Idea Channel

The Idea Channel

Mozilla Thunderbird is an e-mail client made by the Mozilla Corporation. The current version is 2.0.0.12. To download Thunderbird, visit Mozilla's website.

Configuring Thunderbird

Windows IMAP

Please verify that you are running the most current version of .
From the Tools menu select Account Settings, and verify the following:

540px

Macintosh IMAP

From the Tools menu select Account Settings

Converting from Eudora

Converting Eudora Mail

1. Visit to download the newest version of Thunderbird.
2. Follow directions for Configuring IMAP email. If they were former IMAP users, they can skip down to the If they were former POP users, please follow the directions below:
3. While in Thunderbird - Open the Tools menu and select import....

• It will ask you where your Eudora folder is located, please click on the word Eudora either in your MyLocalData folder (Windows 2000) or MyDocuments folder (Windows XP)

• After you select your Eudora folder and click OK, your email will begin to import into Thunderbird, you will see a results window saying how many emails were transferred.

• Your POP mail from Eudora will be stored on your computer under the Local Folders, but your new email will be listed under the @gustavus.edu heading (IMAP)

Converting Eudora Address Book

• Although the Thunderbird wizard can be used, a better way to transfer your Eudora Address Book to Thunderbird can be found on our EudoraConverter wiki page. If you need assistance with this, please contact the Technology Helpline and we can convert it for you.

Setting up a Signature

1. Open Notepad or another text editor
2. Open up a new document
3. Type out your signature
4. Save as a .txt file
5. Open up Thunderbird
6. Open up Tools and go to Account Settings
7. Check the box next to attach this signature and Choose
8. Open the .txt file that you just created
9. Click OK

See also

You can also visit the page regarding how to set up extensions to make signatures a little easier in Thunderbird.

Subscribe to Folders

Mac

1. Go to the File menu
2. Click Subscribe
3. Click Refresh
4. Click once on the folder you want to subscribe to
5. Click the subscribe button.
6. Click OK.

Windows

1. Go the File menu
2. Click Subscribe
3. Click Refresh
4. Check the folders you want to subscribe to
5. Click OK.

Configuring Directory Services

1. Go to Tools --> Account Settings.
2. In options, click on "composition and addressing".
3. Click on "use a different LDAP server" and click "edit directories".
4. There you will need to click "add" and put in the settings displaced in the picture.
5. Also go to Tools --> Options and under the "Composition" tab check the "directory server" box and select "ldap.gac.edu."

LDAP settings

Turning off LDAP

On campus at �鶹��Ƶ, Thunderbird is typically configured to use LDAP look up when composing messages. This feature will populate the To: field with matches when you begin typing an email address. To configure Thunderbird to use LDAP see Mozilla_Thunderbird#Configuring_Directory_Services

This feature needs to be turned off if a machine (laptop) goes off campus, as access to the LDAP information is blocked by a firewall.

To turn LDAP off:

1. From the Tools menu - select Account Settings
2. In the Composition and Addressing section - under the Addressing area - toggle the Use a Different LDAP Server to None.

Setting up Templates

1. Create a new email message in Thunderbird by clicking the Write button.
2. Compose the message with any text and formatting.
3. When you have finished composing the template, click the File menu and then click Save As.
4. From the drop-down list, choose Template. The message has now been saved as a template for future use.
5. To access templates you have made, scroll down to the Local Folder section in the Folders List.
6. Under Local Folders, click on the Templates folder. This folder lists all the templates you have created in Thunderbird.
7. Double-click on the template you wish to use. You can now customize, address and send the message as desired.