Thunderbird E-mail

Getting Started with Thunderbird

When Thunderbird starts, it will automatically check for new mail in all enabled accounts and display the message viewer window.

View the message window: Different viewing options are available for the main display window. From the message window choose View-Toolbars to display or hide the following:

Mail toolbar
Search bar
Status bar

Different layouts are available for the message window. They can be changed in View-Layout. To change general settings, as well as Display, Composition, Attachment, Fonts, and Advanced Settings choose Tools-Options.

Reading Messages

New mail notification: Thunderbird checks the server periodically for new mail. When new mail arrives, each folder which contains new messages will appear in bold text with a parenthetical count of unread messages.

Receive Messages: Thunderbird automatically downloads new messages to your Inbox at timed intervals. To retrieve messages manually:

Click the Get Mail icon on the message window toolbar.
Choose File-Get New Messages.

Sort Messages: To sort by date, sender, subject, or priority, ascending or descending, etc., click the appropriate label (column heading) in the message list, or choose View-Sort by.

Save a message as a plain text or HTML file:

Select the message.
Choose File-Save As-File. Change file type to desired format. You can also save a message as a template or a draft.

Print a displayed message:

Click the Print icon.
If you are in a composition window, choose File-Print. (To set up a page layout for printing: Choose File-Page Setup. To preview before printing: Choose File-Print Preview.)

Sending Messages

Write a Message:

In any window, choose File-New-Message. (If you choose File-New-Message from the Address Book window, a blank composition window opens addressed to the name you've selected in your address book.)
Click the Write icon.
To reply to a sender’s message, click the Reply icon. To reply to the sender and everyone that received the message, click the Reply All icon.

Address a Message:

Type the e-mail address in the address field.
If you are using a Lawrence computer, LDAP (an address auto completion protocol) is enabled by default. Simply type the first few letters of the recipient’s name and wait for the LDAP server to complete the address. If multiple addresses are displayed, select an address and press Enter.
Click on the sender's e-mail address in a message you’ve received. Select Compose Mail To from the pop-up menu.

Use a comma to separate multiple addresses on the same line. For example, multiple entries might be: user1@lawrence.edu, user2@lawrence.edu

If necessary, click To: to choose a different recipient type:

To:	Primary recipients of your message.
CC:	Carbon copy, for secondary recipients.
BCC:	Blind carbon copy for secondary recipients not identified to the recipients in the To: and CC: lists.
Reply To:	The e-mail address to be used if the recipient uses the Reply-To button.
Newsgroup:	Posting to a newsgroup.
Follow-up To:	Redirecting a newsgroup posting so that subsequent threads go directly to the redirected newsgroup instead of to the original newsgroup.

Copy Yourself Automatically on E-mail Messages:

Select Tools-Account Settings.
From the folder list, select Copies & Folders.
In the top section of the window select how you wish to be copied. There are three choices: place a copy in a Sent mail folder, BCC (blind carbon copy) to yourself at your current e-mail address, or BCC to yourself at a different e-mail address.
Click OK.

Select Message Sending Options: In the Options menu, select any of the following:

Check Spelling: Checks the spelling of the message text before you send it.
Return Receipt: This option requests a confirmation message from the recipient when they open the message. This option can be set as a default for all outgoing messages by going to the Return Receipt preferences in the Advanced section of Tools-Options.
Priority: Choose a priority to indicate the urgency of the message content.
Character Encoding: Defaults to “Western” but will need to be changed if you are sending a message using a non-Roman alphabet.
Send a Copy To: Choose if you want to file a copy of a message somewhere other than the sent mail folder.
Security: Choose this to change the default security options for this message.

Forward a Message: Select message and click Forward icon.

Set forward defaults: Choose Tools-Options, select Composition, select Forward Message: Inline (in the message body) or As Attachment.

Reply to a Message:

Select the message
Click Reply: to respond to the sender alone.
Click Reply all: to respond to all the addresses.

Creating A Signature File

A signature file is text that is automatically included at the bottom of a new e-mail message. It typically includes the composer's contact information such as name, phone number, title, etc.

