Using your email account with Mozilla Thunderbird

1. Why use Thunderbird?
2. IMAP vs. POP3 connections
3. How to set up IMAP - for Windows
4. How to set up IMAP - for Macintosh
5. The difference between e-mail accounts and aliases
6. How to set up multiple identities
7. How to set up message filters
8. Using SMTP servers provided by your ISP

Why use Thunderbird?

Mozilla Thunderbird is a program which can compete with (and easily defeat) Microsoft Outlook Express, not only because it has similar functionality, but it's also user friendly, more secure, and it's freeware. Thunderbird makes e-mailing safer, faster and easier than ever before with the industry's best implementations of features such as intelligent spam filters, a built-in spell checker, extension support and much more. Read more Why You Should Use the Mozilla Thunderbird E-mail Program. We also recommend the step-by-step tutorial by Nidelven IT's.

• It's user friendly, easy to install, easy to use.
• It's freeware, meaning, you can download it from the web, no charge.
• Cross platform, you can use it with Windows or Macintosh, as well as the GNU/Linux operating system.

Mozilla Thunderbird's FAQ page contains many answers, including how to read your AOL email with Thunderbird, how to import/export e-mail messages from/to another mail program or computer, and much more.

IMAP vs. POP3 connections

How POP3 works

The POP3 protocol is very simple. It allows you to have a collection of messages stored in a text file on the server. Your e-mail client (e.g. Thunderbird) can connect to your POP3 e-mail server and download the messages from the POP3 text file onto your PC.

If you want to check you e-mail from more than one location, you want your e-mail to remain on the server. With POP3, once you download your e-mail it is stuck on the machine to which you downloaded it. If you want to read your e-mail both on your desktop machine and your laptop (depending on whether you are working in the office or on the road), they will not all be available, as they now only exist on the first computer.

Alternatively, you can configure POP3 to never remove your messages from the HDW mail server. This setup will allow you to check mail on multiple computers, but since all your messages (even the ones you delete locally on your computer) remain on the server, you run the risk of filling up your mailbox very quickly. As you can see, both POP3 configurations have major drawbacks.

How IMAP works

When you use IMAP, all of your email messages and folders are kept on both your home computer and the HDW mail server. Since all IMAP-based mail programs can access the same inbox, any operation you perform on your inbox in one email program is reflected in your mail the next time you use another program. When you make a change in one place (i.e. delete a message, create a folder) all locations are updated. IMAP works very well if you plan on checking your email from multiple locations. IMAP also has security features that are not supported by POP3.

One problem that can arise with IMAP is that you cannot I read your mail if I you are not connected to the Internet. To solve this problem, most e-mail clients have some way to cache e-mail on the local machine. For example, the Thunderbird will download all the messages and store their complete contents on the local machine (just like it would if it were talking to a POP3 server). The messages still exist on the IMAP server, but you now have copies on your machine. This allows you to read and reply to e-mail even if you have no connection to the Internet. The next time you establish a connection, you download all the new messages you received while disconnected and send all the mail that you wrote while disconnected.