Setting Up the Thunderbird Email Program

1. Go to Mozilla's Thunderbird home page: http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/thunderbird/
2. Click on the large green Download Thunderbird link. (The Web page will figure out what operating system you are using and therefore what type of Thunderbird download file you need.)
3. Save the downloaded file to your desktop or somewhere else easy to get to.
4. Double-click on the downloaded file.
5. If you are using Windows:
   1. Close all other applications so that the Thunderbird installation can update relevant system files without requiring a reboot. The .exe file will expand.
   2. The Welcome to the Mozilla Thunderbird Setup Wizard window opens.
      
   3. Read the license agreement and click the radio button to accept its terms. Click Next >.
      
   4. Select Standard setup and click Next >.
      
   5. Leave the check to start Mozilla Thunderbird and click Finish to close the install wizard.
      
      
6. If you are using MacOS:
   1. Read the end-user license and click Accept (or Decline).
   2. When the Thunderbird window opens, click on the Thunderbird application icon and drag-and-drop it on your Applications folder.
   3. When you are finished, close the Thunderbird window and delete the Thunderbird .dmg file.

Windows

Either: Start -> Programs -> Mozilla Thunderbird -> Thunderbird

Or: Double-click the Thunderbird application icon on your desktop

MacOS

Open: Click the Finder icon on your Dock -> Applications on the left hand side -> double-click on the Thunderbird icon

Close: Thunderbird -> Quit Thunderbird

Note that the illustrations in this page are from Mac Thunderbird. Windows Thunderbird are the same, except you click Next > rather than Continue.

1. Open Thunderbird if necessary.
2. If this is the first time you've used Thunderbird, it will ask you if you want to import your email account from another email program. If you are changing from another email program, you can use this function. Click Continue (Mac) or Next > (Windows).
   
   
3. If you do not import your email account, the Account Wizard will open. Click in the radio button beside Email account. Click Continue (Mac) or Next > (Windows).
   
4. The Identity window opens.
   
5. Type your full name in the Your Name: box and your complete email address in the Email Address: box.
   For example, Ada Byron would use: Ada Byron Lovelace and adabyron@uic.edu. Click Continue (Mac) or Next > (Windows).
6. The Server Information window opens. For your ACCC email account, use the following:
   
   • Click the radio button beside POP or IMAP, depending on which protocol you want to use.
   • The ACCC recommends IMAP, because it is designed to allow you to leave email on the server and to allow you to do email from multiple machines. Ada uses IMAP.
     
   • POP is the default; if you don't know what this is about, you most likely use POP. If you select POP, you can also uncheck Use Global Inbox to have the account you are defining have its own Inbox. If you leave this option checked, all the POP accounts you have will bring incoming email into a single Inbox at the bottom of the All Folders pane.
     
     
   • Incoming Mailserver: mail.uic.edu (regardless of which ACCC server your email account is on)
   • Outgoing mailserver: mail.uic.edu (if you are on campus or if you are off campus and want to use the ACCC's authenticated SMTP server; otherwise use your ISP's SMTP server)
     
   Click Continue (Mac) or Next > (Windows).
   
   
7. The User Names window opens. Type your netid for both Incoming User Name:. Because both the incoming and outgoing servers are mail.uic.edu, Thunderbird correctly assumes there is only one user name, and it guesses it, also correctly, from the email address. So Ada didn't have to type anything here; her netid, adabyron, was already filled in for her. Click Continue (Mac) or Next > (Windows).
   
8. The Account Name window opens. You can name the account anything you want. The default is the email address. Click Continue (Mac) or Next > (Windows).
   
9. The Congratulations! screen opens, listing the details of the account you've entered. If all is right, click Done.
   

Note that the illustrations in this page are from Mac Thunderbird. Windows Thunderbird are the same.

1. Thunderbird will try to connect now, but fail because mail.uic.edu requires SSL connections. Click OK.
   
2. Before you can login, you must change a few settings on your new account.
3. Either:
   • In the All Folders pane: Click on the name of your Account -> click View settings for this Account.
   • Or: Select Tools -> Account Settings from the menu.
4. The Account Settings window will open.
5. Click on Server Settings on the left. In the Security Settings area on the middle right, click the SSL radio button. The Port: in the upper right will change from the default 143 IMAP (145 POP) to 993 IMAP (995 POP).
   
6. For IMAP accounts only, there is an Advanced... setting. Click the Advanced... button.
   In the IMAP server directory: box type: mail/
   Click OK.
   
   
7. If you are using mail.uic.edu for your SMTP server, click on Outgoing Server (SMTP) on the bottom left. Click on the name of your outgoing server and click the Edit button.
   
   
8. Type a description if you wish, and in the Security and Authentication area at the bottom, check Use name and password, type in your netid for the User Name: and click the radio button beside SSL. The Port: will automatically change from 25 to 465, which is what you want.
   
9. Click OK to close the SMTP server settings, and OK again to close the Account Settings.
10. Now Thunderbird will log you in. Type your ACCC common password in the box provided and click OK.
    
    If you are using your own PC or Mac, you can use the Password Manager to remember the password; it's less secure but a lot easier. But if you are using a shared computer, don't. If you click Use Password Manager to remember this password., Thunderbird will explain the implications of your choice.
    
11. If you are using POP, Thunderbird will offer to download your email now. If you use IMAP, the subjects of the email in your Inbox will be downloaded and Thunderbird will also download the list of your IMAP mailboxes. This illustration is of an IMAP account on a Mac.
    
    And this is an IMAP account on Windows, to give you an idea of how simular they are.
    
    
12. The area where the Welcome to Thunderbird! message is located is the message preview area. Previewing messages is not the wisest thing to do from a security standpoint. To get rid of the preview pane, just click on the bar between the preview pane and the mailbox index and drag the bar down to the bottom of the window. You can bring back the preview pane be reversing the process.

Instructions on setting up and using the UIC online telephone and email white pages with Thunderbird are at:

• Macs: Using the UIC LDAP Server with Mozilla and Thunderbird
• Windows: Using the UIC LDAP Server with Mozilla and Thunderbird