Thunderbird/Support/GetSatisfaction/BoilerPlate

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Contents

See also:

How to use this page

(for more Get Satisfaction tips, see the Get Satisfaction Getting Started Guide and our Get Satisfaction page)

Simply copy, paste, edit any of the following into a Get Satisfaction topic (or email). Since these replies are designed for GS which uses HTML for formatting, I have exposed the bare HTML tags and not used Mediawiki syntax for formatting.

See Thunderbird/Support/GetSatisfaction/Accelerator for a draft, work in progress, way to automate this using Firefox 3.6 and JetPack

Troubleshooting details requested but not supplied so closing topic

Hi All: Setting this to <b>Not a problem</b> since X didn't supply the troubleshooting information required by the community for support.

If you are experiencing cannot receive emails or other problems, in order for the community to focus on your topic and most effectively help you, please create a new community support topic at:

http://getsatisfaction.com/mozilla_messaging/topics/new with the info requested in our README at: https://wiki.mozilla.org/Thunderbird/Support/GetSatisfaction/README in particular <a href="http://support.mozillamessaging.com/en-US/kb/Safe+Mode">does Thunderbird work in TB Safe mode</a>?, Thunderbird version, operating system (e.g. Windows 7?), anti-virus and firewall version, Thunderbird add-ons, mail provider, internet provider, exact error message, what you did, etc)

Folks who vent about Thunderbird 3 but offer no troubleshooting info

Hi X:

Thank you for your Get Satisfaction support topic. We're sorry to hear that you don't like TB V3.1. At Thunderbird we believe in choice, and one course of action you can take is to re-install TB V2. Please be aware that there are no further releases planned for TB 2 and therefore we'd like to help you stay on TB 3.1 if possible. Here are some resources to help you and others do that:

1. Where to find TB2: http://getsatisfaction.com/mozilla_messaging/topics/official_thunderbird_2_download_location

2. Thunderbird 2 downgrade issues and help from from the excellent 3rd party independent community, MozillaZine: http://kb.mozillazine.org/Go_back_to_an_old_version_of_Thunderbird#From_3.x_to_2.0.0.23

If you would like community support or have found specific features that do not work on TB, please consider replying with the complete details as requested in our README: https://wiki.mozilla.org/Thunderbird/Support/GetSatisfaction/README i.e. in particular <a href="http://support.mozillamessaging.com/en-US/kb/Safe+Mode">does Thunderbird work in TB Safe mode</a>? ; firewall and anti-virus software versions if any, Thunderbird version (3.1.6?), Operating System (Windows XP?), ISP, mail service provider, POP or IMAP settings including username suitably altered to protect your privacy i.e change jane@domain.com to jne@domain.com, outgoing SMTP mail server setting including username altered so we can't guess your username, what add-ons you have installed if any, exact error message, what you did, what you expected, what happened, etc.

Please create a new topic

Hi X:

Thank you for taking the time to raise this issue. It is users who take the time to let us know about their experience that enable us to improve Thunderbird.

Looking over you comment, perhaps this will help:

If that doesn't help, in order for the community to focus on your topic and most effectively help you, please create a new community support topic at:

http://getsatisfaction.com/mozilla_messaging/topics/new with the info requested in our README at: https://wiki.mozilla.org/Thunderbird/Support/GetSatisfaction/README i.e. in particular <a href="http://support.mozillamessaging.com/en-US/kb/Safe+Mode">does Thunderbird work in TB Safe mode</a>? ; firewall and anti-virus software versions if any, Thunderbird version (3.1.6?), Operating System (Windows XP?), ISP, mail service provider, incoming settings for POP or IMAP and outgoing SMTP settings (screenshots preferred)

Troubleshooting details missing

NOTE to support contributors: please tag the GS topic "troubleshoooting details missing" and if the details are added in the future, please delete this tag.

Hi X:

Thank you for posting this problem - as Thunderbird is <b>free open source software</b> we have a number of volunteers who try to help people resolve issues with the Thunderbird software product here on Get Satisfaction; i.e. most Thunderbird support is done by <b>volunteers</b> not by employees so there is <b>no response time guarantee, email, fax or telephone support</b>. We have over 20 million users and therefore many more support requests than community support contributors.

In order to provide the best possible comments or advice and to save time, the community will need more troubleshooting details (<b>in particular exact error messages if any, your exact Thunderbird settings for sending and receiving email - screenshots preferred; your OS, Thunderbird version and the other details in the README mentioned below</b>). But, I also wanted to suggest these links as we frequently find that problems relate to these issues:

0. <a href="http://support.mozillamessaging.com/en-US/kb/Safe+Mode">does Thunderbird work in TB Safe mode</a>?

