My desktop email program of choice.
Mozilla’s Thunderbird is my choice for a desktop email program. I use it all day every day, and I can heartily recommend it as an often more powerful and capable replacement for many email programs, including those that come with Windows.
The feature list is long, but I want to call out some of my favorites. These are what draw me to Thunderbird and cause me to recommend it to almost anyone using a desktop email program.
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Thunderbird
I recommend Thunderbird as a powerful, free desktop email client with a comfortable user interface, cross-platform support, and easy data transfer due to its standard file format. It’s also extensible with add-ons, features robust mail filtering, and is ideal for backing up your email.
Desktop email program?
Before I sing Thunderbird’s praises, I want to be clear about what it is and is not.
A desktop email program is something you install on your PC. It’s like Windows Mail, which comes with Windows, or Microsoft Office’s Outlook program. These programs download your email to your PC for you to read and otherwise interact with.
This is different from web-based email interfaces, which are email services you visit in your web browser (like Edge, Chrome, or Firefox). They’re webpages — like gmail.com, outlook.com, or others — that allow you to read and interact with your email online. There’s nothing installed on or downloaded to your PC other than the web browser you’re already using every day.
Even if you do most of your email online, as I do at gmail.com, having a desktop email program installed and running is a great way to keep backups of your email locally. I do that, too.
Thunderbird’s features
These are some of the things that repeatedly draw me back to Thunderbird, even after trying some of the alternatives.
Free: Thunderbird is completely free1. That makes it risk-free to try before deciding.
Comfort: Most users of other common desktop email programs will feel very comfortable in Thunderbird. Basic operations are very similar.
File format: This might be one of Thunderbird’s most compelling features for me. It uses a standard plain-text file format to store your email (mbox format, for the geeks among us). Many email programs use proprietary database formats that seem prone to breaking and make it difficult to move from machine to machine or to change email programs. Moving Thunderbird email from machine to machine is as simple as copying a folder tree.
Cross-platform support: I’ve successfully moved my email not only between Windows PCs but also to Mac and Linux machines. Transferring was a simple copy and paste of all the folders and support information. Not only did my email get transferred, but all the account settings, filters, and even supported extensions were moved as well.
Extensions: like its cousin, FireFox, Thunderbird has a number of powerful add-ons available.
Filters: Thunderbird supports a set of very powerful filters you can create so it takes action automatically as mail arrives. For example, you can have multiple filters sort incoming email into various folders based on various criteria. Your needs may not be that complex, but simply being able to say things like “if this is from someone in my address book, move it into this folder” is a powerful way to prioritize your approach to email.2
Naturally, there are many more features that may appeal to you. I encourage you to have a look.
About backing up & more
Thunderbird remains my recommended alternative to almost every other desktop email program. (The sole exception would be Microsoft Outlook for the corporate and power user, but even then, I’m a power user, and I’ve come to prefer Thunderbird anyway.)
That being said, I no longer use Thunderbird as my primary email interface. I spend my days in Gmail. However, I continue to run Thunderbird in two different places.
- I run Thunderbird on the computers I use daily as the email interface for some secondary email addresses. For example, I have one address devoted to newsletter subscriptions, which I download and read in Thunderbird.
- I run Thunderbird on my older Mac Pro to back up all of my email accounts. It’s configured to continuously fetch the email I’m reading in Gmail as well as those secondary accounts. The purpose is to have local backups. This is also one of the reasons I love that Thunderbird uses a standard file format. I don’t even need Thunderbird for those backups to be of value in the future.
Do this
If you don’t already have a favorite desktop email program (and I acknowledge that email programs are often a personal and even passionate decision), or you’re struggling with the drawbacks of whatever program you’re currently using, Thunderbird is worth a look.
I recommend it.
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my question is email client versus web based access. is it necessary or better to have an email program? i use webmails and never felt the need. i have tried windows live. i like its vista look but i find web based access faster.
at least in gmail (web) i can filter items and send them to whatever folders i create. i can access such sorting from any place unlike in the case of email programs.
am i not utilizing the mail programs efficiently or do i actually not need them?
im talkin about home use. i have lotus notes at work and cant change that.
I have a hotmail account that I can access from outlook and outlook express (still from way back in the good old days 😉
Can I access my account in Thunderbird?
