Thunderbird: a Free, Open Source, and Powerful Email Client

[@askleonotenboom]

My desktop email program of choice.

[@TheMadisonHang]

"desktop", a very stong word nowadays!

[@henkterhell1505]

One subject you did not touch upon in this video: Some people here made already comments that they use TB for multiple accounts. Also for me the easy handling of a number of mailaccounts with different mail adresses is a very strong point in favour of TB.

[@JV-pu8kx]

Calendars, too.

[@StratBoss]

@@JV-pu8kx That's what I'm interested in 🙂. I don't mind going online for emails but if I want to see 2 or 3 Outlook calendars overlaid with another from Gmail, can I do that in Thunderbird? Outlook also sends me a daily 'agenda' email, does Thunderbird have that feature?

[@StratBoss]

@@JV-pu8kx Just what I need! Can you overlay multiple Outlook and Gmail calendars and does it have the daily ageda email feature?

[@CCNY63]

Glad that you mentioned that TB is platform agnostic. Works just as well in MacOS as Windows. Despite all the prognosticators talking about the demise of TB, it has been rejuvenated and better than ever. Some may view its UI as busy, but it seems so much easier to sort and search and display than newer email clients.

[@Wol747]

How about Linux?

[@adrianandrews2254]

Wholeheartedly agree. Have used it for more than ten years now.

[@dougalmctavish3882]

Great to see a new vid for this great client. There are many vids out there, but all with old versions of Thunderbird, so thank you! I've been using Thunderbird for many years and would be lost without it. I have 7 email account of varying types and domains, and Thunderbird works with them all! If anything, its over rich with functions.

[@matthewwhitaker4849]

Just started usingThunderbird today on my Windows PC. I love it so far. Really accessible for someone like me who is blind. Lots of keyboard shortcuts, works with all screen readers and its a super clean interface and not cluttered at all.

[@ebreckpo6563]

Thank you for this excellent presentation of Thunderbird. As a 20 years+ user of this software, I even learned some tricks...

[@Rbourk252]

I love how once all the correspondents have all been filtered into folders with a filter rule, (well worth doing, takes a bit of time and patience) you can set retention policy for each folder that overrides the global retention policy. For those corespondents that like to spam, you can either keep the emails for a set period or set the maximum age of an email before it is deleted. If there’s an email you may want to keep and look at later you can just star it so that it isn’t deleted until the star is removed. I love Thunderbird. The open source project really deserves funding.

[@Sonya_Makepeace]

I use Thunderbird. After messing about with MS Outlook, Thunderbird is brilliant.

[@raylopez99]

Good. I use MS Outlook which does the same thing but in a proprietary format. One thing though: don't use POP but IMAP as our host says. If you use POP with Thunderbird or Outlook (which I once did) it will sync with your online email but delete the emails after downloading them, which is probably not what you want.

[@Goodshaft]

HERE HERE..................TRUE Statement !

[@guydreamr]

Cool. What do you find brilliant about Thunderbird?

[@blackrookgaming]

Love Thunderbird, have been using it for years.

[@tomking1890]

I have been using this for two years and I have it. I donate to them from time to time.

[@bboogaar]

Way back when I used Eudora for my desktop email program. But when Qualcomm stopped supporting it I needed something else. I switched to Thunderbird after I became aware of it when I was contracting to a local university and found their IT department using it. I’ve never looked back. Best email software out there.

[@Joan_Garcia]

Yes, I remember Eudora which several NYC companies included. It was easy for me to train users on and use myself until it was discontinued.

[@raylopez99]

Outlook for the PC is just as good but whatever works for you.

[@peterandrade4313]

Very well presented. I've been using Thunderbird off/on for years but always come back. Thank you , Peter

[@noexcuses6727]

Been using Thunderbird here for many years. Hard to bat. I also use it's calendar and it syncs with my Apple iPhone calendar. Other than Outlook which is expensive, Thunderbird has all the functions one could wish for.

