How to install and configure Thunderbird for Email. Mozilla Thunderbird: Complete User Guide

How do you like to view your email? Many people use a web browser out of habit, without thinking about whether they need an alternative, but some remain faithful to the good old mail programs, because he knows a lot about them.

– free application for working with email correspondence and newsgroups from the creator web Firefox browser. According to the developers, it concentrated in itself best qualities various email clients, including “classics of the genre” Microsoft Outlook And The Bat. I propose to get to know it better to understand whether it is worth attention or just one of many.

Why is an email client better than a browser?

Several reasons to install for working with mail separate program or use it with a browser:

Access to correspondence in the client program does not depend on the stability of the Internet connection.
Using the program reduces the consumption of web traffic, since it downloads only letters, and the browser downloads page design elements and advertising.
The application interface can be configured according to your needs. Web services have very limited functions.
The programs have better developed functions for searching and filtering messages.
Client programs contain more useful tools than any web service.

What are the strengths and weaknesses of Mozilla Thunderbird

Strengths

Built-in account setup wizard. The user can afford not to know what SSL, TLS, SMTP, IMAP, POP3 are and how to configure them correctly - the program will do it for him. It is enough to remember your email address and password for the mailbox.
Opening folders and emails in tabs is similar to opening web pages in a browser. This means that to work with one message you do not have to close everything else.
Unlimited number of connected mailboxes.
Convenient sorting of letters: you can use both general and individual catalogs for correspondence between different accounts. And also - configure the display of the same letters in different folders(although physically they will be in one).
Reminder function to attach an attachment to a letter if you mentioned it in the message.
Support for skins and extensions that are installed without leaving the application.
Russian-language interface.
Built-in antispam filter, calendar and task scheduler.
Phishing protection – a warning when you go to sites whose address differs from the one specified in the letter.
Accelerated filtering: you just started typing a word in search bar, and the application is already producing results.

And what users don't like too much

Message headers are not always displayed correctly.
Tabs cannot be dragged back and forth with the mouse.
The attachment reminder function does not always work (it’s just that the word “attachment” is taken into account only in the nominative case).

First launch and setup

Installing Mozilla Thunderbird is nothing special. When you turn it on for the first time (immediately after installation), the account setup wizard starts and offers a choice of:

Connect an existing one.
Put it aside for later.

Let's look at how it works using the example of connecting an existing account, because you probably already have at least one.

In the window " Welcome to Thunderbird» check « Skip(create a new account) and use my existing email».

Enter your mailbox address and password. Click " Continue».

After entering, click " Ready».

If desired, change the mailbox settings: click " Tincture by hand" and indicate required servers, ports, protocols, authentication methods and the rest as shown below. If you do not know the purpose of these parameters, leave everything as is.

This will complete the wizard’s work, and you will find yourself in the main program window. By the way, it is very reminiscent of the Firefox browser window. On the left is the folder panel. In the frame below is a context menu opened by clicking on this panel. At the very top is a tab bar (like in a browser). Under him - function buttons, the purpose of most of which, I think, is clear. In the main part of the window there is a menu quick call main functions.

Two icons surrounded by a frame on the right open the calendar and task scheduler:

The main thing is hidden behind the button in the form of three stripes Mozilla menu Thunderbird. I think the bulk of the tools collected here are easy to understand without explanation. Among other things, it contains a button to go to the add-on installation section. We should get to know him better.

Those who have at least once installed plugins and extensions in the browser will not have to explain for a long time how to install them in Thunderbird: this is done in exactly the same way as in Mozilla Firefox. By default, the program has one single extension – Lightning (Calendar). If you want to install anything else, click " Get add-ons", select what you like and click " Add to Thunderbird».

And below I showed how the function “ Quick filter " As soon as I started typing the word “coupon”, 3 messages were immediately found where this word was mentioned in the topic title.

