Thunderbird for E-Mail

 

Thunderbird for E-Mail Why? How Email works Email clients Office 2007 disables spelling checking in Outlook Express What is Thunderbird (and do I have to drink it in a brown paper bag)? 1. Downloading it 2. Installing & configuring for LionsLink 3. Extensions 4. Files for your email 5. Drawbacks? Drafts

 

[version 2009.2.19.a]

 

Why?

 

If it's good enough for Brian Scott... an alternative to LionsLink and other online email services.

Brian indicates that, because this puts less load on the server, using an email client like Thunderbird (or Outlook) is as good as shifting to LionsMail during busy periods.

 

How Email works

 

LionsLink, Cox, and many other email systems work in more than one way.  You can go online and use them that way, but it's slower and takes up more server time at their end, especially if you leave it connected all day.

 

Or, you can set up an email client on your computer, and download everything at once to it, and then only be in touch with the server long enough to receive or send email.  It checks for new email every so often (you set the timer), it lets you work faster, and avoids many of the limitations you have working with the online system. 

 

Also, you have a choice about leaving your mail on the server, or keeping it on your computer -- or both!

 

What happens when the campus changes systems?  You just adjust your client to the new system (which I did when we switched in 2008).  You keep your address book, your files, everything, and don't have to wait for them to be loaded.

 

Email clients

Now, a popular program is Microsoft Outlook.  It costs $ (unless you buy it as part of other software or you get the fewer-featured Outlook Express), it's a primary target for malware and hackers, it gets broken by frequent updates to "fix" something.... but, it's popular.  You want it, go get it.  You're on your own, though, and if you don't pay for it at home... you'll have to learn something else.

 

Oh, and BTW (By The Way): OfficeWatch says:

Office 2007 disables spelling checking in Outlook Express

"It’s true – when you install Office 2007, Outlook Express 6 (the one that comes with Windows XP) loses most of its spell checking ability.

Hunting around Microsoft Support you’ll find this:

“ You no longer have spell checking capabilities in some languages in Outlook Express 6.0 after you install the 2007 Microsoft Office “

For "some languages" in the Subject above substitute "English, German and Spanish".  You're left with French spell checking. The Microsoft non-solution is amazingly arrogant and quite incomplete. Microsoft's answer is to tell you to go get a third party product. Microsoft probably arrogantly assumes people will switch from Outlook Express to Outlook (amazing they don’t suggest that)."

 

Thunderbird is open source freeware.  It has lots of addons for additional features, but just by itself it's a very good and very popular email client.  Mozilla is working on integrating it with an addon called Lightning which combines the email with a calendar function (Mozilla's Sunbird).  You can use that now if you need a calendar feature.

 

Also, Thunderbird (like Firefox) can be used on a flash drive with a special version, so you can take your email client and files with you anyplace, plug in and use it there.  Get the PortableApps suite for regular drives (which includes the Sunbird calendar and Firefox, along with others), or the U3 version for those drives.  That way, you can have everything stay with you and not on the public/classroom computer when you leave.

 

MakeUseOf did a poll about using a client, and it had both Thunderbird and Outlook.  Check the results here.

 

You want to remember that research has found that people using Firefox and Thunderbird tend to be more up-to-date on their updates than people using Microsoft programs, since (a) they are reminded of it on loading and (b) don't have to worry so much about "breaking" something with an update.

 

What is Thunderbird (and do I have to drink it in a brown paper bag)?

 

It's not that kind of Thunderbird.... 

 

One thing Mozilla did to reduce the size and complexity of Firefox was to separate parts of it (as opposed to an all-in-one Internet suite like Netscape).  For example, you had to download the Java component separately.  They also removed the email component of it and developed it separately.  That became Thunderbird.  It's free, here and at home, and everywhere.  There's even a version that can run off a USB flash drive.

 

1. Downloading it

 

* Click on  this link to get

This goes in your 1downloads directory.  If you used Firefox, you should also have the file link in your Status bar.

 

2. Installing & configuring for LionsLink

 

Important note: if you are told you do not have authorization to install this on your computer, you will need to change your status:

 

1. Click on Start and then Control Panel.  If you get a warning about not opening this, go ahead anyway.
2. Click on User Accounts and see how your login name is listed. 
3. If your status is "SophosUser", then click on Properties.
4. Go to Others and change it to Administrators.  If it won't allow it, ask Dennis to change it for you.  You should have this status anyway.
5. Click on OK and back out of Control Panel.
6. You will need to log off your computer and log back in, with your new status.

 

* From your Firefox status bar, or the 1downloads directory, install Thunderbird.  Since you already got Java for Firefox, you have it available for Thunderbird.

 

* Load Thunderbird.

 

* Follow the instructions on our Firefox and Thunderbird page here .  Set up Thunderbird and see how it works with LionsLink.  If you decide to use Thunderbird all the time, you can set it so that it doesn't leave messages on LionsLink once they are downloaded (well, actually, it does do some of that -- LionsLink is a little erratic about that due to some non-standard functions). 

 

3. Extensions

 

Extensions for Thunderbird work pretty much the same as they do with Firefox.  One thing to remember -- search for them within Thunderbird (even though it loads Firefox to do so) so the extensions will go to Thunderbird (otherwise, it thinks you're trying to put a TBird addon in Firefox, and it balks).

 

Contacts Sidebar adds a list of your contacts down one side, to make it easy to pick the person to whom you're sending email.

 

mailTagger lets you add those little smiley faces and related icons to your email. 

 

You can also get Themes to change the look of Thunderbird.  Like other addons, some of these work with the latest version, and others don't, so watch for that when selecting them.   (If you get one that doesn't work, it won't break anything -- you'll just be told that it won't work with this version, and nothing else with happen.)

 

4. Files for your email

 

* Go to Files dropdown menu, select New, then select Folder, and create new folders under your Inbox.  Now you can keep all the email you want, divided up as you need it.  Because you don't have to leave it on the LionsLink server, you won't fill up your LionsLink box and have mail bounce.

 

The Junk button is for the email you never want to see again.  It will be diverted to the Junk folder.  Every so often, you can delete all of these or set it to delete automatically.  You can also set filters so spam repeats get grabbed and hauled off to oblivion before you even have to see them.

 

Whether or not you continue to use Thunderbird, you have that option now.  You can also use it for your other email account(s).

 

Again: To use Thunderbird for accessing LionsLink, use the instructions here.

 

5. Drawbacks?

 

Any drawbacks?

 

• You will need to log into LionsLink email once after each time you change your password, to get it to recognize the new password.  Then the new password will work through Thunderbird.
• You will need to go into LionsLink email every so often and delete old mail, as the new email system doesn't handle this properly via clients like Thunderbird.  Sorry about that.
• You will need to be sure your own backup includes your email files.  Remember the backup training we had earlier!

 

We're learning now! 

 

Drafts

 

 

Draft 1

Draft 2