[@KenLandry-gn4jb]

What a great presentation. I have had to leave Outlook and have switched to Thunderbird. Thanks for a great presentation. Your speed of presentation and clarity of speaking is very helpful! Thanks!

[@borchen0]

A few years ago I migrated both Firefox&Thunderbird from a Windows laptop to a Linux Minipc; this went very smoothly...I only had to change a path in the profile.ini to the Linux-path...started Thunderbird and voila....everything was there and new mails were coming in.

[@PaulG.x]

I do a fresh install of my Linux distro when every new version comes out and all it takes to migrate Thunderbird is to copy the profile directory and rename it with the name of the clean default profile. The latest version will do this automatically if you browse to the backed up profile , but only if the contents are below a certain size. If it detects that it is too large it will suggest you do the migration manually.

[@johnrockley9472]

Goodness me. The content that you put on is really not for the layperson is it? It fascinates me listening to it how clever it is and folk like you are to provide it. Many thanks. Every time I get a new PC or tablet the nightmare of setting up the e-mail drives me nuts, and I'm certainly not alone. The amazing thing is I never meet anyone who has a real clue with internet/e-mails etc, everyone struggles with a system in common everyday use. The first systems I used were great big things with green text, okay we have pictures as well now but the inherent difficulty of getting them to work never seems to be solved. Many thanks for your content.

[@RegCoulter]

Leo, Great video as always, so thank you. Thunderbird is a program I have used since it was first available. It is wonderful and does everything I ask for. I have 5 email accounts that I access through it and it works flawlessly. The current version provides all kinds of options that you do not get with other email clients. I can create special local folders with any name I wish and simply drag and drop emails into them to be able to archive (or at least store them for a long time for later reference). There are also a lot an add-ins available for it as well. The calendar menu is very handy and can provide access to just about any calendar format available. What it is missing is a solid way to back things up. I use two different back up program, both are free. These backs permit me to , if required, reinstall Windows completely, and then using the backup, fully recreate all of my Thunderbird data, so that when I open it up, it looks just like it did before I had to reinstall Windows. Perhaps you can address this weakness.

[@Sonya_Makepeace]

I've got 7 accounts. Na, na, na na, na.😁

[@PaulG.x]

Just back up the profile directory , that's all you have to do. It's all in there.

[@GaryB007]

I've used it for many years. Easily the best email client out there.

[@Jack_Callcott_AU]

I used Thunderbird for years and liked it a lot, but when I installed Windows 10 I just started using the Microsoft Mail app, which is far from perfect. I just found out tonight from Ask Leo that Thunderbird still exists; I'm beside myself with happiness. I can't wait to get it installed, up and running.. THANKS LEO !

[@abe677]

Thanks for the video. I had been a PocoMail user for many years. Loved it as an alternative to the various Windows email clients that showed up with every new version. Alas, PocoMail went away, so I finally "sucked it up" and started using Outlook at home. Since I also use it at work, I like it, but it's a handful for the typical home user. I've had a few cases where I had to help a home user set up Outlook on their home PC and it's quite an effort. I'm looking forward to trying Thunderbird. Hopefully I can migrate some PSTs to it and retire Outlook on my home PC.

[@s1mq]

Leo, you are a treasure, subscribed, very informative high quality content very nicely edited and put together, much respect from Poland

[@darrenlefcoe]

nice clean video. Have used Thunderbird for years and by far the most robust and consistent email client.

[@maurice482390]

Been using TB for 15 years no issues loved the updates the past few years less invasive and annoying compared to outlook which changes their name of how the app run all the time

[@acreguy3156]

Another great video, Leo. Thank you! I've used Thunderbird in the past and the ONLY reason I stuck with the desktop version of Outlook is because it's part of the Office 2019 suite and has amazing autocorrect and autofill functions that I have never seen anywhere else. MS did a lot of things wrong and plain annoying, but the two things they got right were these two functions. If Thunderbird had them, I'd drop Outlook in a heartbeat. Perhaps, there's a third party extension that is just as good that can be added to Thunderbird?

