How to Install Thunderbird for Email, Calendar and Contacts

If you juggle a work address, a personal Gmail account and an old address you still check now and then, Thunderbird puts them all in a single window. It stores your mail on your own computer and does not show ads.

What can Thunderbird do?

• Many accounts, one inbox: Add IMAP and POP accounts from almost any provider and view them separately or together.
• Calendar and tasks: A built-in calendar that can sync with online calendars, plus a simple task list.
• Address book: Keep contacts locally or sync them with an online address book.
• Encryption: OpenPGP and S/MIME are built in for signing and encrypting messages.
• Filters and tags: Sort incoming mail automatically and tag messages so they are easy to find later.

First-time setup

1. thunderbird.net detects your system and language and suggests a matching installer.
2. Run the installer and keep the default options.
3. On first launch, enter your name, email address and password; Thunderbird finds the server settings for most providers automatically.

Release channels and Android

Thunderbird now follows a monthly release channel. If you prefer fewer changes, the Extended Support Release receives security fixes, with new features arriving once a year. There is also a separate Thunderbird app for Android.