Thunderbird - E-mail Client for Macintosh OS X 

Links for Thunderbird/Firefox:  Newsgroups | Firefox |

Links for mail:  First account | Create accounts | Folders | Message Filters | Headers | Anti-Spam |

Links on this page:  SMTP Authentication |

 

Key Settings:

Incoming Mail Server = Follows this format: mail.ispname.com (or .net) with your ISP's name substituted for "ispname.com (or .net)".

Outgoing Mail Server = Follows this format: mail.ispname.com (or .net) with your ISP's name substituted for "ispname.com (or .net)".

SMTP Authentication (e-mail username) is required to send e-mail.

 

  Editing existing e-mail accounts:

To edit existing e-mail accounts, do the following:

On the Toolbar, click Tools and select Account Settings from the menu.

 

The Account Settings window opens.

In the left-hand column, highlight the name of the account.  In this example, we highlighted "Work".

To the right you'll see various fields.

Account Name  =  Enter a name for the account.  It can be anything you wish.  Make it distinctive to help distinguish it from any other accounts you may create.
Your Name  =  Verify the spelling of your name.
Email Address  =  Verify the spelling of the e-mail address.

 

In the left-hand column, highlight Server Settings.

Server Type  =  This should be a POP Mail Server.
Server Name = The Incoming (POP3) mail server usually follows this format:  mail.ispname.com (or .net).  Replace the "ispname.com (or .net)" with your ISP's name.

Port  =  This should be the default setting:  110.
User Name  =  Enter your e-mail username (everything before the @).

Important:  Do not enable "Use secure connection (SSL)".

 

Enabling SMTP Authentication:

In the left-hand column, highlight Outgoing Server (SMTP).

SMTP authentication is required to send e-mail and without this enabled, you cannot send e-mail.  SMTP authentication helps deter would-be spammers from spamming you.  SMTP authentication is as simple as entering a username and a password.  Do the following:

To the right, you'll see three fields:  Server Name, Port, and User Name.

Server Name = The Outgoing (SMTP) mail server usually follows this format: mail.ispname.com (or .net).  Replace the "ispname.com (or .net)" with your ISP's name.
Port  =  Verify the default port number is set to 25.

Check the box Use name and password.

User Name  =  Enter your e-mail username (everything before the @).

Note:  Thunderbird will ask for your password the first time you send e-mail.  You can then choose to save the password.

Click the OK button to save any changes and to close the window.

 

Links:  Return to top |