[@MaxTSanches]

A Great program. When I was at university it was great for saving all my correspondance. One of which saved me having to take a course.

[@Thunderbird-Help]

Many thanks for these wonderful overviews of this great email client.

[@be-kind00]

I've been using Microsoft outlook on window since it was released. I have yet to find any email client that has the powerful rules /filtering of outlook. It allows me to filter emails from my many email account into folders based on any criteria of email headers, content subject or whatever and put them in folders, forward anywhere, sent texts or almost anything. For decades there have been no Android or IOS email apps that have even a small fraction of these features including Thunderbird. I wonder why no developer has just taken the desktop outlook features and replicated them. That person/company could sell millions of copies!

[@bruno-sh6ko]

Thank you for the very interesting course, I'm going to replace my old Windows Live Mail that previously replaced Outlook Express... Ouch, I'm an old PC user :)

[@roi1719]

i´m moving to thunderbird because the "new Outlook" is driving me crazy

[@SpencerCourtis]

Microsoft is becoming more and more encroaching, forcefully, and cluttering - privacy intimidation too. Linux and LibreOffice and Thunderbird may be our only choice for both private and business use.

[@andos2923]

Agreed. New Outlook is becoming quite bad and is very dumbed down compared to previous versions. I have been searching for alternatives now. I am also using LibreOffice because I have no interest in participating in a subscription for software! Looks like Thunderbird + LibreOffice is a good productivity suite.

[@angelh7880]

I agree. If your onedrive is full you can't send or receive email. Its horrible.

[@namAlexander]

latest windows update you have to use new outlook and it still cant send emails but the old one did, i thought it would be fixed but not and that's why I'm here lol

[@namAlexander]

@@angelh7880 or any other its a joke its been a issue for months

[@nukeboyt]

Thank you for your video. I have been considering switching away from web-based email clients and I've decided to take the plunge. I have been entirely web-based because I sometimes dual boot my system into Linux Mint, and it was just easier to use a web browser. That being said, now I have to figure out how to use the same local storage files on a shared disk between my Windows 11 boot and LM. I'm sure it can be done, I just need to figure it out ;)

[@Jurmeh]

The best email client.

[@jimbobxcityguy5338]

I used it for years but the last year or so it has gone wacky and it will not work well. I tried totally reinstalling and starting scratch. I went to Mailbird and it's so so much nicer. I have to pay but it works so much better and tech is current and help is there.

[@razorfists]

Now it's on Android! Been waiting for ages!

[@askleonotenboom]

I've started using it there as well. It has some warts, but overall I'm pretty happy.

[@mikecaird5554]

I migrated from Windows Live Mail to Thunderbird (yes, that long ago) so that I could set up and use contact groups, which Live didn’t have. Never had any reason to consider changing away from Thunderbird.

[@GreenOcean1990]

Ive been watching your videos for a few decades. If i remember correctly it was a cnet video i watched (a long time ago). Was very happy to see you again recently. At first I wondered if you were the same Leo. But soon realized that time has passed for all of us. Glad we are all alive and healthy. Now onto my question. Does Thunderbird also save attachments? I like that it can be opened with notepad without being a proprietary format. Just wondered if attachments also can be preserved. Thanks!

[@askleonotenboom]

a) I've never been on cnet. That's the other Leo (Laporte). :-) b) Absolutely thunderbird saves attachments. Attachments are actually encoded as plain text in the email protocol(s).

[@GreenOcean1990]

@@askleonotenboom Yes you are 100 percent correct. Thanks for clarifying! I just now googled and my brain is once again back to normal. I now like Thunderbird again. And thanks so much for answering my question and correcting my mind.

[@hgmyyt]

thanks! very good infos

[@TheMadisonHang]

@1:10 whats the megabyte sizes were talking about to backup all your emails?

[@askleonotenboom]

That's going to be very different from person to person.

