Thunderbird Setup Guide

This guide describes the procedure for setting up your BIT.net email account with Mozilla Thunderbird. If at any time you get lost and need to see larger screenshots of what this guide refers to, please click the I'm lost link available at the end of every step, and a new window with a more detailed screenshot will be displayed. In this guide, text in italics indicates anything that you may see during the process of setting up your email, while anything in bold indicates anything that you should actually click on.

Step 1

Start Mozilla Thunderbird. Click Tools > Account Settings...
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Step 2

Thunderbird displays a list of all the accounts you currently have setup. If you have old accounts that you would like to remove, then you can click on the account and then click the Remove Account button. As we would like to setup a new email account, click Add Account. I'm lost!

Step 3

On this page, Thunderbird displays the options for selecting what type of account you wish to use. Thunderbird supports Email accounts, RSS feeds and Newsgroup accounts. As we are in the process of setting up a new email account, select Email account and click Next. I'm lost!

Step 4

The first setting to enter on this page is Your Name. This is your actual name that will be seen by people you send email to, ie this name will be displayed in the "From" field of your sent emails. If you are setting up an email address for personal use, then your name is fine (eg "John Smith"). If you are setting up a business email address, it may be a good idea to enter in the name of your business here (eg "Smith & Co. Pty Ltd") to make your emails look more official.

The next setting is your email address, which you should enter as username@bit.net.au where username is the username of your internet account. This is the same username that you selected when you signed up for your internet account.

Once you've entered these settings, click Next. I'm lost!

Step 5

In this next section, entitled Server Information, you are required to enter the details of your incoming and outgoing mail servers.This tells Thunderbird who to contact to send and receive your email.

Firstly, you need to specify what type of email server you are going to receive email from. POP and IMAP are two different types of email servers available on the internet. The type of server that BIT.net provides is a POP or Post Office Protocol server. Select POP and enter enter pop.bit.net.au as your Incoming Server.

If have never setup an email account in Thunderbird before (ie you've just installed it), you will see another box entitled Outgoing Server. If you see this box, enter smtp.bit.net.au.

If you don't see this box, Thunderbird has already got an outgoing mail server setting stored. If this is the case, it most likely needs to be changed. Information on how to change an already set outgoing mail server can be found here. The process shown there should be followed after you've completed the rest of this guide. There will be a reminder at the end of this guide if you're worried about forgetting to change your outgoing mail server.

Once you've filled in the details listed above, click Next. I'm lost!

Step 6

This page specifies the incoming and outgoing usernames used to authenticate you when you send and receive your email. In this instance, you must use your full email address as your Incoming user name, ie you must enter username@bit.net.au. You can leave the Outgoing user name box blank, as Thunderbird will automatically fill it with the same value as your incoming user name.

Once you've entered your full email address as the incoming username, click Next. I'm lost!

Step 7

On this page, you are required to enter a name to indentify this account. We recommend you enter your full email address (eg username@bit.net.au) to identify this new account. Once you've done that, click Next. I'm lost!

Step 8

This page allows you to review your email account settings. Please ensure that your Email Address and Incoming User Name are the same, that your Incoming Server Type is set to POP, that your Incoming Server Name is set to pop.bit.net.au and that your Outgoing Server Name is smtp.bit.net.au (which may not be the case if you already had an outgoing mail server setup and still need to follow the instructions contained here).

Once you are done reviewing your settings, click Finish. I'm lost!

Step 9

Now that your email account is setup, Thunderbird should periodically check your email (assuming you are connected to the internet). Also, Thunderbird will check for new email every time you open the program. If at any time you would like to force Thunderbird to check your email, click the Get Mail button in the main window to download your email. I'm lost!

Additional Resources

Here are some additional resources which may come in handy while you use Thunderbird.

Thunderbird Homepage

This is the main Thunderbird homepage. From here you can download the latest version of Thunderbird as well as access a bunch of support.

Texturizer.net

This site is dedicated to the configuration and use of Thunderbird. Here you can find nitty gritty details on how to configure Thunderbird to better suit your needs, as well as lists of keyboard shortcuts and tips & tricks to make your Thunderbird experience more enjoyable.

Thunderbird Forums

This site is home to the Thunderbird forums, where thousands of Thunderbird users from around the world meet to discuss all things Thunderbird. If you are experiencing any particular difficulties, or just generally have comments or suggestions on how to improve Thunderbird, then let this site be one of your first ports of call.

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