Thunderbird is an easy-to-set-up email client with many useful features, such as tabbed emails that allow you to load multiple messages into separate tabs at the same time and advanced message filtering functionality.
Thunderbird stores its address book locally on your computer, meaning your addresses only exist there. Thunderbird provides an online support site to assist users with any inquiries or issues they might be experiencing.
Getting Started
Thunderbird can import your existing information from hosting providers like Gmail, Yahoo! or Outlook and allow you to manage it from there. It supports various email protocols – IMAP and POP among them – calendaring functions and folder management capabilities are also supported as are tabbed email windows to view multiple messages in parallel windows simultaneously filtering tools that search and sort emails by date/content as well as an address book to store/edit contact data.
As with other Mozilla software, Thunderbird is built upon an open platform designed to accommodate third-party developers’ creation of addons. These addons provide almost limitless functionality and alter its look – examples being ThunderHTMLedit which adds an HTML code editor directly into email composition windows; or Quicktext which offers templates for quickly creating text for emailing purposes.
The main window (figure 2) displays your folders on the left and messages in Message List pane, from where you can select one to read in Message Pane on the right. Resizing multiple panes by dragging their dividers is also an option.
Thunderbird features a wysiwyg editor for easy HTML message composition, while an auto-detect delivery format feature allows unformatted messages to be automatically sent either as plain text or HTML (controlled by user preference). Thunderbird provides basic markdown support and large files can be linked rather than attached when sending emails, along with security features like TLS/SSL connections to IMAP and SMTP servers as well as built-in support for secure email with digital signing and encryption using public and private keys or certificates; additional extensions such as support for smartcards can also be installed if needed.
Incoming Mail
Thunderbird’s Incoming Mail section allows you to manage all the emails sent directly from your email provider, and allows you to forward, archive or delete messages as necessary. In addition, Thunderbird features advanced message filtering features such as bayesian spam filtering, white list addresses in your address book and server-based filters such as SpamAssassin for filtering email messages incoming. Moreover, POP and IMAP mailboxes as well as newsgroups chat features as well as cross platform availability through extensions are supported by this software.
Thunderbird’s main window displays your folders on the left and selected mailbox contents on the right, separated by dividers that can be dragged with your mouse to resize and rearrange accordingly. In addition, there is a message pane available for easy reading of any new messages that arrive.
In the Message pane, you can view all of the header information contained within a message, such as its subject and sender’s email address. You can also select to show or hide certain types of formatting based on user preferences and use a wysiwyg editor to compose new messages. Thunderbird automatically detects whether messages should be delivered as plain text, HTML, or some combination thereof depending on their original creation date and your personal preferences.
Thunderbird is an open source email client designed for multiple operating systems. As one of the most widely-used email clients available today, it has an active community of volunteer developers as well as paid staff contributing their skills in testing, translating, supporting and expanding its features – calendars, task managers and synchronization tools are among those available as plug-ins to further customize Thunderbird.
Reading Messages
Thunderbird’s main window displays your folders on the left and messages on the right, and these messages can be read either within folders themselves or via the message pane at the bottom of your screen (Figure 3). Furthermore, you can resize various dividers between these areas to adjust how much space is given to each part.
Messages that should appear in your main inbox might not be showing, so double-check that all account settings are accurate and that inline HTML messages haven’t been enabled or disabled by default in your Message pane.
Thunderbird provides more than standard email functions; it also supports features like S/MIME encryption and signature verification using certificates issued from a centralised authority; OpenPGP allows similar functionality but with greater flexibility for managing one’s own private keys; being open source allows any interested developer to build addons that enhance its functionality which are downloadable via its Add-ons Manager, similar to an app store where you can browse for available extensions and install them as necessary.
BitRecover has developed Thunderbird File Viewer as an accessible and portable way to read through and access Thunderbird mailboxes. Ideally suited for forensic investigators who must conduct investigations without installing software, this freeware program runs directly from a pen drive and makes accessing evidence easier than ever before. In addition, an upgraded PRO version offers additional benefits by exporting evidence in various file formats including CSV, HTML, TXT and PDF formats.
Replying to a Message
When reading your inbox, messages addressed directly to you include a Reply button; for messages with multiple recipients, there will also be an option for Reply All. Selecting either button will open a new compose window wherein your reply quotes from and addresses directly each recipient of that particular message.
Thunderbird will suggest possible email address matches as you type into the Address Line, automatically suggesting them in blue as you go along. Once you see an exact match highlighted by their name being highlighted by blue text, press Enter> or click it to accept this match and accept its identity.
Thunderbird’s Filelink feature offers an effective solution for handling large files: upload them directly to cloud storage and send a link instead. This reduces message size while avoiding rejection due to file sizes exceeding ISP or recipient server limits.
Just like Firefox, Thunderbird supports S/MIME email encryption and signatures using X.509 certificates issued from a central certificate authority as well as OpenPGP message signing with extensions such as Enigmail. Additionally, it features secure connections to mail servers as well as its internal database (Mork, now replaced with MozStorage based on SQLite) which requires an active Internet connection for optimal operation.
Thunderbird is a community-driven project run by its volunteer-based Thunderbird Council. Mozilla Corporation offers financial support and hosts infrastructure necessary for many Thunderbird services. While other commercial desktop email clients such as Microsoft Outlook or Apple Mail require license fees and are closed source software solutions, Thunderbird stands out by being free software with extensive feature set that makes it standout from competing solutions but may be harder for casual users to use than its competition.
Organizing Messages
Thunderbird offers similar functionality to other email clients, enabling you to respond and forward emails while filtering them with rules that you create. For instance, you could set a rule to automatically move specific senders’ messages into folders or archive and mark as read; you could also utilize server-based spam filters that block suspicious mail before it reaches your inbox.
Thunderbird supports multiple email accounts per email address and allows you to organize messages into folders within each account. To create a folder, click on the account icon for that account and choose “Folder.”
Name your new folder and then use the dropdown menu to choose its location. Alternatively, use Ctrl+Shift+N as a keyboard shortcut to quickly create folders. If you wish to create subfolders in this new folder name by typing / after it you may use Ctrl+Shift+N instead.
Thunderbird provides a visual editor in the Message Body pane of its Compose window for creating messages in HTML or plain text formats, with automatic delivery format detection which ensures emails sent from other email clients display according to how you have configured them; an auto-detect feature ensures emails sent from other clients display accordingly (unless you change this setting manually ). Thunderbird supports special formatting features like subscript and superscript within this pane as well as subscript and superscript font styles in this area of Thunderbird.
Insert is an effective way of adding tables or other elements into a message, while Format provides options for changing fonts, colors, and other formatting aspects of messages. In addition, images can be added by dragging-and-dropping them directly onto the Message Body pane.