Also, is there a way to transfer my entire Outlook directory structure (in outlook data files) and contacts to Thunderbird without losing any attachments etc. etc. ?
I use gmail’s web client because it’s convenient and syncs easily (as in, it’s the same everywhere cuz it’s web based).
But as Leo has pointed out before, what if Gmail were to go away tomorrow? What then?
If you don’t care, then web based is perfect for you.
If the thought causes heart flutters, that’s where Thunderbird comes in. I leave Thunderbird open on my computer simply to download and backup mail. No, it’s not organized very well, if at all, but it’s backed up. If gmail were to disappear I’d be inconvenienced (as it is my primary email address), but I would have all my email.
I rarely ever have to look for messages in Thunderbird. And it’s nice to have it there if I need it.
I like Thunderbird, but there are a few huge problems that the team refuses to look into. (I’ve been on the mozdev boards). 1: try sending emails with pictures, we do this at work all the time. Doesn’t work in Thunderbird. Or forwarding. 2. Cant handle rich text properly. 3. Calendar plugin is not smooth, doesn’t fully replicate Outlook functionality.
I would Love to replace Outlook, as it has ~no usability. (31 configuration forms and rising, and no evolution over time with the exception of the move to unicode, thankfully no 2GB limit anymore.) Tbird is a nice start, but the development team is not anything like Firefox’s team, who fix bugs with the quickness.
Cheers!
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Novice: Ziggie answered before I could. 🙂 I’ll also point
out this article:
http://ask-leo.com/how_do_i_backup_my_gmail.html
Leo
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Kevin: I can’t speak to the mozilla dev team’s
responsiveness, however:
1) I send emails with pictures all the time. As attachments,
embedded, what have you. Works great.
2) Rich text also works well, as far as I can tell. Better,
in some cases, than Outlook in my opinion.
3) Yes, the calendar falls short in some respects. I find,
though, that hooking it to Google Calendar goes a *long* way
to making it much more functional. But strong enterprise
users that rely heavily on calendaring and meeting
scheduling and the like may be better served by Outlook.
Leo
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Vincent: yes. There are add-ons that allow you to download
Hotmail, Yahoo mail and perhaps others, directly into
Thunderbird. My Hotmail account is mostly spam, so I don’t
use them, but I did try them a while back and they worked
well.
Leo
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Vincent: I *believe* that Thunderbird will import the
directory/folder structure. I would strongly suggest you
test this. It’s one area where it seems like many mail
programs fall down.
Leo
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Thanks Leo, I just tried “Thunderbird” and love it to death, I was using “OE” than that switched on me when I installed “MS Office 2007” to “Outlook” by default. I hated “Outlook”, it was just to busy for what I needed, but “Thunderbird” is great, just what I need and so much faster than “Outlook” Plus being able to “POP”download my “Hotmail”. Thanks again for the recommendation. One caveat tho, first time I installed it I transferred my “outlook” settings to it and had no way to put in my passwords so I had to uninstall and reinstall adding my accounts separately.
Hi Leo,
glad to find a big Thunderbird fan out there, I’ve been happily using it as an alternative to OE for a few years now.
In fact I run my 3 little businesses, and personal stuff on it, and that’s the reason for my question.
My wife and I share about 3 PC’s for the businesses across our LAN, and I now have a shiny new NAS (synology DS209), on which to store all our files centrally. I’d also like to put our mail server on there, so that no matter what PC we’re on we can work on email. Do you have any experience of setting up T-bird like this, or do you always just have your mail living on one Pc (plus backups)?
many thanks for any help,
Doug
12-Sep-2009
Hi Leo
I have just synced my Gmail with Thunderbird as it seems like something that should make my life much easier…it imported all my inbox however it completely ignored my labeling structure and more importantly my sent box which i really need for reference.
Any tips on what might have gone wrong/how to fix?
Thanks
22-Sep-2009
Hello,
I have emails archived and several machines back from my first OE and imported to each new machine. To get all your sent items on the old email client (OE) make a folder, I named mine xsent and copy all of your sent files into that. Then it will be treated like any other folder. I have a lot of email for my business so keep a huge file (xsent) with all and then I keep three years worth in xsent2014 xsent2013 xsent2012 makes it faster when I know what time I need to reference.
