Thunderbird 2.x on Mac OS (POP/IMAP)

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Full tutorial with screen-shots can be found on Jay's web-site. This tutorial is centered around creating a connection to SASC's "FacStaff" e-mail cluster.

Mac OS X (10.4.9 with Thunderbird 2.0.0.0) IMAP

Obtain and install Mozilla Thunderbird. The department LSP may have to assist during this part.
After T-Bird has been installed, open the "Applications" directory from the "Go" menu. The icon will identical to the icon used in Windows.
Thunderbird tries to import e-mail settings from other programs before it will walk the user through setting up a new account. What are we creating is the first configuration question asked, choose "Don't import anything". Continue.
The steps for T-Bird on the Mac are similar to Windows XP, just prettier. Mozilla Thunderbird is an e-mail application, but it can provide other services as well. We want to select "Email account" then, Continue.
The next step goes into some basic information regarding your e-mail address and proper name. Continue.
FacStaff supports only IMAP connections, so that is an easy choice. The folks who set up facstaff also made the incoming and outgoing server the same value. Both values are the same; "facstaff.sas.upenn.edu". Continue.
The username your account is known under is what the wizard will ask for next. The username is usually the part of your e-mail address before the "@" symbol. Continue.
The account name is what you would like T-Bird to call your FacStaff account. Thunderbird is capable of containing numerous different accounts at the same time. The name helps distinguish one from the other. Enter anything you feel may be appropriate. Continue.
Congrats!!! That is about it, these steps were very similar to configuring T-Bird on Windows However, there is still more work to be done. FacStaff requires encrypted connections via "SSL", and there is a few other settings we should configure as well. Verify the information the summary window presents is what was entered, and choose next. If you do not like what you see, choose "Back", otherwise FINISH.
Immediately, Thunderbird may prompt asking if it should be the default e-mail program. I usually make it the default mailer, but the choice is optional. SSL is required, but this will be fixed in the next step...
From within T-Bird's main window, navigate to the "Tools" menu at the top, and then to the "Account Settings" option at the bottom of the menu. There is a decent amount of work to be done in this area, but if it is done correctly, it need only be done once. Select the top-left part of the window that is in bold-face type and named after your account. These are your basic account settings, in addition to where changes can be made to your account after the wizard has been completed. The check box "Attach this signature:" has also be been enabled. This setting is not enabled by default, and T-Bird has an odd but practical way of handling signatures. To create a signature, navigate to "Home" then "Documents" and create a text file with "Text". Create the file so that the contents are what you would like the signature to indicate, and navigate to that file with the "Choose" button in T-Bird. To continue, select the "Server Settings" under where it lists the name of your e-mail account (example: SASC FacStaff).
The server settings govern how T-Bird will connect to the e-mail server (FacStaff) and get the mail. FacStaff uses "Secure Sockets Layer" (SSL) to encrypt the connection between T-Bird and the FacStaff server. If SSL is not enabled every connection attempt will fail. The account setup wizard did not offer the chance to enable SSL, so it must be done here. SSL uses port 993 for it's connection be sure that is changed from the default port 143. To enable SSL, simply check the box "Use secure connection" and everything else should fall into place. All other settings are optional, the illustrated example here is based on personal preferences.
Next, the "Copies & Folders" section is going to allow us to configure where our sent messages are kept in addition to any drafts and templates. I tend to keep my sent messages and my drafts on the local computer. Users who utilize multiple computers to access their mail, might appreciate storing their sent items and drafts on the server. This setup would allow access from anywhere including web-mail. The "Drafts" folder under "Local Folders" must be created before mapping the "Templates" folder.
Time to configure how messages composed using T-Bird will be formatted . To do this, select "Composition & Addressing" under "Copies & Folders". As a security measure, I disable HTML e-mail. All sorts of malware and spyware arrive over HTML e-mail.
A new feature of Mozilla Thunderbird 2 is enhanced junk mail protection. Junk mail is now manged from a section in the "Account Settings" dialog box. I have elected to enable all settings and see if Thunderbird starts to mark any important messages as junk. The filters that e-mail programs use must undergo a period of "training" to learn what is junk and what is not.
The last part is to make sure our outgoing (SMTP) server is set properly. SMTP (Send Mail To People, Okay not really, but it sounds good...) is used for sending mail only, not receiving. To configure the SMTP settings select the last option "Outgoing Server (SMTP)" in the "Account Settings" window. The outgoing and incoming servers for FacStaff are the same, "facstaff.sas.upenn.edu" , and SMTP uses port 25. The "Use name and password" feature must be enabled if connections are going to be made from off-campus. The values here have been provided for demonstration purposes.
That's about it. Okay, through the Account Settings dialogs and return to T-Bird's main interface. Select, "Get Mail", and you'll be prompted to enter your password. TRY not to save your password inside of T-Bird. The option is convenient and quick, but it is also just as convenient and quick for hackers too. If all has been setup correctly, FacStaff will synchronize your mailbox with what is on the server. The synchronization process will take a few minutes, so do not get alarmed if your inbox does not appear immediately.