A quick and simple guide on how to set up Thunderbird email client on Ubuntu.
Thunderbird is a free and open-source email client known for its ease of use, customization options, and security features. If you’re using Ubuntu or any other Linux distributions and want to manage your email efficiently, Thunderbird is a great choice.
In addition, you can use the Thunderbird email client to access all popular email service providers such as Gmail, Office 365, Proton Mail or any custom email domains.
This article will guide you through the entire setup process, from installation to configuring your email accounts.
Table of Contents
Installing Thunderbird
There are many ways to install Thunderbird on Ubuntu and other Linux distributions.
From the terminal, use the following command to install on Ubuntu, Debian, Linux Mint and others:
sudo apt install thunderbird
For Fedora Linux and related distributions, use the below command in the terminal to install:
sudo dnf install thunderbird
If you prefer Flatpak, use the following command, after setting up the Flathub repository.
flatpak install flathub org.mozilla.Thunderbird
Arch Linux users can install it using the following command:
sudo pacman -S thunderbird
Set up your email account on Thunderbird
- Open Thunderbird: Once installed, find and launch Thunderbird from your launcher or applications menu.
- From the menu File > New > Existing Mail Account.
- Enter your name, email address and password for the existing email account.
- Click on Configure Manually (Figure 1).
- In the manual configuration window (Figure 2), enter details about incoming and outgoing servers. If you don’t know these settings, keep them blank and click “Re-test”. Thunderbird will try to detect the configurations for you.
- Alternatively, get the server details from the documentation/manual of your email service providers. A few common server details are present in the below section.
- Once done, click on “Re-test” and you should see a green badge showing the connection is successful. Click Done and you should see a message that account is successfully created (Figure 3).
- Click on the email icon (Left-top) to view your mailbox (Figure 4). If you have a large mailbox, Thunderbird might take some time to fetch all the mails.
Add signatures in Thunderbird
- Open Thunderbird and go to Menu > Edit > Account Settings.
- In the left sidebar, select the email account you want to create a signature for.
- In the main panel, under Default Identity, look for the Signature Text section (Figure 5).
- Enter your desired signature in the text box. You can use basic formatting options like bold, italics, and underline.
- If you want more advanced formatting like images or links, check the Use HTML box and paste your HTML code into the text box.
- Click OK to save your changes.
Send & receive mails in Thunderbird
- To send/receive messages, you can do it two ways.
- Right-click on the email account and select Get messages.
- From the File menu, select File > Offline > Download/Sync now.
Set up another email account in Thunderbird
- To set up another email account, go to Edit > Account settings.
- Select Account Actions > Add Mail account.
- Then follow the same process described above.
Gmail account configuration
- For Incoming Mail (IMAP):
- Server Name: imap.gmail.com
- Port: 993
- Connection Security: STARTTLS
- Authentication: Normal Password
- Username: Your full Gmail email address
- Password: Your Gmail password
- For Outgoing Mail (SMTP):
- Server Name: smtp.gmail.com
- Port: 587
- Connection Security: STARTTLS
- Authentication: Normal Password
- Username: Your full Gmail email address
- Password: Your Gmail password
Office 365 (Outlook, Microsoft Exchange, hotmail) account configuration
- For Incoming Mail (IMAP):
- Server Name: imap-mail.outlook.com
- Port: 993
- Connection Security: STARTTLS
- Authentication: Normal Password
- Username: Your full Outlook.com email address
- Password: Your Outlook.com password
- For Outgoing Mail (SMTP):
- Server Name: smtp-mail.outlook.com
- Port: 587
- Connection Security: STARTTLS
- Authentication: Normal Password
- Username: Your full Outlook.com email address
- Password: Your Outlook.com password
Yahoo Mail account configuration
- For Incoming Mail (IMAP):
- Server Name: imap.mail.yahoo.com
- Port: 993
- Connection Security: STARTTLS
- Authentication: OAuth2
- Username: Your full Yahoo Mail email address (e.g., [email address removed])
- For Outgoing Mail (SMTP):
- Server Name: smtp.mail.yahoo.com
- Port: 465
- Connection Security: SSL/TLS
- Authentication: OAuth2
- Username: Your full Yahoo Mail email address (e.g., [email address removed])
Additional notes
- If you encounter any errors or have specific needs, consult your email provider’s support website for detailed configuration instructions.
- Thunderbird offers extensive customization options. Explore the menu bar and preferences section to personalize your email experience.
- Consider enabling security features like two-factor authentication for added protection.
Congratulations! You’ve successfully set up Thunderbird on your Ubuntu and other Linux systems.
