System, network, updates, and other advanced settings in …
This article explains the settings available in the Advanced panel of the Thunderbird OptionsPreferences window. These are settings that aren’t used often, such as proxy settings or various advanced settings that only some people need.
Table of Contents1 General tab1. 1 Return Receipts1. 2 Return Receipts Dialog1. 3 Scrolling1. 4 System Integration1. 5 Advanced Configuration2 Data Choices tab2. 1 Telemetry2. 2 Crash Reporter3 Network & Disk Space tab3. 1 Connection3. 2 Connection Settings Dialog3. 3 Offline3. 4 Offline Settings Dialog3. 5 Disk space4 Update tab5 Certificates tab
Return Receipts
A return receipt adds a request with your message to notify you when the recipient has opened the message.
Return Receipts Dialog
When sending messages, always request a return receipt: Check mark this setting to make Thunderbird automatically request a return receipt on every message you send.
When receipt arrives:
Leave it in my Inbox: Return receipts arrive through email. Select this optionpreference to leave return receipts in your Inbox email folder.
Move it to my “Sent” folder: Select this optionpreference to make Thunderbird automatically move return receipts to your “Sent” email folder.
When I receive a request for a return receipt:
Never send a return receipt: If someone sends you a message that contains a request for a return receipt, select this optionpreference to make Thunderbird always ignore the request.
Allow return receipts for some messages: For each of these cases, you can set Thunderbird to always send a receipt, ignore the request, or choose Ask me, which will make Thunderbird display a prompt when you open the message.
Use autoscrolling: Autoscrolling is a useful feature which allows you to scroll by clicking the middle mouse button (usually the scroll wheel) and moving the mouse up or down. Some people find this annoying, so autoscrolling can be disabled with this optionpreference.
Use smooth scrolling: Smooth scrolling can be very useful if you read a lot of long messages. Normally, when you press Page Down, the view jumps directly down one page. With smooth scrolling, it slides down smoothly, so you can see how much it scrolls. This makes it easier to resume reading from where you were before.
System Integration
Always check to see if Thunderbird is the default mail client on startup: Select this setting if you want Thunderbird to check whether it is the default mail client at startup. Making Thunderbird your default mail client will ensure Thunderbird is used whenever an application has the option to send mail. For more information, see Make Thunderbird the Default Mail Client.
Allow Windows Search to search messages: Select this option to allow Windows’ built-in search to index your Thunderbird messages. Once indexed, your Thunderbird messages will be included in search results when you use the Windows Search feature.
Allow Spotlight to search messages: Select this preference to allow Spotlight to index your Thunderbird messages. Once indexed, your Thunderbird messages will be included in Spotlight search results.
Advanced Configuration
Enable Global Search and Indexer: This enables Thunderbird’s built-in search feature, which allows you to search among all messages you have in Thunderbird. For more information, see Global Search.
Message Store Type for new accounts: By default, Thunderbird stores mail folders locally in single files (For example, there’s a file called Inbox). You can make new accounts store each message in its own file. For more information, see Maildir in Thunderbird.
Use hardware acceleration when available: Thunderbird can use your computer’s graphics processor to display some messages with video and animation. This makes Thunderbird faster since your computer’s graphics processor is much better than your computer’s main processor at displaying these types of things. This box is checked by default but the feature isn’t available for all graphics processors. Thunderbird will enable it when you change this setting you must restart Thunderbird.
Config Editor: The Config Editor lists all optionspreferences that Thunderbird has loaded. Many of them are advanced optionspreferences, that are not available in the OptionsPreferences window or Account Settings window. In the Config Editor, you can view, edit, and reset those optionspreferences. For more information, see Config Editor.
Telemetry
Enable Telemetry: Enabling this setting will send anonymous data (learn more) to Mozilla about the real world performance of Thunderbird. This information will be used to make Thunderbird better.
Crash Reporter
Enable Crash Reporter: If Thunderbird crashes, the Mozilla Crash Reporter will appear, asking you if you want to report the crash to Mozilla. With this box check marked, the Tell Mozilla about this crash so they can fix it check box in the crash reporter will default to being check marked.
Connection
Your organization or Internet service provider may offer or require you to use a proxy. A proxy acts as an intermediary between your computer and the Internet. It intercepts all requests to the Internet to see if it can fulfill the request using its cache. Proxies are used to improve performance, filter requests, and hide your computer from the Internet to improve security. Proxies are often part of corporate firewalls.
