With my recent mail fiasco and the continued increase in the number of e-mail addresses I have, I’ve decided it’s time to organize things. Apple Mail is my primary e-mail client but it runs only on my Mac.
One of the things I like about the e-mail provided by .Mac is that it supports IMAP (Internet Mail Access Protocol). This keeps my local mailbox synchronized with the server. By using Apple Mail as the mail client for all my mailboxes I can save important e-mails to folders which are kept synchronized to my .Mac mailbox on a server. This gives me instant backup, and web access from any browser, should I have PC problems.
I also configure Apple Mail to leave the messages on the server for each pop account. I then manually save or delete mail from the server every once in a while. This is probably a waste of time but I started doing it when I didn’t want to be locked into .Mac. Apple Mail has the ability to delete messages from the server after certain lengths of time (week, month, etc…) - as do most e-mail clients. If I stay with Apple Mail I’d probably look into those options and look for similar features in a new client,
So my requirements are:
- One e-mail client - multiple OS’s
- Aggregate all my e-mails into one e-mail interface
- Allow managing e-mail across PCs (first client to grab an e-mail can’t delete it from the server)
- Support identities (allow me to send from any e-mail address or alias)
- Good spam filtering
- I have to like it
Thunderbird runs on OS X, Windows and Linux so it meets my first requirements. Time to see how well it does the rest.
The online FAQ includes instructions for importing messages from Apple Mail which would be a bonus.
Installation
The download is a single install executable. I start with my Mac and download the install to it. The download is a 17.7MB disk image (dmg) file. I’ll be installing version 1.5.0.8. After double-clicking the dmg file it displays the typical “Drag to Install” screen. So I do.
(Side note: all screenshots in this posting are hosted on Picasa. I’m trying it out and will write up my experience and thoughts later. Click a picture to see it full size.)
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So it’s time to fire up Thunderbird.
Configuration
I start Thunderbird and the first screen I see is the import screen.
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I have nothing to import (that it found) so I click “Continue”. The next screen asks me what I want to set up.
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I select “Email account”, For testing purposes I’m going to start with my Google Mail account. The next screen asks me what name and e-mail address I want to use. These will be used on outgoing e-mail.
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The next screen asks for the mail server information.
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I enter the server information for Google mail. The “Use Global Inbox” is checked by default. Since I want to aggregate all my e-mail accounts I leave this checked.
The next screen asks for my user name (ID) for accessing my e-mail. It was pre-filled with the name portion of my e-mail from the first screen.
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I enter the information and click “Continue”. Then I’m asked to name the account. It was pre-filled with my e-mail address but I change it.
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I’m then shown a screen that asks me to verify my settings. There’s an option to “Download messages now” which I leave selected. I click “Done”. I’m then asked if I want Thunderbird to be my default e-mail application. I say “No” but leave it enabled to ask me again. I also assume this can be easily set in preferences. For now, we’ll keep it on demand only.
The main Thunderbird screen appears and it appears to be trying to download mail. I eventually get a timed out message. I’m not surprised since I’ve never been asked to enter a password.
I go to “Tools” -> “Account Settings” and look at the server settings for Google mail. I change the “Security Settings” from “Never” to “SSL” (which I know Google mail uses). Since I’m here I also check the box “Leave messages on server” so nothing gets deleted. The screen shot below shows the configuration after my changes.
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I figure my outgoing smtp server is also wrong so go to the “Outgoing Server (SMTP)” configuration. Several changes are needed here. I fill in the optional description. I also have to change the port from 25 to 587 (GMail uses 587). user name and password is checked by default but I change “Use Secure Connection” from “No” to “TLS”. See the screen below for my settings.
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I’m now ready for another test. I click the “Get Mail” button and sure enough, I’m prompted for a POP password. I enter it and select the option to “Use password Manager to remember this password” The following alert is displayed about saving passwords.
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There weren’t any errors. But since I didn’t have any waiting e-mail I didn’t receive anything. So I’ll send an e-mail from Thunderbird to my regular e-mail and then I’ll reply to it. This will also prompt for my smtp password and test outgoing mail. I click the “Write” button and get the default compose screen.
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I address and compose the e-mail and click “Send”. I’m prompted for the SMTP password which I enter, selecting to save it in the password manager. The e-mail seems to go out just fine. I fire up Apple Mail and find the e-mail waiting. I send off a reply which arrives in Thunderbird just fine. So I’m good to go with G-Mail
A Diversion to Webmail
When checking out Thunderbird I saw reference to the Webmail project. This integrates various Web based e-mails into Thunderbird. I’m curious and now is the time to play, before I commit anything important to Thunderbird.
I download the Webmail 1.0.14 extension to my desktop along with the GMail 0.5.4 extension. The Webmail extension is required, and then there are various extensions for various Web E-mail platforms and I’ll need the Google extension for my testing.
I go to the “Tools” -> “Extensions” menu in Thunderbird which brings up the extensions manager.
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I click the install button and browse to my downloaded Webmail extension to install it, then I do the same for the GMail extension. I need to shutdown and restart Thunderbird which I do.
I go through Webmail quickly, configuring the GMail account again. While an interesting concept, it’s not for me. I’d lose much of the integration between e-mail addresses that I’m looking for. It looks like it would work similar to Apple Mail in that there’s a folder structure for each mailbox and any movement between them or common folders must be done manually or via rules.
