Introduction To Mozilla Thunderbird. Bob Booth January 2008 AP-Tbird1

Transcription

1 Introduction To Mozilla Thunderbird. Bob Booth January 2008 AP-Tbird1 University of Sheffield

2 Contents 1. Introduction Installing Thunderbird on Campus PCs MANAGED XP SERVICE PERSONAL WINDOWS (UNMANAGED) PCS PASSWORDS Using Thunderbird Received Messages READING NEW MAIL DELETING MESSAGES SORTING MESSAGES MESSAGE HEADERS JUNK MAIL SEARCHING FOR TEXT IN MESSAGES Sending a Mail Message SENDING TO MORE THAN ONE PERSON UNIVERSITY ADDRESSES FORMATTING THE MESSAGE RESTRUCTURING THE MESSAGE SENDING WEB OR ADDRESSES SAVING DRAFTS SAVING TEMPLATES SPELL CHECKING THE MESSAGE REPLYING FORWARDING A MESSAGE PRINTING MESSAGES Address Books and Mailing Lists ADDRESS BOOKS AND DIRECTORIES MAILING LISTS Signatures, Identities and vcards IDENTITIES VCARDS Organising Folders NEW FOLDERS MOVING AND COPYING MESSAGES DELETING MESSAGES SECOND LEVEL FOLDERS Sending and Receiving Attachments RECEIVING FILES SENDING FILES FORWARDING A MESSAGE WITH AN ATTACHMENT New Mail Filtering Vacation Messages Appendix: Installing Thunderbird SETTING UP THUNDERBIRD SETTING UP YOUR ACCOUNT SECURITY SETTINGS FINDING YOUR IMAP FOLDERS

3 1. Introduction For many years CiCS has provided versions of Pegasus Mail for PCs. In 2006 we began recommending Thunderbird instead. Thunderbird was created by the makers of Firefox, and has versions for PCs, Macintosh, Linux and Unix. It works very well with the mail storage methods used at the University of Sheffield. CiCS recommends that you use Thunderbird to access and send mail messages. However, the mail storage system that holds your mail messages will allow you to access these using Webmail, Outlook, Eudora or Pegasus. You can effortlessly switch between these mailers at any time. CiCS has created installer and conversion utilities to make it easy to set up and use Thunderbird on PCs at the University. This document also provides instructions for installing Thunderbird on a computer off campus. This document explains how to install Thunderbird at work and at home, and how to use many features of Thunderbird. It is complemented by a set of web pages that include hints and tips and solutions to common problems. For more information see These pages also contain information about anti-spam measures which van be read as web pages or downloaded as a PDF document entitled Anti-Spam in Thunderbird. 3

4 2. Installing Thunderbird on Campus PCs 2.1 Managed XP Service To install Thunderbird on the Managed XP Service, load the Applications menu, and then from the Applications menu select Thunderbird Mailer to install Thunderbird onto your U: drive. A Thunderbird icon will appear on the Programs menu, so that you do not have to load the Applications menu to use Thunderbird in future. In Pegasus Mail you may have a folder structure, distribution lists, and address books. CiCS have provided a script that will create copies of these for Thunderbird, but will leave the original Pegasus versions intact. From the Windows XP Start menu, select Run. In the dialog box type in the following command exactly: S:\THUNDERBIRD\CONVERT.BAT Click OK to run the script. When it has finished, close, then restart Thunderbird and you will see all your Pegasus Mail folders. You may also need to import your old Pegasus mailing lists and address books. Page 26 has instructions on how to do this. 4

5 2.2 Personal Windows (unmanaged) PCs To install Thunderbird on your personal PC, use My Computer or Windows Explorer, to open the S: drive and then the folder labelled WinXP, or Win NT or Win9x as appropriate. Towards the end of this folder you will see an Install Thunderbird Mailer icon. Double-click this icon to install Thunderbird onto your U: drive and to set up your IMAP mail account. You will be invited to convert your Pegasus Mail folders, address books and mailing lists into Thunderbird. Click Yes and a Command window will open and run a script that creates copies of these for Thunderbird, but will leave the original Pegasus versions intact. When it has finished you should confirm that you wish to use Thunderbird as your default mailer. Thunderbird will start up and be ready to use. 2.3 Passwords As it starts, Thunderbird will attempt to connect to your store, and will ask for your password. Enter your password, then if you are the only person that uses your computer, check the box to use Password Manager to remember this password. Click OK. When you send your first message, Thunderbird will attempt to connect to the server that sends messages, and will ask for your password. Again, enter your password and check the box if you want Thunderbird to remember it. Click OK to send the message and return to Thunderbird. If you ever want to remove your stored passwords from Thunderbird, click the Tools menu and select Options. Click the Privacy icon, then click the Passwords tab. To access your passwords, click the View Saved Passwords button, then if you want to remove them, click the Remove All button. 5

