Write an email with Thunderbird

Now Thunderbird has been set up, it's time to start writing some emails.

As you can see here, the emails have been downloaded into the inbox. The easiest way to start writing an email is to click on the Write icon. This is the second icon in from the left in the main toolbar.

The Compose Window appears. This includes the From address, this is the address people will use when they reply to your email. Immediately below is the box for the first address. The cursor is ready in this box. For this demonstration we used our own email address. As we typed, Thunderbird highlighted the text in red. This is because it is searching the address book to see if it recognises the address. Once an address is included in the book, Thunderbird will offer suggestions as you type. Press down to select the correct address and then press enter to select it. Once a contact is in the address book you can then just type their name rather than the email address.

Press Enter when the email is finished to confirm it and Thunderbird will get ready for another one.

There are several ways to send emails. Click on the down arrow by 'To:' to see the full list. It's only the first three that will be needed on a regular basis.

To: should be used for all the people who are directly interested in the email.

Cc: is best for people who might want the email for reference.

Bcc: is more important and stands for Blind Carbon Copy. Anyone who is included in an email as a Bcc contact will have their address hidden from the other recipients. This is very useful if you are sending an email to a group of friends who don't know each other and you don't want to share all their addresses.

Once all of the addresses have been entered, click in the Subject box to g ive the email a subject.

Press Tab to move the cursor to the main body of the email. Thunderbird uses HTML to format emails so you can change the font, size or colour of text to draw attention to different points.

There are several presets ready to use based on Styles – you may recognise the concept from Word or Openoffice. Click on the down arrow next to Body text to see the other options. You can even add smileys using the dropdown menu on the right.

Files can be attached to emails as well. Click on the Attach button in the toolbar and select the file in the Open File dialogue. Thunderbird doesn't tell you how big the files are, so be careful not to send large files.

The Save button saves the email to the drafts folder. It is a good idea to click on this occasionally to save the email in case there is a problem with the computer.

When you are happy with the email, click on the Send button at the left of the toolbar. It may warn you about sending the email as HTML. Plain text can be viewed in all email software but doesn't include the formatting.