Someone reviewed v on Mar 19, 2023

Pros:

Cons:

Bottom Line:

Someone reviewed v on Jul 5, 2022

Pros: 555

Cons: 555

Bottom Line: 555

petergrew reviewed v91.9.0 on May 10, 2022

Pros: Use Add-ons.
Use Thunderbird as an RSS reader.
Spell-check and Grammar.
Unlimited Storage.
Thunderbird as an Instant Messenger.
Send later.
Send heavy attachments.
Enable Master Password.

Cons: 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

Bottom Line: I am not sure why they discontinued this amazing email client!

Regards:
Peter Grew
Admin at https://www.shoviv.com

Sven123456789 reviewed v91.8.1 on Apr 20, 2022

Pros: Very good

Cons: Really nothing.

Bottom Line: Still my go to email software

Sven123456789 reviewed v78.11.0 on Jun 3, 2021

Pros: Still the best email software available

Cons: None

Bottom Line: Nothing much has changed. Still rock solid email software that I use for my email accounts.

Monkey_Punch reviewed v78.6.0 on Dec 18, 2020

Pros: Gets faster every iteration. Ancient bunch finally getting attention.

Cons: Not quite as peppy as Firefox using even the 64-bit version but years ahead of where it was since just this time last year.

Bottom Line: The switch to LLVM 11/Rust 1.47 has made FF an order of magnitude faster. You can feel it while using the product. Sadly, TB 78 ESR is still stuck on LLVM 9.0.1 and Rust 1.43. But, the Mozilla folks have enlisted a whole slew of new folks to address ancient bugs and beat the cruft out of TB. It's paid off with both performance improvements and useability improvements that were long overdue. A few years ago when Mozilla anounced TB was no longer going to be developed and put on life support, it was a tragic bit of news. This year's culling of workforce at Mozilla made me worried too. I can say with certainty that TB is not only alive and well but getting loads of fixing for the upcoming ESR release. 78 has had a lot of growing pains and AddOn authors are still playing catch up.

I can personally attest to the HUGE amount of improvement I've seen in the latest betas I've been playing with. 2021 is going to be a great year for TB and Mozilla in general. TB is still the best client out there bar none.

MrUp reviewed v78.2.1 on Sep 1, 2020

Pros: Comfortable interface, very easy to use.

Cons: none

Bottom Line: This is great Software. I recommend this to everyone I know. Thanks for making it.

Monkey_Punch reviewed v78.0.1 on Jul 22, 2020

Pros: Still the best client around bar none.

Cons: Has lost a lot of polish and love due to Firefox being the Mozilla developer's golden child.

Bottom Line: There's just no substitute for a good email client as using Web UI email stinks to high heaven. It's kind of sad that a lot of what used to make the era of Outlook and Eudora so pleasant was that NO ONE wanted to get saddle with crappy things like Outlook Web or the early Yahoo web-based email UI.

Thunderbird has been plugging along for around 15 years+ years now in some form or another and the more things change, the more it stays the same. Emails clients don't need to change much to be honest. It's a simple word processor that sends and received email. It doesn't need to get more complicated than that. But, it's great to see that PGP integration is finally getting it's due in Thunderbird.

If Mozilla's new offshot company that's handling Thunderbird can FINALLY get PGP right (where countless others have failed miserably), everyone will dump whatever cobbled together software hydra they've been using and switch to Thunderbird.

Sven123456789 reviewed v68.3.0 on Dec 3, 2019

Pros: none

Cons: everything

Bottom Line: Like allot of software that was good, this has jumped the shark. They followed firefox into the new version that doesnt allow old themes and add on's. I'll stick with the 60 version series. The morons at Mozilla wonder why firefox lost most of its user base now add thunderbird to the list.

M50 reviewed v68.1.0 on Sep 11, 2019

Pros: I'm sure most users will be happy with the new version.

Cons: If you have sub-folders for collation of correspondence from different clients so you can refer back if required, I have bad news for you. Existing sub-folders on previous version do not travel to the new update . My error, I obviously misread the update details.

Bottom Line: Since yesterday I have rectified the issues I was having. All is back to normal.(Please read pros and cons)
I have upgraded the star ratings accordingly.

JudySmith712 reviewed v60.7.1 on Jun 17, 2019

Pros: One of the Best Browser, Love the new GUI

Cons: Need to work on speed

Bottom Line: Loved the Product and would always use the same

Regards,
Judy Smith | Tech Support
www.o365cloudexperts.com

Benjamin786 reviewed v60.3.1 on Nov 19, 2018

Pros: Soma Pain Reliever

Cons: USer satisfactory

Bottom Line: Done

Monkey_Punch reviewed v60.2.1 on Oct 3, 2018

Pros: 64-bit salvation finally here! More robust and far more performant than 32-bit 52.x and previous versions. 64-bit can be installed right over 32-bit but the caveat is once you move to TB 60, there's no going back to 52.x as it makes changes to your profile which are one-way.

Cons: Running a bit behind in terms of parity with Firefox base code. Some Add-ons no longer work.

Bottom Line: Been using TB since the beginning. As someone who clung to Eudora with a death grip, TB is the *only* decent and stable choice for me. I am glad they finally have 64-bit offering as 32-bit is dead, dead, dead. The performance of 64-bit TB is noticeable when launching the app and doing overall tasks. "Who uses email still?" say you Facebook hugging twonks? Everybody. I aggregate 5-10GB of email per year and 32-bit was chugging along but straining under the load of managing that much email efficiently. These days, people send you 10-20MB emails with monster JPGs and PDFs. 32-bit sucks at handling that well. 64-bit has been like a hot knife through butter managing my emails, filters and calendars. Plus, if it weren't for the calendaring feature and integration with my GMail, I'd forget what the heck I'm supposed to be doing on a daily basis. It's the best, sod the rest!

Sven123456789 reviewed v60.0 on Aug 14, 2018

Pros: Still works good

Cons: Lots of old add on's and themes no longer work.

Bottom Line: A big update to version 60. Still rock solid. Be forewarned, lots of old complete themes and add on's don't work with this update. Though I used basically only 1 add (profile switcher) it did work in this version. Also found a couple of complete themes that work with ver 60. Everything else is fine. The calendar add on works. I've had no problems with overall use. Still the email software to use if you don't like your webmail to access your accounts.

Aegis69 reviewed v60.0 on Aug 14, 2018

Pros: good

Cons: good

Bottom Line: 60 is a risky update for me, I use a lot of addons and I have no idea how many of them will be useless after the update. Probably lots.

Monkey_Punch reviewed v52.8.0 on May 23, 2018

Pros: Never failed me yet!

Cons: No 64-bit version (but soon).

Bottom Line: @psycros

"Would also be nice if they would natively support Gmail contacts and calendar"

I don't think Google opens their private API to third parties for native support. Kind of like sayin' "My Ford should work with Honda parts". Silly.

You can have Google Calendar (and, I think, Contacts) access via Lightning and Provider For Google Calendar.

TB 52.8 ESR works well as an email client and even better with my Google calendars. Waiting on 60 ESR now!

psycros reviewed v52.4.0 on Oct 7, 2017

Pros: Yahoo seems to actually work in this build. Its always a roll of the dice though.

Cons: Profile deleted during upgrade. AGAIN. Calendar still displays alerts *before* checking to see if they have already been viewed. Will this ever be fixed? LOL, why am I even asking?

Bottom Line: Gettin' REEEAL tired of having my profile completely wiped when upgrading. Happens about every third release of TB. Would also be nice if they would natively support Gmail contacts and calendar, seeing as how their the most-used services of their kind. But hey, it would probably take devs three years to get it working right so maybe its just as well we have to rely on GContactSync and Provider for Google Calendar. That said, this is still the only totally free desktop email client that does most of what anyone could want and as far as I've heard its NOT going to be ruined like Firefox. For those of us fighting against the dumbing down of computing and the webification of everything, TB is an invaluable tool.

Sven123456789 reviewed v52.2.0 on Jun 16, 2017

Still the best email client. No problems encountered.

jack_alexander reviewed v52.2.0 on Jun 16, 2017

The current version has been delivered with some flaws as are pointed out on a Ghacks.com article.

I'd stick with the previous version for the time being, even though this new version has some decent updates, it still doesn't work as advertised.

Mike.huk reviewed v52.2.0 on Jun 16, 2017

I have used Thunderbird even when it was part of Mozilla Suite and have always found it to be excellent; stable, fast and rarely found bugs. Best email client around.

Aegis69 reviewed v52.1.1 on May 15, 2017

Hey partypoop, you MAY notice 'The Bat' is not a free program, so quit being a d***breath

tontito reviewed v52.0 on Apr 5, 2017

Been using it for several years but with punctual problems with images embedded with different encodings, witch results in totally deformated text on the receiver side or looping when sending the mail.
Lets see if this version finally solves it, at least it says it does.

Just checked the problem is not yet solved (10-04-2017).

Sven123456789 reviewed v52.0 on Apr 5, 2017

Still the best email client. Been using this for a decade with no problems. Have this on 4 pc's 1 with win 7, the others win 10.

Monkey_Punch reviewed v52.0 on Apr 5, 2017

Much improved, faster and less RAM hungry than previous versions.

partypop reviewed v45.7.1 on Feb 18, 2017

How are some users rating Thunderbird 5 star?
Its very heavy on system resources, super bloated, slow, importing mail from Outlook 2007 crashes which is a known bug since version 25 and its still not fixed. Its probably one of the better free options, its not complete junk, but compared to The Bat! this email program is a joke.

Music4Ever reviewed v45.7.1 on Feb 9, 2017

Simple mail client that does what it should, you may need go elsewhere if you need more features or complexity, never had problems with it on any Windows version.

Sven123456789 reviewed v45.5.0 on Nov 19, 2016

Works great. No problems on my win 10 pc.

Lsavagejt reviewed v45.5.0 on Nov 19, 2016

Hangs after installing Windows 10. No solution, no clear alternative.

psycros reviewed v45.1.1 on Jun 4, 2016

Overall decent client but has very inconsistent behavior from machine to machine and even between installs on the SAME machine. To sync contacts and calendars with popular services you'll need some addons. Default UI is pretty homely and not as configurable as it should be so you'll want some addons for that as well.

Music4Ever reviewed v38.3.0 on Oct 1, 2015

Great basic client - No problems on Windows 10, handles multiple addresses with ease, no frills but very stable & reliable.