6 3. Using Thunderbird Once installed, you can start Thunderbird from the Start menu. The main window will appear with various mail folders in the left-hand column. When you click a folder in the left-hand column, the messages contained in the folder will be listed in the upper right pane. When you click a message in the upper right pane, its contents are displayed in the lower right pane. If you double-click a message entry in the upper right pane, a new window will open to display the message contents. Section 8 explains how to manage mail folders. 6

7 4. Received Messages 4.1 Reading New Mail Thunderbird holds new messages in the Inbox and lets you store old messages in folders. To read a message either click on its list entry to display its contents in the Message Pane below, or double-click the message to view it in a new window. The message reader window has a scroll bar to let you read long messages, but it is not an editor so you can't change what is written. When you have read the message you can close this new window using the usual close button. To load and read any new messages, either click on the Get Mail button, or wait for Thunderbird to automatically retrieve the new messages. If you have configured Thunderbird to access more than one account, see section 12.2, you can click the downward pointing arrow, on the right of this button, to load mail from a specific account. 4.2 Deleting Messages If you do not need to keep the message, use the Delete button to get rid of it. We recommend that use this button a lot! When you have deleted a message it goes into the Trash folder in the left pane. Click the Trash item to display its contents in the upper right pane. If you need to rescue a message, drag its header back to the Inbox. Once you shut down Thunderbird, all the messages in the Trash folder are removed. If you don t want to wait until then, you can right-click Trash and select Empty Trash, or you can select Empty Trash from the File menu. 7

8 4.3 Sorting Messages Initially, messages in your mail folders are sorted by date and time, with the most recent message at the top of the list. It is often easier to locate a message if your folder is sorted by sender or by subject. To sort your messages you can click on the header of the column by which you want your mail sorted. So, if you wanted to find a message that you received a week ago, you could click on the word Date to sort your messages and then scroll down the list to the date in question. However, some messages arrive with the incorrect date, and can disappear among your list of messages. Instead we suggest you sort your message by the Order Received field. You can display additional fields by clicking the button at the end of the row, and selecting fields from the menu. It is also possible to sort your messages using menu commands. To do this, click the View menu and select Sort by. 4.4 Message Headers By default, Thunderbird will display a medium sized group of headers. By clicking the minus (-) button you can reduce this to a single line. 4.5 Junk Mail If Thunderbird thinks that a message is unsolicited junk mail it will place a junk icon in the message list. It will also add a warning to the message. If the message is not junk mail you should click the Not Junk button. Sometimes, junk mail will arrive, and Thunderbird will think it is a legitimate message. If this happens, select the message and click the Junk button. Thunderbird will mark this as junk, and when any similar messages arrive in future, Thunderbird will remember that they are junk and will mark them accordingly. 8

9 4.6 Searching for Text in Messages You can search for words, phrases, and names in a single message, or in all message in a particular folder, or even in all messages in all folders. Quick Search of Message Headers You can use the Subject or Sender box to search quickly through all messages in a specific folder. Type in a keyword, or the name of the sender, and Thunderbird will display a subset of the current folder, which contains all matching messages. To search through a different folder, select the folder in the left-hand folder structure, then type text into the Subject or Sender box. Searching Through the Text Within a Message To search for a string of text in a specific message, first select the message to display its contents in the message pane. Click the Edit menu and select Find and then Find in This Message. In the dialog box that appears, type the word that you are looking for, then click the Find Next button. If the text is found you will see it become highlighted in the message, behind the dialog box. You can click Find Next repeatedly until you find a specific occurrence. Detailed Search of All Messsages To search for the string in all messages, select Find from the Edit menu, then select Search Messages to see the following: Use the drop down list, labelled Search for messages in, to indicate the folder that you wish to search in. Either search in a specific folder such as inbox, or search through a folder tree by selecting the top level folder. 9

10 The search criteria are specified by three fields, initially, they are set to Subject contains. If you type text into the third box and click the Search button you will generate a list of all messages that contain the specified word in their Subject field. You can open and read any message from the list. You can change the first field to search for text that appears in the Body of a message, or by its Sender or Date. You can change the second field to search for messages that do not contain a specified word or phrase. If the list is too general you can click the plus button to add additional search criteria. Search Folders When any search is complete, you can click the Save as Search Folder button. A new folder, which holds all these search results, will appear in your folder list. Furthermore, it is a dynamic list; any future messages that meet the search criteria will be available from the search folder. Returning to View all Messages After a Quick or Detailed search, you will see a subset of the original folder, which contains matching messages. To discard this subset, and view the full contents of the folder, simply click on any different folder to display its contents, then click the original folder to display its full contents. 10

