Thunderbird setup with Standard, Advanced, Starter and StarterPlus mailboxes

by | Oct 14, 2012 | Email, FAQ | 0 comments

Thunderbird setup with Standard, Advanced, Starter and StarterPlus mailboxes

How do I set up my mailbox in Thunderbird?

Setting up your Standard, Advanced, Starter or StarterPlus mailbox in Thunderbird should take just a few minutes.

You can connect to your mailbox using either the POP3 or IMAP protocols. As a rule of thumb it is better to use POP3 if only one computer accesses your mailbox, while it is better to use IMAP if you have a number of computers that will access your mailbox.

This article was written for Mozilla Thunderbird 10. Please be aware that the process may vary slightly for different versions of Thunderbird.

Before you begin

Before you set your mailbox up you need to know if it is a Standard, Advanced, Starter or StarterPlus mailbox, and you need to make a note of your mailbox connection details.

If you are connecting to a Standard or Starter mailbox you will need your Internet Service Provider’s (ISP) outgoing mail server (SMTP) details. If you are unsure as to what these are you can either contact your ISP to request these details, or upgrade your email address to an StarterPlus mailbox.

If you are connecting to an Advanced, StarterPlus mailbox, or your broadband or dial up connection is supplied by Fasthosts, then you can use our roaming SMTP server settings to send your mail.

Step 1

Open Thunderbird.

You may be asked if you want to import settings from other email software, such as Outlook Express. This guide shows you how to set up a new mailbox from scratch.

Step 2

The Account Wizard will open, if you don’t have any other mailboxes set up in Thunderbird.

If the wizard does not open automatically, click Account Settings in the Tools menu.

Account Settings

Step 3

Click the Account Actions button and select Add Mail Account from the menu.

Add Email Account

Step 4

Enter your name in the Your Name text-box. This is what most people will see when you send them an email. Enter your email address in the Email Address text box and the password you chose when you added the mailbox in the Passwordfield. Click Continue.

Name, Email, and Password

Step 5

Thunderbird will search for your mailbox connection details, which may take a few moments.

Depending on your preferred connection, check POP or IMAP as the incoming server type, and click the Manual Configbutton.

Manual Config Button

Step 6

In the Incoming details row make sure the following details are listed.

  • Server hostname: mail.yourdomainname.com, where yourdomainname.com is your own domain name. For example mail.ralphsdomainname.com.
  • Port: If you selected IMAP as your connection type, the Port should be 143. If you selected POP3 it should be110. Thunderbird will set this automatically so you shouldn’t need to change it.
  • SSL: This should be set to None.
  • Authentication: This should be set to Normal password.

Incoming Details

Step 7

In the Outgoing details row enter the details of the outgoing mail server provided by your ISP.

If you are setting up an Advanced or StarterPlus mailbox you should enter smtp.yourdomain.com (replacingyourdomain.com with your own domain name) into the Server hostname text box. If you’re using external nameservers you can use smtp.livemail.co.uk instead. SSL should be set to None, and Authentication should be set to Normal password.

Outgoing Details

Step 8

Enter your full email address in the Username text-box and click Create Account.

If you have changed the Incoming mail server type from IMAP to POP3 or vice versa you will need to click Re-testbefore the Create Account button becomes available.

Username

Step 9

Thunderbird will display a warning. Select I understand the risks and click Create Account.

Step 10

Confirm the details you have entered. Click Finish and then click OK to close the Account Settings window.

Thunderbird is now set up to send and receive emails from your mailbox.