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Introduction

TBC

Installation

TBC

Configuration

Config Editor

The Config Editor is accessed via Preferences > Prefernces > Advanced -> General > Config Editor.

Default web browser

Thunderbird defaults to using the desktop's default web browser.  To override this setting, use the config editor (below) to ensure network.protocol-handler.app.http and https exist with the path to the desired browser program.  For example, for firefox ((warning) this did not work on Ubuntu 12.04 Precise):

network.protocol-handler.app.http, string, /usr/bin/firefox

network.protocol-handler.app.https, string, /usr/bin/firefox

Gmail client

There's a Mozilla KB page on configuring Thunderbird as a Gmail client, listed in the Reference section below.

IMAP settings

In Config Editor (above):

  • mail.imap.auto_unsubscribe_from_noselect_folders  Default and desired value: true
  • mail.server.default.check_all_folders_for_new  Default false.  Setting it true avoids the user having to wait for mails to be downloaded on opening folders other than the Inbox – but it may degrade overall performance, especially when Thunderbird is started.  When the IMAP server is local it should be OK.  In case of several IMAP servers, the setting can be made for specific servers using mail.server.server<n>.check_all_folders_for_new

Subscribing

Depending on the setting of TBC, folders on the server that the client has not subscribed to are invisible or shown greyed out.

To subscribe to folders, right click any folder and choose Subscribe.  Expand the list until the folders you want to subscribe are visible, toggle (\?) the checkbox and click Subscribe.

After IMAP changes (including a cyrus reconstruct that fixed something), right click the account and choose "Subscribe ...".

Usage

Archive folder removal

Under IMAP, Archive is a special folder that cannot be removed in the Thunderbird GUI.  It may be removed by stopping Thunderbird, and removing the /home/user/.thunderbird/profile/ImapMail/server/Archives.sbd folder and Archives.msf file.  TODO: clarify when this works; it did not on Charles' person PolarisMail account.

Backup considerations

Thunderbird will rebuild .MSF files as needed if they are missing so no need to back them up.

If backups are incremental, big folders (documented below) can result in huge backup data volumes.

Folder maintenance

Big folders

Thunderbird uses a single file for some folders: Drafts, Inbox, Sent and Trash.  When they grow large, say > 250 MB, it is prudent to reduce their size:

From kb.mozillazine (http://kb.mozillazine.org/Compacting_folders): If the folder is severely corrupted, deleting the .msf file won't help much, and compacting the folder may just make things worse because Thunderbird can't reliably figure out where a message ends anymore. You'll typically run into this only with the Inbox folder. It's much more vulnerable to corruption because it frequently has both lots of messages and a high percentage of deleted (but not visible) messages. That's why it's recommended that you move messages you want to keep to other folders/child folders rather than keep storing them in the Inbox."

Troubleshooting

Greyed out folders

Folders are shown in grey italics when they have the \NoSelect flag.  Normally this means they can contain subfolders, but not messages.  A good example is the "[Gmail]" folder on Gmail accounts.

Logging

Sample script to be run in the desktop environment (TODO: $LOGNAME does not have a value ...?  The ; after imap:5 is spurious ... ?):

#!/bin/bash
export NSPR_LOG_MODULES=imap:5;
export NSPR_LOG_FILE=/tmp/$LOGNAME.imap.log
/usr/lib/thunderbird/thunderbird &

Missing folders

May not be subscribed.

Too many simultaneous connections

In case of trouble with "too many simultaneous connections" (common with bluelight@auroville.org.in), reduce the "Maximum number of server connections to cache" (TODO: presumably on all clients); the default value is 5.  Account settings > Server Settings > Advanced.

 

References

Thunderbird as a Gmail client: http://kb.mozillazine.org/Gmail

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