Date Last Reviewed:
05/28/2008
The most current version of Thunderbird can be downloaded from http://www.mozilla.com/thunderbird/.
Figure 1. Thunderbird 1.5 product site
Click the "Free Download" link. The site uses information provided by your web browser to offer an appropriate download (i.e. Microsoft Windows user will see a link to the Windows version, Mac users will see a link to the Mac version).
If you are downloading this application from a PC for use on a Mac, you will need to click the "Other Systems and Languages" link and select the appropriate version.
If you are downloading Thunderbird using the Safari web browser, after clicking the link and downloading the installer file, you will see the following warning message:
Figure 2. Safari download warning message
This warning tells you that the file you've just downloaded contains an application. In this case, this is what we want, just click the Continue button.
Once the installer has been downloaded, the disk image file (which has a file extension of .dmg) will be mounted on your desktop as if it were a removable disk. After the disk image is mounted, you will be presented with a license agreement (see below). Thunderbird is a freely-avaliable open-source e-mail client, and is licensed under the terms of the GNU General Public License. Click Accept to continue.
Figure 3. Thunderbird license agreement
After clicking the Accept button, a Finder window will be opened. Simply drag the Thunderbird icon from this window and into your Applications folder.
Figure 4. Drag the Thunderbird icon into your Applications folder
Note: Mac OS X is a multi-user operating system. Moving Thunderbird into the Applications folder may require administrative privileges that you don't have. In this case, drag the Thunderbird icon into your Users folder.
At this point, the installation is complete. You can close the Thunderbird window and either drag the disk icon to the Trash or type Command-E to eject it.
If you have not yet launched Thunderbird, do it now. If you followed the directions above, it should be located in the Applications folder of your hard disk (see note above).
After starting Thunderbird for the first time, you will be presented with the Import Settings and Mail Folders From property sheet. This sheet contains a listing of all e-mail clients Thunderbird detects on your hard disk.
Figure 5. Import Settings and Mail Folder From property sheet
If you would like to import mail and settings from any of the listed programs, click the radio button next to its title, and click the Continue button. You will be prompted through the process of importing these items into Thunderbird.
If you have nothing to import, or do not wish to import anything right now, just click the Cancel button and Thunderbird will continue on to the next step.
After importing your messages and settings (assuming you opted to perform this task) you will see the New Account Setup property sheet. This is where you will configure Thunderbird to connect to your mail server and input your account information.
Figure 6. New Account Setup property sheet
In addition to managing your e-mail, Thunderbird can also be used to manage newsgroup subscriptions and RSS feeds. Since we are focusing on e-mail on this page, click the Continue button to accept the default selection, Email Account
After clicking Continue you will be presented with the Identity property sheet. Here, you will enter the name and e-mail address that you would like to appear on all outgoing mail you send from Thunderbird.
Note: The name and e-mail address you enter on this page does not affect the way Thunderbird communicates with the server. These settings only affect the name and e-mail headers for mail you send from Thunderbird.
Figure 7. Identity property sheet
Fill in the fields in the Identity property sheet and click the Continue button. You will be taken to the Server Information property sheet. Here, you will enter information about your mail server, and how you would like Thunderbird to communicate with it.
Figure 8. Server Information property sheet
For the most part, you will want to configure your e-mail client to use a POP connection to send and receive e-mail. Unless you're sure that you want to use an IMAP connection, leave this setting at its default.
The Incoming Server and Outgoing Server will vary depending on whether you are a student, staff/faculty member, or retiree. See the table below for the correct server for your account.
| Staff/Faculty/Retirees | |
| Incoming Server | mail.staff.niu.edu |
| Outgoing Server | smtp.staff.niu.edu |
| Students | |
| Incoming Server | mail.students.niu.edu |
| Outgoing Server | smtp.students.niu.edu |
Enter the appropriate server names from the table and click the Continue button. The next property sheet you will see will be the User Names sheet.
Figure 9. User Names property sheet
Enter your AccountID for both the Incoming User Name and the Outgoing User Names fields, and click the Continue button to advance to the Account Names property sheet.
Figure 10. Account Name property sheet
Enter a name in the Account Name field. Since Thunderbird is capable of retrieving and managing mail for multiple e-mail accounts, you must specify a unique name to associate with each account. In the Thunderbird application, this name appears in the panel on the left-hand side of the Thunderbird window. Click Continue.
The final property sheet shows a summary of the selections you've made up to this point. Double-check the entries. If any of the information is incorrect, click the Go Back button until you return to the sheet that contains the error. Correct it, and click the Continue button until you return to the Congratulations! property sheet.
Figure 11. account settings summary property sheet
Uncheck the Download Messages Now check box, and click Done. Unchecking this box will prevent Thunderbird from downloading your messages. There is one more important consideration that we need to complete first.
Once the account has been set up, you will be returned to the Thunderbird main window. Go to the Tools | Account Settings... menu. This will bring up the Account Settings property sheet. In the left-hand panel, click the Server Settings item.
Figure 12. Account Settings menu
On the right-hand side, toward the bottom, you will find the Server Settings section. Depending on the type of e-mail account you have, and how you want to use Thunderbird, you may want to check the Leave Messages on Server box.
Figure 13. Account Settings property sheet showing the Server Settings section
By default, most e-mail servers will remove messages from the server after they have been downloaded to your computer. If you need to have access to these messages from places other than your computer, you will want to check this box.
GroupWise users are advised to check this box.
Click the OK button to save your changes and close this property sheet.
You are now ready to download your messages. Click the Get Messages button on the main toolbar of Thunderbird.