[@RubenStormVlog]

Usually I use Evolution and a long time back also KMail and Thunderbird. Ony Debian I went on evolution, but after getting another laptop and setting it up, I looked at the newest thunderbird and I liked it. So I do think since about 2 hours if I should go back to thunderbird!

[@rpsmith]

14:00 -- So Thunderbird will store all your gmail messages locally acting like POP3 even though the account is configured as IMAP?

[@askleonotenboom]

I won't say "like POP3", but IMAP does download your email, yes.

[@SootHead]

Leo-When you said you can put any MBOX file in to T-Bird and it will decode them> Can you detail how to do that? I am trying to move some email archives from another account and can't get that to work.

[@askleonotenboom]

Just copy the file into the Mail/LocalFolders folder in your Thunderbird profile, and restart thunderbird.

[@TonyLouis9345]

Thanks for this helpful video. A question: Can Thunderbird be used if you have more than one email account, or are you limited to a single account?

[@askleonotenboom]

As many as you like.

[@mountfuji3330]

Thanks Leo. One quick question: what's the "Local Folders" for?

[@askleonotenboom]

Any emails or whatnot that you want to keep only locally on your PC, and not in one of your email accounts. For example you can move messages from your Inbox to a folder in Local Folders.

[@mountfuji3330]

@@askleonotenboom Thank you again, Leo. So if I leave a job and want to preserve all my emails, I should move them all into the Local Folder first? Sorry, but I'm new to all this.

[@askleonotenboom]

@@mountfuji3330 Local Folders or folders in a different email account you'll bee keeping.

[@Joan_Garcia]

Thanks Leo. For years, Thunderbird has been the best for reviewing all my domain email accounts using POP settings on my computer. Plus it's a free program. I've viewed several paid email prograns and they don't have many features that Thunderbird has.

[@jliu6735]

Hi Leo, thank you for your sharing. How to you config your email account in the client (POP or IMAP)?

[@askleonotenboom]

IMAP

[@eliknutsen6233]

Most of the functions is pretty self explanatory, but there is one thing I cannot find! How can I make the subject line and name og incoming mails look bigger? I think the default is so small and difficult to read

[@Bob-b5r7r]

I've been using Mozilla Thunderbird for 20 years. I recently developed a problem after I reinstalled the program. When I open up to send a new email, there's already a little text in the email field. How can I change that?

[@LibertyGarden]

Thank you for the video. You know how it's super hard to sort email in gmail by date or sender. Do you think that Thunderbird could be used to download gmail emails and then sort them in Thunderbird for mass deletion using IMAP?

[@mwngw]

I'm dumping Outlook due to security-data breaches. I hope T-bird is secure.

[@marilynmb.canada9680]

I use Gmail for all my email. However, I would like to set up another email for more important/private emails. As an older person I am finding that I really need spell check and grammar check as I do make more mistakes than I used to. Also, I do like to add emojis. Are those features available in Thunderbird?

[@MohitnMusic]

Thank you for this video! I tried it for Gmail, and enabled the labels in Gmail (Updates, Promotions, etc.), but how can I organize emails into different tabs/folders? I looked thru all the add-ons, but not able to do it. Without that, my inbox is flooded with updates etc. and I am unable to manage my main inbox. Thank you in advance!

[@frankmckinley1254]

I am interested in this email program. I have another question, what program are you using for this presentation?

[@askleonotenboom]

Right there in the title. Using Thunderbird.

[@johnlackner1193]

How well does Thunderbird work on Android phones and tablets? If it doesn't work well, which email program does?

[@diannewoods6320]

Thanks! This video came at a perfect time for us! Outlook had just deleted some of our emails, so we have lost faith in it and are looking for a new way to manage our emails (and have archived copies on our own computer). We had just started setting up Thunderbird when your video dropped! So am I right in thinking that we need to drag the inbox folders into the 'local' folder in order to make an actual true archive that has no risk of being deleted?

[@askleonotenboom]

I would not "drag the inbox folders" literally. What you probably want to do (and perhaps mean) is to drag emails from within the Outlook tree of folders (of which its inbox is one) to your local folder.

