Thunderbird Help

1 General Questions

• 1.1 What is Thunderbird?

  Thunderbird is a free, open-source and cross-platform mail client for most operating systems including, but not limited to, Windows, Linux and Macintosh. It is based on the Mozilla codebase. It is a robust and easy to use client, similar to competing products like Outlook Express, but with some major advantages such as junk mail classification. Read more about the mail client at the Thunderbird Project Page.

  1.2 What is Mozilla?

  Mozilla is an open-source web browser, mail client and toolkit, designed for standards compliance, performance and portability. Mozilla.org provides binaries for testing and feedback. For more about mozilla.org, read Mozilla at a Glance.

  1.3 What's the difference between Thunderbird and the Mozilla Mail client?

  Mozilla is a complete suite of web related applications, such as a browser, a mail/news client, a chat client and much more. Thunderbird is just a mail client, which makes it a better choice if you already have a browser like Mozilla Firebird for example.

  Note, though, that Thunderbird is not just the standalone Mozilla mail client. The user interface in Thunderbird differs from Mozilla in a few ways, such as the customizable toolbars. Also, since Thunderbird is smaller than the whole Mozilla suite, it's also faster and easier to use. At least it's going to be soon...

  1.4 Where can I download Thunderbird?

  There is an experimental build available at ftp://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/thunderbird. Note that this is not even the 0.1 release, but since it's based on the stable Mozilla 1.3 branch, it should be fairly safe to use it.

  1.5 How do I install Thunderbird?

  For Windows, unzip the file into a directory of your choosing. Launch thunderbird.exe.

  1.6 What's the difference between releases and nightlies?

  Currently, there is just one experimental build available for Thunderbird, but in the future, there will be both milestone releases and nightly builds. Releases are generally more stable versions of Thunderbird that should probably be downloaded by the first-time user. Nightly builds are released every night and contain the very latest changes, including new features and bugs. Don't expect everything to work in the nightly builds. (Well, don't expect everything to work in the releases either!)

  1.7 Is Thunderbird available in my language?

  Possibly soon, but not yet. Since Thunderbird is an open-source project, contributors may translate Thunderbird into other languages. So far, there are no localized versions of Thunderbird, but stay tunes as things change quite rapidly.

  1.8 How do I start the Profile Manager?

  Thunderbird stores your personal settings and mail in a profile folder. The Profile Manager is used to manage multiple profiles. To start the Profile Manager, run Thunderbird with the -p switch. On Windows, follow these steps:

  1. Close Thunderbird completely (select File | Exit from the menu).
  2. Select Start | Run... from the Windows Start menu.
  3. Enter the full path to Thunderbird, enclosed with quotation marks, then add the -p switch, e.g.:
     "C:\Program Files\Thunderbird\Thunderbird.exe" -p

  Once started, you are able to add, remove or rename profiles. Note that if you have more than one profile, you will be asked which profile to use each time you start Thunderbird.

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2 Usage

• 2.1 How do I make Thunderbird my default mail program?

  The first time you run Thunderbird, it should ask you if you want to make it your default mail client. If you answered "No" and later decide you would like it to act as your default mail client:

  • Windows, Mac: go to Edit | Preferences | General and check "Use Thunderbird Mail as the default mail application".

  If you still have problems with mailto: links under Windows, go to Start | Settings | Control Panel and open Internet Options. Under the "Programs" tab, select "Thunderbird" from the drop-down list next to "E-mail:".

  • GNOME (Unix/Linux): Open the Control Panel. Go to Document Handlers | URL Handlers. Put mailto in the left text field, and gnome-moz-remote "%s" in the right one. Then put the following text in ~/.gnome/gnome-moz-remote (create the file if it does not exist):
  [Mozilla] filename=absolute path of Thunderbird install directory/mozilla
  • KDE 3 (Unix/Linux): Open the Control Center and go to Network | Email. Under Preferred Email Client, enter:
  absolute path of Thunderbird install directory/mozilla --mail

  2.2 How do I migrate my Mozilla mail and settings to Thunderbird?

  Thunderbird is now using separate profiles to not interfere with Mozilla. In order to migrate your mail and settings from Mozilla to Thunderbird, follow these steps:

  1. Start up the new version of Thunderbird and let it create a default Thunderbird profile for you. When the Account Manager comes up click cancel and exit the application.
  2. Find the Mozilla profile you are interested in migrating (...\Application Data\Mozilla\Profiles\\XXXXXXXX.slt). Find the location of your new default Thunderbird profile folder. Now copy all the contents of the first directory into the second including subfolders.
  3. You aren't done yet because Mozilla uses absolute directory paths in prefs.js. Open up the Thunderbird prefs.js file in a text editor. Search and replace all strings containing: ...\Mozilla\Profiles\XXXX.slt with ...\Thunderbird\Profiles\XXXX.slt. Save the file and start up Thunderbird.