General impression of the program

Using the Mozilla Thunderbird email client turned out to be convenient and easy. Loading incoming emails took just a few minutes. Create and send a new message (button " Create") also went without incident, however, the address book had to be imported from M$ Outlook manually, since the program did not want to do it itself. And this was the only thing that prevented me from starting work right away. In general, the application takes almost no time to master, which is good news.

In my immodest opinion, the product meets the expectations of users - both experienced and beginners, and also takes far from last place among competitors. Try it, I hope you like it too.

Also on the site:

Meet: Mozilla Thunderbird - a convenient free email client updated: May 4, 2016 by: Johnny Mnemonic

To view account options, select Edit Tools > Account Settings in the Thunderbird menu or click the menu button and select SettingsPreferences And Account Settings from the submenu, then select Server settings for an account from the list on the left. The connection to the incoming mail server is configured at the top right of the page.

Your service provider Email can give you information about connecting to their servers (probably on their website). Make sure your account settings match this information.

Are you suddenly unable to receive mail? Has this worked before?

Check the service status of your Internet provider. (Many providers have a status or alert page on their website.) He may have technical problems.

If your ISP provides a web-based email interface, try logging in and viewing your email. If you are seeing your messages, the problem is likely related to your account configuration.

If you recently updated Thunderbird, the firewall component of your Internet security suite may be blocking access to new version Thunderbird on the Internet. When this happens, IMAP folders may also disappear. some basic information about antivirus products and their known incorrect interactions with Thunderbird.
Remove Thunderbird from your firewall's list of trusted or recognized programs, then add it manually (or when prompted). Otherwise, refer to the documentation for your security/firewall/antivirus package for instructions on how to change the firewall component of that product.

If you recently updated Thunderbird to version 38, check to see if you were affected

Which includes a functional email client, it is a solution for business people corporate sector, then the Mozilla Thunderbird mailer is perhaps the most ideal option comfortable work with email for ordinary users. For ordinary users who actively use email in Everyday life. Convenient, minimalistic in terms of consumption system resources, With automatic tuning email accounts, flexible and customizable - Mozilla Thunderbird brings true comfort to working with multiple email accounts.

Mozilla Thunderbird is a functional mailer that supports email protocols IMAP mail and POP and HTML, as well as RSS news feeds, news groups and chats (personal correspondence) of IRC, Twitter, Facebook accounts, Google Talk. As for the last functionality, these, alas, are not the most popular communication services for Runet; for example, popular social networks - VKontakte and Odnoklassniki - are not. Nevertheless, the idea itself is good - to implement personal correspondence from social networks and various services for people to communicate.

Among the advantages of Mozilla Thunderbird are the efficiency of the program, security when working with email, a simple interface with a clear and understandable organization. Mozilla Thunderbird, like the browser, is absolutely free, cross-platform software. The email client can be downloaded from its official website.

Adding a mail account

The first thing we see after launching Mozilla Thunderbird is a mailer window with options for adding email accounts and other components supported by the program. Click “Email” to add your mailbox to the software client.

If this is your first time adding an email account to your desktop mailer, be sure to check whether it is active in your account settings postal service access to mail via IMAP and POP protocols.

And in the Mozilla Thunderbird mailer you will see a welcome window for setting up your email account. Moreover, if someone does not yet have an email account or needs a multi-account, Mozilla Thunderbird offers quick registration an account on mail services with which the program cooperates - on gandi.net and on hover.com. These are English-language email services, but they are far from the most popular on the Internet, so naturally we will refuse the Mozilla Thunderbird offer. In our case, however, probably like in most others, there is a mailbox, so feel free to click “Skip this and use my existing mail.”

Mozilla Thunderbird will automatically select optimal settings connections that are available in the program database for most popular mail servers. And in the next window, all that remains to be done is to select the protocol - IMAP or POP. The first protocol - IMAP - allows you to work with email without downloading it to local space computer device. This is a more popular type of interaction between mail servers and client Email Applications, in which the user can have access to mail data both from the mailer and on the mail service website anywhere globe where there is Internet. POP protocol completely removes all mail from the mail server and transfers it locally to your computer. It can be used in rare cases when it is undesirable to leave mail on the server, at the same time in some secluded place on the computer or on removable media emails must be stored.