[@kersi-sandiego6036]

"...Outlook had just deleted some of our emails,", ??????? Please elaborate. Thank you.

[@shadowminister4090]

Funnily, I was looking into Thunderbird just last night. I don't use a Desktop computer much now and was searching for Thunderbird on Andriod. From what I understand, there is a project to convert K-9 Mail into Thunderbird, but it's a work in progress. I used to use Thunderbird on an old Linux machine my techy son set up for me, when Microsoft stopped supporting an old version of Windows. I never really understood it. I now use Gmail (2 accounts) but still maintain an old Yahoo account. I had thought of forwarding everything through one Gmail account to simply my life, but maybe eventually once the Andriod project is complete, Thunderbird could a better option? What attracts me to Thunderbird is Folders. I don't like Gmail's Labels and the secondary backup you speak of. It seems a good idea. Thanks Leo

[@Greek2me.]

It would be nice if they could finally solve the line_wrap issue. I'm tired of having sent message lines truncated.

[@MiamiGuy1972]

Hello, I was watching the video and wondered if you can consolidate several email accounts into one inbox...?

[@askleonotenboom]

Not really, each is its own. Some email programs may have "views" you can apply that would combine them, but honestly that would be so confusing, and it appears Thunderbird does not have this.

[@josebrivera1716]

All of my different email address go to my one inbox in Outlook. It’s not confusing at all.

[@MiamiGuy1972]

@@josebrivera1716 can you explain how I can do that, or refer me to a video that shows how to do it...? Please?

[@dragonmaster1500]

Hey Leo, thanks for the advice. I have a question however. When using Thunderbird, do you know if it's possible to set up the program so you can see the email address of the sender in the inbox before opening a new email? I would like to be able to do that as being able to see the sender email address can help to easily identify spam/phishing attempts.

[@askleonotenboom]

You should be able to customize the columns in that display. In my TBird there's a weird little icon at the far right of the list header. Click on that and you can choose which columns should be displayed. "From" is one of them.

[@dragonmaster1500]

@@askleonotenboom Hello Leon, I was looking at that and the From column only appears to show the sender's display name, rather than their full email. I did some digging and it appears that showing email addresses in the inbox before the email is opened, is stuck as a feature request for now. Still, thanks for the information, I hope you have a great rest of your day.

[@Butchy-t6u]

Leo downloaded Thunderbird today and can not see my MOST RECENT EMAILS IN THE INBOX , just old emails , what to do ?

[@askleonotenboom]

Depends entirely on exactly what account, how you configured it, and what provider. Also check your "View" settings as that can often accidentally hide things. Also make sure it's checking for new mail periodically (it should by default).

[@beseeingyou-friend]

Leo could you please make a new video all about Thunderbird Nebula 128. Thank you.

[@skim7221]

I have a question. If I backup (automatic sync) that folder you mentioned to google drive, then if somethig happens to my computer, I just download and copy that folder so that all the emails can be recovered, right?

[@askleonotenboom]

In theory, yes. Though I recommend a local image backup of the entire hard disk.

[@timetorelaxfocus9642]

Thunderbird has come a long way and appears to be almost identical to Outlook now.

[@martink8080]

Still using TB version 102.2.1 (64-bit) on a PC. At one time I upgraded back when the next version was released but was having issues (don't remember exactly) so I reverted and have been shy about upgrading it ever since You show version 115.4.1 Any known issues?

[@sternenbringer]

Where should i install thunderbird from, their homepage or the microsoft store? Does it even matter?

[@askleonotenboom]

I STRONGY recommend their home page. The Microsoft store version installs differently, for reasons I can't fathom.

[@sternenbringer]

@@askleonotenboom Thank you. Intuitively, I did exactly this.

