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How to optimize Mozilla Thunderbird
Pierre-Philipp Braun <pbraun@nethence.com>
Introduction
It's preferable to distanciate from the console (think Mutt or Pine) to interact with people, even by mail, hence a graphical mailer is prefered. Thunderbird 1.5 series are lighter than 2.0 and default theme looks, I think, much better.
Configuration
Beside the default thunderbird installation and account configuration here are the few recomended tweeks,
Account Settings > account > outgoing smtp server: use default smtp
Account Settings > account > Server Settings > signature
Account Settings > account > composition > text-mode sending
Account Settings > account > composition > reply above
Account Settings > account > composition > signature below my reply
Tools > Options > Composition Tab > Forward inline
Moreover, if it's POP,
Account Settings > account > Server Settings > check every 5 minutes
Account Settings > account > Server Settings > leave messages on server for 15 days
Moreover, if it's IMAP,
Account Settings > account > Server Settings > check every 1 minute
Account Settings > account > Server Settings > expunge on exit
Account Settings > account > Server Settings > Advanced > IMAP server directory
Account Settings > account > Server Settings > Advanced > Show only subscribed folders
Also, the quoting message, create %appdata%\Thunderbird\Profiles\xxxxxxxx.default/user.js,
// Change the reply header
// 0 - No Reply-Text
// 1 - "[Author] wrote:"
// 2 - "On [date] [author] wrote:"
// 3 - User-defined reply header. Use the prefs below in conjuction with this:
user_pref("mailnews.reply_header_type", 3);
// If you set 3 for the pref above then you may set the following prefs.
user_pref("mailnews.reply_header_authorwrote", "Quoting %s");
user_pref("mailnews.reply_header_ondate", "(%s)");
user_pref("mailnews.reply_header_separator", " ");
user_pref("mailnews.reply_header_colon", ",");
// The end result will be [authorwrote][separator][ondate][colon]
Note. restart thunderbird for the changes to take effect.
Note exit thunderbird to expunge messages and eventually procmail some boxes.
Usage
Note when your IMAP subscribe folders really don't match anymore delete the cache: delete the content of this folder,
C:\Documents and Settings\USERNAME\Application Data\Thunderbird\Profiles\PROFILE.default\ImapMail
Don't worry your configurations are kept.
Addons
Some really cool addons to install,
- Display mailing list header
- Enigmail, see below
And eventuyally,
- Reminderfox
Addon - Enigmail
Start Thunderbird and install the addon,
Options > Extensions > Install
Restart Thunderbird and edit the PGP preferences,
OpenPGP > OpenPGP Preferences
OpenPGP > Key Management
Generate > New Key Pair
Junk mail tweek
Enter junk in the Filter field to show only the preferences that contain junk in their name, and then double-click on mail.adaptivefilters.junk_threshold, enter a value lower than the default 90 in the edit field and press the OK button. Many users report good results with values of 30 or lower,
Tools -> Options -> Advanced -> General -> Config Editor
Feature requests
When displaying email, I would like to show name & email instead of just "name".
When replying-to-all against a mail you sent yourself, your email shouldn't be kept in the destinator fields.
user.js : one should add if %s = yourname/email then s = myself !
Addon requests
I would like a facebook capable avatar plugin.
References
IRC irc.mozilla.org #thunderbird