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Menu Reference

This menu reference describes each menu item in the main Mail & Newsgroups window.

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Tools

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File

New

Message: Opens a window for composing a new message.
Folder...: Opens a dialog for creating a new folder or subfolder in any account. This item only appears for email and RSS accounts.
Saved Search...: Opens a dialog for creating a new Saved Search folder in any account. This item only appears for email and RSS accounts.
Account...: Starts the New Account Wizard. This wizard will help set up a new mail, news, or rss feed account.
Address Book Card...: Opens a dialog window for creating a new contact in the Address Book.

Open Saved Message

Displays an Open File dialog where you can select a previously saved EML message from your local disks or network.

Attachments

Displays a submenu showing each of the attachments in the current selected message (if any exist). Each attachment has its own submenu with the open to either open it or save it.

Save All...: Choosing this will save all files attached to a message, to a specific location on your computer.
Detach All...: This item is only available for email messages. Choosing this will remove all files attached to a message, and save them to a specific location on your computer.
Delete All...: This item is only available for email messages. Choosing this will remove all files attached to a message.

Close

Closes the current window.

Save As

File: Displays a 'Save Message As' dialog where you can select a location on your local disks or network to save a copy of the message you are currently reading. You can save as .eml, .html, or .txt file types. In the Windows version, select these under 'Save as type:', in the Linux version change the default extension of '.eml' to either '.html' or '.txt' if you wish to save it in one of these other formats. (Note, the only way to open a '.eml' format file in the Linux version is to use the File > Open Saved Message menu selection.)
Template: Saves the message you are currently reading into the Template folder of the current mail account.

Get New Messages for

This menu item has multiple sub-menus. The sub-menus allow you to specify which mail, or rss feed accounts, to check for new messages.

Get All New Messages: Causes Thunderbird to check all mail and RSS accounts for new messages.

Get Next 500 News Messages

When reading newsgroups, you may choose to download no more than 500 headers at a time. After you've downloaded the latest 500 message, this command will let you download the 500 headers previous to the ones you already have.

Send Unsent Messages

Send messages queued in the Unsent folder.

Subscribe...

Opens a dialog which allows you to subscribe or unsubscribe to IMAP folders or newsgroups.

Rename Folder...

Opens a dialog box which allows you to rename the currently selected folder. The Inbox, Drafts, Templates, Sent, Junk, and Trash folders may not be renamed.

Compact Folders

When you delete a message, it doesn't really get deleted from the folder. It gets marked as deleted. Thunderbird sees that marking, and knows not to display it. Compacting folders will command Thunderbird to remove all messages marked as deleted, in each folder of the currently selected account. This process removes extra space within the mail file folders, and can recover large chunks of hard drive space.

Empty Trash

Empties the trash folder of the currently selected account.

Offline

Work Offline: Switch Thunderbird into offline mode. This allows you to read and compose mail when not connected to a network.
Download/Sync Now...: Choosing this will bring up the Download and Sync Messages prompt, which will allow you to download messages for mail and newsgroups selected for offline use, as well as send any message in your Unsent folder.
Offline Settings...: Opens a dialog to allow setting the preferences for offline usage.
Get Starred Messages: Choosing this will download any messages for offline use, which you have marked with a Star.
Get Selected Messages: Choosing this will download any messages for offline use, which you have selected.

Page Setup...

Opens the Page Setup dialog which allows the setting of printing properties.

Print Preview

Opens a window containing a preview of what the current message will look like when it is printed.

Print...

Displays the Print dialog, where you can specify the number of printed copies, etc. Click OK to print the page.

Exit/Quit

Closes all opened windows in Thunderbird and exits Thunderbird completely.

Edit

Undo

Undoes the last action in a text field. If you later decide you don't want to undo an action, use the Redo command.

Redo

Redoes the last Undo command.

Cut

Cuts the selected text from a text field and stores it in the clipboard. Paste the text elsewhere by using the Paste command.

Copy

Copies the selected text to the clipboard. Paste the text in a text field by using the Paste command.

Paste

Pastes text stored in the clipboard into a text field.

Delete Folder

Deletes the selected folder. This item only appears when a folder is selected in the folder pane, for email and RSS accounts. The Inbox, Drafts, Templates, Sent, Junk, and Trash folders may not be deleted.

Delete Message

Deletes the current message or selected messages. This item only appears when a message is selected in the message list pane, for email and RSS accounts.

Unsubscribe

This item appears when you have selected a newsgroup, in the folder pane. Choosing this will tell Thunderbird that you wan to unsubscribe from that newsgroup. A confirmation prompt will appear.

Cancel Message

Cancel a message posted to a newsgroup. You may only cancel your own posts to a newsgroup.

Select

All: In the message pane this command selects all messages in the current folder. If viewing or composing a message, it selects all the text of the message.
Thread: Selects all messages in the currently selected thread.