Sven123456789 reviewed v38.0.1 on Jun 24, 2015

I like this new version with the Lightning calender already built it. Still rock solid email software.

some guy reviewed v31.7.0 on Jun 12, 2015

great email client but to block a email is more work then it needs to be, how about right click on message and have the option to delete/block all from sender !

gatorfan95 reviewed v31.7.0 on May 15, 2015

As usual, it's small, lightweight and does what it says it will. Not a lot of bells and whistles that you dont need. 5 stars

some guy reviewed v31.6.0 on Apr 6, 2015

still the best in it's class ! one thing THunderbird needs to improve in is a better export account settings and import account settings to a new or different computer 1 click simplicity ! like this tool I have used to back up and reinstall fire fox on another computer this is a godsend http://mozbackup.jasnapaka.com/
this is where Microsoft outlook has failed miserably

Sven123456789 reviewed v31.3.0 on Dec 2, 2014

Still the best email software.

gatorfan95 reviewed v31.1.0 on Sep 2, 2014

Lightening upgraded seamlessly to ver 3.3. I dont use any other add on's or themes, so I dont know if there are issues with those. This a very nice stand alone e-mail client for those of us who dont need a lot of bells and whistles.

Sven123456789 reviewed v31.0 on Jul 21, 2014

Everything looks the same in this major number upgrade. Except my favorite theme doesn't work. I guess I'll have to live with that for security purposes. Still the best free email client out in the world.

darkNiGHTS reviewed v24.6.0 on Jun 30, 2014

Half finished and no longer in active development. Tab integration is half-assed, you can't even compose a new message in a tab.

landfish reviewed v24.5.0 on Apr 30, 2014

Always a winner.
Let's hope the guys from firefox don't get their hands on this.

DKDude reviewed v24.3.0 on Feb 4, 2014

Been using Thunderbird since the very beginning, never had a single issue with it.
Hands down, it is the best you can get for emails, and on top of that it's free, no need to pay for any of those half assed very buggy emailclients out there.

Music4Ever reviewed v24.1.1 on Nov 20, 2013

Good as a basic client, seems stable & no problems lately.

some guy reviewed v24.0.1 on Oct 14, 2013

corrupted my Icons W7 64bit had to go reset them to get them back

Sven123456789 reviewed v24.0.1 on Oct 12, 2013

Giving this a slightly lower 4. Mainly because it crashed the few add on/themes i use. Went back to 17.0.9 esr which works fine again. Really saw no major feature changes with this 24 series. So I figured I would play it safe and use the former version. They really don't have to add any new features and it would be ok. Most people have moved on to webmail based email, but I still like the look and feel of T-Bird over my ISP's email page...

Music4Ever reviewed v24.0 on Sep 18, 2013

Although this is a final? It does show as a beta on the Thunderbird main screen - A good basic mail client.

some guy reviewed v17.0.8 on Aug 6, 2013

love Thunderbird over outlook any day, wish the spam/block feature was more simplified, like right click block sender , now that’s easy !

Blaxima reviewed v17.0.7 on Jul 3, 2013

Postbox does a much nicer job with the layout, more like how Opera mail used to be and still now conversation mode for on going emails. I find it more useful to be a part of the browser though and use SimpleMail in Firefox instead. It too, fails in some areas however

gatorfan95 reviewed v17.0.4 on Mar 11, 2013

This is exactly what it claims to be, a light weight E-mail client for the "average" user as an adjunct to Firefox. It does what it says it will very cleanly and with out a lot of bells and whistles.

Sven123456789 reviewed v17.0.2 on Jan 9, 2013

Still the best..

nilst2006 reviewed v17.0.2 on Jan 9, 2013

I am tired of all these REDESIGNS.... Can't they keep it as it is and do other things with it that is useful changes ?

gezley reviewed v17.0.2 on Jan 8, 2013

I find it hard to believe Thunderbird still can't display compact multiline headers in the message tree, with From, Date and Subject spread over two lines for those who do not have widescreen monitors. Becky can do it. EmClient can do it. What are we waiting for?

And I was astonished to find I could not easily set up a filter to automatically reply to an incoming mail with a specific subject. There's probably a plugin for that. If I could be bothered trawling through the list. And if I wanted to trust my mail program to an unaudited plugin developer.

Last but certainly not least, in Becky I can split my mail database into 1 file per mail (with attachments detached). I can read these files in a standard text editor. If one file gets corrupted I lose just one mail. Not the whole databse.

Thunderbird on the other hand, like Outlook, uses one big proprietary database format. One byte corrupted and you're screwed. I've seen it happen. But at least you can download colourful personalities for Thunderbird. That's a huge plus for this Facebook generation.

Music4Ever reviewed v17.0.2 on Jan 8, 2013

Impressed & simple & a breeze to setup & use, if you need more features look elsewhere though.

Sven123456789 reviewed v17.0 on Nov 20, 2012

Not even close. Best email client ever.

NyaR reviewed v16.0.1 on Oct 13, 2012

Best mail client. Here is a great collection to go along with it: https://addons.mozilla.o.../collections/batp/tbpro/

egg83 reviewed v16.0 on Oct 11, 2012

Best email client out there. Been using for years, gets better with each release.

Aegis69 reviewed v15.0 Final on Aug 28, 2012

address book still horrible... everything else is pretty good

carlvui reviewed v13.0.1 on Jul 23, 2012

It looks like @Hilbert (May 21, 2012) was on spot. Just read the news that Mozilla is going to abandon the whole Thunderbird project.

Sven123456789 reviewed v14.0 on Jul 17, 2012

Best email client ever.

DudeBoyz reviewed v3.1.20 on Jul 13, 2012

With support (both my MS and hardware / software companies) having bailed or plan soon to bail on XP, I'm finally going to have to leave Outlook Express behind. OE 6 with QuoteFix has been a mainstay for me for years, which was especially important when we used to be able to use Newsgroups. It has some of the best Plain Text options I've seen outside of a Linux / Unix client. So it's been hard to give up for me.

I'm heading to Windows 7 Pro 64 bit to replace my last XP desktop, and have been working with various apps to find a replacement.

Version 3.1.20 is the version that I'm going to go with. It's leaner and lacks a lot of useless crap that the "Rapid Release" versions have added, and what might be most important, it has some very key extensions / add-ons that were not developed past 3.1.20 because developers of those flat out gave up on trying to keep pace with the changes caused by that "Rapid Release", such as Quote Colors.

Yeah, there are some lame limitations in available configuration options, but if you don't mind taking the time to meticulously set it up once, you can at least drag over the profile folder to backup those settings.

Bottom line is version 3.1.20 is the last version before things went to crap on the development and with Mozilla announcing they are basically giving up on internal development and support for Thunderbird (I wonder how badly the extension / add-on web site will be affected by this) I'm just going to stick with the version that works. My extensions work, the configuration works and I don't have to worry about any sort of future changes breaking things.

Not perfect, but solid enough and thank GOSH that it still has a normal user interface with a menu bar and keyboard shortcut support (like all freakin' apps should still freakin' have) so with 3.1.20, I'm good to go.

UPDATE: If you set your system to display emails to Plain Text instead of HTML, you may see that some of the incoming mails do not show properly ni the Message Pane.

It turns out that not only do you have to set the WESTERN classification of fonts, but the "Other Languages" classification as well so you can cover UNICODE emails. In Thunderbird, HTML / PLAIN TEXT are from the Western class and UNICODE from the Other Languages. If you set your fonts the same in both those areas, all of the mails in your Message Pane should look the same.

DKDude reviewed v13.0.1 on Jun 15, 2012

Filelink is a good feature, but I hope they make it so it's possible to use own FTP/Web-server..

carlvui reviewed v13.0 on Jun 14, 2012

I went back to version 2.0.0.24 (20100228).

This new one consumes too much RAM, and I think it requires too much commitment from users as if it was made for advanced users, or I specifically I don't need many of its new features. I don't think Mozilla has any clear vision of what they really wanna do. They are heading for something but I don't know what.

I do not think it is very useful or user friendly, they might prefer their business plans to real software development.
I think it could have been a good idea to release two versions, a Tb basic and Tb premium, and leave the version 2.0.0.24 as it is and continue the security and technical support and updates. I use v 2.0.0.24 until I can and then I will change to a different email client.

Graig reviewed v12.0 on Apr 23, 2012

Why does it take so long for Mozilla to show the latest final version on their website? I see it listed on other websites but many times they are still beta versions not final.

don3149 reviewed v9.0.1 on Apr 2, 2012

this browser has a good performance management, it serves well in our computer industry.. since I am reading this article I learned a lot.

http://www.2012kiaoptima.com
http://www.adsonoahu.com

Sorb reviewed v3.1.20 on Mar 19, 2012

@DoHickey: This program deserves 6 stars for not allowing animated smilies in mails.

krgood reviewed v10.0.1 on Feb 14, 2012

Blxima,
So Postbox is not free, what is your point? Just because Postbox has pulled together functionality that TB does not offer make it bad?? Open Source is Open Source and free to anyone who wants to use it. I doubt you have even tried PB. There is a trial and it is free...

What say u??

some guy reviewed v10.0 on Jan 31, 2012

very good , but would like to see a better spam control like right click block

Sven123456789 reviewed v10.0 on Jan 31, 2012

Best email client software out on the net. Has been for a long time. As for the spammers posting neg reviews for that postbox crap, keep your bogus reviews to yourself.

Sven123456789 reviewed v9.0.1 on Dec 27, 2011

Best Email client out. For people wanting more than the basic email features that come with most webmail based email, this is it. You can set it up that u still get email to your webmail site and also to Thunderbird. I find it much easier to add files via thunderbird.

Sven123456789 reviewed v7.0 on Sep 27, 2011

Great email client. Probably mostly obsolete with today's ISP's using mostly web based email, but if u can use it, this is probably the best.

hackztor reviewed v5.0 on Jun 28, 2011

They skipping 4 to match up with firefox numbering. They will continue to use rapid release on thunderbird as well as firefox. It is going to be very hard to use these in an enterprise/education environment now.

DoHickey reviewed v3.1.11 on Jun 22, 2011

I stopped using this program a long time ago.
Unless they have made it so animated gif's will work when inserted in email, I have no interest in it. I at least want to be able to add an animated smiley face on my emails.

Lsavagejt reviewed v3.1.6 on Oct 30, 2010

Themes, themes, themes!! Some of the themes for Thunderbird, (like Simple Green) actually wreck Thunderbird so that it won't even start up. Thunderbird will simply deny the installation of most of the themes, but allows others, even though they too are too old and incompatible.

At this point I think Walnut is the only theme that works well. It is a very nice theme for Thunderbird.

FixXxeR reviewed v3.1.5 on Oct 20, 2010

So..Despite my settings for all of my mail accounts being set to "Start replies ABOVE quoted message", this version changed that setting to below. I realize that die hard *nix users prefer this from back in the good old days, but I prefer to have my message start at the top. Changing this setting arbitrarily for the user is a bad move. Do not alter user settings when upgrading.

some guy reviewed v3.1.5 on Oct 19, 2010

fantastic non bloat low resource email client that works great with Gmail, BEST OF IT'S CLASS

Aegis69 reviewed v3.1.4 on Sep 16, 2010

Yes I, like Input Overload, just love paying $800.00 dollars for the privilege of being able to see my emails. I have a preference for things that lose me money and give me nothing in return, its a choice to be a moron.

