Trouble With the iMac and Thunderbird

You can download Thunderbird for free.

Thunderbird is a free email client created by Mozilla and released in 2004. Thunderbird is popular with users because its interface is similar to Microsoft’s Entourage and Outlook mail clients. Thunderbird contains features commonly found on most other email clients, including a junk filter, POP and IMAP compatibility and the ability to configure multiple email accounts. Thunderbird can present several issues when you try running it on your iMac.

Old Version of Thunderbird

One common reason that Thunderbird has trouble on iMacs is because you have an older version of the software installed. This issue usually arises when you update the OS on the iMac. Go to Mozilla.org and click on the "Thunderbird" tab and then the “Download” button to download the current version of Thunderbird. Installing a new version of the software does not change your settings or affect the mail that is already stored on your computer.

Invalid POP or SMTP Settings

All email clients, Thunderbird included, rely on having the incoming, or POP, and outgoing, or SMTP, mail server settings properly configured. In addition to having the correct mail server settings entered in Thunderbird’s preferences, your username and password have to be recognized by your ISP’s mail servers. Finally, the security protocol settings also have to be configured to meet your ISP’s requirements.

Large Attachments and Incomplete Addresses

Your company’s IT department may not allow large attachments.

Email messages with large attachments may find themselves stuck in your outbox. Every ISP sets a limit on the allowed size of attached files, so if your email exceeds that quota, it will not exit the outbox. To complicate matters, if you’re working in a company or behind a firewall, the network administrator may impose similar restrictions. In addition, outgoing messages with incomplete or invalid email addresses will also fail to leave your outbox.

Non-supportive ISP

Many ISPs claim that they don’t support Thunderbird. This isn’t entirely accurate, because Thunderbird works with virtually every POP and IMAP server. Since the Help Desk of most ISPs relies on a script that walks the support person through the troubleshooting steps of email issues, only the most common programs are supported. On a Mac, both Mac Mail and Microsoft Entourage and Outlook are far more popular than Thunderbird, so by default, Thunderbird may not be officially supported.

References

• Mozilla: Thunderbird

Resources

• Mozilla: Homepage
• Open Source Articles: Thunderbird FAQs