by J.P. McCauley

Created on: May 15, 2010   Last Updated: May 18, 2010

Mozilla Thunderbird is a free, open source email and news client, which is available for download from Mozilla Messaging. It runs on Windows, Mac, or Linux. Similar to the Mozilla Firefox web browser, Thunderbird is designed to be a simple, yet extensible application. The current version, Thunderbird 3, gives you Tabs, searches, archiving, and smart folders (to manage multiple email accounts). Thunderbird is also a client for Newsgroups and Blog & News Feeds. The add-ons manager allows you to add extended features.

To install Thunderbird, simply go to the Mozilla Messaging site and choose your language and platform. Click the various Run and Yes buttons to get to the setup wizard. For most users, simple choose the defaults for the Standard Installation. When Thunderbird launches, you can simply enter your name as you wish it to appear for outgoing email, and enter an existing email address and password. Thunderbird will automatically set up a secure connection to your email account to transfer mail.

One of the best features of Thunderbird is the ability to manage multiple email accounts. Just go to: File > New > Mail Account to add additional accounts. Not all free Internet email systems will work with Thunderbird by default. For instance, Gmail and Hotmail both work with Thunderbird, but the free version of Yahoo does not. To use Thunderbird with Yahoo, you would have to upgrade to their for-pay service Yahoo! Mail Plus. You could also use Thunderbird as a mail client instead of Outlook or Notes if your corporate policy allows it.

The Address Book feature in Thunderbird is quite intuitive. Collected Addresses are built as you send emails, while the Personal Address Books can be populated manually or imported from other email accounts. The import feature is not automatic, though. You have to export from your other email account into a file format, then import into Thunderbird. You can create new contact lists as well if you with to keep various business and personal lists separate for organizational reasons.

The Tag feature allows you to color code messages however you wish. This is useful for categorizing emails as important or not, or business related or not. This is particularly nice to have if you prefer to see emails from multiple accounts in one, consolidated inbox.

Add-ons really makes Thunderbird stand out from other email clients. As an open source product, there are many programers working to extend the capabilities of Thunderbird. Want an event and task manager? There's an add-on for that. Encryption or other security features? Check. Just go to the Mozilla add-ons page, and you will probably find that someone has already written what you are looking for. To install add-ons, just go to Tools > Add-ons.

Thunderbird is easy to install and configure. With all the possible add-ons, Thunderbird should be able to meet any requirements you have for a mail client.

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