Leo I have found your information very helpful. I am in the middle of getting a lot of XP Pro batch files, and legacy software to work in VM mode 7 Pro machine. I also have legacy equipment which is what I am trying to get to work flawlessly. I have a win 7P machine but spent 99.9 % time on XP and even though I know that 7 has a lot of benefits over XP….I just feel faster and more productive on XP. Your info has explained the benefits and I am seeing 7 in a new light.
Thank you again, Cheryl
One of my favourite features is to make my own incomming mail sound…I use a windoz sound 136 from(xp)pinball on most of my Thunderbirds…
Used to use Thunderbird until Gmail came out in ’05(?). I don’t need to bother with backups, don’t need to lug machines around, don’t need to transfer settings and files to new machines. Now with Google Gears, all the info is also synched to my laptop so I can use Gmail/calendar/tasks/docs off-line.
All my POP3 email for my business is automatically transferred… I can’t for the life of me think why I’d ever use an email client like Thunderbird/Express (uughhh)/Outlook, etc.
For about a decade, I have used the basic email “engine” for Thunderbird (even since it was part of the Netscape email application). TBird has been a reliable, stable email application, and these days, that makes it a prized asset.
TBird is not only very solid and easily handled, but an easily-fixed application– not that it ever needs much attention.
What I like best about TBird is the new anti-spam (“Junk”) feature, which makes life far easier than when we had to use filters for each email box. The junk filter is very good at guessing what is sales junk mail and what is subscription or other mail.
And the few times TBird’s junk filter threw my good email into a junk folder, I “taught” TBird to correct its error by simply restoring the message (dragging it back to its correct folder). TBird “learns” each time I correct a mistaken junk mail identification, and becomes “smarter” every day.
The nice thing about using TBird is every user can visit one of the TBird forums (from the main menu, under “Help Contents”) for free assistance from other users, many of whom are experts.
Does Thunderbird do newsgroups, the way OE does???
07-Nov-2009
The most important question is not even addressed here. If switching from Outlook Express email to Thunderbird, how do we import our current email messages and folders into Thunderbird, and are there any pitfalls or limitations? We have been using OE for years and have thousands of messages (approx. 12 GB) and hundreds of folders to preserve. Can our current OE store database be safely and successfully moved over to Thunderbird, and if so, how do we do it?
If you retrieve your email via IMAP. there’s nothing you need to do to import emails. IMAP leaves the email on the email provider’s servers and will automatically sync with Thunderbird.
If you haven’t been using IMAP, you can add that same account to OE (the question was about OE which is no longer available, but it applies to move from any email program to another), copy the emails from the original instance of that account, and they will automatically be uploaded to the mail server. Then Thunderbird will download all the orininal emails.
THis article shows how to transfer email from one account to another. Part of the process is similar to switching email programs.
How to Move Email Messages to Another Account
Thunderbird looked ok, except I could not find a way to have two separate and distinct identities, i.e., my fe as one and I as the other as I can in OE. TBird seems to treat identities as accounts. Did I miss something?
07-Aug-2010
QUERY: Does Thunderbird do Newsgroups?
07-Aug-2010
In Thunderbird, is it possible to print out your contacts as a small booklet — as you can in Outlook?
07-Aug-2010
I have experienced issues with Thunderbird mangling the filenames of attached files if the name exceeds a certain number of characters (somewhere about 50 characters). In these instances, the filename is truncated without the extension and the user cannot open the file until they rename the file with the correct extension. This only happens to my client base who use Thunderbird.
I have used thunderbird since they started i think; many years and have no interest in changing..i DO use gmail occasionally but t-bird is #1 in my book.
Maybe I just missed it. I tried Thunderbird but I could not see how to secure the program with a password so that other people could not come along and read my email. How do I do that?
@Dave
Thunderbird allows you to password protect your automatic login to download email, but it doesn’t have a password to prevent people from accessing your already downloaded emails. This could be accomplished with a password to login to Windows, or encrypting the Thunderbird files using Truecrypt This would be easiest to accomplish using a portable version of Thunderbird installed on a Truecrypt drive.
@Mark Jacobs
Thank you for your reply. I appreciate it. Although I did not consider using a portable version of Thunderbird on a Truecrypt drive, all that just seems like to much trouble when I can use Outlook with a password or prior to Windows 7 Outlook Express with a password.