11 5. Sending a Mail Message To compose a message to send to someone, first click on the Write button. A Compose window will appear. First you should type the address of your correspondent in the To field. As you type, a list of similar addresses held in your address book will appear, you can click on the correct address. Then you should move to the Subject field, by clicking or tabbing, and enter a subject for the message. It is this subject that will appear in the recipient s folder list, so you should choose meaningful subjects for your messages. Next you click on the large white area of the message window to compose your message. You will see a vertical bar, called the insertion point, where your text will appear. Start typing your message. As you reach the end of a line, Thunderbird will automatically start a new line for you, and when you reach the end of a paragraph or section you can start a new line by pressing the Enter key. To correct small mistakes you should position the insertion point by the offending text, using either the arrow keys or by clicking with the mouse. You can then type in any missing characters, or use the Backspace and Delete keys tp delete surplus ones. Finally, when you have completed you message, click on the Send button. Provided the address is correct your message will be sent, and it will quickly arrive at its destination. 11

12 5.1 Sending to More than One Person You will notice that there are several blank lines directly below the To: field. If you need to send a message to more than one person you can type an additional address on each line. It is not possible to send a message to several people by simply typing all their addresses into a single To: field. You can also send carbon copies of any message. Click the arrow in one of the To: fields to display the options. If you choose Cc: you can add addresses of people to whom you would like to send copies of the message you are sending. Whilst the To: field is for people to whom the message is directed, the Cc: field should be used for people who are merely interested parties. When the recipients receive your message they will be able to see whom it is directed at and who has received carbon copies. You can also send blind carbon copies to people. Type an address into Bcc: and you will send that person a copy of the message, without anybody else knowing. Also you can send yourself a copy of your message by including your own address in either a To: or Cc: field. Easier still, you can click the Options menu of the message compose window, and select Send a Copy To. You can then specify which folder to put your copy in. To keep a copy of every message you send, click the Tools menu, and select Account Settings. In the dialog box, click the Copies & Folders entry in the left hand column, then on the right, specify the folder to keep your copies in. 5.2 University Addresses If you have installed Thunderbird using the utility provided by CiCS, it is very easy to find University addresses. To find the address of any University member, type their surname into the To: field. Thunderbird will return a list of all University members with that surname. You can scroll to select the correct address. If this does not work on your Thunderbird setup, or if you wish to search for student addresses as well as staff, see section

13 5.3 Formatting the Message At the University, Thunderbird is set to produce unformatted, plain text messages. If you prefer to send formatted messages, click the Tools menu and select Account Settings. Then, in the Composition & Addressing pane, check the box labelled Compose messages in HTML format. Click the Ok button. HTML formatting allows you to select text and apply formatting. To select a single word, simply double-click it, to select a section of text you should drag over it with the mouse. To format the selected text you should use the formatting toolbar. The first menu contains paragraph styles. The second menu contains fonts. The black/white square icon lets you select font colours. The A buttons let you increase or decrease the font size. B I U gives you bold, italic and underline. The next two buttons give bulleted and numbered lists. The next two increase or decrease paragraph indents. The button with an arrow lets you align a paragraph The final button lets you add a link, a picture, a line, or a table. These options can also be set using the Format menu. Although these html text features are very attractive, they should be used with caution. If you send a message to non-thunderbird users, their mailers may not support html text and, as a result, there will be a lot of unpleasant tags within your message. It is safe to send formatted messages to Sheffield colleagues, but if you are sending messages outside of the University it is wise to resist formatting your message. 5.4 Restructuring the Message To delete a large section of text, select it then press the Delete key. Alternatively, you could replace all selected text by typing new text. You can also restructure your message by moving chunks of text around. To move a section of text, first select it with the mouse then position the mouse within the selected text. You can then click and drag the selected text to a new position within the message. To move a section of text a large distance it may be better to first select the text, and then choose Cut from the Edit menu to remove it from the message. You can then reposition this text somewhere else by moving the insertion point to a new location and selecting Paste from the Edit menu. The text will reappear at the new position. To copy a section of text to a second position you should select Copy from the Edit menu rather that Cut. 13

