An INTRODUCTION TO THUNDERBIRD April 2018

What is thunderbird & why are we interested? Thunderbird is a client-based e-mail app Client-based means that the app and the e-mails sent and received are stored on YOUR computer rather than on than being on “some computer somewhere” accessed through your browser Windows Live Mail – our long time recommendation for a client based app – is no longer supported by Microsoft & we are seeing more & more operational issues We therefore felt it was time to look at an alternative recommendation

This is thunderbird

Why thunderbird? To make a recommendation we looked at the following criteria: Members typical needs The source Ease of operation The price We considered about a dozen possibilities – some free, some at a variety of costs

Why thunderbird? It is free It has all the features most commonly used by members including: Personalized folder structure Handles multiple e-mail accounts Calendar function Handles “group” e-mails Thunderbird is from Mozilla – the maker of the respected Firefox Browser Easy to use –BUT there is a learning curve! It is free

What are we going to look at today? Installing Thunderbird & setting up your accounts Basic e-mail functions Setting up Folders Contacts & Group addresses Calendaring – Tasks & Events Importing contacts & e-mails from your “old” app Thunderbird is very comprehensive – start with the basics & then explore – you will find it rewarding!

Where do I get thunderbird?

Setting up your account[s]

Setting up your account[s]

WRITING AN E-MAIL - BASIC The following slide illustrates a simplified view that is quite useful

Incoming mail

WHEN IT’S BEEN READ There are multiple options for an e-mail that has been read – right click it to see them Note that several have options indicated by the arrow

creating your folders

creating your folders You may want to create your folders BEFORE importing stored e-mails because although they will be readily available you may want to reallocate them from the special folder used during the import You can create sub-folders by the same method – right click on an existing folder

CONTACTS [ADDRESS BOOK] & GROUP ADDRESSES [list] Open Address Book Select

CONTACTS [ADDRESS BOOK] & GROUP ADDRESSES [list] NEW CONTACT NEW LIST

TASKS & EVENTS [CALENDARING] Thunderbird offers separate “calendars” for Tasks [To Do List?] and Events For most of us the differences are not significant

Multiple calendars option

TASKS

EVENTS

EVENTS

Importing contacts & stored e-mails You will want to import your contacts & stored e-mails from your current program The first thing to do is CLEAN THEM UP! Get rid of any that are no longer needed – BE RUTHLESS! This especially true for your Inbox and Sent folders The first ACTUAL step is to export them from the current program – will have to find out where that is done However we need to look first at importing to understand what to look for when exporting

Importing contacts into thunderbird

Importing contacts into thunderbird A little care is needed for this step Note that “Outlook” refers to the client based app found in Office Professional – NOT the Browser version that used to be Hotmail In most cases we would use the text file option indicated since this export option exists in most e-mail apps The next slide shows how to create the needed file in Windows Live Mail

Exporting contacts from windows live mail

Exporting contacts from windows live mail Check the fields you want to export – this will depend on how you used “Contacts” Click Finish

WE ARE NOW GOING TO PICK UP FROM THE EARLIER SLIDES Importing contacts WE ARE NOW GOING TO PICK UP FROM THE EARLIER SLIDES

Importing contacts into thunderbird

Importing contacts into thunderbird Reminder - “Outlook” refers to the client based app found in Office Professional – NOT the Browser version that used to be Hotmail As seen previously, in most cases – as in our Windows Live Mail example - we would use the text file option indicated since this is available in most e-mail apps

Importing contacts CLICK ON THE EXPORTED FILE MATCH THE FIELDS

Importing STORED e-mails As installed Thunderbird has limited capability to import e- mails Click Tools>Import, check “Mail”, click Next Reminder – Outlook & Outlook Express do NOT refer to the current Browser based e-mail apps

Importing STORED e-mails There is an add-on [free download] that provides this capability for other e-mail apps We have developed an Instruction Sheet for this BUT you need to be aware that [a] the sheet covers only Windows Live Mail – other systems may vary – and [b] what appears on-screen during the procedure may not 100% match what is written MAY WANT TO CALL HOME HELP