[@jennydowde9996]

My Thunderbird stopped working when I was away from home for three days a few weeks ago. I came back, tried to download mail and nothing...it won't download email at all. It does however send emails. Nothing I have tried has helped and getting help from Thunderbird itself is useless...they take ages to answer and their suggestions are veryn technical. I have checked ALL the settings my provider requires...I have checked all the settings Thunderbird required to set it up. WHY would it suddenly decide to stop downloading email for no apparent reason after several years of working just fine. You may not be able to help but I ask anyway because I am desperate. Thank you.

[@user-tn1hk6zm2freedom]

I use thunderbird but I have a problem. When I reply it is not in the same format as I received it. I have tried everything to fix this and nothing works.

[@baliDOTid]

what if some of my emails have attachments, do they get backed up with this method?

[@askleonotenboom]

Yes

[@Kamalfayadh]

Thank you! How to add rules like MS Outlook?

[@askleonotenboom]

In TBird they're called Filters. Tools menu, Message Filters item.

[@Kamalfayadh]

@@askleonotenboom Thank you for your fast reply. I mean the automated rules which auto categorize emails to folders according to specific roles

[@akiairth9673]

Will Thunderbird work on my Nokia 2780 flip that has kaiOS?

[@shubhampawar7475]

the only issue I have with thunderbird, it doesn't auto populate my gmail contacts. So I dont have any contacts suggestion when I'm typing "to" section

[@askleonotenboom]

Contacts are a mess across all platforms and programs (there's no protocol to auto-share). Export your contacts from Google, and then import into Thunderbird.

[@shubhampawar7475]

@@askleonotenboom In kmail and evolution it automatically configures the contacts correctly, so I have a proper autocomplete suggestions in "to" section of emails. Only thunderbird doesn't handle this. I tried googling this but then it says to generate a client secret and all, so I just moved to kmail

[@p165711]

I use Outlook which came as part of Office 2007 (yes i know but iit's all I need) I backup my emails monthly and yearly to a NAS. I wonder if Thunderbird is capable of reading the resultant .pst files which Outlook creates in backup. Thanks in advance.

[@askleonotenboom]

Nope. That's one of the (few) reasons I dislike Outlook. PSTs are proprietary.

[@p165711]

Thank for the response. @@askleonotenboom

[@ebreckpo6563]

There are tools available to convert .pst files to mbox format some of them are free. There is even a native import function in TB. Have a look in the tools tab.

[@p165711]

Thanks for that, I will d/l it again and give it a whirl. I didn't see anything last time I tried re import functions but it was over a year ago. @@ebreckpo6563

[@pgale]

I have a question please its driving me crazy I have an email address from a service provider which I use Thunderbird to open read send etc: which is all I want thunderbird for nothing else. The problem is if I'm in Gmail and want to save an email it saves it as thunderbird format, plus if I want to respond to a link I might get in a Gmail email when I click respond it opens in the Thunderbird program. It's like Thunderbird is the default program. How the hell do I stop it, please.

[@KR1804]

My inbox is archived into about 100 folders with multiple subfolders. Is there a way to sort all subfolder e-mails with most recent-on-top for each subfolder at once? Thunderbird default sorting is the older on top and I must go into each folder to reverse sorting. Thanks a lot!

[@askleonotenboom]

Not that I know of.

[@PaulG.x]

That's why I stopped using folders and only use tags now

[@KR1804]

@@PaulG.x According to superuser (Change the default sorting order in Thunderbird) there is a way, but I haven't yet tried it. If it works it would save me!

[@pnachtwey]

Interesting, I have been using Thunderbird for years but only on Linux. I learned about moving accounts. I donate.

[@alantoseland6629]

How can I remove the donation add from the start of Thunderbird, please

[@9ijnht5rdx]

Last update stopped moving of local folders.

[@aperson1181]

can it be integrated with gmail?

[@askleonotenboom]

Absolutely. I use it to backup my Gmail.

[@jennydowde9996]

Haven't been able to download email using Thunderbird for weeks...since 17th Sept, 2024 .....went away for three days and when I came back, nothing. I have tried getting help from TB support but so far useless and rather technical for some lesser knowledgeable people like me. I just ran troubleshooting and it gave me nothing. Can you help at all please?

