Mozilla Thunderbird Setup
Please Note: The following account information is just an example.
You will put in your own name,
e-mail address and password where appropriate.
** The pictured instructions below are from Thunderbird version 1.5 but pertain to 2.x as well.
1. To Change an existing email account
To Add a new e-mail account
** The New Account Wizard may also appear when running Thunderbird for the first time.
Open Thunderbird and click on File > New > Account.
Choose Email account and click Next.
2. Enter your name and e-mail address. This what the e-mail recipient will see as the Sender Name and e-mail address.
Click Next.
3. Server Information
Select POP server type.
UNCHECK "Use Global Inbox"
Server Information
Replace the "yourdomain.com" part with your domain name (after the " @" sign in your email address).
Example: Your email address is joe@mycompany.com. Enter "email.mycompany.com" for both the incoming and outgoing server names.
4. Enter your e-mail address as the Incoming User Name and click Next.
5. Account Name
You can label this account with any name you want. It may default to your email address.
This name will appear in the left-hand account column in Thunderbird. Useful for multiple email accounts.
Click Next.
6. Un-check "Download Messages now". There are more settings to enter before you can do that!
Click Finish.
NOTE: This section also applies to making changes to an existing account
7. Open Mozilla Thunderbird and right-click on the account you want to change and choose Properties.
8. Account Settings Window
These are the settings for your e-mail account. You should already have your e-mail address and your name filled in.
9. Click on Server Settings in the left pane.
Server Settings
Replace the "yourdomain.com" part with your domain name (after the " @" sign in your email address).
Example: Your email address is joe@mycompany.com. Enter "email.mycompany.com" for Server Name.
Your e-mail address should be in the User Name field.
The checkboxes are mostly optional, but please keep the "Check for new messages every x minutes" to a minimum of 5 minutes. 10 ususally is a good number to use.
"Empty Trash on Exit" - When you close Thunderbird, all messages in your Trash folder will be deleted permanently.
"Leave a copy of messages on the server"
Checkmark this ONLY if you will be away from your desktop for a period of time and would like to view new messages via your mobile PC, PDA, Blackberry, etc.
It is recommened you do this on your remote devices instead.
Remember, each email account on our server has a specific amount of disk space (quota) assigned to it. Once it is used up, incoming e-mails will be bounced back to their sender.
10. Now click on Composition & Addressing.
You may want to compose messages in HTML format (this is what gives you font sizes, colors, inline pictures, etc.).
Change the quote / reply behavior to "start my reply above the quote". This behavior is compatible with email clients such as Microsoft Outlook when replying.
11. Click on Outgoing Server (SMTP).
The outgoing server name should be the one you setup when Adding a new account.
Click on the Edit button.
Server Name
Replace the "yourdomain.com" part with your domain name (after the " @" sign in your email address).
Example: Your email address is joe@mycompany.com. Enter "email.mycompany.com" for Server Name.
Security and Authentication
Checkmark Use name and password.
Make sure your main e-mail address is used here for User Name.
Select No for "Use secure connection"
If you have trouble sending out email
The default port 25 may not work with some internet providers because of special firewall rules, etc.
Change the port to 2525.
12. Click OK. Then click OK again on the previous window.
You're all done! Check for new e-mail manually by clicking the "Get Mail" icon.
Optional Tweaks
Click on Tools > Options from your main Thunderbird screen (inbox view).
1. Sending email in both text and HTML format
Click on the Composition icon.
Select "Forward messages: Inline". (Forwarding messages as attachments can be messy and annoying to the recipient).
Click on the Send Options button.
Then select the option to "Send the message in HTML anyway" then click OK. This should work for most recipients. If not, then select one of the other settings.
2. Privacy / Junk Settings
Click on the Privacy icon.
The Junk section controls what happens to e-mail that Thunderbird's built-in anti-spam engine detects.
If you have an anti-virus program running on your computer, click the Anti-Virus tab and checkmark "Allow anti-virus clients to quarantine individual incoming messages".