Thunderbird Mail FAQ

1. Where can I get general help for Thunderbird?

   The Mozilla Organisation hosts an online help resource.

2. How can I make links in an email message open in Firefox when I click on them?

   If you are using GNOME from an ACS Linux desktop system, you can run add_firefox_url_handlers.sh from the command line.

3. How do I set up an Email account with Thunderbird Mail (first time setup)?

   Note: if you have any questions about setting up Thunderbird that are not answered in this FAQ, please see the Thunderbird 1.0 Getting Started Guide

   Configure Thunderbird using the Account Wizard:

   1. Select Email account
   2. Enter your full name and email address
      Email address will be of the form: user@pha.jhu.edu.
   3. Select IMAP type account.
      Using incoming server: adcam.pha.jhu.edu and outgoing server: adcam.pha.jhu.edu.
   4. Enter your ACS username.
   5. Enter the account name.
      This should usually be of the form: user@pha.jhu.edu.
   6. Verify information and click Finish.
   7. Unfortunately, we are not done. So, cancel the login dialog box.
   8. Under the "Tools" menu select "Account Settings".
   9. Click on "Server Settings" in the box at the left side of the window.
   10. Select the "Use secure connection (SSL)" option under Server Settings
   11. Click on "Outgoing Server (SMTP)" in the box at the left side of the window.
   12. Ensure that under "Server Name:" you see "adcam.pha.jhu.edu"—if not, please enter it now.
   13. Check the "Use name and password" box
   14. Enter your ACS user name in the box
   15. Select the "TLS, if available" option
   16. Click the OK button
   17. From the main Thunderbird window, click the "Get Msgs" icon.
   18. Enter your password when prompted (you will only have to do this once per session)
       This is the password required for getting messages.
   19. Click the "OK" button
   20. Send a test message to yourself.
   21. Enter your password when prompted (you will only have to do this once per session).
       This is the password required for sending messages.

4. Why are two passwords necessary?

   Mail servers (aka SMTP servers) are configured to disallow relaying mail from unknown or non-local systems. This is necessary to prevent people from using the server as a base to launch SPAM campaigns. We now have the ability to login, using our username and password sent over a secure, encrypted channel, to the SMTP host from anywhere. This establishes a level of trust between the systems and enables mail to be relayed to other sites.

5. How do I delete a folder?

   When you try and delete a folder from Thunderbird, you see the following error message:

   The current command did not succeed. The mail server responded: RENAME failed: Can't create mailbox node /home/USER/Trash/: File exists.

   Doing this is slightly tricky. Instructions follow:

   1. Under the "File" menu, select "Subscribe...". Find the folder you would like to delete, select this folder, and click "Unsubscribe". Click "Ok".
   2. In order to permanently remove this folder, you must remove it from your hard drive. You can delete it either using your file browser or from the command line by issuing a rm -rf foldername/ command.