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Thunderbird: Unsubscribe Mailing Lists

Martin — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 14:34:31 +0000

Thunderbird day today? Not sure about that but today is the day where two interesting new add-ons have been posted at the Thunderbird website. The first was the add-on that increased the mass mailing functionality in the web browser. The Unsubscribe From Mailing Lists add-on does exactly that. It provides an option to unsubscribe from mailing lists from withing the email client. A feature similar to the one that Gmail is offering to its users for some time now.

The process is very simply. The Thunderbird add-on will automatically display an option to unsubscribe from support mailing lists in the header of the emails that are send to the accounts that are managed in the desktop email client.

The Thunderbird user needs to click on the unsubscribe link in the header to initiate the process of unsubscribing from the mailing lists. This will display a prompt informing the user that the add-on will open a new email message which, when send by the user, will unsubscribe the email address from the mailing list.

The email usually consists of an email address of the service that send the mailing list email and subject unsubscribe in the email subject with no body text at all. The unsubscribe link is only displayed for mailing lists that use the Inxmail email marketing service which is used by global brands such as Coca Cola. The add-on is compatible with Thunderbird 2 and Thunderbird 3 up to beta 3 which excludes the latest release of Thunderbird 3 beta. The add-on can however be forced to be compatible with the Nightly Tester Tools. A download is available at the Thunderbird website over at Mozilla.

Tags: Email, gmail unsubscribe, mailing lists, thunderbird, thunderbird add-on, unsubscribe

Increase Thundebird’s Mass Mailing Capabilities

Martin — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 10:54:22 +0000

The desktop email client Thunderbird does offer mass mailing capabilities by default. It is possible to add multiple recipients for an email. Problems appear however if the number of recipients is extremely large (more than 100 for example) and if the individual recipients should not see the other recipients that received the email. The second problem can be tackled by adding each recipient in the BCC (blind carbon copy) field and a personal email address in the To field. The first problem can be solved by writing multiple emails below the maximum recipient per email limit. Both solutions increase the workload of the user writing the emails. They also make it more difficulty to keep track of the process as the user now has to handle multiple emails instead of just one.

Mail Merge is an experimental Thunderbird add-on that increases the email client’s mass mailing capabilities. It does so by introducing two new options to the email software: Mass Mail and Personal Mail.

Mass Mail

Mass Mail is ingenious. The user writing the email starts by writing one email that should be send out to all recipients. This includes the title, body and possible attachments. Then all recipients are added to that email in the appropriate fields. A click on the Mass Mail button (available under File > Mass Mail) will now create individual emails for each email recipient and put them in the outbox of the email client. Each recipient will therefor get an individual email message so that no other email addresses appear in the mail header.

Personal Mail

One problem of the Mass Mail approach is that the emails cannot address the individual. Adding Hej Frank to a mass mail would send that greeting to all other recipients as well. That’s where Personal Mail comes into play. Personal Mail makes use of variables and csv files to address individuals in mass mailings. Variables can be added to any field in the email in the form {{Variable}}. It is for instance possible to write an email like the following:

To: {{Mail}}
Subject: {{ID}}: Notification
Body: Hi {{Name}}, this email …

The selection of File > Personal Mail after writing the email will open a dialog with the mandatory option to load a csv file containing the information. The developer does not describe how the csv should look like and I was not able to figure it out on my own. Users who would like to make use of that feature might want to contact the developer directly. The email address is published at the Mozilla Thunderbird page of the add-on. Mail Merge is compatible with both Thunderbird 2 and 3 and can be downloaded from the official Mozilla website.

Tags: mass mail, thunderbird, thunderbird add-on, thunderbird extension

Change Thunderbird’s Email Folder Sort Order

Martin — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 08:16:13 +0000

The desktop email client Thunderbird does not offer different options to sort the mail folders in a different way. The only option users have is to make use of the A-Z order but that does not include the special folders (like inbox or drafts) which will remain at the top all the time. The Thunderbird add-on Manually Sort Folders brings more options to the table. As the name implies it adds the option to manually sort folders in Thunderbird including the special folders. But that’s just one option; The other option provided by the Thunderbird extension is the ability to use Unicode characters in front of folders to put them on the top just like Gmail offers to do.

