Using Thunderbird: The Basics

Software > Email > Thunderbird > Using Thunderbird: The Basics

Getting Started
Sending a Message
Checking for New Mail
Reading a Message
Replying to a Message
Creating Mail Folders
Moving Messages Between Folders
Deleting a Message
Working with Attachments

Getting Started

If you have not yet installed and configured Thunderbird, please go to the software download section before proceeding.

To access your email, please open Thunderbird.

You will see different sets of folders in the mail folders list: Columbia IMAP contains your Inbox and other messages stored in your CUNIX account such as sent-mail and Local Folders contains the messages you choose to store on your computerbSending an Attachment s hard drive. You may also see news.columbia.edu, Columbia's Usenet news server if you chose to add it. When you click on a mail folder in the list on the left, the messages in that folder will appear in the message list on the right. When you click on a message header in the message list, the contents of the message will appear in the message pane below.

screen shot of open inbox

Sending a Message

You will learn to send email with Thunderbird by sending a message to yourself.

Select New Message from the Message menu or click Write.
Type your own email address in the To: field.
Enter something in the Subject: field that will identify the topic of your message accurately and concisely. Test would be a good choice here.
Type a message in the composition area and click the Send icon in the toolbar. If this is the first message you've sent during this session, you'll be prompted for your password. You will see a Sending Messages progress box as Thunderbird sends your message. When it disappears, your message has been sent.

Tip: Copies of all of the messages you send will be saved to your sent-mail folder if you've configured Thunderbird to do this automatically. If you prefer to choose whether to save a copy of each message individual, you can put your own email address in the cc field of any message of which you want to receive a copy.

Checking for New Mail

It will take a few minutes for the message to arrive in your inbox. If you try to retrieve it and get a message that you have no new mail, wait a few more minutes and try again. To check for new mail manually, either:

Click the Get Mail icon in the Mail Toolbar, or
select Get New Messages for => Get All New Messages from the File menu.

Thunderbird will retrieve your new messages and add them to the Message List.

Tip: Thunderbird will check for new mail automatically at whatever interval you have indicated in your Account Settings. If you get impatient, you can check manually whenever you want by following the steps listed above.

Reading a Message

To read the test message you sent yourself, single-click on it in the message list to display it in the message preview pane.

Tip: To view a message in its own larger window instead of in the message preview pane, double-click on it instead of single-clicking.

Tip: You must have an active network connection to view a message that is stored on the mail server (Columbia IMAP). You do not need an active network connection to view messages stored in mail folders on your local hard drive.

Replying to a Message

Now you will reply to the test message you sent yourself.

With your test message displayed, click either Reply (reply to just the sender) or Reply All (reply to the sender plus anyone cc'ed) in the toolbar at the top of the window.. Thunderbird will open a new message composition window. The sender's email address and subject heading (in this case, your own email address and Test) are filled in automatically.
Type a response to your test message in the message composition area and click Send in the toolbar.

Tip: You may be prompted for a username and password. Use your UNI as your username and your email password as the password.

Creating Mail Folders

To create a mail folder on your hard drive...
select Local Folders from the mail folders list and select New --> New Folder from the File menu. Type a name for the new mail folder and make sure Local Folders shows up in the Create as a subfolder of box. Then click OK.

To create a mail folder in your Columbia IMAP space...
select Columbia IMAP from the mail folders list and select New --> New Folder from the File menu. Type a name for the new mail folder and make sure Columbia IMAP shows up in the Create as a subfolder of box. Then click OK.

Moving Messages Between Folders

Select the message you want to copy or move.
Select either Move or Copy from the Message menu, and then select the mail folder to which you want to move or copy the message.

Deleting a Message

Now you will learn how to delete messages that you no longer need. It is very important to remember to do this, because if you allow your Inbox (or other mail folders stored on CUNIX, where IMAP stores them) to continue to grow, you will exceed your space quota and be unable to access your email.

Close any open message windows so that you see the Message List from your Inbox.
Select your test message by clicking on it once.
To mark the message for deletion, click the Delete icon in the Mail toolbar. Since this message is stored on CUNIX, you will see a red X appear over the small icon at the left end of the message header in the Message List. This indicates that the message is marked for deletion.
To expunge the message (delete it permanently), select Compact Folders from the File menu.

Tip: If you delete a message from a folder stored locally, the message will be moved to the folder called Trash, also stored locally. To delete the message permanently, select Empty Trash from the File menu.

If you have configured Thunderbird to move deleted messages to the Trash instead of just marking them for deletion, you will need to empty the Trash regularly (select Empty Trash from the File menu) unless you have Thunderbird configured to do this automatically whenever you quit.

Working with Attachments

Attachments are files that you can send along with email messages.

Sending an Attachment

Before you send email that has an attachment, you should find out whether the recipient uses a mail program that can accept attachments and whether the recipient has software capable of opening the file you're sending. You also need to be aware of mail system restrictions on the size of attachments. (Find out more about size limits.)

You can attach files from any Compose window.

In a Compose window, fill in the To: field and a Subject. It is also helpful to add an explanation of what the attachment is in the message body.
From the File menu select Attach File or Attach Web Page. (Alternatively you can click the Attach icon in the Toolbar if you want to attach a file rather than a Web page.) A dialog box is displayed.
If you chose Attach File in the previous step, select the file you want to attach and click Open. If you chose Web Page, type the URL of the page you want to attach and click OK. The attachment's icon and name (or URL) will appear in the Attachments pane of the Compose window.
Click the Send icon in the Toolbar.

Opening and Saving Attachments

Double-click the message header of a message with an attachment. Attachments of some types may open automatically in the message body (some images), or in a web browser window (Web pages).
If the attachment doesn't open automatically, check the Attachments section.
Double-click the name of the file attachment. If your computer can determine what kind of file the attachment is (e.g. Microsoft Word), it will give you the option of opening it in Word or saving it on your local hard drive (after which you can open it with an appropriate program).

Tip: If you receive messages with large attachments, you can avoid filling up your CUNIX space by moving them to your local hard drive.

Back to Top

Contents