[@askleonotenboom]

Is this a Microsoft account? (Outlook.com, Hotmail , etc)? Then the authorization requirement change would have happened in this period. More here: askleo.com/what-is-modern-authentication/

[@cbbcbb6803]

Does Thunderbird duplicate the folders that I have setup in Earthlink?

[@askleonotenboom]

It should, but it may depend on the specific earthlink configuration.

[@mickk9440]

Hey Leo, g,day i,ve tried about 6 times and cannot seem to log into thunderbird, google keeps giving me an erroe code 400 or similar to that, i have tried to disable 2 fa but no difference any idea?

[@askleonotenboom]

You may need to re-create the account in Thunderbird. That SHOULD switch it to Google-provided authentication (OAUTH)

[@aginorgr3657]

Hello,is there any way to create a password for thunderbird app before you open it,like the desktop version?Thank you!

[@djmoon3534]

Hi there Leo, thanks for you videos, helping me a lot. Just tried thunderbird ( latest version 115.12.2 64bit ,so far looks good, i am coming from ( outlook 2007, im using win 10 desktop PC.) , i want to import my address book from Outlook 2007 to thunderbird, but its not doing it correctly, I tried to import CSV files and go thru the process,then when I check the 'contacts' folder there is nothing in them but a people's names and jibberish , no email addresses. just peoples names appear in a list with a lot of other stuff that isn't words. i tried multiple times and same issue, is there any other ways to get the address book from outlook 2007 to TB , even when i try to select "import from outlook" in the TB import tab " no profile is found " also looked at multple websites saying same issue, but i cant seem to understand what they are saying, i just want to simply move it to TB, are you able to help at all in any way?

[@yakbreeder]

I mainly use my phone for email, so I don't use Thunderbird that much on PC anymore, but notice it's sluggish when I do. I'm running current version 115.6.1. I don't ever recall TB being this sluggish, any tips or tricks to speed up TB?

[@ebreckpo6563]

When using IMAP Thunderbird has to resync the online folders. If not opened for a long time this can take some time. Leave the client open when having lunch, breakfast. It will eventually ask to compact folders.

[@yakbreeder]

@@ebreckpo6563 I wasn't aware of that, IMAP needing to resync. I get the "compact folder" prompt, but never knew what it was meant by it. It makes sense now. Thanks for the advice.

[@askleonotenboom]

This is why I leave my copy of Thunderbird constantly running, even though I don't interact with it. (It's downloading my email as a backup.)

[@yakbreeder]

@@askleonotenboom 99.9% of my email could be unsubscribed from, they're mostly sales ads. Thank you so much for your reply, I appreciate it.

[@ericbraet7931]

I have imported my account in TB (imap acc). In this account, there are several folders which I created myself. When importing the acc in TB, these folders are not imported in TB. I can create these folders in TB (local folders), but how can I import or copy the mails into these folders. Is there a way ? Or have I done something wrong at the beginning and the best thing to do is to start all over again ? Tnx.

[@askleonotenboom]

Depends on the account. If you're using Gmail, then you're really talking about labels. You'd need to go into settings - labels, and make them visible in IMAP.

[@ericbraet7931]

Tnx for reply. No, it's not gmail, nor outlook. It's a local provider.

[@ericbraet7931]

Solved. Did not know I had to subscribe on these folders. They were there, but unticked for subscription.

[@AWEG-qu8bz]

Thunderbird has been transformed from a simple, very clear, effective client that EVERYONE can use into a pompous show-off. It's just meant to show off the developers' big balls. Nothing else. Luckily I was able to find a 115 version. I can live and work with that very well. But I'm already looking for an alternative.

[@allyburg7145]

Does this link to iPads and iPhone too

[@askleonotenboom]

No.

[@bigbadbill88]

My goto client on Windows too.

[@hoonayn]

what about ProtonMail?????

[@askleonotenboom]

Proton Mail is not a desktop email program/client. It's an email service.

