Thunderbird works largely the same on all platforms: Linux, Windows and Macintosh. For users working on more than one platform, Thunderbird can be a significant benefit comparing with other email clients. The solutions given here may vary slightly in naming and layout depending on the platforms. If you need to setup Thunderbird, consult this page first.

Transition question: How to turn on/off email forwarding from fsu.edu?

  • Login http://webmail.fsu.edu
  • From top menus, click Options/Mail/Settings
  • Check/uncheck "Enable forwarding"
    • Be careful not to create forwading loops with other email accounts!

How to display the size and number of messages in a folder?

  • Go to "Preferences / Advanced / General"
  • Check "Show expanded colums in the folder pane"
  • In the folder pane, click on the icon next to "Name" column and select Total and/or Size

    Thunderbird Preferences
  • Likewise each message size can be displayed by clicking on the icon in the email pane

How to setup reply above/before the original message?

  • Go to "Account Settings... / Composition & Addressing" of the mailbox in question
  • Check "Automatically quote the original message when replying"
  • Then, "Start my reply above the quote"
    and place my signature "below my reply (above the quote)" if preferred

How to setup FSU address book?

  • Go to "Preferences / Composition / Addressing"
  • Check "Directory Server"
  • Click on "Edit Directories..." and "Add" buttons
  • Enter the fields as shown (Hostname: addressbook.fsu.edu) below and make sure to use your own
    "Bind DN: uid=fsuid,ou=people,dc=fsu,dc=edu".
    After saving the settings, go to "Offline" tab and click on "Download Now", which should help with adddres completion performance.

    FSU Address Book Seetings
  • Under the "Directory Server" drop-down menu, select the address book just created.
    Now you should be able to get automatic address completion for FSU email addresses.

How to keep local copies of IMAP messages?

  • Go to "Account Settings... / Offline & Disk Space" of the mailbox in question
  • Check "When I create new folders, select them for offline use"
  • Click on "Select folders for offline use..." button and check folders you want to keep local copies.
    This is helpful on laptops so you can still read old messages when network connections are not available.
    • If you wonder where the messages are saved, go to "Accoutn Settings / Server Settings", "Local directory" should display the folder.

How to change the original message indicator from the colored bars to the traditional >?

  • Go to "Account Settings... / Composition & Addressing"
  • Uncheck "Compose messages in HTML format"
    • This is equivalent to "mail.identity.default.compose_html = false"

How to setup calendar in Thunderbird?

  • Download Lightning plugin for Thunderbird, which also provide "Tasks" service
    • One main drawback of the Tasks is the inability to save tasks and to transport them. If you have Gmail account, you are encouraged to use Google Calendar and its Tasks service instead.
    • Lightening plugin serves as a portal for various calendars you may have: FSU calendars, Google calendars and others. If you prefer a separate application altogether, use Sunbird. It is better to use Lightning plugin to only view the various calendars since changing calendar events may require complicated authentications. Its reminders may not be working properly each time you reload the calendars. SyncCGP plugin may help where Lightning is lacking, but we will try to keep things simple for now.
  • Install Lightning as follows
    • In Thunderbird, go to "Tools / Add-ons"
    • Click "Install" button, and select the file you downloaded and click "OK". Restart Thunderbird.
  • Under Calendar, go to "Calendar / New Calendar..."
  • Select "On the network" and click "Next".
  • For Google calendars, select "iCalendar" and enter in the "Location" with the private URL provided by Google unless your calendar is publicly available

    Google Calendars
  • For FSU calendars, select "Sun Java System Calendar Server (WCAP)" with "Location: https://webmail.fsu.edu:83" as shown below

    FSU Calendars

    FSU calendars can be configured via http://webmail.fsu.edu. Refers to this.