Open a word processing program such as Microsoft Word.
In a new document, type in your contact information or whatever you want to include on your e-mails.
Tip: Thunderbird uses HTML signatures, which means you can use text formatting such as color, bold, underlined, italicized, and various font sizes. You may also include clickable web links.
Save the document as an HTML file. To do this, select “.html” in the save as type dialogue box . Name the file. Save the file in your personal network space.
Open Thunderbird.
Select Tools-Account Settings.
Click on the "Attach this signature:" check box.
Click on Choose from the bottom right side of the window and navigate to and select your signature file.
Click on Open.
Your .html file will appear in the Signature File box.
Click OK. The next time you compose a new message the signature file will automatically appear at the bottom of the message.

Deleting Messages

Set deletion preferences for IMAP messages:

Select Tools-Account Settings.
Click Server Settings. Select the options you want.
Click OK.

Delete messages from the Inbox or other folders:

In the message list, select the messages and press the Delete key or click the Delete icon.
To move messages to trash if marked for deletion: Select File-Compact Folders.
To delete messages permanently, select File-Empty Trash or select the message and press Shift + Delete.

Detach (delete) attachments and save the text of the message:

Double-click the message in question
Click File-Attachment-[Attachment Name]-Detach
If there are multiple attachments: Click File-Attachment-Detach All
You will then have two e-mail messages that appear the same. One will contain the attachments and one will be just the text part of the message. You can then delete the message with the attachments.

Recover deleted messages:

Click the Trash folder.
Select the messages you want to recover and drag them to another folder.

Another option if the trash has already been emptied is to check webmail. The two e-mail clients are not in synch and the message you deleted may still be marked for deletion in webmail.

Quota

Each user can check the amount of space currently used and the amount of quota allotted by logging into Webmail at: https://mailhub.lawrence.edu/

Log into Webmail by entering your network username and password.
Click on Folders.
Check the amount of quota used and the amount allotted in the upper right hand corner of the screen.

Remember that all messages, those in personal folders, the Trash folder, the Inbox, and in the Sent folders count toward quota.

Using the Address Book

Create an Address Book: Thunderbird provides a default personal address book to store information about individuals and to create mailing lists. You can also create additional address books:

Click Address Book in main window.
Choose File-New-Address Book.
Type the name of the new address book and press Enter.

Add a Name to your Address Book: An address book stores names, postal addresses, e-mail addresses, phone numbers, and other information. You can create cards for people in your address book.

Create an Address Book Card for another individual:

From the Address Book window, click the New Card icon.
Enter personal information. Include:
- Display name - the name that appears in composition window.
- Nickname - a shortcut or alias for the real name.
- E-mail address.
- Individual preference - for HTML-formatted e-mail/plain text or unknown.
Click the Address or Other tab to enter additional information such as street address, phone number, URL, or custom data.
Click OK when completed. An address card is created.

View or edit an individual’s Card: Double-click the name in the address book window. Edit the contact information as necessary. (You can quickly add entries in the address book by clicking any e-mail address in any messages you receive and choosing “Add to Address Book”. The New Card dialog box appears.)

Import/Export Addresses

Thunderbird allows users to import address books from other e-mail clients or export them for use in other programs, PDAs, cell phones, etc.

Please note: Thunderbird is only available on Faculty, Staff, and Helpdesk Computers. Students may utilize the Helpdesk public work station to access Thunderbird.

Import addresses from other e-mail clients:

From the main window, go to Tools-Import. Select Address Book, click Next.
A list of all installed e-mail clients will appear. Select the one you want to import addresses from. Or if you want to import from a file, select Text file. Click Next.
If you selected a program, you are done. If you selected Text file, you will be asked to locate the file before importing can occur.

Export addresses to a file:

From the Address Book window, go to Tools-Export.
A dialogue box will appear asking you where to save the file. For the file type, LDIF is readable by most e-mail clients. For a PDA or cell phone, you may need to select comma-separated. Click OK.
The file will appear in the chosen location.

Import an Excel file of E-mail Addresses into Thunderbird:

From Excel:

Open the excel file.
Save the excel file as a .csv file (comma delimited)
At the save prompts click Ok, then Yes.
Close Excel.

From Thunderbird:

Importing the Addresses

Select Tools-Addressbook.
Select Tools-Import.
Select Addressbook from the options. Click Next.
Select Text file from the options. Click Next.
Navigate to where you saved the .csv file. Change the files of type to All Files. Select it and click Open.
Match up the fields. E-mail to E-mail, Name to Name. Click Ok. (File is imported.)
Click Finish. (The imported file is now a new addressbook. You should see it in the folder list on the left. The next step is to create the list.)