14 5.5 Sending Web or Addresses If you wish to send a Web page address or an address to someone you just need to type the address in as normal. You should specify the web address with the When your recipient reads the message, the software will recognise the format of these addresses and will display them in blue underlined text. This person can then click a Web address to load it into their Web browser, or they can click an address to send a message to that address. 5.6 Saving Drafts If you are typing a long carefully worded message it can be frustrating if you get interrupted by something that has to be dealt with immediately. Fortunately, Thunderbird provides a feature to save a partially constructed message to be completed at a later date. When you are writing a message and have to stop, select Save As from the File menu, and then Draft. The message will be saved in the Drafts folder, and you can open and complete the message at a later date. Alternatively, if you want draft messages to be saved in a different place you can change your preferences. Click the Tools menu and select Account Settings. In the dialog box that appears, click the Copies & Folders item in the left-hand tree, then in the right-hand pane you can specify the folder in which you prefer to save your draft messages. 5.7 Saving Templates If you regularly need to write similar messages or replies to various people, you can save a standard version as a template. Click the Write button to open the Compose Message window. Provide a Subject, but leave the To field blank, then write the content of the message into the message body area. To save it as a message template, click the File menu and select Save As, then from the submenu, select Template. The message will be saved into a new folder called Templates. To send a message based on this template, open the Templates folder, identity the required template by its Subject, then click to display it. You can then fill in the missing details and click the Send button. The message will be sent, but the raw template will still remain in the folder. 14

15 5.8 Spell Checking the Message As you type the message, Thunderbird will check the spelling. If it detects a word that it does not recognise, it will underline that word in red. You can right click the offending word to generate a list of alternative spellings. If the underlined word is spelt correctly, you can select Ignore Word from the menu, or you can select Add to Dictionary to ensure that the spell checker accepts it in the future. Alternatively, you can check the spelling in the message after you have finished typing it. To check the message, position the insertion point at the beginning of the message, then click the Spell button. Thunderbird will then check all words in the message and alert you to the first word that it does not recognise. A list of correct spellings will be offered in the Suggestions box. To accept a suggestion, select it and click the Replace button to change the incorrect word. If you suspect that you may have misspelled this word several times in your message, click the Replace All button to change every occurrence. The spell checker will then look for the next incorrect word. If it objects to a word that is spelled correctly you can click the Ignore or Ignore All buttons. Alternatively, if this is an unusual word that you are likely to use in future messages, click the Add Word button to add this word to the Thunderbird dictionary. The word will then be approved for all future spell checks. When the spell check is complete, click the Close button. 15

16 5.9 Replying To reply to the sender of a message you should click the Reply button, either while you are viewing the message, or while you have the message highlighted in the folder list. The message will appear in a compose window with coloured, vertical lines spanning the original message. The cursor will be at the bottom, ready for you to write your reply, but you can click anywhere within the message to add your reply text at specific positions. When you have completed the message click the Send button as usual. Your reply will be sent to the person who originally sent it to you. If the original message that you received, was sent to several people you can use the Reply All button to send your reply to the sender and to everyone who received a copy of the original. If you would prefer the cursor to appear at the top of a message that you are replying to, you can change your account settings. Click the Tools menu and select Account Settings. In the dialog box that appears, click the Composition & addressing option in the left-hand structure. In the right-hand pane, select start my reply above the quote. Click the OK button. 16

17 5.10 Forwarding a Message Remember to seek the consent of the sender before forwarding their thoughts to the rest of the world. To forward a message that you have received to any interested colleagues, you should click on the Forward button, either while you are viewing the message, or while the message is highlighted in the folder list. A new message, containing the text of the original message will open. Type in the recipient s address in the To: field, add any comments that you d like to make in the message body, then click Send. If you would like the contents of the original message to be displayed as an attachment, click the Tools menu, then select Options. In the dialog box, click the Composition icon then, in the Forward messages list box, select As Attachment. 17

18 5.11 Printing Messages If you need a paper copy of an message you can print it out by selecting or displaying the message, then clicking on the Print button. You will see a dialog box similar to the following: Thunderbird will select your default printer, but you can change this using the drop down list labelled Name. Select the number of copies you want, or indicate specific pages, then click OK. If you wish to check how a page will look when printed you can use the Print Preview function. Click the downward arrow by the Print button to reveal a small menu. Click the Print Preview option and a new window will appear displaying the message as it would appear on paper. A toolbar at the top lets you change the appearance of the printed message. Click Print to print from here, or Close to return to the message. 18

19 6. Address Books and Mailing Lists 6.1 Address Books and Directories When you are writing a message, you can search for an address by typing the surname of your contact into the address field. Thunderbird will look for matching people who appear in any of your address books, or in a specified single directory. To view your address books and directories, click the Address Book button. You will see a screen similar to: Initially, you should have two address books and two directories. The directories give access to all staff and student addresses. The collected address book collects the addresses of all the people to whom you send messages and the personal address book is where you can manually add the names of your contacts. Although you have a staff directory and a student directory, Thunderbird will only access one of these when you are writing a message. By default, Thunderbird will search the staff directory, as most staff send messages to colleagues more than students. However, you can change the configuration so that you instead access student addresses when writing a message, or you can create a third directory that contains both staff and student addresses. 19