Lsavagejt reviewed v3.1.4 on Sep 16, 2010

'Needs more themes. I write a lot, sometimes editing on the fly in Thunderbird, and walnut is soooo played, though less played than the native gray and white. Otherwise, it's a 5.

Input Overload reviewed v3.1.2 on Aug 6, 2010

Much prefer Outlook 2007/2010.

lehenryjr reviewed v3.1.2 on Aug 5, 2010

I believe TB is still a very good offering as an email client. The plug-ins are what sell the application though. The additional plug-ins of Lightning, Provider/Google and SocialMail [as of recent] have really kept me with the application all these years.

Although, I wish to see TB morph in to something more current, more social; something more engaging. If nothing is done to curb this, it'll become the Internet Explorer 6 of it's day.

People say that web-based email clients are better; I say they're close, but they can't do it yet. I still prefer a standard email client.

Until next time,
LEHenryJr
LEHSYS.com

jorgosch reviewed v3.1.2 on Aug 5, 2010

Plug-ins make this one of the most powerful email clients there is. What I'm sorely missing is direct support for Smartphone calendar/address synchronization.

soldier1st reviewed v3.1.1 on Jul 20, 2010

Windows users always get the latest version before the other oses gets it so deal with it or move on.

4122 reviewed v3.1 on Jun 26, 2010

Oh, everyone, quit being silly.

FileForum lists the different versions of Thunderbird as such:

Thunderbird for Windows 3.1
Thunderbird for Mac OSX 3.1
Thunderbird for Linux 3.1

Are all of you going to start moaning about how Thunderbird is not for Mac OS X v3.1 or for Linux v3.1? It's just a presentation issue, fer crissakes! In no way is it meant to be inferred that This version of Thunderbird is for Windows 3.1.

nilst2006 reviewed v3.0.1 on Jan 20, 2010

It sure has been improved, and eat a lot of resources - at least on my a few years old computer. Will stay with latest version 2.xxxxxx something. (Sad to see that all latest Mozilla apps; Firefox and Thunderbird, eat too much of the systemresources...a very bad sign. Guess i have to find some alternatives to them as well....

RMerlin reviewed v3.0.1 on Jan 20, 2010

Homepage is obsolete BTW - the current one is http://www.mozillamessaging.com/

After being pretty much on life support for a long time, TB is slowly starting to turn into a very feature-complete product. Still a few quirks in it however, but 3.0 was a major improvement over 2.0.

Znoo reviewed v3.0 Final on Dec 10, 2009

I'll give it four stars. It's a great mail program but Thunderbird lacks a builin calendar. Luckily the latest nightly build of Lightning works on Thunderbird 3 and it seems to work fine with Goggle Calendar.

NunjaBusiness reviewed v3.0 Final on Dec 9, 2009

Excellent. As to Lightning, forget it. The following extension puts your Google calendar on a tab - superior to Lightning! http://clarkbw.net/blog/...dar-in-thunderbird-tabs/

mytake4this reviewed v3.0 Final on Dec 9, 2009

This is a very good email client, however for Windows, the Windows Live Mail client I find to be a tad better. For Mac, there again, the Mail.app which comes with Mac is simply better. Have no idea what happened to the Lightning Calendar, as it was suppose to be part of the mail app, just like Windows Live Mail has calendar within the program -- oh well. T-Bird is in fact very good, so if one is looking for a portable app. I say give T-Bird a try.

skapig reviewed v3.0 Final on Dec 9, 2009

@God Dammit!
Yeah, it would probably be nice if there was a manual junk mail delete menu item, but a rating of 1 for this is absurd. What you missed entirely is that in your junk mail config there is an option to automatically delete junk messages older than a specified number of days.

dreamz reviewed v3.0 Final on Dec 9, 2009

Please update the screenshot and the url for the homepage, which is: http://www.mozillamessaging.com

cyberknutt reviewed v3.0 Final on Dec 9, 2009

Locked up while re-indexing folders.

conan1873 reviewed v3.0 Final on Dec 9, 2009

What about Lightning? This is probably the best feature of Thunderbird.

DaComboMan reviewed v3.0 Final on Dec 8, 2009

Thumbs up Mozilla team!

Search speed and options in Thunderbird3 are more than excellent.
Gives life to email once again!

Thank you!

netean reviewed v3.0 Final on Dec 8, 2009

It's not amazing, it's not awful.

Tbird 3 is a hard thing to review, there's been lots of improvements over v2.

Tabs - big improvment, setup of email accounts is actually very good indeed.
UI has had some polish and it all works well. I had some weird issue that after adding my 2 accounts Tbird worked fine, I logged off my machine and the next day it failed to fetch email, just sat there "checking" and wouldn't shut down properly - that might just be my computer though (this was also v3 RC3)

Thunderbird is a solid if somewhat bland email client. It's doesn't offer anything significant over any of the 1000s of other email clients. It works well, does what it's supposed to and looks ok. But there is no WOW. It's not as polished as Postbox, nor as enjoyable to use, it's not as featureful as Spicebird, but a little more polished (both based on Thunderbird code)

Overall Thunderbird 3 is the email equivalent of a potato, bland, a bit boring but useful to have around.

my only question is whether they've missed the boat a little, with no big WOW features and the steady march towards cloud computing, do we really need a desktop email client any more? Maybe, but do we need that to be Thunderbird?

Ryusennin reviewed v2.0.0.22 on Jun 25, 2009

I have a couple of webmail accounts from different service providers, yet I just can't imagine letting go of my favorite desktop mailer. I've switched a long time ago from the ubiquitous Outlook Express to Thunderbird, and I never looked back. Yes, the UI is not exactly attractive, but it gets the job done and that's what ultimately matters.

frankwick reviewed v2.0.0.21 on Mar 18, 2009

The product works well and has come a long way (although very slowly) since it bundling days with the original Mozilla. However, I have to admit the UI is less than attractive. We now live in the iphone world (looks are put above functionality) and it's time TB stepped up to the UI challenge.

sx66gns reviewed v2.0.0.19 on Dec 30, 2008

Fantastic application but it looks like extensive abilities of webmail now are taking it's toll on what used to be a necessity , the traditional email client.

Using gmail anywhere anytime with calendars and multiple pop3 accounts flooding into it with a strong as an ox spam filtering , the future of email.

methuselah reviewed v2.0.0.19 on Dec 30, 2008

I use .18 currently, can't find the .19 build on the Mozilla site. The only beta I see there is the nightly build, 3.0beta2. That seems to work OK here.

tacc reviewed v2.0.0.18 on Nov 19, 2008

mjm01010101> you're right about the fact that Thunderbird 2.x has some long standing issues.

However, tb it is far from abandoned, with 3.0 on tracks, and some alphas already kicking if you dare trying them (they're called "Shredder" for a reason). Mozilla has even created a separate legal entity to support thunderbird development. So yes that's a long time since the last major version, but the www.mozillamessaging.com guys are catching on. Just give them some more months...

simko reviewed v2.0.0.18 on Nov 19, 2008

works like a charm no probs at all.

skin support really is no issue dont need to be fancy as long it works.

With mozbackup its easy to backup and restore profile with no hassle ,outlook for me has never been 100% in that part.

mjm01010101 reviewed v2.0.0.18 on Nov 19, 2008

Feels like an abandoned project. Development has basically ceased. Has a lot of issues with IMAP and spam training.

Aegis69 reviewed v2.0.0.18 on Nov 19, 2008

The Perfect replacement for Outlook, spam filter needs to be trained on spam and non spam, so please do not expect the filter to work right until you have trained it, but other than that its pure magic to use.

netean reviewed v2.0.0.17 on Sep 26, 2008

I've almost given up using Thunderbird, it was/is my main desktop email client, but there is something about it that I find quite unsatisfying to use. It's slow, the skins are... well.. they're ok but none really leap out as being great.

The add-ons are all well and good, but the more I add the slower thunderbird goes.

I'm really looking forward to version 3, having high hopes that it will be for thunderbird what firefox 3 to the browser. But it's taken sooooo long.

at the moment I end up using webmail rather than running thunderbird, as webmail is quite a lot quicker!

Belarathon reviewed v2.0.0.17 on Sep 25, 2008

The release notes:

Fixed in Thunderbird 2.0.0.17

MFSA 2008-46 Heap overflow when canceling newsgroup message
MFSA 2008-44 resource: traversal vulnerabilities
MFSA 2008-43 BOM characters stripped from JavaScript before execution
MFSA 2008-42 Crashes with evidence of memory corruption (rv:1.9.0.2/1.8.1.17)
MFSA 2008-41 Privilege escalation via XPCnativeWrapper pollution
MFSA 2008-38 nsXMLDocument::OnChannelRedirect() same-origin violation
MFSA 2008-37 UTF-8 URL stack buffer overflow

A well rounded, stable, reasonably lite mail client.

us3r reviewed v2.0.0.16 on Jul 24, 2008

The account configuration should be simplified, and maybe a better antispam mechanism implemented. Other than that this is a good app.

Fixed in Thunderbird 2.0.0.16
MFSA 2008-34 Remote code execution by overflowing CSS reference counter
MFSA 2008-33 Crash and remote code execution in block reflow
MFSA 2008-31 Peer-trusted certs can use alt names to spoof
MFSA 2008-29 Faulty .properties file results in uninitialized memory being used
MFSA 2008-26 Buffer length checks in MIME processing
MFSA 2008-25 Arbitrary code execution in mozIJSSubScriptLoader.loadSubScript()
MFSA 2008-24 Chrome script loading from fastload file
MFSA 2008-21 Crashes with evidence of memory corruption (rv:1.8.1.15)

Somnambulator reviewed v2.0.0.16 on Jul 23, 2008

v3 is still a very early Alpha and mozillamessaging does not recommend using it for critical or daily work.

i have no problems at all with v2 across 4 pop3 accounts. i dont use IMAP but have 3 gmail pop3's and works flawlessly.

i dont require, nor want, calender support.

christoofar reviewed v2.0.0.16 on Jul 23, 2008

Version 3 has been out for some time now, but I had been having some issues with it, so I am glad to have v.2 continuing to get updated until v.3's bugs get smoothed out.

Metshrine reviewed v2.0.0.16 on Jul 23, 2008

Is this EVER going to hit version 3 or see any major change to the functionality? It works great now, but there are several big features I would like to see such as better IMAP synchronization and better IMAP rules setup.

eaves reviewed v2.0.0.14 on May 2, 2008

A very good email desktop app. I use it on my notebook. Nicely configurable for odd server set-ups.

