Set Up Mozilla Thunderbird 3.0 for Your Email Account

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Applies to: Office 365 for professionals and small businesses, Office 365 for enterprises, Microsoft Exchange, Live@edu

You can connect Mozilla Thunderbird 3.0 to your email account using POP3 or IMAP4 connectivity. These instructions apply to Windows and Mac.

For information about how to connect to your email account using Thunderbird 2.0, see Set Up Mozilla Thunderbird 2.0 for Your E-Mail Account.

How do I set up Mozilla Thunderbird for access to Outlook Web App?

  1. Open Mozilla Thunderbird. The Mail Account Setup dialogue box will open the first time that you open Thunderbird. If the Mail Account Setup dialogue box doesn't open when you first open Thunderbird, do the following:

    1. On the Tools menu, click Account Settings.

    2. On the Account Settings page, under Account Actions, click Add Mail Account.

  2. In the Mail Account Setup dialogue box, do the following:

    1. In the Your Name box, enter the name that you want to appear on the "From" line in your outgoing messages.

    2. In the Email Address box, enter your email address.

    3. In the Password box, enter your password. Click Continue if you're using a Windows computer or click Next if you're using a Mac. Thunderbird will try to find the settings you need to configure for your account.

  3. Click Stop, or wait for Thunderbird to try to find your account settings. A page appears where you can enter the server settings for your account. If you don't click Stop, the page may include this message: "Thunderbird has found the settings for your account." However, the account settings it locates won't be correct. You must configure the settings yourself.

    Note

    You may need to click Edit before you can enter the settings that you need to set up your email.

  4. In the Username box, type your complete email address. For example, tonysmith@contoso.com.

  5. Next to Incoming, enter the name of your incoming server. For information about how to find your incoming (POP3 or IMAP4) server name, see How do I find the server settings? later in this topic.

    Note

    You also need the values for the POP or IMAP port and the encryption method. Next to the incoming server name, type the port number. Then, in the drop-down list next to the port number, select SSL/TLS.

  6. Next to Outgoing, enter the appropriate SMTP server name. For information about how to find your outgoing (SMTP) server name, see How do I find the server settings? later in this topic.

    Note

    You also need the values for the SMTP port and the encryption method. Next to the outgoing server name, type 587. Then, in the drop-down list next to the port number, select STARTTLS.

  7. Click the Re-test Configuration button. If you entered the correct settings, you'll see the following message: "Thunderbird has found the settings for your account."

  8. Click Create Account. A page opens that lets you view or change other Thunderbird settings. Click OK when you've finished viewing or changing settings.

    Important

    If you're using POP, under Server Settings, it's a good idea to select Leave messages on the server. After you select this box, a copy of the messages you retrieve to your local computer will be kept on the server. You will also be able to access your messages from a different mail application.

How do I find the server settings?

Before you set up a POP3 or IMAP4 e-mail program, you need to look up your own POP3, IMAP4, and SMTP server settings.

Watch this video to learn how to find your server settings for your POP or IMAP e-mail program.

To find your server settings, sign in to your e-mail account using Outlook Web App. After you sign in, click Options > See All Options > Account > My Account > Settings for POP, IMAP, and SMTP access. The POP3, IMAP4, and SMTP server name and other settings you may need to enter are listed on the Protocol Settings page under POP setting or IMAP setting, and SMTP setting.

Note

If you see Not available next to POP setting, IMAP setting, and SMTP setting, your account may not be set up to use POP or IMAP e-mail programs. For more information, contact the person who manages your e-mail account.

What else do I need to know?

  • If you don't know whether to use POP3 or IMAP4, consider using IMAP4 because it supports more features.

  • If your e-mail account is the type that requires registration, you must register it the first time you sign in to Outlook Web App. Connecting to your e-mail account through POP3 or IMAP4 will fail if you haven't registered your account through Outlook Web App. After you sign in to your account, sign out. Then try to connect using your POP3 or IMAP4 program. For more information about how to sign in to your account using Outlook Web App, see How to Sign In to Your E-Mail Using a Web Browser. If you have trouble signing in, see FAQs: Sign-in and Password Issues or contact the person who manages your e-mail account.

  • In some cases, if you've set up Thunderbird to use IMAP, you'll need to set up Thunderbird to put messages that you've sent into the Sent Items folder on the Exchange server. You can do this using the following steps:

    1. Sign in to your email account using Thunderbird by clicking Get Mail in Thunderbird**.**

    2. In Thunderbird, on the Tools menu, click Account Settings.

    3. In the navigation pane of Account Settings, select Copies & Folders for your email account.

    4. In Copies & Folders in the right pane, under When sending messages, automatically, select Other. In the drop-down list, select your user name, and then select Sent Items.

    5. Click OK.

What if I want to know more?