20 Creating a Directory If your installation of Thunderbird does not contain these directories you can easily introduce them yourself. Additionally, you can have a new directory that contains both staff and students. In the Address Books window, from the File menu, select New, and then LDAP Directory. In the dialog box that appears, click the Add button. For a staff directory, add the following text in the properties window. For a directory of all students directory, type in a name such as Students, and in Base DN, type ou=students, ou=people, o=shef.ac.uk For undergraduate students use the name Undergraduates, and Base DN, ou=undergraduate, ou=students, ou=people, o=shef.ac.uk For all postgraduate students use the name Postgrads, and Base DN, ou=postgraduate, ou=students, ou=people, o=shef.ac.uk For taught postgraduates use the name Taught Postgrads, and Base DN, ou=taught, ou=postgraduate, ou=students, ou=people, o=shef.ac.uk For research postgraduates use the name Research Postgrads, and Base DN, ou=research, ou=postgraduate, ou=students, ou=people, o=shef.ac.uk Finally, for all University members use the name All and the Base DN ou=people, o=shef.ac.uk Click OK to close the dialog box. You will see an entry for your directory with the other address books. 20

21 Using a Directory when Composing Messages If you type a surname into the To: field of a message, Thunderbird should check this name against the Staff directory and return all matching staff addresses. If it does not do this, or if you wish to access a different directory, you can change your settings. To choose a directory, click the Tools menu and select Account settings. In the dialog box that appears, select Composition & Addressing from the left hand column. In the Addressing pane on the right, ensure that Use a different LDAP server: is selected, and select the directory that you wish to use from the drop down list. In the example below it is the Student Directory. Click OK to return to Thunderbird. Now, when you are writing a message, if you type a surname into the To: field, Thunderbird will generate a list of addresses with that surname from your chosen directory. Managing Address Books You should use your Personal Address Book to store the details of University members that you wish to appear at the top of the list when you search for a name, and for your external contacts. Each time you send a message, the address will be automatically added to your collected addresses book, and will appear at the top of the list of similar surnames when you next send a message to that person. If you want to, you can change your options so that these addresses get added to the Personal Address Book instead. When you receive a message from a contact, you can quickly add their address to your Personal Address Book. To add the address, right-click the address in the message viewer, not the message list, and select Add to Address Book. You can manually add someone to your personal address book by selecting it then clicking the New Card button. You will see a screen with many fields to fill in. Add in the contact details, especially in the Name and Internet sections, and then click OK. 21

22 If you supply a nickname you can them simply by typing it into the To: field of the message editor. Thunderbird will recognise the name and will supply the correct address. You can create as many additional address books as you want. To create a new address book, click the File menu in the Address Book window, Select New, then select Address Book. Provide a name then click OK. 6.2 Mailing Lists Mailing lists are invaluable if you are in a research group, committee, or any collection of people with a common interest. You can set up a distribution list, which means that, rather than typing addresses into lots of To: fields in your message, you can just specify a distribution list, and all addresses in that list will be sent a copy of your message. To set up a distribution list click the Address Book button. In the window that appears, click the New List button to see the following: Each distribution list is held in an address book. In the list labelled Add to: you can choose either the Personal Address Book or Collected Addresses to hold 22

23 your list. Alternatively, you could close this window and create a new address book to hold all your distribution lists. When you have chosen an address book, type in a descriptive List name for your distribution list. Next, give it a Nickname that is short and has no spaces; the nickname is very useful, so choose something that is easy to remember. Type in a short description, and then add the addresses, one per line, into the lined area below. If you want to have a copy of all messages that you send to this list, add your own address. When you have finished, click OK. Editing the Mailing List When you add a mailing list to an address book, you will see a plus sign appear by the name of the address book in the list. If you click the plus sign, you will reveal all the mailing lists contained in that address book. You cannot edit a mailing list from the Address Books window. To edit the contents of any mailing list, double-click the mailing list name. The mailing list window will open and you can see all of the addresses in the list. You can add new addresses by typing in the blank fields at the bottom of the list. To delete someone from the mailing list, drag over an existing address to select it, then press the Delete key. When you have finished, click OK. 23

