Tutorials
Set up your first email account
This tutorial takes you from a fresh install to a working inbox. It should take about five minutes, and you only need your email address and password.
Start the account wizard
When you open Thunderbird for the first time, the Account Setup page appears automatically. If it does not, or you are adding an account later, open the menu and choose New → Existing Mail Account.
Enter your details
- Type your name as you want it to appear on outgoing mail.
- Type your full email address.
- Type your password, and tick Remember password if you want Thunderbird to store it.
- Click Continue.
Thunderbird now looks up your provider's server settings, using its built-in database of common providers and the autoconfiguration records many mail hosts publish.
Choose IMAP
If you are offered a choice between IMAP and POP3, pick IMAP. It keeps your mail on the server and in sync across every device. Click Done to finish.
If automatic setup fails
For a self-hosted or corporate address, click Configure manually and fill in the values your provider lists:
- Incoming: IMAP or POP3, the server host name, port, and connection security (usually SSL/TLS).
- Outgoing: the SMTP host name, port, and security.
Click Re-test to confirm the settings work, then Done.
Most major providers are detected automatically. You usually only need the manual path for self-hosted or company mail. If you use two-factor authentication, your provider may ask you to create an app password to use here.
Tutorials
Send your first message
With mail arriving, send one to confirm your account works both ways.
Write the message
- Click Write in the toolbar, or press
Ctrl+N. A composition window opens. - In To, start typing a name or address. Thunderbird auto-completes from your address book and recent contacts.
- Add a Subject and type your message in the body.
Format and attach
The formatting toolbar controls bold, lists, links and more. To attach a file, click Attach or drag the file into the message. Thunderbird warns you if you mention an attachment in the text but forget to add one.
Send it
Click Send, or press Ctrl+Enter. A copy is saved to your Sent folder automatically.
If you are offline, the message is placed in Outbox and sent the next time you connect. To hold a message on purpose, use File → Send Later.
Want to try before mailing a real person? Send the message to your own address. It should arrive in your inbox within a minute.
Tutorials
Bring mail in from another program
If you are switching from another email app, you can bring your existing messages, contacts and settings across.
Run the import wizard
- Open the menu and choose Tools → Import.
- Choose what to import: Mail, Address Books, Settings, or Filters.
- Select the source. Thunderbird can read directly from several other mail programs, and from standard mailbox files.
- Follow the prompts and wait for the import to finish.
Import from files
If your old mail is exported as individual .eml files or as mailbox (mbox) files, choose the file-based option and point Thunderbird at the folder. Each mailbox becomes a folder in Thunderbird.
Check the result
Imported mail lands under Local Folders, in a folder named for the source. Drag folders into an account if you want them stored on the server rather than only on this computer.
Importing copies your mail; it does not delete anything from the source. It is safe to run the import again if the first pass misses something.
How-to guides
Add another email account
Thunderbird manages any number of accounts side by side, each with its own inbox, folders and identity.
Open Account Settings
Open the menu and choose Account Settings. At the bottom of the account list, click Account Actions → Add Mail Account.
Enter the new account
Fill in the name, address and password exactly as you did for your first account, and let Thunderbird detect the servers, or configure them manually.
Organise your accounts
Each account appears as a top-level entry in the folder pane. To see all inboxes together, enable the Unified Folders view from the folder-pane header menu.
You can also set a default account, which is the one used for a new message unless you pick another identity in the From field.
A single account can also carry several identities, for example a personal and a role address on the same mailbox. Add them under Account Settings → Manage Identities.
How-to guides
Create a message filter
Filters act on incoming mail automatically, so routine sorting happens without you.
Create the filter
- Go to Tools → Message Filters.
- Choose the account the filter applies to, then click New.
- Give the filter a clear name.
Set conditions and actions
Add one or more conditions, such as From contains a sender, or Subject contains a keyword. Choose whether the filter matches all or any of them.
Then add one or more actions:
- Move to folder to file the message
- Mark as read or Star
- Tag with a label
- Delete for obvious noise
Click OK to save.
Run and order filters
New mail is checked against filters from top to bottom, so put more specific filters first. To apply a filter to mail already in a folder, select it and click Run Now.
Filters run when mail is downloaded. If a rule does not seem to fire, check it is enabled and attached to the right account, and that an earlier filter is not stopping the chain.
How-to guides
Add a signature
A signature is appended to your outgoing mail, so you do not retype your contact details.
Plain text, HTML, or a file
- Open Account Settings and select the account.
- To type a short signature, use the Signature text box. Tick Use HTML if you want links or formatting, and write the signature as HTML.
- To use a richer, reusable signature, tick Attach the signature from a file and choose a
.txt or .html file.
One per account
Each account has its own signature, so a personal address and a work address can sign differently. The signature is added to every new message, reply and forward from that account.
Keep signatures short. Your name, role and one link is plenty, and it looks far better on a phone than a large image block that may not load at all.
How-to guides
Install an add-on
Add-ons extend Thunderbird with new features, and themes change its appearance.
From the gallery
- Open the menu and choose Add-ons and Themes.
- Search the gallery for what you need.
- Click Add to Thunderbird, then confirm. Restart if prompted.
From a file
If you have an add-on packaged as an .xpi file, click the gear icon in the Add-ons Manager and choose Install Add-on From File.
Manage what you have installed
The Add-ons Manager lists your extensions and themes, where you can disable, update or remove each one.
Add-ons run with broad access to your mail, so install only ones you trust, and prefer those marked compatible with your Thunderbird version. Check for updates after a major Thunderbird upgrade, since an incompatible add-on can be disabled automatically.
Reference
Account settings reference
Every panel under Account Settings, listed per account. Open it from the menu.