While Outlook may allow you to specify a password for the PST, Outlook Express never did (and even if it did, I wouldn’t trust it – it’s very easy to crack into). Outlook is the exception – most email programs do NOT provide password protection of your downloaded email.
04-Aug-2011
I am new to thunderbird. I do not know how to send email to several people without having to click bcc for each and everyone. The only way I have found around that is to click on an address folder which will place everyone in that folder in the bcc, but many times I do not want to send the email to everyone in that folder. I do not know how to open the folder once it is placed on the bcc line for addresses to be sent. I would appreciate a solution to this problem.
Leo, I use TB3 for reading my email, I know TB can be used to read NewsGroups also but I haven’t used TB3 for that (yet). When I read email, often someone will Forward a message with a clickable link in it. I use the Add-On called Dr. Web to scan each link before I will click on the link to see if it is Clean, all I have to do is just Right Click on the link in the email and select the “Scan with Dr. Web” option. Dr. Web is also a Add-On for Firefox. I Backup Thunderbird and Firefox using a program called MozBackup. I store my MozBackup files on TWO External USB Drives when I use it. Someone may have already mentioned either one of these two ideas to Your “Comments” on this page, I just wanted to give my ideas to everyone, without taking the time for reading all 49 comments.
@Louis
It’s not difficult to switch to Thunderbird, but if Eudora works for you , there’s probably no need to change. If it’s not broke, don’t fix it.
With Thunderbird, how do you copy all emails from a folder into one file?
24-May-2012
I have read the article and all of the comments and the subject of Tbirds contacts/address book is never mentioned. I have labored with this twice and found it extremely tedious. I was never able to get my Gmail Contacts into Thunderbird. Mapping field names was the most difficult/impossible task for me.
If I could get over this hurdle I would probably return to Thunderbird.
I use Windows XP and have switched to TB. Can I now delete OE without any problems?
@Jamie
On the Google Mail page, click on the GMail button and select contacts from the dropdown menu. Next click on the check box above all of the individual contact check boxes to select all of the contacts.Then click on the More button and select Export. Next highlight All contacts and vCard format then click Export. The file will be saved as contacts.vcf in you Downloads folder.
In Thunderbird contacts, click on Tools and then select Import from the pulldown menu On the next screen select Address Book. Highlight vCard file (.vcf) and click next. Navigate to your Downloads folder and select contacts.vcf and click open. This should import all of your GNail contacts into TBird.
@Jim
If you’ve backed up all of the emails and contacts you need, it’s safe to remove OE. But, OE isn’t uninstalled through the normal uninstall procedure.
Go to Add or Remove Programs, click on Add/Remove Windows Components, scroll down and uncheck Outlook Express and click next. That should remove it from your system.Finally click finish and it should be uninstalled.
I agree with Leo I have used Thunderbird for 2 years now and once you get into how it performs there is no going back to Outlook.
I like Thunderbird, especially on Linux, but the one feature I miss compared to Outlook is the delayed send feature. Once this gets added to Thunderbird, I’ll have another look at it.
@Keith
You can use the ctrl-shift-return to send the message to the outbox instead of sending it right away, or there is a send later add-on for Thunderbird which can send your email at a scheduled time.
Converting to Win 7 soon. Is Thunderbird still your recommendation for stand alone email.
Yep!
I had to use port 26 for POP when I had ATT rather than the customary port 25.
It worked.
Earlier on someone else mentioned using Mozbackup to backup Thunderbird.
I use it nightly to backup.
I have found that sometimes TB will not use filters correctly after a restore. It says I do not have permission for that folder.
This can happen when restoring to a different computer or even the same one.
Then I just make a minimal change in the folder name used in the filter I use like Mary to Mary2.
I may be able to rename it back afterwards. Not sure why this happens but this is a work-around.
I do have a gmail address and use that pretty much if I want something available w/o being at my computer. I really did not fall in love with GM.
I’d like to evaluate Thunderbird using a new email addr but it appears that a new addr (thru Gandi.net) costs $. Am i missing something ? Is there another way to create a new email acct in TB ?
Bob
Often your ISP will supply you with a free email address. You can also use Thunderbird to access free accounts such as Gmail and Outlook.com.
