Eight Beautiful Mozilla Thunderbird Themes
Just like Firefox, Thunderbird can be customized with themes that give the email client a fresh look. Themes are installed just like add-ons in Thunderbird by opening the Tools > Add-Ons menu in the Thunderbird top menu and switching to the Themes tab on top. The install button is located on the lower left of that window. A file browser window opens that filters .jar files, the theme format Thunderbird themes come in.
The email client has to be closed and opened again before the new theme becomes visible. It also has to be activated from the themes tab in the add-ons menu before it becomes visible. The easiest way to accomplish the whole process is to install the theme, switch to the theme tab, activate the new theme and restart the browser then.
Many of the themes for Thunderbird at the official Mozilla Thunderbird website do not work with the latest version of Thunderbird which is surprising to say the least. It is probably possible to force compatibility but that has not been tested. All themes listed in this article are working with the latest version of Thunderbird which is currently 2.0.16. They probably will also work with Thunderbird 3.
Update: The installation process of themes in Thunderbird has been changed recently. You know need to click on Tools > Addons to open the email client's add-ons manager. Click on the small settings button in the top right corner next to the search form, and select install add-on from file from the selection menu.
Browse to the downloaded theme to start the installation. You need to allow the installation first, and restart the client afterwards to complete it.
Also note that some of the themes won't work in newer versions of Thunderbird. We have marked those specifically so that you know when this is the case.
Thunderbird Themes
ACE CuteBird (Graphite) (not compatible)
Azerty 'mail (not compatible)
Modern Modoki (not compatible)
CrossOver (not compatible)
Simple Green (not compatible)
Noia 2.0 (not compatible)
PitchDark (not compatible)
Here are several themes that work with the most recent version of Mozilla Thunderbird.
Additional themes are available at the themes repository at Mozilla.com.
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Is it me or are most of the themes listed very bad?
most of them… maybe… but Noia looks great!!! i use it in FF too and that for years now.
but, that’s only my opinion…
I love the Walnut because the icons are so densely packed in on my bookmarks toolbar. So far, no other theme that I actually liked has come close.
Strangely, no I don’t use it on Thunderbird. Hmm, weird.
Awesome list… i love them especially ACE CuteBird (Graphite), thnx
Gravity that’s the theme that I’m using right now ;)
The only theme that i would ever use for Thunderbird would be Black Japan, but the developer didn’t update it further than Thunderbird 1.5* . It also had an Firefox cousin but that one also got left behind.
The Black Japan Theme was the coolest ever..(still can be found on mozilla’s addons site).Could Someone update that theme to be usable in Thunderbird 3 and also for the Firefox 3.5 ? I’m begging right now .
I lack the knowledge but I’m willing to learn.. Could someone direct me to some tutorial? I want to update the theme myself but don’t know how to create themes for the mozilla software…
Any chance for an updated article Martin? Seems hard to find decent themes that work with the current TB. From the above, Phoenity Shredder (whatever that means) works well enough.
I have added it to my to-do list.
Thanks Martin. They will soon release TB 60 so I guess compatibility will go down the drain – again.