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Mozilla Thunderbird faq »

This page contains answers to frequently asked questions concerning Mozilla Thunderbird. It will be updated as new questions are pulled out of the support queue. If you have a particular question that is not answered here, feel free to send email to ICS Support.

Q: What is Mozilla Thunderbird?

Mozilla Thunderbird is the ICS Support group's currently recommended mail client. It does not require any special user priviledge and provides resilient service. It works with both the IMAP and POP protocols. It can support multiple email accounts (such as both a user's ICS and UCInetid accounts). It can also connect to the campus' LDAP database. All support files are stored in user accessible areas and Mozilla Thunderbird is available on multiple platforms (Solaris, Macintosh, Windows, and Linux).

For instructions for configuring Mozilla Thunderbird to function as a Mail Client for the ICS mail servers click here.

Q: What are the names and addresses of the departmental mail servers?
Departmental Server List and function
  • Outgoing SMTP Server: smtp.ics.uci.edu
  • Incoming IMAP Server: imap.ics.uci.edu
  • Incoming POP Server: pop.ics.uci.edu
Note smtp.ics.uci.edu is available from on campus only.

These are the three servers used when setting up a mail client to retrieve departmental mail. The names are self explanatory. If the machine that is being configured is inside the department it should use the smtp.ics.uci.edu as its outgoing "smtp server". If the machine is outside the department or a home computer, a local internet service provider (ISP) can provide a legitimate smtp server.

Q: Where should I store my Thunderbird Mail?
Mail should be stored in "/home/username/imap". Under Mozilla Thunderbird this is called the "IMAP server directory". Directions to configure this for Mozilla Thunderbird can be found here.
Q: How do I delete my Thunderbird Mail?
Depending on the way you have your Mozilla Thunderbird setup, when you delete an email its icon will be covered with a red "X". In order to permamently remove the message from your queue you will need to pull down the "File" menu in your Mozilla Thunderbird window and select either "Clean up disk" or "Compact Folder". This will remove the deleted messeges from view.
Q: How do I change my settings so that I can see my forwarded message in the new message draft?
Start by opening up the prefereneces window. You can do this by selecting "Edit" from the bar at the top of any Thunderbird window and selecting the last item, "Preferences", on the pull down menu. A new window will appear. This is the "Preferences" window.

To configure this, find the box on the left hand side of the Preferences window. The column on the right has the header of "Category". In this column look for "Mail & Newsgroups". If the sub catagories are not already visable click on the triangle pointing to the right. Once the subcatagories are visible find the one named "Messages" and click on it.

On the right side you will see several options. Find the one that says: "By default, forward messages..." and change the entry to "inline". This will allow you to view forwarded mails.

Q: How do I setup Mozilla Thunderbird so that it asks me for my password every time I make a new connection to the mail server?
Start by opening up the Prefereneces window. You can do this by selecting "Edit" from the bar at the top of any Thunderbird window and selecting the last item, "Preferences", on the pull down menu. A new window will appear. This is the "Preferences" window.

Under the "Mail & Newsgroups" category, find "Mail Servers" and select it. Find the box labled "Incoming Mail Servers". Highlight "imap.ics.uci.edu" in this box and click the "Edit" button to the right. A new window will appear. About midway down is a checkbox, "Remember password". Uncheck it.