The string sorting option can be very interesting for users of webmail accounts that support Unicode characters like Gmail. The default sorting order in Thunderbird would change the sort order of the Gmail folder as Thunderbird does not use these characters in the sorting process.

The manual folder sorting on the other hand gives the user the versatile option to sort the folders exactly how they should look like without having to care about a specific sort order. It could take longer to sort but in the end it should be the most comfortable for the user.

Manually Sort Folders is available for Thunderbird 3 only. It can be downloaded at the Mozilla Thunderbird website.

Tags: Email, manually sort folders, thunderbird, thunderbird add-on

Customize The Email Archive In Thunderbird 3

Martin — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 13:33:35 +0000

The desktop email client Thunderbird 3, which is currently available as a beta version, comes with many exciting new features and options. One of these new features is the email archive which can be used to store emails in specific folders in the folder structure. Emails that are archived will be moved from their original folder into the archive folder. The default button to move emails into the archive is [a]. The archive will be divided by years only by default which could be problematic for accounts that receive many emails on a regular basis.

The only available option to customize the archive is the advanced config editor which makes it possible to change the archiving granularity, names and other settings. The Thunderbird 3 add-on Message Archive Options is basically a frontend for the advanced config options.

There are two options that the add-on offers. The first allows the Thunderbird user to customize the granularity of the archiving function in Thunderbird. It is first and foremost possible to switch from the one folder per year structure to either to a single folder structure or one with months as the additional levels. The date format for the year and year – month structure can be altered as well.

The second option is to add a key modifier to the archiving shortcut. It is possible to add Alt, Shift or Control to [a] to archive the selected email messages.

Message Archive Options does not invent the wheel anew but it offers easier access to customizing the email archive in Thunderbird 3. The add-on is only compatible with Thunderbird 3 and available at the Mozilla website.

Tags: Email, email archive, message archive options, thunderbird, thunderbird add-on

English Grammar Check For Thunderbird Email Client

Martin — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 14:32:33 +0000

The desktop email client Thunderbird comes with integrated spell checking. The spell checking module uses dictionaries to provide the functionality. Grammar checking on the other hand is not offered by default. That’s where the Grammar Checker add-on for the Thunderbird email client comes into play. The add-on supports the latest release version of Thunderbird (that’s version 2.x) and the beta versions of Thunderbird 3 up to 3.1x). The grammar check uses the Open Source language checker Language Tool.

The installation is slightly more complicated than the usual add-on installation. The reason for this is Language Tool needs to run as a local server. There is an option to use a remote server but this would mean that the email contents would be transferred back and forth to that server which obviously raises privacy concerns.

The developer of the grammar checking add-on for Thunderbird has published explanations on how to setup the local server and configure the add-on in Thunderbird to use that server. In short: All it takes is to run the server from the web start option provided at the Language Tool website. This will download the files to the local computer system and provide an option to start the tool as a server (File->Option and select “Run as server”:) The server settings need to be changed in the extension’s preferences.

Grammar Checker is an experimental add-on that can be downloaded from the Mozilla website.

Tags: Email, english grammar check, grammar check, thunderbird, thunderbird add-on

Switch To Compact Headers In Thunderbird 3

Martin — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 08:31:30 +0000

The standard email header in the mail client Thunderbird 3 spans across three rows. It displays information such as the the sender’s email, the subject, email recipient and toolbar buttons to quickly reply, forward, delete or tag the email. The email header can be expanded to display all email header information which are important if the technical details of the email need to be analyzed further. There is on the other hand no option to compact the header in Thunderbird to save space.

Most Thunderbird users probably do not need some of the information and options provided by default. This includes for example the information to whom the email was send or the action buttons like deleting emails which are also available on a right-click in the email itself.

That’s where the experimental add-on Compact Headers comes into play. The add-on is compatible with Thunderbird 3 only and can reduce the size of the email header to one row.