I delete the test mailbox, uninstall the extensions and restart Thunderbird.
Back on Track
So far it’s obvious that Thunderbird meets my first three requirements (multi-OS, aggregate mail addresses, and allow managing e-mails on the server).
The next step is to see how it handles identities. I don’t see any obvious way to set them up so I go to the help and search for “how do i set up an identity”. (The help is web based.) The third item is “Multiple Identities Per E-mail Address” and the blurb mentions Thunderbird so I select it. Sure enough, I just missed it. But they mention that there’s an exception for Google in that “The Gmail SMTP server will ignore whatever From: address you supply unless you add it in the Gmail web page at Setting -> Accounts -> “Add another email address”. I do already have some alternates set up but they were pre-fiasco so I’ll need to change them.
To manage identities go to “Tools” -> “Account Settings” and click on the account to get the identities. Click on the “Manage Identities…” button in the lower right. See screen shot below.
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This looks like exactly what I want (which Apple Mail can’t do beyond the 5 aliases allowed for the account.) I register one of my aliases in GMail and set up an identity for it. After clicking “Manage Identities…” and “Add” I get the main identity screen shown below.
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I fill in a name, e-mail address, and reply to address.
The “Copies and Folders” tab gives me the following options and I just keep the defaults.
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The “Composition and Addressing” tab has the following options and I just keep the defaults.
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I save the settings and have a new identity.
I send an e-mail using the new identity. The identity is now listed in the “From” drop down list on the compose screen. When I select the alternate identity the reply-to address is added to the address list and displayed as the “From”. I send the e-mail.
When it arrives the reply-to address is in fact the alias. But in looking at the header I see that my GMail address is listed as the return path. So it would be visible by looking at the header. As a test, I use the GMail Web page to send an e-mail to the alias to unsubscribe from an e-mail list. Sure enough it’s rejected as not finding my GMail address (instead of the alias). Although the reject was sent to the reply-to address which was the alias the look up must have used the return path. [After I start setting up my accounts I set up an identity using an alias on The OS Quest domain. This does mask the real address which is what I'm really looking for. So this appears to be a GMail thing and not a Thunderbird issue. In this case the alias points directly to the e-mail address.]
Expansion
It’s time to add another e-mail account to Thunderbird so I can see how well they play together. I’ll use my .Mac account which I’ll configure for IMAP. The setup is similar to the GMail account except it will use the GMail SMTP server (this isn’t unexpected as most e-mail clients I’ve seen use a default smtp server). Apple Mail uses a default server for all servers although the other servers are configured and available.
I click on the newly created Mac Mail (the name I picked) inbox in the folder pane of Thunderbird. I enter my password (clicking the option to save it) and all my folders appear from the server.
I remember seeing setting about offline use so I go into the account settings and select all folders (except trash and junk) for offline use. I also select the setting to make offline use the default for new folders. The next screen shows the Offline settings screen.
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Clicking the “Select Folders for offline use…” button displays a folder list. Clicking the check mark or dot toggle the offline use (check being available offline).
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Looking Around
I look around Thunderbird. Filters seem as flexible as Apple Mail. There is a search feature although I don’t use that a lot in e-mail.
One thing I’d like to get away from is having two sets of folders. Filters (aka rules) seem to be attached to folders. By having all mail delivered to local folders I’d only need one set of rules. Because Mac Mail uses IMAP there’s a separate set of folders there. While I can save sent mail, drafts and templates to the Mac Mail folders automatically it doesn’t appear I can have incoming mail sent to it directly. While there is an option to redirect incoming GMail, Mac mail isn’t in the list. I’m not sure I’d want to because this would probably result in multiple copies of e-mails (and probably why it’s not available).
The option to save sent mail, drafts and templates to the server is a plus. While Apple Mail applies the rules to all incoming mail without regard to which mailbox is processing it, at least Thunderbird can deliver all the POP mail to one folder. So in my environment I can send all my e-mail to one set of local folders for rule processing. My Mac mail isn’t used for much of anything besides testing and saving e-mail. So this should work.
Because all my saved mail is in my .Mac mailbox there’s no need for me to try the import from Apple Mail. They got added when I configured .Mac mail and set the folders for offline use.
As for my final requirements, the quality of the Spam filter will remain to be seen and so far I like Thunderbird.
E-Mail Settings
Now it’s time to go through all the settings and customize it to my use. As I configure the additional e-mail accounts I’ll use the same settings.
I make the following changes from the defaults under “Tools” -> “Account Settings:
- Empty trash on Exit enabled
- On replies I change the setting to “start my reply above the quote”
I make the following changes in Preferences:
- I turn off sound and alert notifications for new mail arrival
- I change “forward messages as” from “attachments” to “inline”.
- I enable auto save and leave it set to every 5 minutes.
- I check the return receipts setting but leave it as “Ask me” for all options.
- I change automatic updates (of Thunderbird) to “Ask Me” from the default of auto install
- I disable the setting to load images images if the sender is in my personal address book.
I also disable the preview pane from the view menu and set up the Junk mail filter from the tools menu. I get a message saying the junk mail filter will need to be trained.
I configure my other e-mail accounts in Thunderbird and make it my default e-mail client.
