How to Connect Your Email Account to Thunderbird

Thunderbird is one of the most popular open source tools for email management. Below we will present how to connect your email account to Thunderbird and edit the configuration  settings for a secure and encrypted connection to the server.

Connecting an Account for the First Time

When you open Thunderbird for the first time, it displays the following page, where you fill in your full name or a display name, the email account you want to connect, and the email password.
After filling in the details, click “Configure manually” so that you can enter the recommended email settings shown below, which you can also find in our related article “Email Settings”.

Recommended: Manual Configuration

Here you have the ability to select the communication settings with the server that hosts your mail.

First, for incoming communication:

• • Protocol: IMAP / POP3
  • Hostname: incoming mail server (mail.example.org)
  • Port: for IMAP enter 993 / for POP3 enter 995
  • Connection security: select “SSL/TLS” to encrypt incoming mail
  • Authentication method: Normal Password (the password entered in the previous step)
  • Username: the email account you want to connect

Then, for outgoing communication:

• • Hostname: outgoing mail server (mail.example.org)
  • Port: 587
  • Connection security: “STARTTLS” to encrypt outgoing mail
  • Authentication method: Normal Password (the password entered in the previous step)
  • Username: the email account you want to connect

Finally, click the “DONE” button to connect to your email account. If the details you have provided are correct, you will receive a message confirming a successful connection to your account.

Click “Finish” to go to your account’s mailbox.

The process of connecting your email account to Thunderbird is now complete.

Modifying the Settings of a Connected Account

If you have previously connected your account and want to edit the connection settings with the email server, click the gear icon located at the bottom left and then select “Account Settings”.

In the Account Settings tab, you can edit the “Server Settings” related to incoming communication.

To edit the settings related to outgoing communication, select “Outgoing Server” from the left panel.

It is important to always use encrypted incoming and outgoing communication to ensure greater security when exchanging mail.

WARNING: It is essential to select the correct settings for your email account, as otherwise your IP will be blocked by our security measures. You can read more in our related article “IP Blocked for Security Reasons”.