Thunderbird 3 Default Email Header:

Thunderbird 3 Compact Email Header:

The way the email header is displayed in compact form can be altered in the add-on’s options. It is possible to increase the size to two rows which can also hold some of the buttons that are provided in the standard Thunderbird header. Buttons can be individually selected in the options.

Compact Header for Mozilla Thunderbird 3 is an experimental add-on that is not automatically updating itself. The add-on comes with a “check for updates” button in the options. It is available at the Mozilla Thunderbird add-on repository at Mozilla.org.

Tags: Email, email headers, mozilla thunderbird, thunderbird, thunderbird add-on

Display Clocks In Thunderbird

Martin — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 07:51:59 +0000

One add-on that I do not want to live without anymore is the Fox Clocks add-on. I initially only installed it in Firefox where it displays the current time in the status bar with the option to hover the mouse cursor over the clock to see additional timezones that have been configured. That’s great for users who work without taskbar on their computer system as they always have a clock in view. I recently discovered that the add-on is also compatible with Thunderbird. The core functionality of Fox Clocks remains the same but the display is different in the email client.

Fox Clock will add clocks to the Thunderbird status bar. Those clocks – unlike in Firefox – will be displayed next to each other in the desktop email program. This is more comfortable as all clocks are visible all the time opposed to the one clock that is visible in Firefox.

The add-on comes with additional options to configure the time format, position and style, time zone data and more. That’s another positive aspect of the add-on when compared to its Firefox counterpart. The clocks can be displayed on the left or right side of the Thunderbird status bar. An alternative is the option to display them as a toolbar instead which could then be placed in the Thunderbird header area.

Fox Clocks in an helpful add-on for email users who regularly correspond with email users from other places in the world. The Thunderbird add-on is compatible with all versions of Thunderbird. It can be downloaded from the official Mozilla Thunderbird website.

Tags: Email, email clocks, fox clocks, thunderbird, thunderbird add-on, thunderbird clocks, thunderbird extension

Bookmark Emails In Thunderbird

Martin — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 07:42:39 +0000

There are a few ways to take care of important emails that are arriving in the email inbox. The best way to deal with them is to react right away if possible. This sometimes does not work however if research, data or consultation is required before the email can be processed and replied to. The desktop email client Thunderbird comes with a few options to mark those important emails, one being the ability to add tags to emails which will color code them in the email client. Other email users prefer to move important emails into a special folder so that they can access the emails in that folder at a later time without having to search the email folder structure for them.

A third option is provided by the Thunderbird add-on eMarks which supposedly stands for email bookmarks. The add-on adds a new toolbar to the email client. Emails can then be dragged and dropped into that toolbar easily. This makes these emails available from every folder the user might be in. These emails are then accessible with a left-click of the mouse. Thunderbird will automatically switch to the folder the email is stored in and display it in the preview pane.

A right-click on any bookmarked email will open a context menu with options to open the email in a new window or tab and to rename or delete it. Users who prefer no additional toolbar in the email client can disable it and access the bookmarked emails from the file menu at the top. An emarks entry is added by the extension that can be used to access the bookmarked emails with three clicks of the mouse. Not as comfortable as the toolbar solution but better if space is an issue.

The eMarks extension for the Mozilla Thunderbird email client is available at the Mozilla Thunderbird website. It is compatible with all the latest versions of the desktop email client (including Thunderbird 3 beta).

Tags: bookmark emails, emails, thunderbird, thunderbird add-on, thunderbird emails, thunderbird extension

Firefox And Thunderbird Image Zooming

Martin — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 10:56:33 +0000

The Firefox web browser comes with the ability to zoom in and out of websites. There is however no way of zooming only specific elements of a website which can be a problem if only specific elements such as images need to be zoomed. The Firefox and Thunderbird extension Image Zoom adds to the zooming functionality by providing the means to zoom in and out of images.

Image Zoom has been designed with simplicity in mind. A right-click on any image on a website will open a context menu after installation of the extension with options to zoom in and out of the selected image.