Sure. Just go to your favorite free email service like Gmail or Outlook.com or Yahoo or others – create an account online, and then configure Thunderbird to use that account.
I’m using Thunderbird/w7/Hotmail but when i choose BCC it does not send them = only if I send TO section that they work
The Mozilla Foundation recognizes the popularity and value of Thunderbird– my reading of the Mozilla announcement is more administrative rearrangement, and nothing which will alter the very successful approach of Thunderbird, itself.
More directly to your question, TB has had a very long life due to its remarkable utility. Future development of TB will follow users like you, and attempt to match your needs. In contrast to corporate properties like Chrome, Mozilla TB has a mission focus which continues to gather fans and supporters.
I’ve been using Thunderbird, probably because of Leo’s recommendation, for a long time. No problems. But I do have a question I’ve been wondering for a long time. Maybe someone on this forum can give some insight….
Most of my email addresses are “@aol.com.” Each of those addresses have both a “junk” and a “spam” folder. Virtually everything that shows up in the junk folder is spam and everything that’s in the spam folder is junk. What’s the difference between the two folders? My more important question: for quite awhile I have been marking all my many emails in my spam folder as junk, moving them to the junk folder, and then deleting them. By doing so is Thunderbird and/or AOL “learning” anything — or am I just wasting my time? The amount of spam/junk I’ve been receiving in recent months has increased dramatically (up to 100 emails per day at several of my AOL addresses). Thus, I presume that what I’ve been doing (marking spam as junk, then moving, then deleting) is a complete waste of effort.
Insight (especially about AOL’s junk/spam folders) appreciated.
The terms junk and spam are synonymous in this context.
The way I understand it:
– Thunderbird has a “junk” folder
– AOL has a “spam” folder
When you use Thunderbird it displays both.
When email is received by AOL it is analyzed by AOL and email that is considered spam is moved to the spam folder.
When you later download your email into Thunderbird, that email is analyzed by Thunderbird and email that is considered junk is moved to the junk folder.
When you mark something “as junk” in Thunderbird you are training Thunderbird’s junk filter ONLY. In order to train the AOL filter I believe you actually have to log in to AOL’s web mail and mark things as spam THERE.
I don’t believe moving messages between the folders trains anyone, but I could be wrong. I think it’s the “mark as” action in either location that actually does the training, but only for the location in which you perform the action.
Hope that makes sense? I probably need to write up as an article. It’s a common point of confusion.
You can direct Thunderbird to send all of the Thunderbird filter’s junk results into the AOL (or other email provider’s spam folder). Then you should be able to delete the Thunderbird junk folder. As Leo mentioned, this probably won’t train the AOL junk filter, but it will reduce the number of folders you have to deal with. On the down side, you won’t know which filter is filtering what if that’s important to you. I personally like all my spam in one place.
So, is Thunderbird available on Android? Can it be installed on a tablet? On (just as a random* example) my Amazon Fire HD10+ ?
*(cough cough)
O.K., I did a kittle checking and can answer my own question (above)!
Leo, this post is originally from 2008, and this is (*gasp!*) 2023. A lot can happen in 15 years– and I do men a LOT! Ferinstice, Thunderbird is no longer available. at mozi!!a.org.
It has apparently been spun off and is now developed separately, at:
https://www.thunderbird.net/en-US
P.S.: They say they’re “working on” an Android version of Thunderbird, but in the meantime they recomend Android users use “K-9 Mail,” which is extant, is being developed, and will eventually become Thunderbird for Android.
Hope thus helps!
I’ve been using Thunderbird since it came out. I’ve tried a few other email programs but always quickly returned to Thunderbird. I even have MS Office Outlook as part of MS 365, but I prefer Thunderbird for some of the reasons Leo mentioned, especially the fact that it doesn’t have a proprietary database like Outlook.exe. I have the portable version on a USB flash drive which I can use on any computer.
Leo mentioned that Thunderbird has add-ons available. One add-on I used to use when I was teaching was mail-merge. I used the mail-merge feature to send personalized emails to the class. It’s like BCC on steroids as each recipient gets an email with a personal salutation I set up a mail-merge for a friend who worked in B2B sales. He could send a personalized thank-you email mentioning the product bought etc. I highly recommend checking out the different add-ons-
I’ve been using Thunderbird for a long time. Have used PC, MAC and Linux versions. Presently I have 6 accounts set up, all using IMAP. When I want to save an email locally, I copy or move it to a folder in “local Folders.”
