An introduction to Thunderbird, part 1

Microsoft Outlook Express has for a number of years been the leading application for sending and receiving e-mails. This is not only due to a good functionality, but also due to the monopolization from Microsoft, and the lack of competitive programs.

Thunderbird is one of those programs which can compete with MS Outlook Express, not only because it has similar functionality, but it's also user friendly, and it's freeware.

Thunderbird, and other Open Source programs, are products developed by a community of developers. As everything else, this community ain't flawless. IMHO it seems they use too much energy and time developing programs, and fighting the everlasting battle against monopoly. I'm sure I'm not the first one to think about this, but what if the community had spent more time enlightening the masses? I don't see myself as a guru when it comes to handling programs, yet Thunderbird is quite easy to use.

People's fear of the new and unknown might be a missed issue, which needs to be put on the agenda. Throughout this article, I will try to help you understand Thunderbird, as the excellent, free program it is.

Why Thunderbird?

• It's user friendly, easy to install, easy to use.
• It's freeware, meaning, you can download it from the web, no charge.
• Cross platform, you can use it with Windows as well as the GNU/Linux operating system.

These reasons alone should make you consider using this program.

How to download?

At the URL http://www.mozilla.org/products/thunderbird/ you will always find the newest version of Thunderbird, you will also find additional information about Thunderbird there, as well as upgrades and extensions, if you are interested in those sorts of things. :)

How to install?

Download the installer file from the page above, and double-click the file.



If you got any programs running, close them as advised. Press next.



Read the agreement, if you agree, check the box and press "Next". :)



If you want to choose what to install and where to install, mark the custom box, if not choose standard.



The installer will tell you where Mozilla Thunderbird will be installed, most of you will have the same path as I have in this screenshot.




This is how it'll look as Thunderbird is being installed on your computer. :)



And voila. Press finish to start Thunderbird for the first time. :)

Configuration?

When you open Thunderbird for the first time, you need to create a new account, I will try to show you this step by step.

First click on "Create a new account".

Select "Email account" and press next.



Fill in your name and email address, press next.



Now you are asked to fill in the incoming server, for me it's "mail.zoper.com", you may be asked for outgoing server aswell, usually this is the same server, press next.



Now you are asked to fill in your user name for your email provider, for example "jsmith", press next.



Now you are asked what you would like to call this account, choose yourself, press next.



You will get a summary, check your information, and if everything is ok press finish.



Mark your email address and press "Get mail".



You are immediatly asked for the password to your email account, fill in and press OK, you can also choose if you want Thunderbird to remember the password.

If you now have filled everything in correctly, you should now be able to enjoy Thunderbird. :)

This is the first in a series of articles about Thunderbird, if you have Thunderbird related topics you'd like to see covered here, let us know. Comments on this article, thumbs up or flames, can be sent to articles@nidelven-it.no. If you need help using Thunderbird, we recommend using the Thunderbird forums.

Go to part 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9.

• Part 1, Installation and account setup
• Part 2, Basic features and buttons
• Part 3, How to make a signature
• Part 4, Attachments and the address book
• Part 5, Junk filter (handling spam and unwanted mail)
• Part 6, Importing mail from other mail clients
• Part 7, Organizing your mail, with mail filters
• Part 8, Newsgroups
• Part 9, Themes

If you're running a recent version of Thunderbird, you might want to have a look at our articles covering Thunderbird 1.5.

If you find these articles useful, you might also want to check out the introduction to Firefox, introduction to Open Office, Plone or the introduction to Gaim. We're always looking for more translators.