24 Sending a Message to a Mailing List To send a message to the people in a list, click the Write button to open the Compose window, then in the To field type in the nickname of the list. Add a subject, and then type your message as usual. When you click the Send button, a copy of the message will be sent to all people on the list. If you don t remember the nickname, you should click the Address Books button to reveal all your address books and mailing lists. Click on the name of the list that you wish to send a message to, and then click the Write button that is situated in the address books window. Type and send your message as above. Hiding the Addresses in a Mailing List Message When you send a message to a mailing list in Thunderbird, all the addresses that the message is sent to will be listed in the header of the message. If you do not want these addresses to be displayed to all recipients take the following steps: 1. Type your own, address into the To field. It may be useful to have a separate identity for each mailing list, see section Type the address book nickname into the second To field 3. Change the second To field into a blind carbon copy, Bcc field When you send the message, you will receive a copy, and the people on the distribution list will see a copy, but the addresses of the people on the distribution list will be hidden. To have the name of the mailing list displayed in the From field of message, you can edit the To field as follows. Type angle-brackets around your address in the To field, then type the list name, or any descriptive text, before the angle brackets. In the example above, members of the mailing list would each receive a message addressed to CiCS Trainers. 24

25 Importing Address Books and Mailing Lists from Pegasus If you have installed Thunderbird on a University PC, as described in sections 2.2 and 2.3, you will have converted your old Pegasus address books and mailing lists into LDIF files. Each address book will have a file, but all distribution lists will be in one file, Pegasus Lists.ldif. These files can be imported into Thunderbird. To do this, first select Import from the Tools menu. In the dialog that appears, select Address Books, and click Next. In the next screen, select the Text file option and click Next. The following window will appear: Navigate to your U: drive and you will see the LDIF files. Select one and click Open, then Finish. Repeat the whole process for each LDIF file. When you open the Address Books window, you will see an address book item for each of the Pegasus address books that you imported, plus an additional address book labelled Pegasus Lists. This single address book will contain all the mailing lists from your Pegasus Mail installation. 25

26 7. Signatures, Identities and vcards A signature is a piece of text that appears at the bottom of each message that you send. It usually contains your name and your contact details. To create a signature, click the Write button, then in the Compose window type in a signature such as: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Name Department Address Extension Fax ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Next you need to save this in a text file. From the File menu select Save As and then File. Give it a filename such as signature1, then click the Save button. The signature file will automatically get the.txt extension. To use this signature you need to edit your account settings. Click the Tools menu and select Account Settings. Click on the account name at the top of the folder tree, and then tick the box labelled Attach this signature. Click the Choose button to see a window listing your files. In this window select your signature file, then click the Open button. Click the OK button in the Account Settings window to confirm these changes. Now, whenever you send an , your signature will appear at the end. 26

27 Thunderbird will only let you assign one signature in this way. To create additional signatures, you will need to assume an additional identity. 7.1 Identities Thunderbird will only let you have one default signature, but it allows you to create additional identities and each identity can have its own signature. So if you want, for example, one signature when you contact friends, another when you contact University colleagues, and another when you contact external colleagues, you should set up signature files for each as described in the previous section. One you have separate signature files you can create an identity for each. To create an identity, click the Tools menu and select Account settings. When you see the Account Settings screen, click the Manage Identities button. In the screen that appears, click the Add button to access your identity settings. In the dialog box, type in your address and supply a name. Choose the name carefully. Your identity names should allow you to distinguish between your identities, but they will appear in the From: field in all messages that you send from the identity, and so should make it clear that you are the sender. When you have chosen a name, you can attach a signature to this identity by checking the Attach this signature box and clicking the Choose button to specify your signature file, as before. When you have done this, click OK to return to the original identities box. From here you can add another identity, or you can click OK to return to your account settings. 27

28 When you compose a message, you can select any identity from the From: box that appears above the To: field. This may result in a message with two signatures! Check your message for multiple signatures, and delete any surplus ones. 7.2 vcards A vcard is an attractively formatted signature, which appears similar to: When a message that contains a vcard is sent to someone, the message appears to have an attachment. If it is read on a compatible mailer such as Thunderbird, the vcard is displayed at the end of the text and the message no longer appears to have an attachment. If it is read on an incompatible mailer, however, it stays as an attachment. To create a vcard, click the Tools menu and select Account settings. In the area below the signature settings, tick the box labelled Attach my vcard to messages. To create the vcard, click the Edit Card button. There are three panes of information. The Contact pane is displayed above, and there is an Address pane for your job title and address details. There is 28

29 also a pane labelled Other that provides a text box in which you can write anything. Visit each pane to supply the details that you wish to appear in your vcard. Click OK to return to your account settings, and then click OK again to return to the mailer. Try sending a message to yourself to check whether the card appears in the desired format. 29