My local folders are saved on a Google Drive folder. This allows me to have access to them on multiple machines.
I wish it was available on the iPad. There I use the gmail app for all accounts.
I’ve been using Thunderbird since it came out. I also use Thunderbird to manage my gmail account. I don’t see the need to go online to get to my gmail any more than going online to do my other emails. I also use mail.com with Thunderbird.
I have a 14 year old Sony Vaio laptop running Windows 10. When I replaced the HDD with an SSD it bacame useable again. It’s pretty fast.
I have been a long-time user of Thunderbird, which was great up to version 102. The extensive redesign to 115 has changes that are backward steps or simply dumb. Hundreds probably thousands of users hate 115 vehemently. There are fixes being released and user chrome modifications can fix some other things, like moving the Menu Bar back to the top where it used to be and most users think it should be. There is now a European fork of Thunderbird called Betterbird, https://www.betterbird.eu/ which is “better” but it remains to be seen how it develops and their web site is very slow.
I started out using Microsoft Mail when I switched to Windows 10 when it was first released. Since it has been deprecated, and I’ve heard rumors that the ‘new’ Outlook email client that is now offered to replace the Mail app ‘collects’ a lot of personally identifiable information, I have switched to Thunderbird. I wasn’t a fan at first because it looked too ‘busy’ for my taste (I preferred the UI from the original Mail app), but I’ve become familiar with it and I’ve learned how to customize the UI to better suit my tastes.
Thunderbird defaults to complying with my Windows theme (I use the dark mode here), but I set it to use it’s own dark theme in it’s settings page. I’ve had issues with some email messages displaying parts of their content with white text on a white background, so I went back to settings and reconfigured Thunderbird to display white text on a black background, and to always override the settings set by the content . . . – this solved my display issues (you can get to these settings by scrolling down to ‘Fonts and Colors’ in the General section, then clicking the Colors button to the right), so I’m now very happy with Thunderbird, not only on Windows 10 and 11, but on my Solus and Manjaro Linux installations (I dual-boot all three of my PCs, and Thunderbird provides the same UI on all instances).
If you’ve tried Thunderbird and didn’t like it, give it another look, but this time check out the settings page. You may find a way to make it suit your tastes/needs better than what is offered by default.
My2Cents,
Ernie (Oldster)
Multiple platform compatibility is a compelling feature. I have it installed on all my machines, Windows, Mac, And Linux. Whenever i help someone set up their computer, i always install among other programs. It’s so good that Ubuntu and many other Linux distros include it with the installation.
I am a complete novice when it comes to using email programs, so I hope this question makes sense.
I have a number of G-Mail accounts, and I would like to use Thunderbird as a backup. Is it capable of handling multiple accounts; and, if so are the directions in fairly plain English?
You can set up as many accounts as you like. It’s fairly straightforward to add accounts.
This article explains how to set up Thunderbird using Hotmail as an example.
Back Up Your Email Using Thunderbird
These are the settings to use for Gmail in Thunderbird
Incoming Server Hostname: imap.gmail.com.
Port: 993.
SSL: SSL/TLS.
Authentication: Normal Password.
Outgoing Server Hostname: smtp.gmail.com.
Port: 465.
SSL: SSL/TLS.
Authentication: Normal Password.
Hello, just installed TH but I can not import my contacts . Currently using Windows Mail (after being thrown out of Outlook Express several years ago when upgrading to Windows 10). In my @outlook account i find No contacts. Help pls.
Lieven
Have been using Thunderbird for years but this latest iteration drives me nuts. I really dislike the ‘Threads’ option which is installed as default on all accounts and folders.
It can be disabled but only on a folder by folder adjustment individually in each account. As I am managing about 12 accounts each with 20 or so subfolders this is infuriatingly slow and tedious. I just do not understand why there isn’t an ‘off’ switch in the universal settings of the program.