Select the protocol (in most cases it will be, of course, IMAP) and click “Finish”.

If the mailbox information was entered correctly, we will see how Mozilla Thunderbird is promptly replenished with incoming email messages. In just a couple of minutes, all letters from the server will be downloaded, and they will be displayed in the mailer window.

Interface

Don’t be afraid of the poor, ascetic interface of the mailer, with the help of add-ons (extensions), like Mozilla browser Firefox, Mozilla Thunderbird can also be dressed up in beautiful cover from among the themes presented in the add-on store. Click on the mailer menu and select “Add-ons”.

In the first tab “Get add-ons”, select “Favorite topics” and click the “Show all” link.

Then select the one you like from the catalog of presented covers and click the “Add” button to apply it.

And to change appearance mailer radically, you can apply the so-called full topics designs that completely transform the program interface into a different style - with a different background color, with different fonts, with different icons. To get to their catalog, in the “Get add-ons” tab, select “Other customization methods” and click the “Show all full themes” link.

Getting into the catalog full topics and select the one you are interested in.

So, lovers of dark tones can give Mozilla Thunderbird a techno style in black.

Lovers of positive colors can choose cute themes in warm colors.

In order not to be distracted by the colors of the program interface, you can choose neutral themes with readable fonts.

Sorting

Mozilla Thunderbird is the ideal email application for those who like to collect various junk in their mailbox for years. The table of letters can be displayed by subject, sender, and date of receipt. In addition, the mailer is equipped with internal search and filters, with which you can display messages only unread, only with tags, only with attachments, etc.

Anti-spam and protection

Moreover, the anti-spam filter can be configured separately for each email account.

And also allow the antivirus installed on the system to quarantine suspicious emails.

Sound settings

If you are a leader Email subscriptions If you often receive mail, in the “General” section of the mailer settings you can turn off the sound notification so that it does not annoy you. Or, on the contrary, you can sound notification set your favorite ringtone (".wav" format) or any other sound from an existing selection in Windows (C:\Windows\Media), changing the preinstalled system sound.

As you can see, Mozilla Thunderbird functionality There is plenty of comfort in working with incoming mail. What about outgoing mail?

Sending letters

To send email, click the large noticeable button at the top “Create”. An additional window for creating and sending a message will appear. Here, from the drop-down list, we can select one or another email account from which the letter will be sent.

Mozilla Thunderbird is equipped with an internal spell checker - this is certainly a huge plus for the program. As for the possibilities of formatting sent text, the brainchild of Mozilla, of course, is far from the full-fledged text functionality built into Microsoft Outlook 2013 Word editor, nevertheless, basic capabilities for text formatting are present.

To avoid writing the same letter text to many recipients, you can use Mozilla Thunderbird templates. We compose a universal letter once and save it in the mailer as a template.

What you will need to do in the future is to open it in the templates folder, if necessary, enter certain exact data, enter the recipient and, in fact, press the send button.

Export and import settings

It's a pity that Mozilla Thunderbird is not equipped cloud synchronization data, as is the case with most browsers. And, alas, there is no full-fledged function for importing/exporting settings in the mailer either. It is only possible to import settings from other email clients.

But it's not a problem. Transferring Mozilla Thunderbird settings can be done manually by copying the configured files to a non-system drive or transferring them to cloud storage. And then these files will need to be placed in the Mozilla Thunderbird settings folder after installing the program on a new reinstalled system or on a new device.

Before reinstalling the system or before using Mozilla Thunderbird on another computer device, go to the mailer settings directory:

Usually, AppData folder hidden and is not displayed in Explorer by default. In order for it and its contents to be visible, you need to set the display settings hidden elements in Windows Explorer.

