Meet Mozilla Thunderbird - a convenient free email client. Working with the Mozilla Thunderbird email client

To view the options for account, 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 email service provider 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

Mozilla Thunderbird is a free multi-platform email client that will allow users to exchange messages with friends, family and work colleagues. by email. Thanks to its wide functionality this program can be used both at home and at work, and thanks to special extensions and additions, it can be easily customized to suit your own requirements. Let's figure out how to use Thunderbird and what functionality the client offers us immediately after installation.

Thunderbird is part standard set programs in most modern Linux distributions, so most often does not need installation. If you don’t have this program by default, then you need to open a terminal and enter in the line:

sudo apt-get install thunderbird

After this, confirm the installation of the program and wait until all procedures are completed. Stable versions are always available in the basic Linux repositories, so connecting additional resources not required. Also Thunderbird installation can be done through the application center (Ubuntu, Mint and other distributions aimed at the average user).

Since Thunderbird is available on all modern operating systems, the email client can be installed on Windows and even Mac OS. To do this, just follow the link https://www.mozilla.org/ru/thunderbird and download the appropriate installer. The official website will automatically detect your OS and select the most suitable optimal version. The subsequent setup process looks exactly the same as in Linux.

Program interface

Externally, Thunderbird looks like most similar programs. By default, the left side of the window contains all your mail folders, and on the right are message previews, links to RSS feeds, news groups, and much more. The menu bar contains links to the most popular custom actions, such as receiving mail, filter, address book, chat and tag filter.

All these elements can be edited and changed based on your own preferences. Just click right click mouse and select “Configure” in the context menu.

How to set up Thunderbird

Setting up Thunderbird is one of the most important stages. The program contains many functions that may be difficult to understand at first, so after the first launch we are greeted by a special wizard. On at this stage you can either register a new mailbox or use an existing one.

After clicking on the appropriate button, setting up mail in Thunderbird will begin. Here you just need to enter your e-mail, name, which will be displayed on the left side of the window, and password.

After entering the data, Thunderbird will check your credentials and, if possible, update necessary settings to connect to the postal service. Here the user can choose which protocol to use - IMAP or POP3. The first one provides remote access to letters on the server, the second one will download all letters to the PC.

Using corporate mail or a little-known service provider, you will need to enter the parameters for sending/receiving messages yourself using the " Manual setting" As soon as the data is entered, the program will automatically check the configuration and you can get started right away.

If you use several accounts, then click the menu button in the upper right part of the window, go to “Settings - Account Settings” and in the lower left part of the window select “Add account”

After this, carry out the setup according to the same scheme as before.

Synchronizing emails

Initially, Thunderbird downloads all letters and folders that are on your mail server, but later the user can independently choose which folders need to be synchronized. To do this, click on the account name on the left side of the window and open its settings.

Go to the Sync & Storage category and then select the settings that suit you best. In the "Advanced" menu you can check specific folders for the account, messages from which will be sent to your computer.

When finished, click the “Ok” button, and to ensure that all subfolders are displayed correctly, restart the client. Settings Thunderbird mail at this stage can be considered completed.

Searching for messages in folders

Searching in Thunderbird can be done using both the quick entry line and the quick filter. To find the desired contact or message, just start typing the word in the appropriate field.

The search system in Mozilla Thunderbird is clear and accessible even to users who have not previously worked with the program.

Creating mail messages

There are several ways to write a message in Thunderbird:

click the “Create” button in the main program window, and then enter all the necessary recipient data;
right click on the address desired contact and select “Send” in the context menu.

The message creation window is a simple editor with basic capabilities. The user can attach files to the letter, select the size, color and type of font, and also add emoticons to the letter.

It is worth paying attention to several recipient input fields - here you can select several recipients at once, as well as add hidden copies, which will be sent to individual mailboxes.

Working with contacts

Using Thunderbird is made easy by its extensive address book. To add new contact you need to click on the name of the sender/recipient with the left mouse button and select the appropriate item.

If you have not previously sent or received messages to a particular recipient, you can add it manually through the “Address Book - Create” menu. The contact card contains all necessary information, and if necessary, it can even be supplemented with photography.

Expanding the capabilities of Thunderbird with add-ons

Working with Thunderbird is made easier by the ability to modify the program to suit your own needs. To do this, the developers have created a whole add-on center where users can find all the most useful extensions, ranging from design themes to almost separate programs.

You can find the update center by clicking on the “Menu - Add-ons” button. The most popular plugins will immediately appear in front of you, and if necessary, you can open full version a site where everything is divided into categories.

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 convenient work with email for ordinary users. For ordinary users, but actively using email V 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 latter 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 confiscates all mail from 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 data mailbox were 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), just like the browser Mozilla Firefox, Mozilla program Thunderbird can also be dressed up as 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 you can, on the contrary, as 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 formatting capabilities of sent text, Mozilla’s brainchild, of course, is far from being built into Microsoft Outlook 2013 full text functionality 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. Transfer Mozilla settings Thunderbird can be done manually by copying the configured files to a non-system drive or moving 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, collect all your mailboxes into a single lightweight email client, which is Mozilla Thunderbird, so as not to miss important letter- 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.

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 the “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.
Faster 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, framed 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

enjoy mail client Mozilla Thunderbird turned out to be convenient and easy. Loading incoming emails took just a few minutes. Create and send a new message (button " Create") also passed without incident, however, address book I had to import it 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.

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