[@petern.9923]

would you use the revised Mozilla thunderbird

[@askleonotenboom]

I would and I do.

[@JesonBeretta]

is open format a red flag for security purposes?

[@askleonotenboom]

Not at all. Some would claim just the opposite (more eyes looking for, and correcting, defects).

[@TravisFX]

I remember TB from years ago. 2005 ish ? I thought it was gone! Being devils adv for sec here...isnt it a bit dangerous tho? I.e yes as back up it makes sense. But..if its configed wrong ..isnt it a chance u could delete stuff..on main acct like gmail.. by mistake when its synced? Or what if the pc is hacked? Isnt it kinda putting a bit too much resp in users hands if it messed up their main acct? Wouldnt gmail thro up hands and say..hey..not my prob? My partner hates some aspects of gmail. But am hesitant about doin an alt like TB for these reasons.

[@askleonotenboom]

What you're describing isn't unique to thunderbird, it's any desktop email app. And in fact, even online. "I accidentally deleted my email" can happen anywhere.

[@killmozzies]

Does this client do POP3 accounts?

[@askleonotenboom]

Yes

[@golddetector01]

The question-- is there any hidden spyware antiviruses don't always detect I do not like the new windows Mail but we're all being forced over to that I feel slightly more secure with the new windows Mail more than using free software especially anything to do with sending receiving e-mails

[@rlyle5804]

But you cant sort by sender?

[@askleonotenboom]

Sure you can.

[@rlyle5804]

@@askleonotenboom Do you right-click and click on "From"?

[@askleonotenboom]

@@rlyle5804 Left click Pretty standard for column headers.

[@rlyle5804]

@ How do you change the sorting from DATE to SENDER? As is standard for column headers, when I left click all it does is change from earliest to latest and latest to earliest. I need to sort by sender.

[@askleonotenboom]

@@rlyle5804 Left click on the column header (the word From at the top of the list) and that sorts by that field.

[@be-kind00]

Do they have a very good android app?

[@askleonotenboom]

Not yet, but they're working on it.

[@ebreckpo6563]

They are working together with K-9 mail app. The migration is fairly recent and in it's infancy. Of course long K-9 mail users complain the app is not behaving as it used to be

[@EnglishWithBelayet]

Does anyone use it for phone?

[@cafemolido5459]

Wish they increase the mailbox size!!

[@askleonotenboom]

That's completely unrelated to Thunderbird.

[@cafemolido5459]

@askleonotenboom yes related, TB has mail box size limit 4gb?

[@askleonotenboom]

@@cafemolido5459 Apparently only in the 32bit version (I did not know this), from what I'm seeing. Most folks should be running 64bit. That's my recommendation, for sure.

[@davidwayne9982]

Just transfer it by copying the PROFILE and moving that.. includes it all.

[@Ponyjon]

I've been using Thunderbird for years and I USED TO LOVE IT. Now I'm starting to hate it. They can't leave well enough alone they are always "upgrading". They always change the interface and it gets more confusing every time they do this. It was very frustrating figuring how to get it to write an email after the last change. Why did they ruin a great thing?

[@ebreckpo6563]

Have a look at the Thunderbird documentation online and you can revert to the "classic" TB interface.

[@portman8909]

Big disadvantage of this is you can't see your sent items on mobile device.

[@ebreckpo6563]

When using IMAP your send mails are reflected into TB.

[@portman8909]

How's the IMAP on this? It was always problematic on Outlook making me stick with webmail.@@ebreckpo6563

[@JaneDoe-od4ep]

Why do i need an email client in 2024 (almost in 2025)?

[@askleonotenboom]

Because email is an awesome way to communicate. And many (MANY) online services require that you have an email address to use them. And if you mean instead of using an online interface, then I'd say: to keep your email backed up, and to make it easy to move email to folders outside of your email account, but still kept locally.

[@franciscohorna5542]

i dont use it i use outlook and gmail web browsers email only here infact been using hotmail since 1998 here