Find

Find in This Message...: Displays the find bar at the bottom of the message pane. Enter the text you wish to find in the textbox, and as you type Thunderbird will automatically find and select the first occurrence of the entered text in the message. Click Next or Previous to find the text at other locations in the message, and click Highlight to highlight all occurrences of the text in the message.
Find Again: Searches for the next occurrence of the text specified when using the Find in This Message... command.
Search Messages...: Displays the Search Messages dialog box.
Search Addresses...: Displays the Advanced Address Book Search dialog box.

Favorite Folder

Marking a folder or newsgroup as a favorite folder will cause it to appear in the folder pane when you use View > Folders > Favorite view.

Properties...

Appearing only when you have an account selected in the folder pane, this will open the settings panel for the selected account.

Folder Properties...

Displays the selected folder's name and default character encoding.

Newsgroup Properties...

Displays the selected newsgroup's properties window, where you can set the default character coding, newsgroup retention, rebuild the index file, or sync the newsgroup for offline reading.

Account Settings...

Displays the Account Settings window, where you can change settings specific to each email, newsgroups, and RSS account. This menu item is only visible in Linux. In Windows and Mac, Tools > Account Settings... is used instead.

Preferences...

Displays the Preferences window, where you can change many preferences in Thunderbird. This menu item is only visible in Linux. In Windows, Tools > Options... is used instead; and on Mac OS X, Thunderbird > Preferences... is used.

View

Toolbars

Mail Toolbar: Toggles the visibility of the mail toolbar, which usually contains standard command buttons (Send, Compose, Reply, etc.).
Status Bar: Toggles the visibility of the status bar, located at the bottom of the window. The status bar displays useful information about messages.
Customize...: Displays the toolbar customization dialog. You can drag and drop toolbar buttons to/from the toolbars here. You can also right-click on the navigation toolbar and select Customize... to show this dialog.

Layout

Classic View: Changes the layout of the main Mail & Newsgroups window to the classic three-pane view. The window is divide into two columns. The left column contains the Folders pane. The right column contains the Messages.
Wide View: Changes the layout of the main Mail & Newsgroups window to a three-pane view, with the Message pane spanning the entire width of the window. The upper half of the window is divided into two columns. The left column contains the Folders pane. The right column contains the Messages.
Vertical View: Changes the layout of the main Mail & Newsgroups window to a three-pane side-by-side view. The left column contains the Folders pane. The middle column contains the Messages. The right column contains the Message pane.
Message Pane: Toggles the visibility of the Message pane in the main Mail & Newsgroups window.

Folders

Here, you can choose which folders are visable in the Folders pane.

All: Choosing this will display all folders in the folder pane.
Unread: Choosing this will only display folders in the folder pane, which have unread messages.
Favorite: Choosing this will only display folders in the folder pane, which are marked as a favorite folder.
Recent: Choosing this will only display folders in the folder pane, which have recently been viewed.

Sort by

Allows the selection of properties by which messages will be sorted for display.

Messages

Allows the selection of properties for which messages will be displayed. This menu only appears, if the Mail Views toolbar item has been added to a toolbar.

Threads

Allows the selection of properties for which message threads will be displayed.

Headers

All: Displays full headers for messages.
Normal: Displays only the Subject, From, Date and To headers for messages.

Message Body As

Messages sent in HTML format may be viewed in plain text format, or as a sanitized version called Simple HTML.

Display Attachments Inline

When checked, attachments appear within the message body. When unchecked, attachments display in the Attachments pane only.

Text Size

If the text of a message is too small or too large, you can change it to a more comfortable size.

Increase: Displays the text of a message one size larger. You can also do this with the keyboard (see Keyboard Shortcuts for instructions).
Decrease: Displays the text of a message one size smaller. You can also do this with the keyboard (see Keyboard Shortcuts for instructions).
Normal: Displays the text of a message at its normal size.

Character Encoding

Using this, allows you to view the current message with different character encoding.

Message Source

Displays the the complete message as received. The headers, body, and attachments are shown in plain text.

Message Security Info

Displays a dialog box with information on whether the current message was digitally signed and whether the message was sent using encryption.

Go

The Go menu contains menus for navigating through your messages.

Next

Message: Selects the next message in the current folder or newsgroup.
Unread Message: Selects the next unread message in the current folder or newsgroup.
Starred Message: Selects the next starred message in the current folder or newsgroup.
Unread Thread: Selects the next unread thread in the current folder or newsgroup.

Previous

Message: Selects the previous message in the current folder or newsgroup.
Unread Message: Selects the previous unread message in the current folder or newsgroup.
Starred Message: Selects the previous starred message in the current folder or newsgroup.

Forward

Selects the next viewed message.

Back

Selects the previously viewed message.

