Manage your email in Thunderbird

Windows XP and Vista both include an email program, Outlook Express and Windows Mail respectively, but that doesn’t mean you have to stick with them. If you want to give your email a boost, Mozilla Thunderbird is a great alternative.

Just like the Firefox web browser, made by the same people, Thunderbird is an open-source application so it’s constantly enhanced and free to use. And thanks to regular updates, a huge range of add-ons and many other features, it’s now a hugely popular alternative to commercial email applications.

In this feature, we’ll show you how to download, install and set up Thunderbird, as well as take you on a tour of its most useful features.

Download and install
To get started with Thunderbird you first need to download the installation file. Once downloaded to your desktop, double-click the file to launch the setup wizard.

Follow this wizard’s instructions and you’ll be prompted to select either a Standard or Custom setup. We recommend choosing Standard, as this will install everything that most users will need, and click Next. When the installation is complete, leave the tick in the ‘Launch Mozilla Thunderbird now’ box and click Finish.

After a short pause, Thunderbird will load and a box will appear asking if you want to import details and settings from another email application, such as Outlook Express. If your current email application is listed and you want to import the data, select it and Thunderbird will gather all the information it needs, including emails and address books.

Creating an email account
If you choose not to import an existing account, Thunderbird will automatically display the New Account Setup window.

To create a new account, make sure the ‘Email account’ option is selected and click Next. You’ll now be prompted to enter your name, which will appear on emails you send to people, ­ and your email address. Click Next and the Server Information window will appear. You’ll need to enter information relating to your internet service provider’s (ISP) email system.

This information is usually displayed on the support pages of your ISP’s website. If not, ask your ISP’s customer support department for the details. You’ll need to know whether your ISP uses POP or IMAP email, the incoming mail server address (eg pop.tiscali.co.uk) and the name of the outgoing server (eg smtp. tiscali.co.uk).

Click Next and then enter your email username (provided by your ISP). In many cases this is simply your email address. The next window will ask you to give this new email account a name. Choose an appropriate name – ­ My Tiscali Email, perhaps – ­ then click Next and you’ll see a brief overview of the details you have entered. Leave a tick in the ‘Download messages now’ box and click Finish to complete the setup.

Thunderbird layout
The main Thunderbird window is split into three sections. Two sections sit on the right, one listing emails, the other showing a preview of the currently open message, while the folders that hold the messages are on the left.

You can alter the size of each section by moving the cursor over the lines that divide them then dragging and dropping them into the desired location. By default all email accounts have three folders: Inbox, Unsent (where emails that are waiting to be sent are queued) and Deleted.

However, as you use Thunderbird, new folders will start to appear. For example, send your first email and a Sent folder will be created to store a copy of the email. If you decide to postpone sending an email, a Drafts folder is created to store it.

Checking for mail
To check for new emails, click the Get Mail button on the toolbar at the top of the Thunderbird screen. If this is the first time you’ve checked for email, you may be asked for the email account’s password. Enter the password and, if you don’t want to enter it each time you check for mail, put a tick in the ‘Use Password Manager to remember this password’ box.

Now click OK. After a short wait, new emails will start to appear in the inbox. New emails will also result in a pop-up window appearing just above the Notification Area in the bottom-right of the Windows desktop. Simply click an email in the list to preview it, or double-click it to open the message in a new window.

Composing emails
It’s now time to try composing a message. On the toolbar at the top, click on the Write button. A blank email window will now appear. Below the From email address, you can choose who to send the email to ­ – enter the recipient’s email address into the first line. You can enter multiple email addresses by separating them with a comma, or use a new line for each one.

Thunderbird includes a built-in spell checker, so once you have finished typing the email, click the Spell button on the toolbar at the top of the email window. If this button doesn’t work you’ll need to install a dictionary.

Files can be attached to emails by clicking on the Attach button or dragging and dropping the file into the top section of the email window. An Attachments box will now appear, with the file listed ­ you can remove attachments by clicking them once and pressing the Delete key.

When you are happy with the email, click the Send button. Alternatively, click on the Save button and save it as a file, move it to the Draft folder or save it as a template. Emails saved to the Draft folder can be quickly re-opened and sent at a later date.