thunderbird-how-to

How to configure Mozilla Thunderbird.

Apply all these changes before setting up any email accounts.

Open the config editor

• English: Edit --> Preferences (not: Account Settings) --> General --> Scroll to bottom --> Config Editor
• German: Extras --> Einstellungen (nicht: Konten-Einstellungen) --> Allgemein --> Nach ganz unten scrollen --> Konfiguration bearbeiten

Change default sorting: Sort by date, newest on top, not threaded

Change the default sort order to "date" with the newest emails on top (descending).

Copy this:
mailnews.default

For email folders:

Set
mailnews.default_sort_order
to 2.
// The value 2 means to sort in a descending order (newest on top).

Set
mailnews.default_sort_type
to 18.
// The value 18 means to sort by the column "date".

Set
mailnews.default_view_flags
to 0.
// This disables "threaded view".

For RSS feeds and other news feeds (whatever that might be):

Set
mailnews.default_news_sort_order
to 2.
// The value 2 means to sort in a descending order (newest on top).

Set
mailnews.default_news_sort_type
to 18.
// The value 18 means to sort by the column "date".

Set
mailnews.default_news_view_flags
to 0.
// This disables "threaded view".

Links:

• https://superuser.com/questions/13518/change-the-default-sorting-order-in-thunderbird
• https://www.badpenguin.org/thunderbirds-default-sort/
• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Mail_and_news_settings

Disable threaded view for single folders

How to disable Threaded view for a single folder (not recommended):

• See also the section above that explains how to disable the threaded view for all folders by default (recommended).
• Tags: group, sort, order, thread, Gruppierung, Sortierung, Thema, Themen
• English: View --> Sort by --> Unthreaded
• German: Ansicht --> Sortieren nach --> Nicht gruppiert

Check all folders for new messages

How to check all folders for new messages. This is necessary when emails are sorted into multiple folders based on server-side rules.

Set
mail.server.default.check_all_folders_for_new
to true.

Set
mail.imap.use_status_for_biff
to false.

Links:

• http://kb.mozillazine.org/How_do_I_check_for_new_messages_in_other_folders

Encryption in transit

How to adjust the minimum TLS version for encryption in transit.

Set
security.tls.version.min
to 4.

Other options:
0 = SSL3.0
1 = TLS1.0
2 = TLS1.1
3 = TLS1.2
4 = TLS1.3

Links:

• https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/thunderbird-78-faq
• https://www.thunderbird-mail.de/lexicon/entry/240-security-tls-version/
• https://www.privacy-handbuch.de/handbuch_31k.htm
• https://www.heise.de/news/IETF-erklaert-TLS-Urvaeter-1-0-und-1-1-als-veraltet-5997963.html
• https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/rfc7568/
• https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/rfc8996/

Names instead of "Me"

In the standard configuration of Thunderbird, the name in emails sent to or from yourself is sometimes displayed as "Me" instead of the actual name. This can be changed to show the actual name.

Edit --> Preferences --> General --> scroll down to Reading & Display:

Set
Display name: Show only display name for people in my address book
to false (Uncheck the checkbox).

Links:

• https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/names-bug-no-email-addresses-are-displayed

Folder subscriptions

How to check or change the subscription of individual folders.

• File --> Subscribe
• Datei --> Abonnieren

Folder naming

When naming folders in an email account, it is recommended to not use dots (.) in the folder name. So instead of naming a folder Emails from Mr. Doe it should be named Emails from Mr Doe.

Addons

• https://addons.thunderbird.net/en-US/thunderbird/addon/xpunge/
• https://addons.thunderbird.net/en-US/thunderbird/addon/manually-sort-folders/
• https://addons.thunderbird.net/en-US/thunderbird/addon/removedupes/