Right-clicking and using the context menu is however not the only option to zoom images. Another possibility is to right-click and use the mouse wheel to zoom an image. That’s usually more comfortable than the context menu solution. Other options that are provided include page zooming, fitting an image to the screen size of the web browser or email client and custom zoom and dimension options.

Some add-ons can interfere with some of the options provided by the Image Zoom extension. Especially add-ons that make use of the mouse buttons, like the recently reviewed Multi Links add-on, can block some of the functions. Image Zoom offers some options to configure the mouse buttons that trigger the zooming. It can be downloaded from the Thunderbird or Firefox website.

Tags: firefox, firefox-add on, image zoom, image zooming, thunderbird add-on, zoom images, zooming

Thunderbird Email Address Auto Cleaner

Martin — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 15:33:23 +0000

Did you know that there is a difference between sending emails to recipients that are in the email address book and those that are not. The display name is one of the form fields that can be filled out in the email clients address book. This display name will be send along with the email address to recipients in the to, cc and bcc fields. Email recipients in Thunderbird see the display name in the to field and the email address when hovering over the display name in the status bar.

Sending the display name can be problematic because of several reasons. One is that it is up to the account owner to pick a display name which can sometimes be not appropriate to share with the recipient. Another problem is that it can lead to encoding problems on the recipients side as well.

The Thunderbird extension Address Auto Cleaner takes care of the issue by removing the display name from emails that get send out from the desktop email client. It will automatically remove the display name from the to, cc and bcc fields in Thunderbird before the email is send to the recipients.

Tags: auto address cleaner, Email, email address, thunderbird, thunderbird add-on, thunderbird extension

Add External Application Links To Thunderbird

Martin — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 10:44:47 +0000

We have just reviewed an add-on for the Firefox web browser that allows the user to add software links to one of the Firefox toolbars so that programs can be quickly started from within the browser window.This review now looks at a similar add-on for the Mozilla Thunderbird desktop email client which also allows users to place application links in the interface.

Putting links in the email client is a great way of being able to launch programs quickly without having to start them from the computer desktop or start menu. The installation and configuration of the add-on is similar to that of the Firefox add-on.

It begins by downloading the add-on for Thunderbird on the Mozilla add-on’s website. It can then be installed in the email client by going to the Tools > Addons menu once the add-on has been downloaded to the computer system. A click on the install button will open a file browser window in which the downloaded file has to be selected.

A right-click on the main Thunderbird toolbar and the selection of customize will display a new button called applications. This button has to be dragged and dropped into the toolbar. Nothing is shown at that time. A right-click on that blank space opens the context menu of the Thunderbird add-on with the option to add new buttons to the toolbar. This opens a file browser giving the user the option to select an application to add to the toolbar.

A few advanced properties can be set by right-clicking an icon in the toolbar. It is for example possible to add command line arguments or a keyboard shortcut.

There is one bug that becomes apparent after closing Thunderbird for the first time. The buttons will show up twice the next time the web browser is started. There is currently no workaround available for that. Deleting one button will remove the other one as well on the next start of the email client. The Thunderbird add-on can be downloaded from the Mozilla website.

Tags: application links, Email, email client, thunderbird, thunderbird add-on

Select All Emails From Sender In Thunderbird

Martin — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 08:57:37 +0000

Most users of the email client Thundebird – and most likely users of other email clients as well – sort their emails by date. There are other means of sorting emails though like sorting them by subject, sender, priority or attachment. If you sort your emails by date you might have noticed that this is not the best way of cleaning your email inbox. Most users like to select all emails from a specific sender and move them to another folder for archiving purposes.

If you want to do that in the Thunderbird email client you might need to change the way emails are sorted and displayed to be effective. The Gather The Sender add-on for Thunderbird makes this process more comfortable.

Gather The Sender adds a new entry to the right-click context menu in Thunderbird. The new entry can be used to select all email messages in the same email folder from the same sender. It therefor takes two clicks (one right-click on an email and one left-click on the “Select the mails from the same sender” entry) to select all emails from that sender.

This is an excellent way of archiving emails and cleaning the inbox of the email client. Gather The Sender is an add-on for the Mozilla Thunderbird email client. It is compatible with all Thunderbird 2.x versions.