Connection Settings Dialog
No proxy: Choose this if you don’t want to use a proxy.
Auto-detect proxy settings for this network: Choose this if you want Thunderbird to automatically detect the proxy settings for your network.
Use system proxy settings: Choose this if you want to use the proxy settings configured for your operating system. (default setting)
Manual proxy configuration: Choose this if you have a list of one or more proxy servers. Ask your system administrator for the configuration information. Each proxy requires a hostname and a port number.
If the same proxy name and port number are used for all protocols, check Use this proxy server for all protocols.
No Proxy For: List of hostnames or IP addresses that will not be proxied.
Automatic proxy configuration URL: Choose this if you have a proxy configuration () file. Enter the URL and click OK to save changes and load the proxy configuration.
Reload: The reload button will load the currently available proxy configuration.
Offline
These settings control how Thunderbird behaves when your computer is not connected to the internet. For example, Thunderbird will not check for new messages, or try to download messages when you select them. When composing a message, the Send button will become “Send Later” and Thunderbird will put your outgoing message in the Outbox, instead of trying to send it.
Offline Settings Dialog
Automatically follow detected online state: Thunderbird will check if your computer is not connected to the internet. If it is not connected, Thunderbird will switch to offline mode. When a connection is detected, Thunderbird will switch to online mode.
Manual state when starting up: If Automatically follow detected online state is not enabled, this will determine how Thunderbird decides if it should be in offline mode when you start it. Setting this to Offline will make Thunderbird always start in offline mode. Setting this to Online will make Thunderbird always start in online mode. Ask me for online state will make Thunderbird always prompt you which mode to choose. Remember previous online state will make Thunderbird open in the mode it was set at when you last closed it.
Send unsent messages when going online: If you have any messages in your Outbox, setting this to Yes will make Thunderbird automatically send those messages when you switch to online mode. When set to No, messages in your Outbox will not be sent. Setting this to Ask me will make Thunderbird prompt you to send messages in your Outbox when you switch to online mode.
Download messages for offline use when going offline: If you have any offline folders set to keep a copy of every message on your computer, setting this to Yes will make Thunderbird automatically download any messages in those folders you don’t have stored locally when you switch to offline mode. When set to No, local copies of messages will not be synced. Setting this to Ask me will make Thunderbird prompt you to download new messages from online folders when you switch to offline mode.
Disk space
Messages you view, which are not kept on your computer, are normally stored in a special cache folder for quicker viewing the next time you view the message. You can specify the amount of disk space the cache can use here. You can also immediately clear the contents of the cache.
Clear Now: Immediately clears the current contents of the cache, freeing the disk space used by the cache.
Use up to ___MB of space for the cache: This box allows you to specify the maximum size, in megabytes, of the cache on your computer.
Compact all folders when it will save over ___MB in total: When a message is deleted, Thunderbird will keep it stored, and mark it as deleted so you won’t see it. Compacting a folder removes any messages from storage that have been marked as deleted. This will make message lists load faster, and take up less disk space. Checking this box allows you to specify the maximum size, in megabytes, of the folder before Thunderbird will automatically compact it.
Automatically install updates (recommended: improved security): Thunderbird automatically downloads and installs found updates.
Warn me if this will disable any of my add-ons: If you wish to be prompted if the downloads will disable any installed add-ons, select that setting.
Check for updates, but let me choose whether to install them: Thunderbird lets you choose if you want to download and install updates. If you do not choose to do so, you can download them at a later time.
Never check for updates (not recommended: security risk): Thunderbird will not check for updates. Warning: If you select this setting, you will not receive critical security updates that may keep you safe online unless you frequently do a manual check for updates.
To review the history of updates that have been downloaded and installed, click Show Update History.
Use a background service to install updates: Thunderbird will use the Mozilla Maintenance Service when installing updates. This will remove the need to authorize Thunderbird to make changes to your computer through the User Account Control dialog in Windows 7 and Vista.
Note: You must be running Thunderbird as an administrator or as the user who originally installed Thunderbird to install Thunderbird updates.
Note: Thunderbird update options may be absent if updates are controlled by your Linux package manager.