Creating the List

From Thunderbird's Addressbook select the imported addressbook. Click New List.
Enter a list name.
Click Ok.
The list is created inside the your imported addressbook. Click the "+" sign next to the imported addressbook. The list will appear below the imported addressbook.
Drag names from the imported addressbook to the list. They are shown on the right if your imported addressbook is selected.
To select multiple addresses, select your first address, hold down the Shift key, click on the last address.
Double-click on the list name to verify the addresses have been copied to it.

Junk Mail Filter

Thunderbird employs a sophisticated Junk Mail filter to help rid your Inbox of unsolicited messages. However, it must be configured and calibrated in order to function properly.

Create a Junk Mail folder:

Choose File - New - Folder. The New Folder dialog box will appear
Type the name of the folder, “Junk ” (with a capital ‘J ’)
Click OK. Your new folder appears in your folder list for Mailhub.lawrence.ed

Configure your Junk Mail filter:

By default, adaptive junk identification is active, but it needs to be taught what you consider to be junk mail.
Using the Junk button in the main toolbar, mark incoming messages as junk, or not junk. This process tells Thunderbird what to look for in a message address, subject line, and body that make it junk. The more messages you mark, the greater its accuracy will become.
Tip: By default, Thunderbird will never classify any message from a sender in your address book as junk. Adding names to your address book is the easiest way to insure that valid messages will not be accidentally thrown out.
When you feel Thunderbird is no longer misclassifying any messages, you can set junk mail handling rules so that messages identified as junk will be automatically filed or deleted.
Go to Tools-Junk Mail Controls.
In the “Handling” section of the Settings tab, select how you want Junk Mail to be treated once it is identified.
Note: Continue using the Junk button to classify messages as needed. Spam changes all the time, and your junk detection rules will need continuous updating.

Working with Attachments

Attach a File:

In the Compose Window, click the Attach icon.
The “Enter file to attach dialog box.” appears.
Type the name of the file you want to attach, or navigate to where the file is stored.
Click Open. The filename appears in the attachment area.
Tip: You can also drag and drop one or more files from your desktop onto the Attachments icon in the Compose window.

Attach a Web Page:

From the Compose window, choose File-Attach-Web Page.
In the dialog box, enter the URL of the page and then click OK. The web page URL appears in the attachment area.

Save Attachments:

Right-click the image.
From the pop-up menu, choose Save Image As.
Type a filename and choose a file type.
Specify where to save the file.
Click Save.

Mailing Lists

If you regularly send messages to a particular group of recipients, consider creating a mailing list!

Create an e-mail list:

In the main window, click Address Book, then the New List icon.
Use the drop-down menu to select the address book in which to put the list.
Enter the following information in the Mailing List dialog box:
- List Name: when you use this name as an address, everyone on the list receives your message.
- List Nickname: Alias for the name.
- Description: Appears after the list name in the composition window.
Type each name you want in the list.
Note: Alternately, you can drag entries from the Address Book into the list once it is created.

Remove a member from a list: Select the member’s entry and click Delete.

Organizing Your Mail Center

Create a folder:

Select mailhub.lawrence.edu from the Folder column.
Choose File-New-New Folder.
Type the name of the folder.
Click OK.

Rename a folder:

Select the folder you want to rename.
Choose File-Rename Folder.
Enter the new name.
Click OK.
Tip: You can also right-click on the folder and select Rename Folder.

File Messages

Move messages from one folder to another: Drag and drop messages to the desired folder. (If you drag and drop message from an IMAP folder to a local folder on your hard drive, a copy of the message is made.)

Copy a message from one folder to another:

Right-click on the message to be copied to display the pop-up menu.
Select Copy To - mailhub.lawrence.edu - destination folder.

Shortcut Keys

Ctrl+P	Prints selected e-mail
Ctrl+M	Opens a Compose window
Ctrl+T	Checks for new mail
Delete	Moves selected message to the Trash folder
Ctrl+R	Reply to original message
Ctrl+Shift+R	Replys to all in the original message
Ctrl+L	Forward messages
Ctrl+A	Selects entire message
Shift+Delete	Deletes message without moving to the Trash folder
Ctrl+2	Opens the Address book

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