.js, this file does not exist by default, so you need to create it before you can start adding your preferences. As with userChrome.css, there is an example file that exists by default, called userContent-example.css
. Basically, you can just rename that file by removing the -example
part.