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Home > Email > IMAP E-mail service > Configuring IMAP clients > Thunderbird IMAP Configuration

Step 1 - Enter "Account Settings"

Select the 'Account Settings' option from the 'Tools' menu. (Note: The 'Account Settings' option may be located under the 'Edit' menu in some non-windows distributions)

Step 2 - Select type of account

Select 'Email account', and press 'Next >'

Step 3 - Identification

Enter your name in the "Your Name:" field, and your rpi.edu email address in the "Email Address" field. This is the displayed name and email address that most other people will see as the sender when you send messages to others from Thunderbird.

Step 4 - Account Type

Change the type of mail server from the default-selected POP to IMAP. For both the "Incoming server" and "Outgoing server", use 'mail.rpi.edu'.

Step 5 - Account Username

Thunderbird will by default use the first part of the email address as your Incoming user name, which should be your RCS UserID. Use this default, and press 'Next >'

Step 6 - Name of Account

Finally, select the account name that Thunderbird will use to identify this account. By default, it selects your username, however you can choose anything you want - this does not change how Thunderbird will interact with your mail, only what is displayed to you in the Accounts window.

Step 7 - New Account Summary

Review the summary of your selections. If there are any mistakes, you can select the '< Back' button to return to the page with the error and correct it, otherwise select 'Finish', which will take you back to the 'Account Settings' window.

To access the properties of your newly created account, simply click on the account name in your 'Account Settings' window.

(Recommended) Step 8 - Enable Secure Communications

It is highly recommended that you enable SSL or TLS on your Thunderbird client, for both password and mail content security. Change the 'Never' Selection to either 'SSL' or 'TLS'. Do not select the "Use secure authentication" box, as it is not supported by the servers at ths time.

(Optional) Step 9

If you travel and are disconnected often, but still want to see what was available in your IMAP account, you can enable 'Offline' mode, which will store a copy of all messages it sees on the IMAP server locally, so when you are disconnected, you can still view what was in your mailbox the last time Thunderbird connected.

To enable this option, simply select the "Make the message in my Inbox available when i am working offline". If you want more than just your Inbox available offline, you can press the "Select folders for offline use" button, and select which folders you would like to have an offline copy of. You also have the choice of selecting the "When I create new folders, select them for offline use" option, which will default all new folders you create to make an offline copy for Thunderbird to use when disconnected.

Fin

Congratulations! You can now exit the 'Account Settings' window and access your IMAP account with your RCS password. To customize and enhance your experience, you can also take a look at our Thunderbird Reccomended Extensions. Enjoy!

Last modified: October 13, 2006