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Configuring Thunderbird 2.x for Windows for UW Email

IT Connect > Email > UW Email > Thunderbird 2.x for Windows

Setting Up to Use Thunderbird

Obtaining Thunderbird

You can download Thunderbird for free.

Configuring Thunderbird

To configure Thunderbird:

  1. StepsActions
  2. Download and run Thunderbird installer. If this is the first time you are setting it up, the installer will give you a chance to import your existing account settings from other email client programs such as Outlook Express, Microsoft Outlook, or other email programs it finds on your PC. You can always import these settings later. We suggest you select Don't import anything and click Next to proceed.
  3. If you have NO accounts currently defined, Thunderbird might automatically bring up the "add account" wizard, but, if not, click Tools -> Account Settings... Once you have opened Account Settings, click the Add Account... button in the lower left corner of the window. This will launch the Account Wizard shown below.
  4. Select Email account then Next to continue to the next page, pictured below.
  5. For Email Address, enter your "@u.washington.edu" email address(that is, your UW NetID plus "@u.washington.edu" ).
  6. Click Next to continue to the next page, pictured below.
  7. Select IMAP.
  8. For Incoming Server, enter your IMAP server as your_uwnetid.deskmail.washington.edu where your_uwnetid is replaced by YOUR real UW NetID. Enter the Outgoing server name as smtp.washington.edu
  9. Click Next to continue to the next page, pictured below.
  10. Enter your UW NetID for both, Incoming and the Outgoing user names.
  11. Click Next to continue to the next page.
  12. This page asks only for a local Account Name (what Thunderbird will use to label the account WITHIN Thunderbird), you can use anything you like (e.g., "My UW email").
  13. Click Next to continue to the last page.

  14. Click Finish. Thunderbird attempts to connect to the incoming mail server and fails with the following alert message appearing on the screen. This is because you are NOT finished with the account configuration (yet).

  15. From Tools, select Account Settings.
  16. Click your UW email account in the left column of the window.
  17. The new account wizard will have set most of this up correctly for you. If this is the only email account, then it is already the default (if not, you might want to make it the default by clicking Set As Default). You probably also want to turn OFF the option to Compose messages in HTML format (you shouldn't send messages in HTML until and unless you have agreed with the recipient that this format is preferred).
  18. Click Server Settings under your account to bring up a page similar to the one pictured below.
  19. Under Security Settings, Use secure connection: select SSL.
  20. To have Thunderbird use the same Delete/Expunge behavior as Alpine, select Mark it as deleted from the pop-up list next to When I delete a message AND select the option to Clean up ("Expunge") Inbox on Exit.
  21. Click Advanced to bring up a page similar to the one pictured below.
  22. For the IMAP server directory, enter "mail".
  23. Turn OFF the option to Show only subscribed folders (at least for now, after you've subscribed to some you might want it back on).
  24. Leave the boxes next to ALL the "namespaces" empty (blank), or "clean" if they have anything in them, and turn OFF the option to Allow server to override these namespaces.
  25. Click OK to close this window (you return to the Server Settings).
  26. Click Outgoing Server (SMTP) in the left pane under local folders and than press Edit to bring up a page similar to the one pictured below.
  27. For Server name, enter "smtp.washington.edu".
  28. For Port, enter "587".
  29. Turn ON the option to Use name and password.
  30. For User name, enter your UW NetID.
  31. Turn on the option to use TLS.
  32. Click OK to close the account settings window.

Thunderbird is now MINIMALLY configured and should be able to read your UW email, find folders you've created in Alpine, and send mail.

Reading your UW Email in Thunderbird

Click Inbox under your UW email account in the left column of the Thunderbird Mail window.

At this point enough of the configuration should be done to let Thunderbird find your Inbox and folders (if any) on the UW email server. When you've closed the account configuration panel, you should see a new UW account in the column to the left of the messages window. Click the INBOX under that to open your UW email inbox (you should be prompted for a password). Your UW email folders will appear. This might take some time, especially if you have a large inbox, lots of folders and/or a slow connection. The list of messages in your Inbox appears in the right pane, it might look something like the picture below.

