R4L/Services/Hosting/Email/Config/Thunderbird

Configuring Thunderbird for IMAP

We recommend using IMAP instead of POP for accessing your incoming email. Pop configurations will often delete mail from the server, making it unavailable to other devices or computers you would use to access your email. With IMAP, you can access your mail using your computer and smartphone, and keep mail synchronized between devices. If you do wish to configure your mail program for POP, in the instructions below, simply choose POP were it says to choose IMAP

Important note: In the description below, we use you@yourdomain.com and yourdomain.com as your email address and domain name. You need to substitute of course your real email address and domain name.

About Secure Sockets Layer (SSL): In the instructions below, we are not enabling SSL. If you wish to connect to the incoming IMAP and outgoing SMTP server using encryption, then leave these enabled. There will not be an SSL certificate on the server to match mail.yourdomain.com or imap.yourdomain.com, so your mail program will warn you that you are connecting without a certificate. Confirm the exception when this happens.

1. Launch Thunderbird from your Start menu and select File > New > Mail Account from the menu along the top of the window.

   

2. Type your name as you would like it to appear when someone receives a message from you.
3. Type "you@yourdomain.com" as the email address, note this is the full address, not just "you@".

   

4. Type in your password and click "Continue".
5. Thunderbird may return a configuration based on "Common Server Names", click "Manual Config" to alter additional settings.
6. Select "IMAP" from the drop down box next to "Incoming" to ensure the account is set up as IMAP.
7. Enter mail.yourdomain.com or your server name (ahsX.R4L.com) where X is a number into the Incoming IMAP "Server Hostname" box.
8. Enter the same smtp.yourdomain.com or your server name (ahsX.R4L.com) where X is a number into the Outgoing SMTP "Server Hostname" box.
9. Ensure that the port numbers are selected as 143 for Incoming, and 587 for Outgoing.
10. Enter your full email address as the Username, "you@yourdomain.com"

    

11. In the SSL Column, change the drop down menus for both the Incoming and Outgoing Server to "None" You can change this later if you wish.
12. In the "Authentication" Column change both the Incoming and Outgoing Server to "Normal Password".

    

13. Once you have made the alterations, click the "Create Account" button on the bottom right hand side of the window.

    

That's it. Thunderbird is now configured and ready to use with your R4L email account.