  Note: This method brings over your mail and account settings, your junk mail training data, and filters. Make sure your POP account in Thunderbird is configured to leave all mail on the server in case you want to go back and read pop mail from Mozilla Mail. Also, copying the Mozilla profile results in a lot of preferences and files no longer needed, since Thunderbird is a mail client only. Remove redundant files at your own risk.

  2.3 Can I access my Netscape WebMail or Hotmail accounts through Thunderbird?

  No. Netscape WebMail and Hotmail use proprietary protocols. To access WebMail directly through an e-mail client requires you to use Netscape 6+ with AIM; to do so with Hotmail requires either Microsoft Outlook or Outlook Express. There is also proprietary shareware available that will let you do the same thing, such as Hotmail Popper.

  Another example is Gotmail, whish is a utility to non-interactively download email from a Hotmail account. It can download messages from all folders, messages from certain folders, or new messages only. There are options to delete downloaded messages or mark them as read. Gotmail can forward messages to other email addresses or save them as local mbox-style mailboxes.

  Of course, you can access your WebMail account on the Web at http://webmail.netscape.com/, or Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com/. If you use Microsoft Messenger, clicking on the appropriate link will open your default browser and take you to your inbox.

  2.4 Does Thunderbird come with a spell checker?

  There is a Spell Checker project for Mozilla hosted on mozdev.org. The developers of Thunderbird hope to make that spell checker a default part of Thunderbird. But first, the spell checker would need to get checked into the Mozilla source, which may happen in the future. When it does, Thunderbird will be sure to package it up. Until that happens, the plan is to make this a working extension for Thunderbird.

  2.5 Can I use different themes for Thunderbird?

  Yes! Please visit the Themes section on this site for a list of the available themes.

  2.6 What's the keyboard shortcut for feature x?

  See the Keyboard Shortcuts table on this site for a list of the most common keyboard shortcuts.

  2.7 Is Thunderbird susceptible to e-mail viruses?

  Thunderbird will not allow a virus or worm to execute automatically. You can see what attachments have been sent to you without a virus being able to execute, and you would have to save a file to your system and deliberately run it before it could cause any harm.

  JavaScript is switched off by default for mail and news, so an e-mail cannot run script code just by being opened.

  As with any mail program, take proper caution before running any file that you receive in e-mail. Appropriate anti-virus software should also help keep you safer.

  2.8 How do I import e-mail messages from another mail program?

  Go to Tools | Import, which will bring up a dialog to guide you through the process.

  2.9 How do I export e-mail messages to another mail program or computer?

  Thunderbird's mail files are in the standard plain text "mbox" format, which almost all mail programs can use or import. Many proprietary mail programs have a function to import from Eudora, which also uses the "mbox" format; this function should read your Mozilla mail files properly.

  Your mail files are inside your profile (see The Profile Folder), in the Mail and (if you use IMAP) ImapMail folders. Each mail folder (Inbox, Sent, etc.) is stored as two files – one with no extension (e.g. INBOX), which is the mail file itself (in ‘mbox’ format), and one with an .msf extension (e.g. INBOX.msf), which is the index (Mail Summary File) to the mail file. Tell the other program to import mail from the file with no extension.

  If you want to transfer a mail file to another Mozilla profile or another installation of Mozilla, simply put the mail file into the other installation’s Mail folder.

  2.10 Is there a mail notifier in Thunderbird?

  Yes, the Windows version of Thunderbird includes mail notification in the system tray while Thunderbird is open.

  2.11 How do I use S/MIME, PGP or GnuPG to send and receive signed or encrypted messages?

  To use S/MIME, open Mail/News and go to Edit | Mail & Newsgroup Account Settings | account name | Security. You can set which certificates to use with each account for digital signing and/or encryption.

  Hooks to PGP or GnuPG are not included in Thunderbird, but are under development at Enigmail.

  2.12 I changed my IMAP password, how do I get rid of a cached password?

  In your profile folder, you should see a numeric file with a .s extension, e.g. 12345678.s. Delete that file and Mozilla Thunderbird will forget your cached passwords, forcing you to reenter all your passwords again. Eventually a button under the advanced preferences panel for forgetting stored passwords may be added.

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