Mail Start Page

Displays the mail start page in the Message pane.

Message

New Message

Opens a window to create a new message.

Reply

Reply to the currently selected messages.

Reply to Sender Only

This appears in the Message menu, when a newsgroup message is selected. By default, when you click on Reply, when viewing a newsgroup message, the reply will be addressed to the newsgroup. Using Reply to Sender Only, allows you to reply directly to the sender, rather than the newsgroup.

Reply to Newsgroup

This appears in the Message menu, when a newsgroup message is selected. Use this menu item to create a reply to the message, to be sent to the newsgroup.

Reply to All

Reply to sender and CC'ed recipients of the currently selected messages.

Forward

Forwards the currently selected message(s).

Forward As

Inline: Copies the text of the message to be forwarded into the body of the email.
Attachment: Adds the message to be forwarded as an attachment to the email.

Edit Message As New

Opens the current message in a message composition window, so you can edit it. Note that your address will be in the To field.

Open Message

Open currently selected message in a new window.

Move

Move currently selected messages to different folder. This is only available for email and RSS accounts.

Copy

Copy currently selected messages to different folder.

Move / Copy again

Move or Copy the currently selected message to the same location you last moved or copied a message to.

Tag

Tag currently selected messages.

Mark

As Read: This will mark the selected message(s) as read.
Thread As Read: This will mark the entire thread the currently selected message is in, as read.
As Read by Date...: Use this to mark all messages up to a certain date as read.
All Read: This will mark all messages in the current folder or newsgroup as read.
Add Star: Assigns a star to the currently selected message.
As Junk: Only available for email messages; this marks the currently selected message(s) as junk mail.
As Not Junk: Only available for email messages; this marks the currently selected message(s) as not junk.
Run Junk Mail Controls: Only available for email messages; use this to run junk mail controls on the selected message(s).

Create Filter From Message...

This will open a window to create a new filter rule, with the sender's address being one of the criteria.

Ignore Thread

Only available when reading newsgroups, this will mark all messages in the current thread as read. The next time you view the newsgroup, the ignored thread will not appear in the message list pane; and any new messages in that thread will be automatically marked as read. You can add ignored threads back to view, by enabling Ignored threads in the View > Threads menu.

Watch Thread

Marking a thread as watched, will put a visual indicator in the message list pane beside the first post of the thread. This can then be used to only view unread message threads marked as watched, which is useful in e.g. newsgroups with many new message threads per day. The watched thread status can be utilized via the View > Threads menu.

Tools

Address Book: Opens the Thunderbird's address book.
Add-ons: Opens the Add-ons manager, where you can view, install, configure, update, and uninstall your extensions and themes.
Message Filters...: Opens the Message Filters dialog box, where you can see the current user created message filters and if the are enabled for each mail/news account. You can choose to edit, delete, change the order of current filters, or run a filter on a mail folder. New filters may also be created.
Run Filters on Folder: Run users mail filters on a selected folder in the Folders pane of the main Thunderbird window.
Run Junk Mail Controls on Folder: Junk Mail Controls are usually run on messages, while they are being received. This menu item allows you to run Junk Mail Controls on messages that are already received.
Delete Mail Marked as Junk in Folder: Deletes messages marked as Junk, in the current folder.
Import...: Opens the Import Wizard dialog, which allows you to import account information, emails, address books, from e-mail clients like Microsoft Outlook, Qualcomm Eudora, Netscape, or Mozilla.
Error Console: The Error Console shows errors/warnings when something goes wrong in extensions or the Thunderbird user interface code, and also shows CSS problems in feed pages.
Account Settings...: Displays the Account Settings window, where you can change settings specific to each email, newsgroups, and RSS account. This menu item is only visible in Windows and Mac. In Linux, Edit > Account Settings... is used instead.
Options: Displays the Options window, where you can change many options in Thunderbird. This menu item is only visible in Windows. In Mac OS X, Thunderbird > Preferences... is used instead; and on Linux, Edit > Preferences... is used.

Help

Release Notes: Provides information about installing, uninstalling and configuring Thunderbird, as well as other important information and late-breaking notices. Requires an active Internet connection.
Mozilla Thunderbird Help: Opens the Thunderbird Help web site, which contains useful information that can help you use Thunderbird.
Check for Updates...: Displays a dialog which checks for updates to Thunderbird and asks you whether you want to download updates if any are available. After an update has been downloaded, the dialog asks you to restart Thunderbird so that the update can be installed. Note that the name of this menu item will change when an update is being downloaded or is ready to be installed.
About Mozilla Thunderbird: Displays the version number and current user-agent string used in Thunderbird. Credits with names of various contributers to the Mozilla Thunderbird project can be viewed by clicking on Credits button. This menu item is not visible in Mac OS X because Thunderbird > About Mozilla Thunderbird is used instead.

Mozilla