Note: if you plan on using Thunderbird with an email account you have already setup in Microsoft Outlook, Outlook Express, or Qualcomm Eudora, see instead how to import settings in Thunderbird. It will be faster and easier (plus, you can also import contacts and old emails!)
Tip: If you plan on adding an email account from one of the three popular email providers, please see one of these tutorials instead:
• Setup Hotmail in Thunderbird
• Setup Yahoo! Mail in Thunderbird
• Setup Gmail in Thunderbird
![]() The default "Local Folders" have been created in the left pane: Inbox, Unsent, Drafts, Sent, and Trash. You can now click on the "Create a new account" link to associate an email address with Thunderbird; if you don't see that link, go to the File menu, choose "New", and click "Existing Mail Account". (Note: this is how you add more email accounts to Thunderbird the same way later on.) | ||
![]() | ![]() | |
POP3 (POP) is the most common type of email accountThunderbird also supports IMAP email accounts. If you must use IMAP, simply select IMAP instead of POP3. IMAP and POP3 are email protocols, whose coverage is beyond the scope of the Thunderbird Tutorial. ![]() In the Incoming mail server field, you should enter the mail server to which Thunderbird must connect to check your emails. In most cases, it will be of the form "mail.yourMailServer.com" The checkbox "Use global inbox" is checked by default. You should uncheck it if you think that you will add more email accounts later, and if you want them separate in Thunderbird -and you probably will to avoid confusion. If you use only one email address, it makes sense to leave it checked. Note: By default, if you have multiple email accounts (or at least one email account setup previously) Thunderbird will choose the same "outgoing server" information as the other accounts. In most cases, this will not work. But more on that later. | ||
![]() Click Next. | ![]() | |
![]() |
![]() Thunderbird should prompt you for your email account's password. If you are the only one using your computer's current user name, you will probably want to leave the checkbox checked. Otherwise, Thunderbird will ask you for your password each time it needs it. |