How do I set up Thunderbird to use IMAP?

Mac users: the steps are the same for both OS X and Windows, but your dialog boxes will look a little different.

1. First, download Thunderbird (it's free) and install it.
2. If you're just using Thunderbird for the first time, the following window will appear automatically. (If you've already set up another account on Thunderbird, you can get to this wizard, which will start with the next step, by going to Tools > Account Settings... and clicking the Add Account button.) If you've previously used Outlook Express or Mozilla Mail, you can choose to import all of your e-mail as well as the settings necessary for Thunderbird to check that e-mail account if you want. If you're not quite ready to take the dive and completely switch over to Thunderbird, or if you've never used either of these programs, then simply choose not to import anything. Click Next to proceed to the next screen.
   
   
   
3. We want to create a Pomona e-mail account, so select that option. Click Next.
   
   
   
4. Here, you should enter your name and the preferred version of your e-mail address. What you choose here as your e-mail address will appear as the "From" address in any e-mails you send. Click Next once you've filled in the text boxes.
   
   
   
5. You should fill in the text boxes on this screen so they match the image. Click Next to continue.
   
   
   
6. Here, you should enter the username you use to log in to your e-mail account. It should be your username in the form xyz0200x (ex: ces02005 for Cecil E. Sagehen). Click Next when done.
   
   
   
7. Now, Thunderbird wants you to pick a descriptive name for this e-mail account. It should be something so that, if Thunderbird needs to give you an error message about the account, you'll recognize the name. Generally something like Pomona E-mail will be just fine. Click Next once you've selected a name.
   
   
8. You should now see a screen like the one below that basically confirms the settings that you've chosen in the past few windows. Once you've reviewed them, click Finish.
   
   
   
9. Immediately, you should recieve a request from Thunderbird for your password. Don't enter your password just yet. Click Cancel. We want to turn on encryption first.
10. We enable encryption in two places. Click on Pomona E-mail and then choose View settings for this account. For the first choose Server Settings and then select SSL under Security Settings.
    
    
    
11. For the second one choose Outgoing Server(SMTP), choose Pomona Email and click Edit. Select TLS under use secure connection and change the port to 465.
    
    
    
12. Now, when you are back in the inbox, click on the Get Mail button at the top. You will be prompted for your password again. Enter your password here. If you do not want Thunderbird to ask for your password every time you open it, then check the Use Password Manager to remember this password box. Click OK once you've entered your e-mail password.
    
    
    
    • If you checked the Use Password Manager... checkbox, you may get this scary-looking window. You can safely click OK. Jump to our walkthrough for setting a master password if you'd like to do that now.
      
      
      

At this point, you should be able to read and send e-mails through Thunderbird. Yay!

Optional (but recommended) changes

These are worthwhile, we promise. Once you do them they'll save you lots of aggravation in the long run.

Subscribe to folders

If you created additional folders using something other than Thunderbird, you won't see them in Thunderbird by default. In order to see them, you will need to subscribe to them.

Set the correct sent mail folder

By default, Thunderbird saves your sent mail in the Sent folder. However, webmail and Outlook both use the Sent Items folder instead. This can get confusing, so if you're in the habit of using webmail, tell TBird to use the Sent Items folder instead:

1. Go to Tools > Account Settings... > Pomona E-mail > Copies & Folders where Pomona E-mail is whatever you named your Pomona account in step 6.
2. Under When sending messages, automatically: click Other and select the Sent Items folder from the dropdown menu (if you don't see it there, you need to subscribe to it).
3. You can now delete the Sent folder if you want (but not the Sent Items one!)

Setup LDAP (Pomona Address Book)

This will allow you to search the entire Pomona directory for someone's e-mail address (nifty, eh?). More information...

Set the correct trash folder

Again, TBird uses the Trash folder while Webmail and Outlook use one called Deleted Items. Your Deleted Items folder gets cleaned automatically, so it's usually nicer to have TBird use this instead.

1. If you don't see the Deleted Items folder on the left, first subcribe to it.
2. Go to Tools > Options... (Mac users: Thunderbird > Preferences...)
3. Select the Advanced tab at the top
4. Click Config Editor
5. A more detailed preference editor should appear. Now, right-click (Mac: CTRL + click) on any of the entries and select New > String
6. When it asks you for a name, give it mail.server.server2.trash_folder_name
   • Note: If you've configured TBird to connect to more than one account, the server2 part could be server3, server4, etc. The numbers are assigned in the order that you set up the accounts (starting with 2). This page will tell you how to figure out the number in question. Don't worry about this if you're just setting up TBird for the first time, however.
7. When it asks for a value, give it Deleted Items
8. Close and reopen Thunderbird. The Deleted Items folder icon should have changed to a trashcan. You can now delete the Trash folder if you want to.