30 8. Organising Folders Thunderbird organises messages in a system of folders. New mail is held in the Inbox. Deleted messages typically go into Trash, which will be emptied automatically when you shut down Thunderbird. Message that you have sent go into Sent, and incomplete messages that you have saved go into Drafts. In addition, you can create your own folders to organise and categorise your messages. You can create a new folder for one area of your work, then put all message relating to that area of work into this new folder. You can then proceed to create a folder for each other area of work, and file your messages accordingly. 8.1 New Folders To create a new folder, click the File menu and select New, and then select Folder from the submenu to see the following window: Specify a name for your folder, indicate the parent folder that contains it, then click OK. Your new folder will be visible in the folder structure. You can then move messages from your inbox into this new folder. 30

31 8.2 Moving and Copying Messages You can move and copy messages between folders either one at a time or in selected groups. To select more than one message you should hold down the Ctrl key whilst you click on each message required. Alternatively, you can select a series of adjacent messages by selecting the first message as usual then holding down the Shift key whilst you click the last message in the range. All messages in between will become selected. To move messages from one folder to another you should select the messages in the folder list, and then drag them onto the destination folder. To make a copy of messages in a second folder, select the messages then drag them into the destination folder whilst holding down the Ctrl key. Alternatively, you can select the messages then click the Message menu, select Move or Copy as appropriate, then select the destination folder from the menu. 8.3 Deleting Messages If your Accounts Settings are set correctly, then deleting messages is straightforward. Select the messages then either press the Delete key or click the Delete button. Alternatively, right-click the message and select Delete. However, with incorrect settings, the messages will appear to be deleted, but will still be held on the mail server, using up your filestore. To set the correct settings, click the Tools menu and select Account Settings. Click the Server Settings item in the left-hand tree, then set the following options on the right: Deleted message will be moved to the Trash folder, which will be emptied successfully each time you exit Thunderbird. 8.4 Second Level Folders Finally, if you find that you have so many folders that they become difficult to manage, you can collect groups of folders together. Whenever you create a folder, you can also create subfolders beneath it. Select the parent folder, then click the File menu and select New. Select Subfolder from the submenu. In the dialog box, ensure that you select the appropriate parent folder then click OK. This can be repeated for several levels if needed, however, you should avoid having too many levels of folders. 31

32 9. Sending and Receiving Attachments 9.1 Receiving Files As well as sending messages to colleagues, you can exchange work files. You can send word documents, spreadsheets, data files, and photos etc, but not executable files, as these can be used in virus attacks. When the message with an attachment arrives at its destination the recipient has to separate the file from the message. If someone sends you a message with a file attached to it you will see a paperclip icon to the left of the title in the message list. When you open the message you will see a window similar to the following: If you double-click the attachment, you will see a dialog box asking to confirm whether to open the file in its native software. Click the OK button so that you can read it, edit it, save it or print it. If you edit the file, make sure that you save it using Save as from the File menu. This will ensure that the file is saved in a sensible folder, rather than deep in the windows temp folder. If you right click the attachment, you will see a pop-up menu that gives you more options. Importantly, this lets you Delete the attachment, which is useful if you have already saved a copy. You can also Detach the attachment, which reconstructs the message in a new structure. A copy of the attachment is saved on your computer. The message text appears as a normal message, but contains a link to the detached file. This has several advantages. There is one single copy of the file, it is available from the original message, it does not take up space in your mail account, it is also available in your computer folders, it can be viewed and edited outside of Thunderbird. 32

33 9.2 Sending Files To send a file you must first click on the Write button to open the Compose window. Click on the Attach button even though the message may be blank. You will get window similar to the following: Navigate through your folders to select a file you wish to send, then click the Open button to attach it to the message. If you wish to send a second file on the same message, click the Attach button again, select the second file and click Open. Repeat this for each file that you wish to send. When you have built up your list of files, return to the message editor and type in a message. Click the Send button to send the message with the files. 9.3 Forwarding a Message with an Attachment If you forward, or reply to, a message with an attachment, the files attached will be sent with the message. However, you must be careful if you have viewed the file, then edited it, as the original version of the file will be forwarded, not the edited version. When you save an edited version of a file that was sent as an attachment, the file is saved in your temp folder. However, it is much safer to select Save as, then choose a sensible location for the file. To forward an edited file, first select the message that contains the original version of the file, and click the Forward button. The message will open in the Compose window. You will see the original version of the file is still attached; right-click it, then select Delete. Next, click the Attach button, and select your edited version of the file. Type the address into the To field, then click the Send button. 33