Optional Configuration Information

Configuring Thunderbird and Alpine to Share Folders

By setting the "Account Prefix Path" to "mail" you've already got Thunderbird and Alpine (Web Alpine, etc.) looking at the same starting place for folders. You should probably also configure Thunderbird so that it uses the same folder Alpine does for copies of sent mail.

Note: Perform this configuration ONLY AFTER getting the basic Thunderbird configuration above done and having seen a list of your UW email folders from within Thunderbird.

To configure Thunderbird and Alpine to share folders:

  1. StepsActions
  2. Be sure you have configured Thunderbird as shown above. If it isn't already running, run Thunderbird (be sure you have an active Internet connection first).
  3. From Tools, select Account Settings.
  4. Click Copies & Folders under your account to bring up a page similar to the one pictured below.
  5. In the section on When sending messages, automatically: be sure the option to Place a copy in is selected, then click Other and (from the drop down list) select your sent-mail folder on your UW email account.
  6. Click OK.

Note that Thunderbird and Alpine(s) cannot usefully keep a shared "Drafts" folder, so you can put the Thunderbird Drafts wherever you like. The default ("Drafts" on your UW email account) is fine, and makes the Drafts folder available to different Thunderbird sessions.

Configuring Thunderbird to Use the UW Directory (LDAP)

To configure Thunderbird to use the UW directory (LDAP):

  1. StepsActions
  2. If it isn't already running, run Thunderbird (be sure you have an active Internet connection first).
  3. From Tools, select Account Settings.
  4. Click a "+" sign to expand your UW email account in the left column of the window if present. Otherwise go to the next step.
  5. Click Composition & Addressing under your account to bring up a page similar to the one pictured below.
  6. Remove the check mark from the option box Compose messages in HTML format.
  7. In Addressing under When looking up addresses, select Use a different LDAP server, then click Edit Directories to bring up a page similar to the one pictured below.
  8. Click Add to bring up a page similar to the one pictured below.
  9. For Name, you can enter any label you prefer (e.g., "UW directory").
  10. For Hostname, enter directory.washington.edu
  11. For BaseDN, enter o=University of Washington, c=US (space before "c=..." is not essential)
  12. Click OK (to close the "add directory" window).
  13. Click OK (to close the "edit directories" window).
  14. You can now select the UW directory from the pop-up list next to Use a different LDAP server.
  15. Click OK (to close the "Accounts settings" window).

Now that the UW LDAP directory is defined in Thunderbird there are several ways to use it. Here's one way:

  1. StepsActions
  2. From Tools, select Address Book.
  3. In the Address Book window click Edit-->Search Addresses to bring up a page similar to the one pictured below.
  4. In the drop down list under Search in, select UW Directory.
  5. Customize the search as desired (if needed) and enter the text to be searched for in the text box, click Search to conduct the search. Results are returned in a list in the bottom pane. You can then select the desired entry and click Compose to compose a message to that address.

Converting Your Alpine Address Book

There is currently no single easy and reliable method to convert Alpine address books to Thunderbird.

Changing Your Password

If you have saved your email account password as part of the configuration of Thunderbird, then you will need to change that stored password to match your mail account password whenever you change the password associated with your UW NetID. If you don't change this stored password, you will get a "password error" when you attempt to connect to the mail server (because it is using the old stored password). Since regularly changing your UW NetID password is a recommended procedure, we do not advise you to store your password within your email program.

To change the password you had Mozilla Thunderbird remember:

  1. StepsActions
  2. Start Thunderbird.
  3. In Thunderbird on the tool bar click Tools, and select Options.
  4. The options menu will look similar to the image below.

  5. Click Privacy, select the Passwords tab, and click Edit Saved Passwords.

  6. Select the password for the UW email account, and click Remove.

During the next attempt to connect to the UW mail account using Thunderbird, you will be prompted for the password. Supply your new UW password and cerify that the UW email is accessible now.

If you need any further assistance, please contact the UW Technology Service Center at help@u.washington.edu

Configuring Older Versions of Thunderbird

Support for older versions of Thunderbird is limited. If you are configuring an older version and the above instruction did not help, please try the instructions below.

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