Tags: Email, email client, gather the sender, mozilla thunderbird, thunderbird, thunderbird add-on

Thunderbird Delete Confirmations

Martin — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 13:44:04 +0000

The email client Mozilla Thunderbird does not come with delete confirmations turned on by default. There is also no option in the Thunderbird settings to activate delete confirmations. The advanced config editor does list two entries that might be there to enable delete confirmations but there is zero information to be found on the Internet about those two settings. Even if those settings would enable delete confirmations they would do so for all emails and folders.

Delete Confirm is a Thunderbird extension that adds delete confirmations to the email client. It is possible to enable delete confirmations on a per folder basis in Thunderbird. The Trash and Send folder delete confirmations are enabled by default while they are turned off for all other folders.

A right-click on a folder and the selection of Properties will display a checkbox to enable or disable delete confirmations. The extension will display a popup if the user tries to delete an email that resides in a folder that has delete confirmations activated.

Delete Confirm is compatible with all Thunderbird 2 versions and can be downloaded right from the Mozilla website. The add-on is experimental which means that the user has to log into the Mozilla website before downloading the add-on.

Tags: delete confirmations, delete email, Email, email client, email software, thunderbird, thunderbird add-on, thunderbird email, thunderbird extension

Thunderbird Archiving Shortcuts

Martin — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 10:22:26 +0000

The Archive This Thunderbird add-on provides configurable keyboard shortcuts to archive email messages with the press of a button. The add-on is compatible with all versions of Thunderbird 2. It is experimental which not only becomes obvious while trying to download the add-on but also when looking at the keyboard shortcuts that have been implemented by the software author.

The Thunderbird extension adds ten keyboard shortcuts to the Thunderbird email client which can be used to archive email messages. The functions are mapped to [CTRL 0..9] which proves to be difficulty as Thunderbird uses [CTRL 1] and [CTRL 2] for different functions making those two keyboard shortcuts not working initially.

The user can basically map a folder of his mailbox to one of the keyboard shortcuts. This essentially means that any selected mail would be moved to that folder upon pressing the keyboard shortcut. The shortcut [CTRL 0] has been reserved to work with mail filters which can also be defined in the extension. Pressing that shortcut while working in Thunderbird will apply all configured filters to the selected messages.

This proves to be a very effective method of moving mails quickly to designated folders in Thunderbird. It is possible to correct the non-working [CTRL 1] and [CTRL 2] keys by installing the excellent Keyconfig add-on for Thunderbird. Keyconfig will display all keyboard shortcuts in the email client and provide the means to change them. It can be used to either change the keyboard shortcuts of the extension or to change the original keyboard shortcuts to something else so that all keys can be used when working with the extension.

Tags: email client, keyboard shortcut, keyconfig, mozilla thunderbird, thunderbird, thunderbird add-on, thunderbird archive, thunderbird extension, thunderbird shortcuts

SMTP Server Selector For Thunderbird

Martin — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 11:29:35 +0000

If you ever needed to select a different SMTP server while sending mails in Thunderbird you can now by installing the Send Via add-on for Thunderbird. The add-on can come in handy if the main SMTP server is not accessible at the moment or having accessibility or connection problems.

The Thunderbird add-on is available for all versions of Thunderbird 2. It is currently available as a experimental add-on at the Mozilla website from where it has to be downloaded before it can be installed in Thunderbird.

The add-on will add a drop down menu to the Send button in the Thunderbird email client which will list the available SMTP servers and an option to add a new SMTP server to use it to send the emails.

Selecting any of the available SMTP servers will send the message by connecting to the specified server.

Tags: email client, send via, server, smtp, stmp server, thunderbird, thunderbird add-on, thunderbird extension

Thunderbird Filter Additions

Martin — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 16:18:55 +0000

The email client Mozilla Thunderbird comes with a few mail filters preinstalled that can be used to automatically process incoming emails. The actions that can be selected as a Thunderbird filter are limited to moving, copying, deleting, forwarding or tagging messages, adding stars, setting mail priorities, marking as read, setting the junk status or replying with templates. While the actions do include several of the most used filters they do lack some actions that are available in other mail clients.