It works.

netean reviewed v2.0.0.14 on May 2, 2008

I use thunderbird everyday and it's... well it's ok... it's not amazing..But I can't quite tell you why. It does everything reasonably well with just a few exceptions: Anti spam tools might as well be non-existant they're so rubbish, and filters are just fiddly an annoying to set up.

Adding additional components does bring some quite good functionality, but overall I just feel thnderbird needs updating and rather than just keeping up with other mail clients, could maybe start to do something truly innovative.

outofspace reviewed v2.0.0.14 on May 2, 2008

Quite good client. Personally i prefer M2 integrated in Opera Browser

version reviewed v2.0.0.14 on May 1, 2008

Improvelence: Why bother even rating it when you haven't used it in 2 years. What a stupid thing to do. Anyways, for those that travel alot and don't always have access to the internet thunderbird is perfect with its offline mode to search and write new emails. I really like gmail too but nothing beats a good desktop client to store and check your email with. If you have a nice webmail interface on your webserver such as roundcube then it compliments the desktop client well if you checking email on a random computer.

mytake4this reviewed v2.0.0.14 on May 1, 2008

T-Bird is a good solid email client. I am currently using Windows Live Mail, which is also a very good email client and it adds a few things. I can check my Hotmail with Windows Live. I am happy with both apps, and rate both a 5.

Ryusennin reviewed v2.0.0.14 on May 1, 2008

Improvelence: "it will never see any significant features added"

Meanwhile... in the depths of a long forsaken übersecret German base... Mozilla is working on Thunderbird 3.

Hey dude, get back to gmail and let us old timers enjoy our desktop emailer.

mjm01010101 reviewed v2.0.0.14 on May 1, 2008

"Works great but the days of the desktop email client are over. "

LOL. right. While Gmail takes 10 seconds to search 1 gig mailbox for simple terms, and Outlook takes .03 seconds to search 20 gigs of archives, that will never be the case.

Go ahead and really search on gmail. it sucks donkeysac compared to its web search.

bufftbone reviewed v2.0.0.14 on May 1, 2008

Blueberry Cheesecake

Ingredients:

1/4 cup Butter, Melted
1 1/2 cup Vanilla Wafer Crumbs
1/4 cups Cold Water
1 envelope Unflavored Gelatin
16 oz Cream Cheese, Softened
1 tsp. Grated Lemon Peel
1 tbsp. Lemon Juice
7 oz (1 jar) Marshmallow Creme
2 cups Blueberries Frozen or Fresh
3 cups Frozen Whipped Topping (thawed)

Directions:

1. Combine crumbs and butter, press onto bottom of 9-inch springform pan. Chill.

2. Soften gelatin in water, stir over low heat until dissolved. Gradually add the gelatin to cream cheese, mixing at
medium speed on electric mixer until well blended. Blend in lemon juice and lemon peel.

3. Add the marshmallow creme, mix well. Fold in whipped topping.

4. Puree the blueberries then fold into cream cheese mixture. Chill until firm.

improvelence reviewed v2.0.0.14 on May 1, 2008

Works great but the days of the desktop email client are over. They have gone the direction of desktop newsgroup clients and desktop chat programs. I haven't actively used thunderbird in almost 2 years. You can do much more with gmail/yahoo/windows live or even aol mail. Mozilla isn't even bothering with this anymore it will never see any significant features added, nor will any other email client. Move on. I give it a 4 because it gave me some good years.

Metshrine reviewed v2.0.0.14 on May 1, 2008

I absolutely love this email client, it is by far one of the best around. However, it is lacking in many areas, as others have said. I realize this is OSS and as such free which means I have really no right to complain. But regardless, I wish I could see some of the features for IMAP, such as those found in mulberry which is open source (now) but dead, be implimented. There are several functionality problems with it's implimentation. Other than that, a rock solid client.

AlphaBetaGamma reviewed v2.0.0.14 on May 1, 2008

Having used Thunderbird for years, I know that the real problem is randomly missing messages and folders. Just look at the MozzilaZine Forums any day of the week for tales of unending woe. Having myself seen important drafts disappear without a trace, I now use Outlook 2007 for receiving email, and only use Thunderbird for convenience in sending links to web pages. It is unfortunate, because TB is easy to use, but it is too unreliable for anything important.

cearap01 reviewed v2.0.0.14 on May 1, 2008

Thunderbird works - that's all you should be concerned about - the fact they issue fixes is a bonus, why mess with something that works and does what it's supposed to, Send and Receive email.
I use Thunderbird on Linux, OSX, & Windows (no licensing fees) I mean come on what more can you ask from the developers?

Artem S. Tashkinov reviewed v2.0.0.14 on May 1, 2008

Alas, it's almost dead project.

Thunderbird works nice, but it lacks many features from other mail clients. And it looks like no one is eager to develop it (except security fixes).

Thunderbird 3 alpha has almost no improvements except support for native OS themes and improved messages labeling.

Ryusennin reviewed v2.0.0.12 on Feb 28, 2008

Anyone who compares Outlook with Thunderbird is a clown.

comeoffit reviewed v2.0.0.12 on Feb 27, 2008

A calendar is to an email client as a music player is to an internet browser--you might like having it there, but it doesn't really make sense for it to be shoved up everyone's pooper as if it really made sense for it to be there.

Mystenes reviewed v2.0.0.12 on Feb 27, 2008

Best email program, and it's Free.

It is able to filter spam, and it does it quite well.

netean reviewed v2.0.0.12 on Feb 27, 2008

Been using thunderbird for a while now - since V1 and i'm looking for something else now... I mean, it's ok and all.. it works. but it's just hard to explain.. feels klunky and slow.
The anti spam tools are practically useless and I haven't found anything better that integrates with thunderbird (tried spamato... bloat!)
I've got about a dozen add-ons installed and they help a lot, but that kind of tells me that thunderbird basically isn't as featurefull as I'd like.

Works OK on my USB memory stick as a portable app. (bit slow though)

I'm hoping Thunderbird 3 (or even the new eudora) will be better. but at the moment, Thunderbird is just... ok, nothing special, but ok

ssb reviewed v2.0.0.12 on Feb 27, 2008

How can you call this poor application better than Outlook?

poisonu reviewed v2.0.0.12 on Feb 27, 2008

Superb!!
A great partner for Firefox....

ghammer reviewed v2.0.0.12 on Feb 26, 2008

Works in a limited fashion, right until it does not.
Happy to have Outlook personally.
Get a calendar, redesign the server section, enhance the spam filtering and I'll give this another 6 month try.
But not until.

Ulmo reviewed v2.0.0.12 on Feb 26, 2008

Better than Outlook. Need only exchange calendar synchro to replace it everywhere.

Tettayes, you may leave HotMail, not Thunderbird.

Animal Testing Rocks reviewed v2.0.0.9 on Feb 12, 2008

Beats the snot out of Outlook! Could do with better IMAP features implementation.

Plays well with FreePOPs

Needs to enable inbox compression (cleanup) by default

tettayes reviewed v2.0.0.9 on Nov 24, 2007

not good at all, why use this program if you have outlook or other better clients??
i cannot fix my thunderbird to retrieve hotmail account automatically, i always had to get new mail manually which is a real pain...

netean reviewed v2.0.0.9 on Nov 13, 2007

It's... ok... I've used Thunderbird for a couple of years now, and I'm rapidly losing faith with it. The anti-spam controls don't really work, I find it quite slow. Especially when you tack on a couple of extensions that provide some much needed functionality. Default theme is awful and on the whole it generally just looks a bit naff, even with the best themes installed.
It does the job, but it's hardly something I consider great and sadly not something I'd recommend to other people.

IMKey reviewed v2.0.0.9 on Nov 13, 2007

LDAP integration to auto complete email addresses is a blessing. Very well designed application. Everything is where I expect it to be.

Tao2005 reviewed v2.0.0.6 on Oct 29, 2007

Great program. Though slightly buggy, it's efficient enough to replace outlook express. I have used this program for many years. Works flawlessly.

The buggy part comes in when you have a database problem, and you have to log in to your e-mail manually. Or re-enter your password.

Aside all that it's flawless. I have mine set up to load my homepage. When it's done my mail has arrived.

Sven123456789 reviewed v2.0.0.6 on Aug 25, 2007

Good email program. But still lacks some features that i can't find in there add on website. Like the bcc button,, Full screen button and maybe a extension and theme button option for the start up page.

diseasedmind reviewed v2.0.0.6 on Aug 13, 2007

Having been a fan of Firefox for some time, when I found that outlook express wouldn't allow me to put my store folders on a network drive I decided to give Thunderbird a go. Not that OE has been troublesome for me, but it couldn't do this one thing I needed. I installed thunderbird and initially it seemed OK. Sure, the account configuration is a little counter-intuitive but it works once you have it set up...and TB allows you to put your messages on a network drive. However, it takes maybe 4x as long to start up as OE did with the same message content and folder hierarchy (imported from OE) - even when the message store is on a local drive. The preview rendering is also horribly slow so that navigating a folder using the cursor keys is a chore. Another issue is the fact that bizarrely it seems to parse timestamps incorrectly with some regularity so that the date ordering of a folder is rendered near useless. Oh yes, the address book import from CSV is virtually useless too, ditching most of the information contained in the source. However, first prize has to go to the 'download message but discard the contents' feature. Hats off to the geniuses who let this through. This has happened perhaps six or seven times in the past few days, at least twice with critical emails. I'm reverting back to OE. If nothing else Thunderbird does us the favour of revealing the lie the open source community has been peddling all the time: open source does not in any way guarantee better quality. On the upside the built in spam filter sort-of works and the message rules are pretty flexible and can be readily run on any folder you choose, so it's not all bad. it just doesn't work well enough to be useful. Who knows how mozilla coerced the industry into lauding this steaming heap.

All but the most trivial users of email should avoid.

roj reviewed v2.0.0.6 on Aug 2, 2007

I concur with bigmama. The ZillaLand crew have a lot to learn aobut ease-of-use, commonality of interface and ease of configurability from an "options are logically laid out" point of view. The app works well but the interface and options layout remains Li'l Abner.

FOUR stars.

Richardky reviewed v2.0.0.6 on Aug 2, 2007

It is all that i need , works great.

bigmama reviewed v2.0.0.4 on Jun 14, 2007

good, although i don't like mozilla products.

Jegar48 reviewed v2.0.0.4 on Jun 14, 2007

Another good set of improvements to an already great program. 5+

Banquo reviewed v2.0.0.0 on Apr 22, 2007

Best email client there is right now, and it's free. I use it for both my isp account and GMail. To the poster below, I believe there is an addon that will give you a BCC button.

stisev reviewed v2.0.0.0 on Apr 18, 2007

The best!

christoofar reviewed v2.0.0.0 on Apr 18, 2007

the best stand alone email client.
I'd give it a 6 if they would just add a darn BCC button!!

