Mozilla Thunderbird 2 released

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Just a week after Mozilla made the Release Candidate 1 version of the Firefox-alike open source email client available for download, comes the news that the final version is now here.


Mozilla Thunderbird 2 brings lots of new features to the table, most notably:

  • Message Tagging - Organize emails by assigning tags like ‘From Mom’ or ‘Weekend Projects’ to easily track and search for information. Users can choose from default tags, such as Important, Personal, To-Do, Later and Work, or create their own custom tags. Users can also add as many tags as they want to a message.
  • Message History – Thunderbird 2 offers message history navigation similar to Web browsing history navigation. Users can move backward and forward through their messages and easily browse through their message history.
  • Search - Use the find-as-you-type pane to speed up searches within displayed messages and the quick search feature, which starts showing search results as soon as users start typing in search terms. Thunderbird 2 saves users time by allowing them to store searches as folders. Rerun saved searches by clicking on the saved search folder in the folder pane.
  • Easy Access to Web Mail Services – Thunderbird 2 users can integrate and access popular Web mail services by simply entering their user names and passwords.
  • Customization – Users can customize Thunderbird 2 with hundreds of free add-ons that change the look, feel and functionality of Thunderbird to suit their tastes. Users can also create their own message templates to save time.

“Thunderbird 2 has powerful new features and proven security, delivering an improved e-mail experience to users worldwide,” Scott MacGregor, lead engineer for Thunderbird at Mozilla told DaniWeb. “In Thunderbird 2, we incorporated the proven benefits of tagging to email. Tagging initially gained popularity on blogs, photo and link-sharing sites as an intuitive way to organize online information so users could easily find desired content.”


Thunderbird 2 is available now as a free download here for Windows, Mac and Linux, in more than 30 language versions.

Dani AI

Generated

As reported, Thunderbird 2 has reached final release. The notes below avoid repeating the feature list and instead provide practical, hands‑on guidance for upgrading, protecting data, and handling the common problems that appear after a major client upgrade.

Before upgrading, back up the entire Thunderbird profile (it contains mail, address books, account settings and extensions). Typical profile locations: Windows XP — C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Application Data\Thunderbird\Profiles\<profilename>; Windows Vista/7+ — C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles\<profilename>; Linux — ~/.thunderbird/; Mac OS X — ~/Library/Thunderbird/Profiles/. Close Thunderbird and copy the profile folder to another drive (MozBackup is a convenient Windows option). Export address books separately if needed (Address Book → Tools → Export).

Extension and profile troubleshooting: many older extensions need updates after a major release. To isolate problems, start with thunderbird.exe -safe-mode (disables extensions) or run the Profile Manager with thunderbird.exe -P to test a fresh profile. The Config Editor can temporarily override compatibility checks (the extensions.checkCompatibility preference), but changing that setting can cause instability and should only be used for short‑term troubleshooting.

Mailbox maintenance and security: Thunderbird uses mbox files, so deleted messages remain until folders are compacted — run File → Compact Folders or right‑click a folder and choose Compact to reclaim space. Very large mbox files slow the client; archive old mail into local folders by year/month. For encryption, S/MIME is built in; PGP works via third‑party plugins such as Enigmail. For privacy and safety, prefer SSL/TLS for incoming/outgoing servers and block remote content in messages to avoid hidden tracking images.

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