Per-account panels
- Server Settings: the incoming server host, port, connection security (SSL/TLS or STARTTLS), authentication method, and how often Thunderbird checks for new mail. Also where you set what happens when you delete a message.
- Copies & Folders: which folders hold sent mail, drafts, templates and archives, and whether to keep copies of sent messages.
- Composition & Addressing: default reply format, quoting style, and which address book is used for auto-complete.
- Junk Settings: whether adaptive junk filtering runs for this account, and where junk is moved.
- Synchronization & Storage: which folders are kept available offline, and message retention rules.
- End-to-End Encryption: OpenPGP and S/MIME keys for signing and encrypting mail.
Shared settings
- Outgoing Server (SMTP): outgoing servers are defined once at the bottom of the account list and can be shared by several accounts. Each account points at one of them.
A setting takes effect as soon as you close the dialog. There is no separate save step.
Reference
Common keyboard shortcuts
Default shortcuts in the main mail window. They are shown next to each command in the menus, which is the quickest way to confirm a binding.
Reading and writing
Ctrl+N: write a new messageCtrl+R: reply to the senderCtrl+Shift+R: reply to allCtrl+L: forwardCtrl+Enter: send the current message
Managing mail
Del: delete the selected messageA: archiveM: toggle read and unread
Finding things
Ctrl+K: jump to the search barCtrl+Shift+K: toggle the quick-filter bar for the current folder
Thunderbird has no built-in editor for these bindings. An add-on is needed if you want to remap them.
Reference
Special folders
Thunderbird uses a set of system folders for common jobs. Their roles are defined under Copies & Folders.
The standard set
- Inbox: incoming mail.
- Drafts: messages you saved but have not sent.
- Templates: reusable message templates, created with File → Save As → Template.
- Sent: copies of messages you have sent.
- Junk: mail the junk filter, or you, marked as spam.
- Trash: deleted mail, held until you empty it.
- Archives: mail moved out of the inbox with the Archive command (or the
A key), filed by year.
Local vs server folders
For an IMAP account these folders live on the server and sync across devices. Local Folders is a separate, on-this-computer-only area, useful for long-term storage you do not want on the server.
Emptying Trash is permanent. Thunderbird can empty it automatically on exit, which you set in Server Settings.
Reference
The Config Editor (advanced preferences)
The Config Editor exposes every internal preference, for changes the normal settings screens do not cover.
Open it
- Open Settings → General.
- Scroll to the bottom and click Config Editor.
- Accept the warning to continue.
Find and change a preference
Preferences are key/value pairs. Search by name in the box at the top. For example, mailnews. covers mail behaviour and mail. covers the interface.
- Double-click a boolean to flip it between true and false.
- Double-click a string or integer to edit its value.
A changed preference is shown in bold. Use the reset control on a row to return it to its default.
Changing hidden preferences can break things in ways the normal settings cannot. Note the original value before you edit it, change one thing at a time, and restart Thunderbird if a change does not seem to take effect.
Explanation
IMAP vs POP
Thunderbird can talk to a mail server in two ways. The choice is not cosmetic; it changes where your mail lives and how it behaves.
IMAP: mail stays on the server
With IMAP, the server holds the authoritative copy and Thunderbird stays in sync with it. Read a message, move it to a folder, or delete it, and that change is reflected everywhere you read the account, including your phone and webmail.
This is the right choice for almost everyone today, because most people read mail on more than one device.
POP: mail is downloaded to one place
With POP3, Thunderbird downloads messages to this computer and, by default, removes them from the server. Your mail then lives only in this copy of Thunderbird. Nothing syncs: a message you read here is still unread elsewhere.
POP suits a single device, a deliberate offline archive, or a mailbox with a tight storage limit you want to drain.
Which to choose
If you are unsure, choose IMAP. Choose POP only when you specifically want mail pulled off the server onto one machine. You can change later, but it means adding the account again with the other protocol.
Explanation
How Thunderbird stores your mail
Everything Thunderbird knows lives in a profile folder, kept separate from the program itself. Understanding this makes backups and moving to a new computer simple.
What the profile holds
The profile contains your accounts, downloaded messages, address books, filters, add-ons and every setting. The program files are elsewhere; the profile is your data.
Where it lives
The profile is stored in a per-user location:
- Linux:
~/.thunderbird/ - macOS:
~/Library/Thunderbird/ - Windows: under
%APPDATA%\Thunderbird\Profiles\
How messages are stored
By default each folder is a single mailbox file on disk, so a folder called *Projects* is one file. A newer per-message storage option exists, but the one-file-per-folder format is still common.
Backing up
Because everything is in one place, backing up the profile folder backs up your entire Thunderbird. Copy it while Thunderbird is closed, and restore it the same way on a new machine.
Find the exact path any time from Help → Troubleshooting Information → Profile Folder → Open Folder.
Explanation
How junk filtering learns
Thunderbird's junk filter is adaptive. It is not a fixed blocklist you download; it is a model that learns from your own mail.
Training by example
As you mark messages as Junk or Not Junk, the filter records the words and patterns typical of each. This is a form of Bayesian classification: over time it learns that certain features lean junk and others lean legitimate.
Why it is quiet at first
A brand-new profile has nothing to go on, so early on the filter does little. The more you correct it, the sharper it gets. This is also why it is personal: your model reflects the mail you actually receive, not a generic average.
Keeping it accurate
- Correct mistakes in both directions. Marking good mail as Not Junk matters as much as flagging spam.
- Keep the junk folder long enough to review, in case something legitimate lands there.
The adaptive filter is per account and set under Junk Settings. It works alongside, not instead of, any spam filtering your mail provider already does on the server.