Although Mozilla has continued to roll out security updates and ideas from Firefox, Thunderbird has received no major update since 2012. In December 2015, Mitchell Baker, Mozilla’s executive chairwoman, said that the foundation would like to stop supporting the software altogether, arguing that its continued support drew resources away from. Mozilla Thunderbird makes e-mailing safer, faster, and easier with such features as intelligent spam filters, a built-in RSS reader, and quick search. Last update 9 Apr. 2021 old versions Licence Free OS Support Mac.
Check out what’s new, the known issues and frequently asked questions about the latest version of Thunderbird. As always, you’re encouraged to tell us what you think, or file a bug in Bugzilla.
What's New in Thunderbird
The latest version of Thunderbird has the following changes:
- More responsive and faster to start up and use
- Thunderbird is based on the new Mozilla Gecko 5 engine
- New Add-ons Manager
- Revised account creation wizard to improve email setup
- New Troubleshooting Information page
- Tabs can now be reordered and dragged to different windows
- Attachment sizes now displayed along with attachments
- Plugins can now be loaded in RSS feeds by default
- There are several theme fixes for Windows Vista and Windows 7
- Support for Mac 32/64 bit Universal builds (Thunderbird no longer supports PowerPC on Mac)
- Over 390 platform fixes that improve speed, performance, stability and security
System Requirements
Before installing, make sure your computer meets the system requirements.
Downloading
Xac driver download for windows 10. Mozilla provides Thunderbird for Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X in a variety of languages. You can get the latest version of Thunderbird here.
For builds for other systems and languages not provided by Mozilla.org, see the Contributed Builds section at the end of this document.
Installing
Please note that installing a new version of Thunderbird will overwrite your existing installation of Thunderbird. For all systems, you won't lose any of your messages or address books, but some of your extensions and other add-ons might not work until they are updated by the author.
Uninstalling
You can remove Thunderbird through the Control Panel in the Start Menu on Windows, by removing the Thunderbird application on OS X, or by removing the thunderbird folder on Linux.
Removing Thunderbird won't remove your emails or newsgroup messages. This data is stored in your profile folder, which is located in one of the following locations depending on your operating system:
Windows Vista | Users<UserName>AppDataRoamingThunderbird |
Windows 2000, XP, Server 2003 | Documents and Settings<UserName>Application DataThunderbird |
Mac OS X | ~/Library/Thunderbird |
Linux and Unix systems | ~/.thunderbird |
Any version of Thunderbird that you install after removing Thunderbird will continue to use the data from this profile folder.
Extensions and Themes
Extensions installed under previous versions of Thunderbird may be incompatible and/or require updates to work with Thunderbird. Please report any issues to the maintainer of the extension.
When you install Thunderbird all of your Extensions and Themes will be disabled until Thunderbird determines that either a) they are compatible with this release or b) there are newer versions available that are compatible.
Thunderbird Mac Download
Known Issues
This list covers some of the known problems with Thunderbird. Please read this before reporting any new bugs.
- If you are unable to view content for your RSS feeds in the Wide View Layout, you may need to disable the Lightning Calendar add-on if you have it installed or switch to Classic View and restart Thunderbird. (Bug 531397)
Troubleshooting
- Poorly designed or incompatible extensions can cause problems with your email client, including make it crash, slow down message display, etc. If you encounter strange problems relating to parts of the email client no longer working, the email client not starting, windows with strange or distorted appearance, degraded performance, etc, you may be suffering from Extension or Theme trouble.
Restart the email client in Safe Mode - select Help followed by Restart with Add-ons disabled. When started in Safe Mode all extensions are disabled and the Default theme is used. Disable the Extension/Theme that is causing trouble and then start normally. - If you encounter strange problems relating to email, feeds or newsgroup messages, it is recommended that you try creating a new profile and attempting to reproduce the problem before filing bugs. Create a new profile by running Thunderbird with the -P command line argument, choose the 'Manage Profiles' button and then choose 'Create Profile..'. Migrate your settings files (Emails, feeds, etc) over one by one, checking each time to see if the problems resurface. If you do find a particular profile data file is causing a problem, file a bug and attach the file, being sure to remove any private information as necessary.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What can I do to help?
Your feedback is essential to the project and makes Thunderbird better with every release. Give us your feedback on Thunderbird at our GetSatisfaction site. Please read these notes and the bug filing instructions before reporting any bugs to Bugzilla.
- Where can I discuss Thunderbird features or issues?
If you want to join the conversations about new features or need troubleshooting advice, visit Get Satisfaction. You can also post questions in the 'mozilla.support.thunderbird' newsgroup, available on Mozilla's news server, or via the web, using Google Groups. It is also available as a mailing list. Please read the Mozilla Forum Etiquette page before posting.
- Where can I get extensions and themes (add-ons)?
Extensions and Themes can be downloaded from Thunderbird Add-ons.
- Who makes Thunderbird?
Lots of people. See Help->About Mozilla Thunderbird, and click the 'global community' for a list of some of the people who have contributed to Thunderbird.
- Where's the Thunderbird source code?
A tarball of the Thunderbird source code is available for download. The latest development code can be obtained by Mercurial. For more details on the layout of the source, see the comm-central information page. Please follow the build instructions.
Contributed Builds
These are unofficial builds and may be configured differently than the official Mozilla builds. They mas also be optimized and/or tested for specific platforms. You can browse through the available contributed builds on the FTP site.
You may sometimes need to view or edit Thunderbird preference settings which are not accessible through the normal user interface. You can use Thunderbird's 'config editor' to do this.
To access the config editor, go to Thunderbird > PreferencesTools > OptionsEdit > Preferences, select the Advanced panel, select the General tab, and click .
The first time you do this, you will get a warning telling you to be careful.
Uncheck the 'Show this warning next time' box if you don't want to see the warning again, then click to proceed.
In the config editor, you can type a string in the 'Search' field to filter the list of preferences to only those that contain the specified string in their names or values.
Preferences that have been changed from their default values are shown in bold.
To edit a preference, double-click on it, or right-click on it and select Modify (for true/false preferences, select Toggle). To reset a preference to its default value, right-click on it and select Reset.
In rare cases you may need to add a new preference. You shouldn't need to do this unless you are instructed to do so by documentation for Thunderbird or one of its add-ons. To add a new preference, right-click anywhere within the list of preferences, select the New menu item, and then select the appropriate sub-menu item for the type of preference you need to create. To delete a previously added preference, Reset it as described above.
Mozilla Thunderbird Mac
Modifications to preferences happen immediately, which means you don't have to click a button. However, some parts of Thunderbird or many add-ons only read their preferences on start-up, so it is good practice to restart Thunderbird after editing preferences for your changes to take effect. Note: A restart requires all windows to be closed, including the config editor window and OptionsPreferences windows in addition to the main Thunderbird window!
Thunderbird Email For Mac
It is also important to know that when you restore a preference to its default value, Thunderbird does not store that preference in the preferences file. It is only non-default preferences that are stored.