Tene reviewed v2.0.0.0 on Apr 18, 2007

Those new icons are very elegant. They fit right in with Windows.

(The rest of the app deserves a five too ;)

orizng reviewed v2.0.0.0 on Apr 18, 2007

this is crazy, "offer nothing more than opera mail"? are you crazy? opera does NOT allow you to write any HTML email at all? and Opera has a buggy IMAP function. what exactly are you talking about? please respect the facts first before u make any statement.

mjm01010101 reviewed v2.0.0.0 on Apr 18, 2007

A decent pop mail client and good generic newsreader. Has some address book and rules processing issues that are glaringly annoying as well as unresolved for several years now.

Sven123456789 reviewed v2.0.0.0 on Apr 18, 2007

Opera lovers will never admit any other product is good. As for resources, who ever has problems with something like this? Like the reviewer below states, unless you have some old 100mhz, 5 megs of ram, windows 95 pc. Its very good. But i'm sticking with the email client that comes with Seamonkey. Really for only one stupid reason. They still don't have the bcc button added to the address book window. If you send emails to a group and want all of them bcc, its a bit of a pain to do this. Seamonkey handles that well. There used to be a addon/extension for the bcc button, but its for the older versions of Thunderbird. Some one out there please invent a newer add on for this. Tanks

Jegar48 reviewed v2.0.0.0 on Apr 18, 2007

Simply The Best FREE, STAND ALONE E-mail client out there.

Dsfargeg reviewed v2.0.0.0 on Apr 18, 2007

Simply the best email client for Windows!

Not even remotely resource hungry - unless you run some antique 386.

Steve Austin reviewed v2.0.0.0 on Apr 18, 2007

Functional, that's about it.

It's extremely resource hungry, for just a email reader, and has all the flaws of previous Mozilla email clients.

As for functionality, it offers nothing that's not already in Opera mail client.

Dwiebelhaus reviewed v2.0.0.0 on Apr 18, 2007

The best email client, PERIOD.

Zenithian reviewed v2.0.0.0 on Apr 18, 2007

I've been using Thunderbird for years, and I think it's great! The final version is running smooth on my machine!

veeoh reviewed v2.0.0.0 on Apr 18, 2007

Nice! :) Use IMAP then you dont need to worry about moving mail as its stored on the server...!

ljepava reviewed v2.0.0.0 on Apr 18, 2007

whats the easiest way to transfer mail from vista windows mail into thunderbird?

d.chertousov@gmail.com reviewed v2.0.0.0 on Apr 18, 2007

Great work! Nicer and better.

Agent31 reviewed v2.0.0.0 on Apr 18, 2007

I love Thunderbird, but I will never understand why, if they will allow auto-config of a Gmail account, you can't import a gmail address book without spending half an hour fiddling with the address book fields to get it imported correctly!!!

For two companies that push standards compliance so much this area is something that really needs reviewing!

Still love the product though.

yokozuna reviewed v2.0.0.0 on Apr 18, 2007

@M a t t L e e

Spamato http://www.spamato.net is a bit complicated but it is IMO da best antispam add-on for Thunderbird.

TGB72 reviewed v1.5.0.10 on Mar 1, 2007

Great E-mail client, the only con that I found is that doesn't come with an option to import messages box from other clients or .eml files, but you need to use another progs/extensions like DbxConv & mboximport to do this. At this point this is almost unacceptable, Thunderbird should have incorporated these features long time ago. I don't understand why it didn't, it really hinder the migration for new users.
An option to export all messages from firefox to .eml in a couple of clicks would be nice too. I know that probably this can be found also in some extension but I think that should be come in Thunderbird setup.

anomoly reviewed v1.5.0.10 on Mar 1, 2007

Be nice if the check for updates actually worked.

slickandy reviewed v1.5.0.9 on Dec 20, 2006

release notes: http://www.mozilla.com/e...d/releases/1.5.0.9.html

cannie reviewed v1.5.0.9 on Dec 20, 2006

Thank you. It goes perfect on Windows 98 SE.

lion7718 reviewed v1.5.0.8 on Nov 12, 2006

Good Email Client, handles other emails good...
Get AOL, Yahoo (with YPops) & Gmail all fine.

T3chDad reviewed v1.5.0.8 on Nov 8, 2006

@SCOOT: You'll want to check out the Lighting Calendar extension for T-Bird...It's great.

https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/2313/

skymanner reviewed v1.5.0.8 on Nov 8, 2006

It works well. I am glad I moved over from Outlook Express. A world of difference.

boaz reviewed v1.5.0.8 on Nov 8, 2006

Very nice, simple & clean email program.

I finally got one of my clients to switch from Eudora to Thunderbird, and they really like it.

Also you may want to use "Mozbackup", a small free program to backup Firefox & Thunderbird profiles. You can do it manually, but this program simplifies it.
http://fileforum.betanew...lla_Backup/1066312445/1

HelgeFossmo reviewed v1.5.0.8 on Nov 8, 2006

1.5.0.8 changes are listed here
http://weblogs.mozillazi...es/2006/09/1-5-0-8.html

Additionally 3 security issues was fixed, see here:
http://www.mozilla.org/p...html#thunderbird1.5.0.8

djdanska reviewed v1.5.0.8 on Nov 8, 2006

Still a very good email client. (and to scoot, check out Lightning. http://www.mozilla.org/projects/calendar/

scoot reviewed v1.5.0.8 on Nov 8, 2006

Thunderbird is a good client - for mail. However, it lacks the calendar functionality to make it my replacement choice for Outlook. It handles IMAP better then Outlook though. Has some quirks which make it a little difficult to set up initially - some options are really well hidden.

ShiftedBlue reviewed v1.5.0.8 on Nov 8, 2006

Best mail client I've ever used. It's easy, powerful, customizable, fast, and free.

Plus, I installed it on my mom's PC, and she loves it. If my mother can use Thunderbird without calling me for help every other day, it deserves a 5 rating right there.

drspy00 reviewed v1.5.0.8 on Nov 7, 2006

This is an Excellent piece of software. It has many features that can't be found in other email clients and is very easy to restore all email data after a format of the hard drive. Its so light and fast which is great too.
It doesn't get attacked by virus's like outlook does either.

landfish reviewed v1.5.0.8 on Nov 7, 2006

As always excellent, thanks to a team of developers who keep looking for ways to improve it. There seems to be a school of thought here that continual work on a project is a bad thing, I find this odd to say the least, it smacks of mediocrity, laziness and conservatism, all things I find distasteful.

constust reviewed v1.5.0.8 on Nov 7, 2006

The problem with outlook express is where it stores the "profile" in the registry. It's a random numbered key that isnt easily restored on OS reinstall. With Thunderbird, I can install my OS over and over and when I turn it on everything is exactly how it was. All my emails and settings are not wiped out. For this, its my client of choice.

P.S. It also doesnt try to run your computer for you by starting Messenger.

rhy7s reviewed v1.5.0.8 on Nov 7, 2006

Have been a satisfied user since 0.1 but also use Eudora, Pegasus, Seamonkey, Outlook and Evolution.

I'd never trade Thunderbird for Outlook Express for one simple reason:

Thunderbird despite its constant development works and gives me a decent email experience.

Outlook Express doesn't.

stevetures reviewed v1.5.0.8 on Nov 7, 2006

Great app (nicely enough there's a 'keeps asking for password fix' frin 1.5.0.7). Supposedly the 2.0 tree has a better spam filter.

Here's a unofficial changelog:
Changes in 1.5.0.8 (so far): (6)

Crashes: (1)

* Fixed: 323531 - crash when deleting all attachments after detaching all of them from one mail

Address book: (1)

* Fixed: 230580 - ldap_2 "user_directory"/"_nonascii_" preferences proliferating unnecessarily

Functionality: (1)

* Fixed: 351685 - Total email count is set to 0 after compacting an Inbox

Networking: (1)

* Fixed: 249240 - Password dialog for POP/IMAP server does not reprompt when password is changed externally.

UI improvements: (1)

* Fixed: 332883 - Thunderbird freezes while searching in a folder with lots of messages ( search bar )

Miscellaneous fixes: (1)

* Fixed: 352801 - 1.5.0.7 keeps asking for password

roj reviewed v1.5.0.8 on Nov 7, 2006

mjm01010101:

You cannot email anyone, anytime with guaranteed delivery. SMTP is in no way shape or form guaranteed. In fact, it's the WORST form of email for that sort of thing. X.400 is guaranteed. Exchange is guaranteed. Profs is guaranteed. Even lowly Lotus NBotes is guaranteed. Why? They're closed networks.

SMTP is no better than IM when it comes to reliability. In fact, in an open system without any encryption, it's WORSE.

Now with that misconception out of the way, let's get to the matter at hand:

This is an mail client built by a software dev team that takes the same approach to building a browser. What approach is that? It's unfinished, lacking features Outlook Express users take for granted (and that's a baseline client shipped with an OS - not great art) and lacks fit and dinish. In short, it's just like Firefox.

I'd never trade Outlook Express for this for one sumple reason:

Oulook Express for all its humble design works and gives me a decent email experience.

The client doesn't.

Oh and to fudgetunnel:

I *never* apologise for using something that works just because MS builds it. That's just cheap greasy kidz stuff.

THREE stars for an amateurish effort that STILL won't grow up.

fudgetunnel reviewed v1.5.0.8 on Nov 7, 2006

I've been using Outlook Express for over ten years, and in that time have tried nearly every alternative hoping to escape the insulting formatting and utter neglect that is Microsoft Mail, but as much as it pains me to admit it, I've yet to find a replacement.

I uninstalled Thunderbird this time within a matter of minutes, simply because it doesn't allow me the option of "sending later" as a default. That's the way I've become accustomed to sending mail - in batches. I don't want to argue why I find this superior, that's just how I like it.

So am I really asking too much?

JEdwardP reviewed v1.5.0.8 on Nov 7, 2006

I've loved Firefox for years, so I'd always expected to love Thunderbird at some point. I don't though; everytime I test out Thunderbird, I always immediately uninstall it and keep using Pegasus Mail.

Of course Thunderbird's HTML rendering is better than Pegasus's, but nothing else about it seems to be.

It's compressed installer is larger than my full Pegasus Mail installation, and it still lacks selective downloading from header previews, which I consider a must-have feature, as for me at least, that's the most efficient way to combat spam --- forget hit-and-miss filters and folders, just let me delete it without even downloading it.

Paradise-FH- reviewed v1.5.0.8 on Nov 7, 2006

the business world runs on email ... what planet are you from? :P

mjm01010101 reviewed v1.5.0.7 on Sep 14, 2006

newsgroups, yeah.