34 10. New Mail Filtering New mail filtering is a very powerful feature, which instructs Thunderbird to process messages automatically as they arrive. You can, for example, move all messages from a specific person into a folder as they arrive, you can send automatic acknowledgements to certain people or you could delete messages from a specific source without even reading them. To begin filtering messages, click the Tools menu and select Message filters. You will see a dialog box, in which a list of rules can be constructed. To add new rules to this empty list, click the New button to produce the following box: 34

35 The dialog box presents a structure in which you can construct message filters. 1. You first type in the string of text that will identify certain messages. (For example if you are filtering messages from f.bloggs@sheffield you could specify Sender contains bloggs.) 2. Next you indicate what action should be taken if the condition is met, by choosing actions from the list, and if necessary specifying the folder. When you have your filtering rule set up, give it a name and then click on the OK button to return to the list of rules. You can add an additional rule by clicking New again. Once you have developed your collection of filters, check that they are in the correct order. For example you cannot filter messages from an overseas family member if you have already moved all external messages into a different folder. To change the position of a filter, use the Move Up and Move Down buttons. In addition to mail filtering rules that examine the headers of messages, there are rules that examine dates, or look for regular expressions. You can use header matches in most cases, but occasionally you might need one of the other types. For each type of filtering rule the principles are the same. 35

36 11. Vacation Messages There is a facility that lets you set up an automatic reply to messages that are sent to you, while you are away. This is an 'intelligent' auto-reply in that: It only replies to personal , i.e. your address appears in the To: field. It only ever replies once to any given address. It does not reply to messages from lists, postmaster, mailer-daemon, etc To set up a vacation message simply send a plain text message to vacation@sheffield.ac.uk. In the Subject: field of the message, specify the date that you want the automatic replies to stop, such as the Friday before you return. Enter the date in the form dd-mm-yy (or dd/mm/yy or dd:mm:yy or dd.mm.yy). In the message body, you should write the text that you wish to be sent out as your automatic reply, so don't start your message with, "Please set up a vacation message...". The automatic replies will start as soon as this message is received, and will stop at 6pm on the date specified above. If you wish to cancel the vacation message earlier, send another message to vacation@sheffield.ac.uk with the word remove in the Subject: field. Example message From: B.Booth@sheffield.ac.uk To: vacation@sheffield.ac.uk Date: Thu, 1 Jul :14: Subject: I am away in the USA until Monday, 19 July. If you need to contact me urgently, please phone The CiCS Helpdesk wil be able to help with most queries. Contact the Helpdesk by at helpdesk@shef.ac.uk, or phone Bob Booth University of Sheffield Tel:

37 12. Appendix: Installing Thunderbird You can install Thunderbird on your home computer from the website Versions are available for PCs, Macs, and Linux and Unix machines. The website will detect your computer type, then let you download the appropriate version free. Once downloaded, double-click the install icon to run the wizard. 1. In the first screen, Welcome to Mozilla Thunderbird!, click Next. 2. In the second screen, Software License Agreement, click the option I accept the terms of the License Agreement then click Next. 3. In the third screen, Setup Type, select Standard then click Next. 4. In the fourth screen, Summary, click Next, then wait. 5. In the fifth screen, Install Complete, ensure that Launch Mozilla Thunderbird now is checked, then click Finish Setting up Thunderbird When you start Thunderbird you should see the following screen: First you will need to set up your account, then you must specify the correct security settings. 37

38 12.2 Setting up your Account The first thing you need to do is direct Thunderbird towards your account. To do this click Create a new account, or alternatively look in the File menu, under New. When the wizard starts, select the following: 1. In the first screen, New Account Setup, choose account, then click Next. 2. In the second screen, Identity, provide your name and your address and click Next. 3. In the third screen, Server Information, click the IMAP option and specify the server imap.shef.ac.uk and click Next. 4. In the fourth screen, User Names, type in your login name, and click Next. 5. In the fifth screen, Account Name, provide a name for the account, such as University Account, then click Next. 6. In the sixth box, Congratulations! click Finish. You mail account will be set up, and an entry for it will appear alongside the existing mail folders in the left column of the Thunderbird screen Security Settings From the Tools menu, select Account Settings. Select Server Settings from the left hand list, then ensure that the TLS radio button is checked. Next, select Outgoing Server (SMTP) from the left hand list, then click the Edit button. In the dialog box, ensure that the TLS, if available radio button is checked. Click the OK button in each dialog box to return to Thunderbird. 38

39 12.4 Finding your IMAP Folders If you already have mail folders on the IMAP server from a previous IMAP mail client, you can make these visible to Thunderbird by subscribing to them Right-click your inbox, and from the pop-up menu select Subscribe. A box will open, displaying all your folders on the IMAP server. Tick your IMAP folders, then click Subscribe, and click OK to finish. All your IMAP folders should be displayed under your Inbox. 39