I posted a comment on this Thunderbird article pointing out that version 115 was an extensive redesign of the program, had reduced functionality and was disliked by many users. Version 115 is very different from 102 and earlier. I informed about a fork of Thunderbird called Betterbird but you chose not to use my post. Why was that?
Don’t know what you mean by “chose not to use”. The comment is posted above.
This will keep till after the holiday, but: Long term user of Thunderbird. I used to have multiple identities, now trying to converge on one. When I start a new message, that shows as being “From” the correct identity I wish to use by default. If I find a correspondent in the Address Book and click on “Write” it shows the message as being “from” my old default address. Of course I can change that, but it’s annoying, and one day I won;t notice and forget to do it. Happy holidays.
Importing contacts from Outlook Express to Thunderbird: I did this for my father about 10+ years ago when Outlook Express was retired. It required some fiddling around with CSV files and mapping fields from one file structure to the other.
Years ago, loved Thunderbird, worked very well on my old Windows XP and had no problems. Decided to give it a try after articles from Ask Leo! Tried on several occasions to install, but the program kept asking for money to resume. So how can you say this is a FREE program? Is this a location thing, I am from Canada. Seems that now I must purchase this, what happened to try it again before you purchase.
Thunderbird is still free. When you download Thunderbird, the website offers the option of donating to them. There is no obligation to donate.
To be clear, it’s free. You don’t have to pay a thing if you don’t want to.
Long time ago, I used to use Eudora and liked it.
I have Thunderbird on my Desktop, but don’t use it except to move large E-mails off my gmail and onto the computer. The main issue is that I find it very hard to search E-mail. Maybe I just need to find a good YouTube video on the topic?
I’ve been using thunderbird for years as desktop email along with the email that comes with my local isp but am now switching to another provider. Can I use Thunderbird as a stand-alone email client and if so what will the address be? Do I need to transfer all my “stuff” from my current provider to Gmail or similar? Thanks.
Thunderbird is a standalone mail client. You can add your new email service provider’s login information to Thunderbird. If you still have an account with your ISP, you can have Thunderbird manage both accounts or as many as you have. I manage 4 email accounts with Thunderbird.
Leo, Here is my problem I hope you can help. I have used Thunderbird for years and love it. But lately, since we moved to a retirement home about 2 years ago, my ISP (Comcast) has started dropping my access to my e-mail account. When I open T-bird I get a window that “Enter New Password.” Sometime this will solve the problem sometimes not. Checking with Comcast they say reboot the modem, usually does not solve the problem. Have rebooted computer and switcher. Sometimes rebooting computer (Windows 11 Pro) helps but not for long. I had the same condition with Windows 10 Pro on different computer. I have reloaded T-bird app and move back a few versions, still nothing.
My wife’s Windows 11 does not do this nor do my iPhone or iPad.
Do yo have any ideas what may be happening.
If the connection is using IMAP, I would actually (back up and) remove the account from Thunderbird and re-add it.
If you’re using POP3, I don’t really have a simple approach. (I have a lengthy one, but it’s not simple.)
And, of course, neither are guaranteed, they’re just what I’d do in your situation.
Hi,
I bought a new PC several months ago and have been using Outlook (new). Unfortunately, it did not link to Quickbooks 2002. I’ve been using my old PC (running Microsoft Outlook 2013) for Quickbooks invoicing but today Microsoft Outlook 2013 stopped working. I don’t know the password, my ISP can’t help with that and I’ve learned that Microsoft phased out the authentication for these legacy programs so now I want to leave Outlook completely. I downloaded Thunderbird but it won’t link with Quickbooks 2002. Is there any way to make Quickbooks 2002 recognize Thunderbird?
Sincerely,
Alan
I’m not sure if this will work. I asked Microsoft Copilot and this is what it said:
“If you’re using Thunderbird, QuickBooks does support it, but setup can be tricky. You’ll need to:
Open Edit > Preferences in QuickBooks.
Select Send Forms and click Add under email settings.
Enter your email and select Thunderbird as the provider.
Some users have reported compatibility issues, especially with newer Thunderbird versions. If QuickBooks doesn’t recognize Thunderbird, try using a 32-bit version or setting Thunderbird as the default email app in Windows”
AI often hallucinates and gives an answer out of left field I find it strange that Microsoft AI even gets things wrong on MS products.
If you try it, let us know here how it worked so others can benefit.