Installation of Thunderbird Mail and Opening an Account

I have recently updated my laptop to run with Ubuntu Lucid Lynx and in doing so opened some accounts in Thunderbird which I have installed separately. I ran into one or two problems and thought it might be useful to describe the opening of an account, the problems and the manner of overcoming them.

Firstly, you need to hand your email address and the details by which you can connect to your ISP so that emails can flow freely into and out of Thunderbird, including the incoming and outgoing Port numbers. You also need to know whether the server is a POP or IMAP type server. Most servers for domestic use are POP type servers which led to my first problem. However, I will start by explaining the installation of Thunderbird Mail.

In Lucid Lynx Desktop click on Applications, Ubuntu Software Centre, Internet and Mail. The window then displayed may show just one item so click on More Info, select Mozilla Thunderbird Mail/News from the list and click Install. When the installation is complete close down the installation page and you will be back to the Desktop with the Thunderbird icon in the top bar, most likely to the right of the ? (help) icon. This icon may appear in different positions along the top bar each time you boot up your computer, so to stop this Right Click the icon and make sure there is a tick beside Lock to Panel. Now Click on the Thunderbird icon and the first page you will encounter is that shown in Figure 1. Select Create an Account and the central panel in Figure 2 will appear.

Insert the required data in the same manner as I have shown (using fictitious account details) in Figure 2 and click Continue. A page similar to that in Figure 3 appears and Thunderbird automatically seeks to establish your email account settings.

However, if left to do this on its own the resultant settings may be totally incorrect,as occurred in my case, and the solution is to click Stop. The page shown in Figure 4 appears and here you can amend the various values to ensure they are correct.

In my experience the automatic account settings which first occur when opening Figure 4 specify IMAP server settings rather than POP3. The correct settings for my set-up are achieved by amending imap of the Incoming server setting to pop and also selecting pop from the small drop down menu to the right of the displayed Incoming server setting. The port numbers are set at 110 and 25, respectively, for the Incoming and Outgoing settings. Furthermore, set your Username as your email address.

You must use the settings you have, or, perhaps obtained from your ISP, to make these amendments. Once completed click Re-test Configuration and Thunderbird will automatically check your settings. If the settings are acceptable the button Create Account on the bottom right hand corner of the page will be enabled so that when activated you will be taken to the page shown in Figure 5 which is a summary of your amended settings together with a Thunderbird acceptance of the settings. If all is OK again select Create Account and a warning as shown in Figure 6 appears.

The warning of Figure 6 concerns encryption or the lack of it. I chose to ignore the warning by clicking the appropriate box and once again selecting Create Account. If you are using encryption then of course the warning would may not appear.

If there are any problems in connecting to the server, as clearly there must be in the example I have provided, the next page to appear is that shown in Figure 7 where again in my case the Create Account button is disabled. It is not expected at this point you would have any problem at this point with legitimate settings and the Create Account button would be enabled. Selecting this button will finally set your account.

However, if there is a problem, it is still possible to set up the basic account by selecting Manual Set-up in Figure 7. An Account Settings page for your account appears next as shown in Figure 8. On this page is displayed your server settings and also the button Account Actions at the bottom of the left hand side of the account settings panel. When selecting this button a sub-menu appears by which you are able to action the setting up of other accounts or removing an account.

When your email account(s) is up and running, with Thunderbird opened, the Accounts Settings page can also be found by clicking on your email address in the left hand panel of the display. This brings up a similar page to that shown in Figure 1. Select View Settings for this Account and then Server Settings.

At the bottom of your account or accounts listed in the left hand panel of the Accounts Settings page note Outgoing Server (SMTP). Select this and you will be presented with a summary of your outgoing server settings. If you experience any difficulty in actually sending or receiving emails it is most likely you will receive a notice to the effect you have selected Username and Password. You can correct this by Clicking on Outgoing Server (SMTP),which you can find as just mentioned at the beginning of this paragraph. The panel on the right hand side of the current page changes to display your server settings. Highlight your account and select Edit. Now you will most likely see that Username and Password has been selected. Deselect this feature and when next you try to send emails all should be OK. If not I suggest you check your settings with your ISP.

I hope the above is understandable and will be of some use in setting up email accounts in Thunderbird.