And yes people still email. It's a STANDARD, as opposed to IM, which ISN'T. Until I can IM ANYONE, ANYWHERE and GUARANTEE DELIVERY It'll be second best. I receive 70+ e-mails a day from 15-20 different people. What a mess that would be to get my work done with little windows all over the place.

zridling reviewed v1.5.0.7 on Sep 14, 2006

Seriously: people still do email?

zeeZee reviewed v1.5.0.5 on Aug 5, 2006

thunderbitd portable 1505 is awesome. love it. i run it off my usb 2 drive.

tbresson reviewed v1.5.0.5 on Jul 28, 2006

I've been running Thunderbird for quite a while now, and I have had no problems with it whatsoever.

It's an e-mail client, and it does what it's supposed to do.

DonGato reviewed v1.5.0.5 on Jul 27, 2006

Even as I like a lot of its features there are some "quirks" I don't like and sometimes annoy me. I hope extensions will be released to fix such quirks soon (not really, more like I don't like some behaviors).

Anyway, it replaced Outlook Express both at home and work, but not yet Outlook at work because I use it with an Exchange server and I need some missing features in Thunderbird. :(

mjm01010101 reviewed v1.5.0.5 on Jul 27, 2006

I use primarily for a quick and dirty news reader. No problems.

I hear a lot of complaints about the anti-spam setup/folder redirection/rules from my brother, but I don't use it for that, so 5.

Don Juan reviewed v1.5.0.5 on Jul 27, 2006

Love this email client. Especially with the web mail extension, I can check all of my email accounts simultaneously.

kingkhearts reviewed v1.5.0.4 on Jul 18, 2006

As much As I WOULD ABSOLUTELY LOVE TO GIVE THIS A 5!!

There are some Stability Problems that WLMDBeta didn't help with (It added more after I downloaded that) but anyways it's pretty damn Good. I was able to Connect my GMail and AIM Mail accounts to POP3 and IMAP Respectively. The RSS Reader isn't bad but I have abandoned that for GreatNews 1.0 Beta.

And because this is Based on the Gecko Rendering engine there are plenty of Extensions to keep the Extension happy busy. (like me)

mcm reviewed v1.5.0.4 on Jun 4, 2006

I agree with Metshrine. Outlook has a lot more features but the package is aimed more at busineses so is more appropiate for that use.

The main area of strength with Thunderbird and why I use it at home is the ability to seperate accounts. We have a family email address that everyone can see and access in a shared set of folders. But our own personal accounts and folders is only visible under our own login and can't be seen by others.

In Outlook you're forced to receive all your emails in one set of folders and while you can share it across multiple users they get to see your personal emails too. And having to create filters to seperate emails from the different accounts is messy too.

Metshrine reviewed v1.5.0.4 on Jun 2, 2006

Great email client? Definitely
Good support? Definitely
Works well w/ few crashes? Definitely
Better than outlook? Nope

I hate to say it, but for anyone to say this is better than outlook is just blind. I love thunderbird, been my default mail client for about 2 years now, but I also dont claim that it is something its not. Outlook has far more functionality (people call it bloat, but it runs very fast on my pc) and has a nicer feeling GUI and more options (for its defense, GUI's are always a weak point in OSS).

Anyways, that is off topic. Aside from a few minor annoyances, this is a very good email client which shows a lot of promise.

EDIT

mcm, i suggest you check out profiles in outlook, they do the exact same functionality you describe in outlook. Each user can access a public shared folder set/mail account and then their own email account under their own profile. I have been using that feature at work for years (since outlook 97)

AlanS2001 reviewed v1.5.0.4 on Jun 2, 2006

Best simple home mail client, bar none.

Don Juan reviewed v1.5.0.4 on Jun 1, 2006

Hope this version fixed the problem of it not being able to download updates by itself. If I find out it doesn't I'll come back and change this five to a four.

Well, theres an update for one of my extensions, and it failed to update on it's on still. :(

hondaman reviewed v1.5.0.4 on Jun 1, 2006

I love OSS, and here is an example of GOOD OSS.

Not nearly as robust as outlook, and I look forward to the day when it gets more and more features.

Easy 5 stars.

mjm01010101 reviewed v1.5.0.4 on Jun 1, 2006

No problems. shows a build date of May 16th.

Earwicker reviewed v1.5.0.2 on Jun 1, 2006

Excellent. I've been using it for about four months for business email, and I haven't got anything bad to say about it. Fully featured, dead stable, attractive UI, imported my address book from Yahoo! no bother... it checks six POP3 accounts and an AOL IMAP account automatically. Probably the best email client in the world.

Laprisamata reviewed v1.5.0.2 on May 27, 2006

A week ago I would have awarded this application a 5, but having developed the, "This folder is being processed. Please wait until processing is complete to get messages." bug, it has become a useless piece of junk. Many people seem to have problems with this bug and it hasn't been substantially dealt with to cure the problem across the board. Some fixes seem to work with some people- sometimes, but I've tried everything and had no success. BEWARE!!
Shame, I really enjoyed the application whilst it worked, and just wish it was the superhero that Firefox is.

TC17 reviewed v1.5.0.2 on Apr 20, 2006

Edited: I originally thought this broke my quote extension, but I was wrong. I just had an older one installed that I forgot to update. I still like this email client.

henrypeck reviewed v1.5.0.2 on Apr 20, 2006

Uses too many resources for what it does.

sn0wflake reviewed v1.5.0.2 on Apr 20, 2006

Pure security update so download it now. Read more at http://www.mozilla.org/p...html#thunderbird1.5.0.2

davygiven reviewed v1.5.0.2 on Apr 20, 2006

Love it!!!

bokhylla reviewed v1.5 Final on Mar 5, 2006

For home use this email software is much nicer than Microsoft Outlook 2003. A lot of plug-ins and a nice layout. Works very well. I can really recommend this email client. Mozilla Foundation, you really are something! Björn Lundahl, Gothenburg, Sweden

kl00 reviewed v1.5 Final on Feb 17, 2006

Come on. In terms of resources used/functionality offered, Thunderbird has to be the most inefficient email client I have ever used. With the exception of the built-in RSS reader, there isn't a heck of a lot more I can do with Thunderbird than I was always able to do with Mozilla Mail (now SeaMonkey Mail), with less of a strain on the system.

Curlytopz reviewed v1.5 Final on Jan 13, 2006

Sorry but Outlook still seems to be the easiest and most effective with Spamihilator.

Thunderbird is too close to Netscape mail and if you like to have your own stationary then this is not for you.
It also does not forward well with attachments you have to put them in yourself.
It is a good stable program works well if that what u like.

utomo reviewed v1.5 Final on Jan 12, 2006

It still need some improvements, such as:
easy import and export from and to: Outlook and outlook express.
Working better with antivirus software.
Better junk mail filter.
and others

TC17 reviewed v1.5 Final on Jan 12, 2006

I have really grown to like this email client. Its free and extremely configurable which makes it unique.

I love the Tiger Mail theme to go along with this:
https://addons.mozilla.o...application=thunderbird

And the "ChangeQuote" extension is a must have if you want your quoted reply header to look like most email clients:

http://nic-nac-project.de/~kaosmos/changequote-en.html

crashoverride reviewed v1.5 Final on Jan 12, 2006

All I got to say is that this thing by far surpasses Outlook Express. Then again... that doesn't take much.

crosscut reviewed v1.5 Final on Jan 12, 2006

Actually, Metshrine's right. The double click issue, the "You didnt double click the review button did you" this comment is utterly retarded, I agree completely with Metshrine. I also hate this issue as I dont intentionally double click, but sometimes t-bird thinks I have and opens a new window and it annoys me greatly. Yes, a setting should be put into place where you can choose it, but hey, according to bugzilla, its already been incorporated so double clicking has been removed :) Just see

https://bugzilla.mozilla.../show_bug.cgi?id=214114

Notice, its been resolved :)

I also love how Kramy and rhy7s didnt actually review the program but more posted a rant against another reviewer. Isnt that not allowed on fileforum? Isnt a review to state your own opinions on the program, not bad mouth another users preferences?

Anyways, now for my review. Thunderbird is a great email client, but it leaves a lot to be desired. The upcoming lightning release is long awaited by many users and I dont think 2.0 should be put out before that incorporation is complete as I know a LOT of users that want to have some sort of datebook/calendar function put into their email client. Thunderbird is a great client, but there are so many little annoyances and features that are missing that I dont think I can give it a 5 just yet. But I will bump my rating since they FINALLY INCLUDED PROPER GRAMMAR CHECKING! YOU'RE as opposed to YOURE is now noticed. THANK YOU MOZILLA!

Anyways, 4/5 for me

rhy7s reviewed v1.5 Final on Jan 12, 2006

Metshrine, surely it's not too difficult to go to Tools > Account Settings > Outgoing Server (SMTP) to specify an SMTP server to associate with an account?

Kramy reviewed v1.5 Final on Jan 12, 2006

All depends on user preference.

I actually like several of the things mentioned below by Metshrine.

I would actually prefer having single-click opening folders disabled. I'm one of those people with a high resolution that likes to keep dozens of windows open at once. If I open another folder, be it for mail or for a download I saved, there's a good chance I'm going to have to go back and grab something else, so I want two or more windows open at all times.

Anyway, I consider that an incredibly minute problem. Just don't double-click; I mean, you didn't doubleclick the review button did you? :P

Metshrine reviewed v1.5 Final on Jan 12, 2006

A good release, but they didnt think many of the new features through. The new "feature" that plays a sound when new news items arrive is a bad idea since most people have news set to retrieve every 60 minutes, the default setting. That sound will get annoying if it is continuously played due to this feature.

The program still doesnt move messages to the proper sent items, trash or spam folder unless you explicitly define said folders. Again, another annoyance thats been around for a while.

The program STILL opens up a new window when you double click on the folder list, although rumor has it on bugzilla that this has been fixed and added to the CVS repo for 1.6/2.0, didnt have time to make it in for 1.5

Anyways, a good overall release, but these bugs are annoying and I dont think its totally ready to replace many user's clients as default

ALSO, Why cant you delete the local folders yet. I have no use for these and dont want to use them!!!!

EDIT 12JAN2006

Why cant you disable the sound item for new news items? I see no setting in the about:config or standard options. This is very annoying hearing the "new mail" sound every time a new news item is downloaded

Fubar12345 reviewed v1.0.7 on Oct 2, 2005

Great program. I swithced from OE and Poco Mail and haven't been back. I did use 1.07 but then moved to the 1.5 beta series. Keep up the great work.

utomo - I access my hotmail using Hotmail Popper (Not free) but I am grandfathered in to access Hotmail free because I've had my account so long. As stated before there is a free webmail extension.

utomo - I access my Gmail account by pop. Read the link provided previously since you haven't searched for the answer yourself.

utomo - The GUI is pretty much as customizable as you want with extensions and themes. I don't have a clue what you are talking about here.

