Using Thunderbird Mail Using Thunderbird Mail
Thunderbird
is a stand-alone, graphical mail client that looks and functions very like
the older Mozilla Mail and runs on Linux and Windows computers. It is written
and maintained by the Mozilla group, who
created the browser by the same name.
To configure Thunderbird, read this information.
To start Thunderbird from a Windows computer, go to Start | All Programs | Mail & Scheduling | Mozilla Thunderbird. From Linux, type Thunderbird in the search bar and select Mail/News Client Thunderbird when it appears below the search bar.
When you launch Mail and provide your password, Thunderbird opens to your Inbox. (If you launch Thunderbird from your computer in the Seamans Center and have already authenticated to the network, you will not need to provide your password.)
Mail with the folder, message, and preview windows.
The To: address area contains a pull-down tab (shown below), which lets you select the recipient type. Use To: for the primary recipient(s). You can also specify recipients to get a carbon copy (cc) or a blind carbon copy (bcc) of the message. To send a carbon copy of the message, click the triangle by the To: field and select cc: or bcc: if you want to send a blind carbon. You can chose among these six options when sending a message:
To: The message recipient(s).
Cc: The recipient(s) who gets a copy of the message; use this to
include someone for information purposes only.
Bcc: The recipient(s) who gets a copy; no one else who receives the message
knows that this person has received the message.
Reply-… Sets your address so that when the recipient replies
to the message, the reply goes to the Reply-To address instead of the sending
address. For example, the Reply-To address might be your mail alias (first-last@uiowa.edu),
where the sending address is your engineering mail account (flast@engineering.uiowa.edu)
Newsg… The newsgroup to receive the message.
Follow… To redirect a newsgroup posting so that subsequent
threads go directly to the redirected newsgroup instead of the original newsgroup.
To include an attachment, click on the paper clip icon labeled “Attach”
on the toolbar. You can attach a file or a web page. Browse to where the file
or web page is located, highlight the file to attach and click Open.
Thunderbird allows you to remove an attachment from a message but save the message. When viewing a message with an attachment you want to delete, right click on the attachment and select Detach ... (or Delete), as illustrated at right. From this menu you can also open or save the attachment, as well as save, detach, or delete all attachments included with the message. See also Thunderbird help for attachments.
If you want to think a bit longer or add more to the message later, from the message composition window select File | Send Later instead of pressing the Send button. To send a deferred message, go to File | Send Unsent Messages. If you press the Save button, the message gets moved to the Drafts folder. You can open that folder and send the message later.
To provide increased email security, CSS added TLS/SSL security to the
server that sends email and requires authentication to that server. To send
email on the engineering mail server, you need to set these things: 1) the
correct SMTP address: mail.engineering.uiowa.edu; 2) allow or use TLS/SSL
to send mail; and 3) authentication to the SMTP mail server.
When running Thunderbird, go to Tools | Account
Settings... then to Outgoing Server (SMTP) to
set the SMTP server, TLS, and authentication. See illustration at right.
1 ) Server Name: mail.engineering.uiowa.edu and specify port 587
2 ) To set authentication, check "Use name and password" and enter your User
Name, which should be your login ID. In this example, the User Name is "bgreene".
3 ) Use secure connection: select TLS, if available.
If you are using Thunderbird outside of the Seamans Center, make this additional setting: go toTools | Account Settings.... Select Server Settings. In the "Security Settings" section, under Use secure connection check TLS, as well as checking Use secure authentication.
Thunderbird's default is to move deleted message to the Trash. You can change that setting in Tools | Account Settings | Server Settings. You may need to purge messages if you are near or over quota and cannot send mail or receive mail. You can purge messages in the Trash by selecting File | Compact Folders.
Open a message that includes an address you want to keep. With the message open, right click on the sender or recipient whose address you want to store in your Address Book. Select Add to Address Book… (as shown). 
The New Card dialogue box opens with Display Name and Email filled in. If you have several address books, at the top of the New Card dialogue box, click the down arrow next to Personal Address Book to select a different address book in which to save the address. Add information that you want, and change the Display name if you prefer something shorter. Click OK. If you fill in a Nickname, when you write a message, you need enter only the nickname, not the person’s entire name.
To write mail to someone whose address is in an address book, start a new piece of mail and enter the nickname in the To: field. Thunderbird will fill in the person’s name and email address.
You can create folders to organize your saved mail. Right click on the account name (the left side of the screen), and select New Folder. Name the folder, and it appears in the listing below the account name.
To save a message in a folder other than your Inbox, drag the message from the current window to the folder you want to save it in. You can move the message to folders on the mail server or to your local mail folder on your home directory or hard drive. To save a message as a file, select the message, and then go to File | Save As | File. Or right click when the message is highlighted and select Save As…. Thunderbird asks you to specify where to save the message, and you can give the message a file name other than the default message.eml
Another way to organize mail is to use filters, which can sort, file, or delete mail. Because there is so much that can be done with filters, that is a separate document called Filtering Email with Thunderbird.
To create a signature, use any text editor (WordPad, for example) to write the file, then save it. Go to Tools | Account Settings and click Attach this signature: and then choose the signature file you created. To change your signature, edit the signature file.
Once you have created a signature file, Thunderbird automatically uses it with each message you write.
Thunderbird lets you check mail from different mail accounts. For example, if you have a mail account at ITS as well as an engineering account from which you read mail, configure Thunderbird to get the mail from both those accounts. Go to Tools | Account Settings... and select Add Account…. Answer the questions in the set-up wizard to configure another account.
To read mail on your new account, click on that account’s Inbox. Enter your that account password; then that inbox will open.
To look at the messages stored in a different folder, click the folder in the mailbox listing. Thunderbird opens a new display with the messages in the selected folder.
To create a new folder, go to File | New Folder
To move a message to a folder, select the message, right click and select Move To or highlight the message and select Message | Move
By default Thunderbird keeps copies of messages you send. To change that setting messages, go to Tools | Account Settings | Copies & Folders. Under “When sending messages, automatically:" uncheck the box next to Place a copy in. If you want copies saved in the Sent folder saved locally rather than on the mail server, click the down arrow to the right of your account name and select Local Folders. (You must have set the local folder in “Server Settings” on the same dialogue box, just above “Copies & Folders”.) Or select the Other radio button and specify another folder to save the sent copies. Then select OK.
From the same screen, you can also set if and where draft messages and templates are stored. By default Thunderbird stores them in your account on the mail server.
Mail saved in the Sent and Draft folders count against your mail quota, so if you keep copies, you should regularly delete messages in the Sent folder. If you run out of mail quota, a good place to reclaim space is to delete messages in the Sent folder.
Go to Tools | Options to set preferences for the look of the mail window, the messages display, whether or not to send in HTML automatically, spell checking, and more.
To leave Thunderbird, choose File | Close or click on the X in the upper, right-hand corner of a Thunderbird window.
If you have questions about configuring or using Thunderbird, see the consultants
in 1253 SC, 335-5055, or send email.
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