The contents of the Thunderbird folder are the mailer settings files. We copy this folder with all its contents and place it on a non-system drive or send it to cloud storage on the Internet.

But new system or install the Mozilla Thunderbird program on a new computer, launch it and immediately close it without connecting email accounts. We follow the same path as before - set the display of hidden elements Windows Explorer and go to the mailer settings folder:

C:\Users\Username\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird

Open the “Thunderbird” folder with the old mailer settings in another Explorer window and drag all its contents into new folder"Thunderbird" Naturally, we replace the files in the destination folder.

Google Chrome or its clone on Chromium-based type or . Therefore, collecting all your mailboxes into a single, lightweight email client, such as Mozilla Thunderbird, so as not to miss an important letter is a productive move. At the same time, no matter from which email service the email is sent, a functional mailer like Mozilla Thunderbird will offer its own tools for creating it, and there will be no need to delve into the peculiarities of the web interface of each individual account.

Mozilla Thunderbird users sometimes encounter problems that don't always have obvious solutions. Mozilla Thunderbird errors occur due to a number of factors that are not always caused by user actions. In this manual we will look at the most famous of them.

Mozilla Thunderbird does not send messages

In case there is a sending error Mozilla messages Thunderbird should be checked first SMTP settings for outgoing correspondence. Select the account that is not working, click on it right click mouse and select “Options” - “Outgoing mail server”. Make sure that the server settings listed at the bottom of the panel match the settings of the provider providing the service.

You can find out the current server settings on the website https://support.mozilla.org/ru/ in the corresponding section.

If there is no information there, it can be found on the official website of the mail provider - usually in the user support section.

Make sure the correct SMTP server is used. Click on the main menu button, then select “Settings” - “Account Settings”.

It is important to remember that the services of one provider do not send correspondence to another - for example, the Yandex SMTP server does not work with by Gmail and vice versa.

Check your firewall settings, firewall or antivirus software - they may prevent Mozilla Thunderbird from accessing the Internet. Disable on a short time all protection and try sending a test letter.

Check to see if Mozilla Thunderbird is not working due to blocking on the part of your Internet provider. It is known that many providers block port 25 for security reasons, so you have to use others. Information about blocking can be obtained from the provider’s technical support.

If the above methods do not help, try removing the SMTP password and changing it to another one. Don't forget to set the same password in your mailbox settings.

Messages do not arrive in Mozilla Thunderbird

When Mozilla Thunderbird errors occur while receiving correspondence, you should do all of the above. Generally, these methods work in most cases. However, if the problem cannot be resolved, it is recommended to take the following steps:

Check the availability and functionality of the Internet connection - the problem may be on the provider’s side;
If your email provider's web interface is working correctly, the problem is related to incorrect settings Mozilla Thunderbird;
Make sure that your email provider account password has not been changed by you or others;
If Mozilla Thunderbird has recently been updated, access may be blocked by your antivirus or firewall.

If you do not receive all the correspondence, but along the way they get lost somewhere important letters, check your email provider's antispam filter settings. It is possible that email services simply do not allow such messages to pass through because they contain links or attachments of a certain format. Also, check your antispam settings in Mozilla Thunderbird itself, especially if you created your own additional filters or blocked some respondents.

Links in messages don't work

Unlike some similar programs, Mozilla Thunderbird inserts clickable links when creating messages that you can follow. When you insert a link, it will be styled accordingly (that is, highlighted and underlined), but when you click on it, nothing will happen. When you type a link in the body of an email, it appears as plain, unformatted text. This decision has been made by Mozilla developers Thunderbird specifically because of its link editing features. They are activated only after sending a message or saving it in drafts.

Go to “Start” - “Control Panel” - “Default Programs”.

Click the “Set default programs” button.

Check the list to see which browser is used by default (and whether it is used at all).