The experimental Mozilla Thunderbird 3 add-on FiltaQuilla adds those additional actions to the Thunderbird Filter settings, in particular filters to launch a software program, append text to subjects, remove tags or stars, mark the email as replied or unread, copy the mail as read or disable notifications.

Probably the most interesting filter of this list is the filter to launch a file after receiving an email message that meets the requirements.

Each Thunderbird filter can be activated and deactivated in the options of the Thunderbird add-on. The mail filters can be selected in the Tools > Message Filters menu.

The Thunderbird add-on is unfortunately only compatible with Thunderbird 3 and not with the more widely used Thunderbird 2. Thunderbird 3 is currently available in Beta 1.

Tags: email client, mozilla thunderbird, thunderbird 3, thunderbird add-on, thunderbird email, thunderbird extension, thunderbird filter, thunderbird filters

Display Timezones In Thunderbird

Martin — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 13:35:28 +0000

If you grow up with the 24-hour system you will have troubles with the 12-hour am/pm system. Add to that the various timezones and you are up for lots of confusion. If you regularly correspond with people from all over the world you should better know their timezone and how it differs from yours. This can be helpful before sending an emergency mail to your system administrator or starting a call to someone only to find out that it is deep at night over there.

FoxClocks can help by displaying various timezones in the status bar of Thunderbird. By default the time for the UK, US Pacific, Hongkong and GMT / UTC are displayed. Thankfully though the zones can be removed and others added if you need different timezones. You can perform a search for a city or country or pick one from the list.

The default format to display the time is Location: Day Time. This can be changed in the options to include additional information such as the date. There is also the possibility to move the timezones from the status bar to its own toolbar so that the information can also be displayed in the top toolbars of Thunderbird.

Even better is the feature that every timezone can be customized. An alternate color can be specified which will be displayed. This is for example excellent to visually differentiate between day and night.

FoxClocks is a highly customizable add-on for the email client Mozilla Thunderbird that can help users who work with people in different timezones.

Tags: Email, email client, mozilla, thunderbird, thunderbird add-on, thunderbird extesnion, thunderbird time, timezones

Automatic CC Emails In Thunderbird

Martin — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 10:45:49 +0000

The email client Thunderbird does not provide an option to automatically send specific emails to a CC or BCC email address. While home users normally do not need that feature it might be required to send all email correspondence to a supervisor or different department in the company that you are working for. It can also be a good way to send emails to another account to store all send messages in one central place.

Auto-CC is an extension for the Mozilla Thunderbird email client that can configure the email client to automatically send CC or BCC emails whenever an email is send from the program. The extension is currently experimental which means that users need to log into the Mozilla website before they can download and install the mail extension.

The email address that the messages are send to has to be configured in the Thunderbird Config Editor. The editor can be accessed by clicking on Tools > Options, selecting the Advanced tab and clicking on the Config Editor button. Adding the auto_cc filter will display four parameters of the Thunderbird extension.

extensions.auto_cc.auto_cc_address: Double-click to enter the email address that will receive the CC or BCC emails.
extensions.auto_cc.enabled: Auto-CC is enabled if set to true and disabled if set to false
extensions.auto_cc.send_as_bcc: Will send the emails as BCC instead of CC if set to true.

A button can be added to the Compose toolbar to quickly turn the feature on or off. One thing that this extension is missing is the ability to select CC or BCC emails on an account basis. As of now all accounts are affected if the extension is enabled which might be ok in a work environment but not at home. The toolbar button is not the perfect solution because it quickly becomes an inconvenience to turn the extension or or off several times a day depending on the emails that are send out. It is also likely that the user will forget to turn on or off the extension from time to time.

As of now it’s a great solution for users who use Thunderbird in a work environment which requires to BCC or CC emails to another email address.