Note: You must be running Thunderbird as an admin or as the user who originally installed Thunderbird to install Thunderbird You must be running Thunderbird as root or as the user who originally installed Thunderbird to install Thunderbird updates.
Certificates help perform encryption and decryption of connections to websites.
When a server requests my personal certificate: Some servers ask you to identify yourself with a personal certificate. In order to do so, they ask Thunderbird to generate one for you. When you access a server in the future, Thunderbird will ask you for which certificate to use. If you wish to have Thunderbird automatically choose a certificate for you, select the Select one automatically optionpreference. Note: A personal certificate can contain personally identifiable information, such as your name or address. It may therefore harm your privacy if you select the Select one automatically optionpreference. If you do, you will not be alerted when a website request your personal certificate, and you may lose the ability to control who can access your personal information.
Query OCSP responder servers to confirm the current validity of certificates: Thunderbird may ask an OCSP (Online Certificate Status Protocol) server to confirm that a certificate is still valid. By default, Thunderbird validates a certificate if the certificate provides an OCSP server. You will most likely only need to change this if your Internet environment requires it.
Manage Certificates: Click this button to view stored certificates, import new certificates, and back up or delete old certificates in Thunderbird.
Security Devices: Security devices can encrypt and decrypt connections and store certificates and passwords. If you need to use a security device other than the one in Thunderbird, click the Security Devices button.
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How to get Thunderbird to work through HTTP proxy server?
I would like to access my personal IMAP server through my corporate firewall. This is allowed provided I use the corporate proxy server, which is an HTTP proxy server. I cannot figure out how to configure Thunderbird to honor this proxy server, though. It honors it for HTTP traffic, but not for IMAP and SMTP.
Thunderbird: 15. 0
OS: OSX 10. 8. 1
AFAIK, there is no SOCKS proxy available, just an HTTP proxy. Also, the HTTP proxy allows other protocols to go through it (c. f. Can I tunnel other protocol through an HTTP proxy? ). Using an add-on for a solution would be fine. Thanks!
asked Sep 11 ’12 at 12:58
Joe CasadonteJoe Casadonte4, 6835 gold badges24 silver badges37 bronze badges
8
My (oldish) Thunderbird has a checkbox in the “Connection Settings” to make Thunderbird use the proxy setting for all protocols. Did you try that?
Otherwise maybe this helps?
answered Sep 11 ’12 at 14:02
3
For Mac & Windows there is a program called Proxifier that can do what the OS itself cannot. Note that this is a non-free commercial program and I’ve only tried it under Mac OSX 10. 1 (ML). It worked flawlessly for me, though, so I guess I can call this one closed.
answered Sep 20 ’12 at 18:12
1
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Thunderbird Proxy Set Up for the MxTunnel – FuguHub
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Manage Data Your Way
The following instructions are for configuring the Thunderbird email client for use with the MxTunnel. We suggest that you use the portable Thunderbird version and use it exclusively with the MxTunnel.
The Thunderbird proxy configuration is similar to the Firefox proxy configuration.
Click Tools, Options
Click the Advanced icon on the top
Click the “Network & Disk Space” tab
Click Settings
Configure the “Connection settings” dialog as explained in the Firefox proxy tutorial
How to configure Thunderbird to use proxy for DNS translation:
Click the “General” tab.
Click the “Config Editor… ”
Accept the “Warranty” warning, if any
Enter the following in the filter: remote_dns
Change the value for from false to true
Restart Thunderbird when you have completed the configuration.
Frequently Asked Questions about thunderbird proxy
How do I change proxy settings in Thunderbird?
The Thunderbird proxy configuration is similar to the Firefox proxy configuration.Click Tools, Options.Click the Advanced icon on the top.Click the “Network & Disk Space” tab.Click Settings.Configure the “Connection settings” dialog as explained in the Firefox proxy tutorial.
Is Thunderbird still supported in 2020?
Thunderbird mail is a moderately safe email client. However, keep in mind that Thunderbird is an open-source app and is no longer supported and upgraded by Mozilla. If you’re looking for a secure and continuously improved email client, download Mailbird and take it for a trial run.May 12, 2021
What is wrong with Thunderbird mail?
According to users, Thunderbird issues can sometimes appear due to your antivirus. Antivirus tools can sometimes interfere with your system and block certain applications, so to fix this problem, make sure that Thunderbird isn’t blocked by your antivirus or firewall.Apr 26, 2021