If this method does not help, you should check if Mozilla is causing this error. Thunderbird installed plugins. To do this, you need to launch the mail client in safe mode(restart and hold Shift when starting the application). In the window that appears, check the “Disable all add-ons” checkbox.

If links open in safe mode but not in normal mode, Mozilla Thunderbird is not working correctly due to one of the add-ons. It remains to determine why exactly. To do this, you can disable them one by one in the add-ons control panel, checking the functionality of the links.

Let's take a closer look at the old man.

A few days ago, news came out on the site. It included a photo of the Facebook CEO's computer screen (cropped from his Instagram post):

If you look closely at the Dock, you will notice that Mark uses Mozilla Thunderbird as his email client. No comments from Zuckerberg were found regarding the choice of email client. And it’s not a fact that he uses it at all. There is a theory that the icon in the photo is not Thunderbird at all, but Cisco VPN:

But this picture reminded me that there was not a word about Thunderbird in the last site. The time has come to correct this reckless omission.

Let's look at interesting opportunities program and think about whether Mark is using it simply out of habit or is it a carefully thought-out choice? You may not even realize how cool this email client is.

Thunderbird is free and cross-platform. It is still slowly improving and renewing its strength third party developers, although Mozilla froze the project back in 2012, and in 2015 finally abandoned its support. The latest version was released on May 31, 2016 (just under a month ago).

It has everything a good email client should have, for example:

Smart folders;
Filters;
Advanced Search;
Spellchecking;
Possibility of autonomous operation;
Integration with cloud storage files (Box in standard version, Dropbox can be connected using an extension);
The most simplified setup of new mailboxes;
Archiving of letters.

If you want to use corporate mail server, but don’t want to pay for Outlook, then you should definitely take a closer look at this email client. He has full support IMAP, centralized configuration option, sharing address book and so on.

Now let's list some interesting features that make Thunderbird especially attractive (although many of them can be found in analogues).

Conveniently organized workspace

By default, the email client interface consists of three tabs: Mail,Calendar And Tasks. The most important applications necessary for organizing work are combined into one.

Yes, there are many calendars and task managers that are much nicer to look at (if you don’t look through the eyes of someone nostalgic for the 2000s). But all the functionality that such applications should have is in Thunderbird.

Merging mail with chats and RSS

Open the menu item File -> Create -> Account chat and select the service with which we want to organize work in a separate Thunderbird tab: Google Talk, Facebook, Twitter, etc. Next, follow the instructions of the application.

You can screw it to Thunderbird in a similar way news feed(from RSS feeds/Usenet groups) by keeping the number of windows on your desktop to a minimum.

History of mail manipulation

All events that occur with letters are stored in history. You can see it in the menu Tools -> Job Manager.

List of saved email attachments

A tab for viewing all files downloaded from emails can be included in the menu Tools -> Saved files.

Notifications about reading and delivery of letters

To enable this function, when creating a new letter, you need to make the menu items active Settings -> Delivery Receipt/Read Receipt.

Extensions

Mozilla Thunderbird standard form quite limited. But by installing several add-ons, of which there are more than a hundred, you can assemble them into the ideal working tool for yourself. Here are examples of useful extensions:

xNote - attaching notes to emails.

Thunderbird Browser - opens links from emails in a small browser window, on top of the email client.

TagToolbar - organizing emails in mailbox using tags.

QuickText - letter templates.

Send Later 3 - delayed sending of letters.

A separate group worth noting are extensions to increase the level of data security and confidentiality:

QuickPasswords is a password manager.

Dr. Web Link Checker - checks links from emails for viruses.

Bluehell Firewall - blocking content from malicious sites.

Enigmail - OpenPGP-compatible email encryption (to protect against interception).

Naturally, in this small article it was not possible to talk about all the capabilities of Thunderbird. Detailed information about it mail client can be found on his official website. You can also download there latest version Thunderbird for your operating system(Windows, OS X, Linux).