Tags: automatically bcc, automatically cc, email client, email tips, emails, mozilla, thunderbird, thunderbird add-on, thunderbird extension

Thunderbird Folder Hotkeys

Martin — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 15:07:06 +0000

One of the limitations of Thunderbird is that there are no hotkeys to quickly switch folders or save mail into another folder. The user has to use the mouse to save or copy mails into folders and use it as well if he wants to switch folders. Well there actually is a way to switch folders with the keyboard only which involves ALT Tab but it’s more of a nuisance than a useful feature.

Enter Nostalgy for Thunderbird. The extension for Thunderbird adds much needed hotkey support for several actions that are performed regularly. The major three are switching to another folder, saving mail into a folder and to copy mail into a folder.

The shortcuts are (g) for switching folders, (s) for saving mails and (c) for copying mails. Pressing a button opens a folder browser and a text input field in the status bar of Thunderbird. The user can enter part of the folder’s name to filter the results and use the up and down arrow keys to pick it. Pressing Shift in combination with one of the hotkeys will go to, save or copy the selected mails into the folder that has been previously used.

Nostalgy provides access to several other hotkeys plus provides users with the option to create their own. The hotkey (b) saves the current message in the selected folder and puts the focus on it, (L) hides the folder pane, (`) shows messages with the same sender / subject and the two search hotkeys (return) and (CTRL return) which selects and focuses on the last / all messages that match the criteria.

New hotkeys can be created with the Go, Save, Copy and Save Go commands which can be extremely useful to navigate and work with a set of popular folders.

The help file contains reference to additional hotkeys that might be useful to some users:

L Hide/show the folder pane
ESC-F Focus the folder pane
ESC-M Focus the message pane
ESC-ESC Focus the thread pane
ESC-ESC-ESC Focus the thread pane, clear quick search box, select the “All” view
ESC-I Focus the quick search box (same as Ctrl-K)
Ctrl-Left/Right Scroll the message from the thread pane

The last interesting feature of Nostalgy is the creation of rules that match folders with messages which are then proposed in the status bar. This makes it possible to move messages quickly to their designated folders with the Shift S or Shift C combination. Might be useful if a user wants to read a message before moving it to another folder.

The only problem that could be experienced during tests was that Nostalgy has problems with Thunderbird themes that reduce the size of the status bar. The functionality is still given but the user might run into display problems for the text that is typed into the box.

Tags: Email, mozilla thundebird, nostalgy, thunderbird, thunderbird add-on, thunderbird extension, thunderbird hotkeys

Sync Gmail Contacts with Thunderbird

Martin — Sat, 31 May 2008 06:26:56 +0000

Most users that I know have several email accounts at various email providers. I’m using about ten email accounts actively in Thunderbird and web interfaces and always thought that there must be a way to sync the contact information. Late last night I discovered the Zindus (via Download Squad) Thunderbird extension which syncs the Gmail (and Google Reader, Google Calendar) contacts with the Thunderbird address book.

The Thunderbird add-on can be installed as usual by downloading the file to the computer and installing it from the Tools > Add-ons menu in Thunderbird. Before it can be used it has to be configured. It actually provides two different possibilities to sync the contacts. Both, Google and Zimbra, require a server address, username and password to function properly. I cannot really say much about Zimbra because I’ve never heard about it before. It seems to be a service that gives access to several mail accounts in one interface.

After adding the required information a test connection can be used to see if the connection to the server is successful. By default auto sync is enabled which means that the contacts will automatically be synced.

Please note that syncing means that both the Gmail account as well as the Thunderbird address book will contain the same contacts in the end. Auto Sync is trigged by two parameters that can be configured in the Thunderbird config (Tools > Options > Advanced > Config Editor), they are:

extensions.zindus.system.as_timer_delay_on_start – the number of seconds after startup
extensions.zindus.system.as_timer_delay_on_repeat – the number of seconds after the first auto-sync

The following information are synced between Gmail and Thunderbird:

Full Name
Primary Email address and Second Email address
Phone Numbers: Home, Work, Work Fax, Pager, Mobile
Instant Messaging (AIM)
Company and Title
Notes

Zindus is compatible to the latest official version of Thunderbird and Thunderbird 3 alpha.

Tags: Email, gmail, google-mail, thunderbird, thunderbird add-on, thunderbird tips

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