I will second the statement that you actually research before you talk smack.

dkratter reviewed v1.0.7 on Oct 1, 2005

There is a WebMail extension that will allow Thunderbird to work with Hotmail, Yahoo, etc. http://webmail.mozdev.org/

captainpete reviewed v1.0.7 on Oct 1, 2005

utomo - You can access Gmail from thunderbird. Here's an article on it. http://mail.google.com/s...wer=13285&topic=194 Do your research before you talk s**t. Hotmail used to allow it, but stopped, so that's not Mozilla's fault. As for the others, I don't use them so I'm not sure.

utomo reviewed v1.0.7 on Sep 30, 2005

We also need to able to access Webmail, such as: Yahoomail, Gmail, Hotmail, Mailcity, Etc.

and it need a GUI redesign, so new user will find it easy to use.

DudeBoyz reviewed v1.0.7 on Sep 30, 2005

I kind of prefer Outlook Express 6 to thunderbird, but I can certainly appreciate the effort, and it is free. It does work well too. I have tested it out pretty hard core, but I simply prefer OE 6 better. Maybe cause I'm used to how it does things and some of those things are lacking from the TBird configuration.

Don Juan reviewed v1.0.7 on Sep 30, 2005

I love this program, especially when paired with a webmail to POP3 program like FreePOPs.org. There is also one that is an extension for Thunderbird but I haven't tried that yet.

Also they really need to update the screen shot on this page.

Outlook 2003, the only mail client with enough security holes to take out your system. Good luck with that bbfc.

mosimea reviewed v1.0.7 on Sep 30, 2005

Speaking of which, this being "Betanews", why isn't Thunderbird 1.5 beta1 on available on here?

MoeRL reviewed v1.0.7 on Sep 30, 2005

Thunderbird is, was and will remain amazing. It's the best mail client I've ever used. If you use IMAP, it's also a great choice. I use the IMAP protocol with Thunderbird and find it ridiculously easy to use, while very powerful. It's so good it's actually "fun" to use. It's got extensions, it's free, it's constantly getting better... nothing else compares.

I'm actually using the 1.5 Beta 1 release right now and it's just awesome. TB 1.5 will be loads better than the already great TB 1.0.7

It's not perfect, (what is?), but it's damn close.

dejavu reviewed v1.0.7 on Sep 30, 2005

Great email client, but still needs more resources!

mjm01010101 reviewed v1.0.7 on Sep 30, 2005

Outlook Comment: Comedy Gold.

I use both. Outlook for MAPI, Thunderbird for Newsgroup and pop3.

rasso01 reviewed v1.0.6 on Aug 8, 2005

I have now upgraded to version 1.06. But the Thuderbird is way too sloooowww. it takes 5-7 sec. to delete a mail ex. very very annoying.
I would happily have rated a 5 its a great program but very slow. Other having this problem. ????

kmleow reviewed v1.0.6 on Jul 27, 2005

Finally Plaxo supports Thunderbird!

Thunderbird does not check multiple accounts CONCURRENTLY (correct me if I am wrong).

Outlook 2003 does.

farsun reviewed v1.0.6 on Jul 22, 2005

Wow wow wow you'll say another OE lover. Nope. I was confident and loyal to TB since 0.8 and was using upgrade version without any problems. However TB 1.0.6 is not the case. Sad. And I'll tell you why - it slowed down my 3+Ghz, 512MB Athlon enourmously. Hanging programs, memory leaks... I tried everything - deleted *.msf index files, renamed index, deleted profile. No luck... Back to 1.0.5 and now I'm loyal TB user, but say loud NO for 1.0.6

BTW, maybe someone could suggest an idea how to deal with this overall slowdown after install (fresh) 1.0.6?

httpd.confused reviewed v1.0.6 on Jul 20, 2005

Thanks, Metshrine, for reminding me of another of Thunderbird's shortcomings--lack of in-line spell checking. (Please, don't point out beta or buggy extensions to me that attempt to accomplish this; it should be built in.)

There is--you guessed it--an extension that works around the other annoyance mentioned by Metshrine (the opening of a new window when a folder is double clicked):

No New Window on Double Click
http://www.chuonthis.com/extensions/

If you don't want to get it from the author's site, you may be able to get it from Mozilla update (though you're never assured of getting the latest version):
https://addons.mozilla.o...ons/moreinfo.php?id=150

Metshrine reviewed v1.0.6 on Jul 20, 2005

This browser definitely deserves a 5, but since its a 1.0 release and there are several things that can be improved upon, it gets a 4 from me.

The spell checker needs A LOT OF WORK. It doesnt catch punctuated or hyphenated words. The name auto complete needs work so that you dont have to enter a nickname in order for it to work properly. Sometimes, when I type in the beginning part of an email address, it correctly identifies the address associated, but often times it just adds the default domain.tld to the end of it (such as, I type in beginner, which is an entry in my address book (without a nickname) as beginner@administrativework.com) and it fills out beginner@whatyouwant.com (whatyouwant.com being my current email address' domain.tld) THIS IS JUST AN EXAMPLE, THOSE SITES PROBABLY DONT EXIST. But this is just one annoyance, because it works sometimes, and other times it fails to. The email client also needs new ways to filter incoming messages. The limited ways are good, and they work, but you need additional ones that are provided by extensions (I dont use the extensions as they are VERY buggy).

These are just a few examples, I could go on and on about what needs imporvement. But overall, this is a great client, and my default client, and I do enjoying use it, so it gets a 4 despite the work needed.

PLUS. PLEASE GET RID OF THE "FEATURE" THAT OPENS A NEW 3 PANED T-BIRD WINDOW WHEN YOU DOUBLE CLICK A FOLDER, IT SHOULD CLOSE THAT FOLDER AND ALL SUBFOLDERS (FOLD IT BACK UP IF YOU WILL) OR EXPAND THE SUBFOLDER TREE. Opening a new 3 pane window which performs all startup routines is unnecessary and very annoying. A fix has already been proposed, but the team thinks the new window is a "feature" and the way it SHOULD work. I disagree. Please vote for this bug

https://bugzilla.mozilla.../show_bug.cgi?id=214114

Zygi reviewed v1.0.6 on Jul 20, 2005

I was using The_Bat before, but i changed to Thunderbird, because of best learning spam filter and many other improvents. Don't forget about themes and extensions, this make Thunderbird so customizable.

PaneTrez reviewed v1.0.6 on Jul 19, 2005

I'll stick with Microsoft Outlook, but i suppose this is pretty solid for freeware.

anomoly reviewed v1.0.5 on Jul 15, 2005

deerpark alpha 2 with this as well as the portable firefox & tbird are must haves. When will they give tbird a minimize to tray at start? option-please already

mjm01010101 reviewed v1.0.5 on Jul 15, 2005

thunderbird for pop3 and newsgroups, Outlook everything else. They complement each other nicely. No issues with this release.

davidtb reviewed v1.0.5 on Jul 15, 2005

I've been using Thunderbird for quite a while as default mail and as a backup newsgroups. I suits my needs well enough not to go through the BS of switching back to Outlook.
but to Be fair, I think Outlook has an edge on Tbird though. Outlook's rules are a little more specific to my needs, and I like the way Outlooks interact with other programs. (ie phone tools and Norton)
While Tbird does hook up with Norton, it tends to ignore either Norton's rules, or it's own, and try as I might, I can get Tbird to delete items I mark as junk off the the mail server.

allsiante reviewed v1.0.5 on Jul 15, 2005

Thunderbird is just a fine piece of software. I use it on multiple platforms on multiple machines, and on multiple OSes on a single machine while sharing profiles and local mail folders, for multiple pop and imap accounts, and itjust keeps rocking.

One alert though for those who, like myself, use GPG signing and/or encryption for mails: 1.0.5 doesn't have a working enigmail extension yet, so if you need it, don't upgrade just now. I'm also waiting for a working tbird105+enigmail combo.

jcollake reviewed v1.0.5 on Jul 15, 2005

Is it just me or is there no way to apply a message rule to all accounts? You can create one for 'local folders', but it doesn't seem to process incoming email. Am I just mucked up somewhere?

cyberguy reviewed v1.0.5 on Jul 14, 2005

I don't know about you ingoguys but i run 5 different email accounts on different servers. I have had far less problems with Thunderbird than with my previous Email client - Outlook 2003. I have been using Thunderbird now since v1.0.1 and have not looked back. I particularly like the idea that I can totally uninstall the program, remove all traces of it, even do a virgin install of Windows and still get my mail & accounts back when I reinstall Thunderbird with no external backup programs or other mucking about involved.

I give it a 5 with no reservations.

indoguys reviewed v1.0.5 on Jul 14, 2005

Thunderbird is running now for a while on my PC. I'm happy with it for now however it is a real pain to set up Thunderbird esp. if your having more then one email address and mail servers. Personally I would give it a 4 but I'm a big promotor of user friendly software and Thunderbird just isn't. A 2 for this.

Cyberguy I'm not writing for myself I'm writing for millions of people esp. a upcoming Internet generation of 50+ and all those who even get dizzy bu seeing the name 'Cyberguy' as for them it is all to much to figure out how to set up account on Thunderbird. It is just not friendly. I know there are lot's of people who want to go with the trend like the whole firefox show, trend runners are everywhere but not really helping to get the real message out. Firefox for example is a pain in the a** by rendering pages, you can blame the web developpers but is the consumer helped by this? THat's all about to make it happening, in a easy way for the consumer.

crashoverride reviewed v1.0.5 on Jul 14, 2005

I love this email program. It puts so many other email clients to shame. What I really can't stand about most is that they are bloated and have lots of useless features (yea i'm talking about you microsoft). The "learning" junk mail filter is a great thing is a great thing if you are smart enough to teach it.
Also as I have said many times about Firefox the great thing about thunderbird is having to install the extensions that way you can choose what features you have and there is no unnecessary bloat from features that you don't use.

Jminion reviewed v1.0.5 on Jul 14, 2005

Thunderbird is great!! Microsoft should definitly imitate this software

JeRrYFaR reviewed v1.0.5 on Jul 14, 2005

I like the feature of only downloading headers.. major time saver..

bernis: I had no problems installing into the same directory as my previous version. In fact, I chose custom and it chose the directory I had it installed in which isn't the default directory and installed over it and I'm using it now.

psycros reviewed v1.0.5 on Jul 14, 2005

Stable, but thats about it. Rather unimpressed with this client. Not very intuitive, hard to configure and lacking in basic features such as exporting of messages. You can't even set the default address book like every other client on the planet. The junk mail "learning" filter is totally useless. Had to download half a dozen extenions just to achieve parity with Outlook, which I ended up going back to. I really like Firefox despite its little quirks, but its cousin T-bird has a loooong way to go.

bernis reviewed v1.0.5 on Jul 14, 2005

does nicely what is supossed to but ... is it normal that you can't install into same directory as the previous version? this is just not standard. users are used to install new versions of programs into same directory as the previous one and 99% of programs support it. with thunderbird or firefox it just doesn't work ... do something about it ... i can accept such behavior from some alpha or beta version of the program but final version should be able to handle something like this

Pipewrench reviewed v1.0.5 on Jul 14, 2005

Thunderbird is the best email client hands down.

I have been using it for about 1.5 years for my Roadrunner email and also for Gmail. Works great.

I used to love Outlook Express but since MS hasn't done anything with it for years I wanted to change. Outlook 2003 is just too big and bloated for me and I don't like the look of it. So I landed at Mozilla.

Since switching to Thunderbird and Firefox I haven't looked back and I never want to. I am also using the Mozilla Calendar (Sunbird) and I love it.

Mozilla is the stuff man.

:-)

***many thumbs up***

gkar reviewed v1.0.5 on Jul 14, 2005

Fine program, Mozilla.org continues to kick butt!

foxtyke reviewed v1.0.2 on Jun 1, 2005

While I recommend Thunderbird, I have to say that some of the options could be worded more clearly and some of the interface could use a more informative overhaul.

Nonetheless, once you figure it all out and get the ball rolling, Thunderbird is very stable and does what it's supposed to do.

TC17 reviewed v1.0.2 on May 26, 2005

I probably should give it a 4, but I like it enough to give it a 5 I guess. Its definitely a nice program considering its free. If you add some extensions to it then its has just as many features as the pay email programs.

There is also a nice "as you type" spell checker extension you can use with it. Plus I had to install a quote extension that changed the stupid simplistic quote header that is set as its default. I got both of these from this link:

http://www.supportware.net/mozilla/#ext7

Now I need to find a backup program for this email client.

jaelanicu reviewed v1.0.2 on Apr 8, 2005

Been using it for a week then something catastrophic happened. When I was deleting several old email accounts while downloading newsgroup message headers, the program crashed and I lost all of my messages and accounts. It seems that there is still a bug, and a big one too. I already submitted the bug via its TalkBack Agent.

Fortunately, I still keep my old messages in my old email client, so it doesn't hurt me that much. I was evaluating it for a month or so, before I finally decide to switch to Thunderbird.

Thunderbird is a very good email & news client. It would be my choice, until it's really stable. Stable enough is not enough for me. So anyone should think twice before using it for a long term.

capandjudy reviewed v1.0.2 on Mar 23, 2005

Trying to figure out how to make multiple accounts is very unclear as mentioned earlier. I wanted to make a POP 3 account with Gmail but became frustrated and went back to PocoMail at this time for just this reason. When I get this multiple account thing figured out I will probably go back to Thunderbird. Now...If it were not so slow to launch.

reets reviewed v1.0.2 on Mar 22, 2005

Great program, I use it for RSS Feeds and hotmail email. Couldn't really get it working properly for newsgroups so I downloaded Xnews and that is awesome for newsgroups, especially binary ones.

kanenas reviewed v1.0.2 on Mar 22, 2005

on every version it evolves but it still has a major drawback if you have multiple email accounts

please change the way that the user configures multiple smtp outgoing server and I will switch from the evil empires outlook express

Thunderbird as it is configured now it can be done, to have multiple outgoing email accounts but is not straightforward

prandal reviewed v1.0.2 on Mar 22, 2005

Fixes in version 1.0.2:

http://www.mozilla.org/p...lities.html#Thunderbird

Boolah reviewed v1.0.2 on Mar 22, 2005

Dead link....

Mark Gillespie reviewed v1.0.2 on Mar 22, 2005

I use it as my email/news client of choice, but the 1.0x release is somewhat lacking in features, especially for reading newsgroups, which is still very basic.

The 1.1 Nightly releases are better, with options for inline spellchecking and multiple SMTP servers, but still missing some essential features that Outlook Express even provides.

cyberguy reviewed v1.0.2 on Mar 22, 2005

Whoops, looks like they pulled the release!

The 102 RC version is kickass anyway. I'll wait patiently for them to put release back up.

skonrad reviewed v1.0.2 on Mar 22, 2005

Great program!

street_spirit reviewed v1.0 Final on Feb 6, 2005

I have been using this for a while now. Even though I can't stand mozillas firefox I do quite like their e-mail client. It's got a nice interface and has the features I want from an e-mail client, the filters are a partially favorite of mine (nicked from operas M2, but then theres no change there for mozillal; stealing ideas from opera and claiming it as their innovations).

I wouldn't say it was the best e-mail client around, personally prefer operas M2, however I use thunderbird because I want to receive HTML e-mails, which I know there are advantages and disadvantages but it's just a personal preference that M2 blocks.

So in summary if you don't care or want to receive HTML e-mail I would go for the built in e-mail client in opera browser, tis a lot better. But thunderbird comes in a close second with the ability to receive HTML e-mail.

petgamer reviewed v1.0 Final on Jan 27, 2005

I installed this program with high anticipation considering I use Mozilla Firefox and I thought I would give this program a try. Right from the start it took longer than I would've hoped to install, and during setup I noticed it did not autodetect my e-mail settings so I found it a pain to have to dig to find my incoming and outgoing mail servers. The interface is very plain. Running this for the first time, I noticed that there is no contacts list to double click and open up an e-mail fairly simply (It was in another menu..) It uses up a lot of memory and offers no way to check messages every few minutes so I would have to leave the program open.

I don't think this is as user friendly as I would like. I think some other aspects of this program could be improved and I'll stick with my other mail client. I would not recommend it to computer illterate people.

Esquire reviewed v1.0 Final on Dec 24, 2004

I'm quite disappointed with Thunderbird. It's fast and the anti-SPAM works quite well, but having used it for a few weeks, I just deleted it from my computer and moved back to Outlook Express.

1. It does not purge my IMAP email at all. It can mark the email for deletion, but it doesn't purge from the server whatsoever (and why is the manual purge function called Compact Folders? It is not at all obvious that Compact = Purge). Outlook Express can do it automatically on exit with a click of a setting in its Options - even items in non-Inbox folders marked for deletion. And Tb created its own default Sent folder on the server instead of using my account's default, and I ended up with 2 sent email folders.

Verdict: NOT GOOD! Should really copy how Outlook Express does it rather than come up with something that fails totally.

2. I can't drag n' drop my images as attachments into the email message window - the email gets sent to my friends sans images/attachments. I have to use the attachment icon every time. I can drag n' drop with Outlook or Outlook Express.

Verdict: I can get used to using the icon, but I like drag n' drop.

3. Changing email account password can be cumbersome - have to delete the old one from Password Manager first then enter the new one when prompted next time I check email. My outgoing email server requires separate authentication, and it took me a long time looking for a place to enter my outgoing password, only to realize there was no place to enter it, not until I actually sent out my first email.

Verdict: The Password Manager is a good idea, but it has no change password function (why a manager that can only delete or show your password?), and what is the logic behind password entry not located with the email account setup?

4. Some of the functions/options are hidden away, e.g., email is sent out as soon as I click SEND button. I prefer to have my outgoing email sitting in the Outbox then send them by batch. I couldn't find this option to change very quickly.

Verdict: Much better if I can find some of the options to change quickly instead of having to go to Help or FAQ.

5. Import email accounts from my Outlook and Outlook Express failed. I have 5 email accounts (a mix of POP3 and IMAP accounts) setup and Tb only managed to import.... NONE. It did manage to import my messages though.

Verdict: ........................!

Thunderbird, better luck next time, but keep improving it though and I might just change my mind and reinstall.

OVERALL: 3 out of 5, barely.

MERRY XMAS WHEREVER YOU ARE!

reegis reviewed v1.0 Final on Dec 20, 2004

Am trying to import folders from calypso. Has anyone tried this with thunderbird

kmleow reviewed v1.0 Final on Dec 11, 2004

Outlook is better in some ways.

Does anyone know how to set Thunderbird to automatically delete old RSS messages?

Diamhair reviewed v1.0 Final on Dec 8, 2004

Awesome mail client, I have been using it for over a year now. It's quick and all I need.

QBgreen reviewed v1.0 Final on Dec 7, 2004

This is the email client that most home users will want once they discover it. The spam filter is as or more on target than several of the "big name" releases I've tried. It just kills Outlook Express. Even if you're not a big fan of Firefox, T-Bird sould be considered by all those currently unhappy with their current email client.

fr0b reviewed v1.0 Final on Dec 7, 2004

Domingo, The functionality of Gmail should not affect a review of this program. FYI Gmail has stated that they will NOT ever charge for pop3 access.

meemz reviewed v1.0 Final on Dec 7, 2004

Domingo... you say the product works very well. So give it a rating based on WHAT IT DOES, not whether or not you have a free POP account to use it.

I use TBird for my work and home using IMAP. It handles the protocol pretty well. There are few glitches (they're almost always server based) and it is very responsive. I notice that the JUNK filter does a reasonable job. I have SPAM blockers on both servers and mark each incoming message. TBird has an 80% success rate. That is pretty decent for out of the box performance (not to mention it's FREE).

Pixelsmack reviewed v1.0 Final on Dec 7, 2004

Really the only negative that stops me from not using HTML based email are it's filters. For some reason it's filters do not include the most basic filter options. Which are:

1) Only download messages off of server that are in my contacts.

2) Delete off server messages that are not in my contacts.

What Thunderbird does is DOWNLOADS the messages and then will do the "are they in your contacts" check. Then it will do the action asked. Like Delete or flag as junk. DUMB!

Domingo reviewed v1.0 Final on Dec 7, 2004

It does what it's supposed to do rather well, unfortunately with Yahoo charging, Hotmail about to do the same (if they haven't already disabled it), and fewer and fewer POP3 servers - I no longer really need this. Gmail is the only one, and I'm sure once the public can access it, they'll charge for it as well. Unless you're using a provider that gives free POP3 accounts, it's not all that useful for most people.
For an office e-mail account, I think I'd rather use Outlook personally.
It might be nice to have some alternate way to access web-based e-mail.

alister reviewed v1.0 Final on Dec 7, 2004

The best e-mail program! I have switched over from Outlook/Outlook Express to this and it is much better.

wagner reatto reviewed v1.0 Final on Dec 7, 2004

the best!

erehwoN reviewed v1.0 Final on Dec 7, 2004

By far the best mail client available.

snafu4u reviewed v1.0 Final on Dec 7, 2004

Been using Thunderbird since .2, and love it. It beats the hell out of every client I've ever used.

To those who've been complaining about the zip file deal: If you visited mozilla's site you would have found the .exe installer, but since you are lazy as hell, guess you'll just have to suffer...