1. did you upgrade from TB2 where email sending and receiving worked but in TB 3 it doesn't work?

2. Perhaps you have the "Uncheck Use username and password problem"? If so then follow the instructions here: http://support.mozillamessaging.com/en-US/kb/Unable+to+authenticate+to+SMTP+server

3. Perhaps your passwords for some reason aren't being recognized? If so try deleting your SMTP password and your incoming (POP or IMAP password) http://getsatisfaction.com/mozilla_messaging/topics/fix_smtp_cannot_send_email_problems_by_deleting_passwords

4. Perhaps changing the tcp timeout i.e. <b>mailnews.tcptimeout</b> to something higher like 500 would help: http://kb.mozillazine.org/Modify_Thunderbird_settings

5. If you are on Windows, please double check that your anti-virus and firewall programs are configured for the version of Thunderbird you are using. Some anti-virus programs require a manual configuration to re-allow Thunderbird after each Thunderbird upgrade. If that doesn't help please try *briefly* turning off anti-virus and see if that helps. More info and some anti-virus workarounds are here: https://wiki.mozilla.org/Thunderbird:Testing:Antivirus_Related_Performance_Issues

If the above doesn't help, the community needs more detailed troubleshooting information to help you

Please reply with complete details as requested in our README: https://wiki.mozilla.org/Thunderbird/Support/GetSatisfaction/README i.e. firewall and anti-virus software versions if any, Thunderbird version (3.1.7?), Operating System (Windows XP?), ISP, mail service provider, the output from Thunderbird when you select Help | Troubleshooting Information, what add-ons you have installed if any, exact error message, what you did, what you expected, what happened, etc.

Remove accidentally submitted duplicate comment

removed duplicate comment that was probably accidentally submitted due to connectivity issues

No Eudora OSE Support

A gentle reminder:Mozilla doesn't support Eudora OSE or the Eudora Thunderbird add-on if that's what you are using.

Eudora OSE uses Thunderbird code just like Postbox uses Thunderbird code but Mozilla doesn't support Postbox, Eudora or any other non Thunderbird product based on Thunderbird source code.

<b>For Eudora OSE support please go to their forums at: http://eudorabb.qualcomm.com/forumdisplay.php?f=29 </b>

Create a new topic instead of adding to an existing topic where original problem was solved

Hi X:

Thunderbird is an open source project and support like writing and documenting the code is done by a mostly volunteer community. The number of users is large but the actual number of contributors i.e. those who help document, support, design and test Thunderbird is much, much smaller. As a result, community contributors are overloaded. This means that sometimes bugs, support requests and documentation requests are missed and there is no live chat,email, phone or paid support.

Please help out the community in the future by giving as much detail in your support requests as possible and please consider "giving back"/"paying forward" by helping support the Thunderbird community in any way you can including supporting other users, modifying and writing documentation, testing beta builds, etc.

So, please be kind to volunteer support contributor ZZ and other contributors when they ask you to create a new support topic.

The original problem was due to Y and the original problem was solved.

Imagine if you voluntarily helped others solve problems and once you solved person 1's problem in one topic, person 2 and person 3 and person 4 asked related but not identical topics in the same topic. It becomes really difficult then to solve person 2 and person 3 and 4's problems and to keep them straight.

It really makes it difficult to focus on a problem when after a problem is solved (in this case Z's), other people with similar problems post their problems.

Therefore: <b>A and B and C</b>

please create new community support topics (one for each of your problems) at:

http://getsatisfaction.com/mozilla_messaging.com/topics/new with the info requested in our README at: https://wiki.mozilla.org/Thunderbird/Support/GetSatisfaction/README in particular <a href="http://support.mozillamessaging.com/en-US/kb/Safe+Mode">does Thunderbird work in TB Safe mode</a>? ; firewall and anti-virus software versions if any, Thunderbird version (3.1.9?), Operating System (Windows XP?), ISP, mail service provider, incoming settings for POP or IMAP and outgoing SMTP settings (screenshots preferred)

No Email or Telephone Support or Support Response Time

in case somebody faxes, you, emails you or calls you for support:

IF YOU DON'T HAVE TIME

Email the person the following:

Hi X:

Thunderbird is a free and open source project:

First, thank you for sending us your issue with Thunderbird and I'm sorry that you are experiencing a problem. We do want to help. As free software, Thunderbird is supported by a volunteer community and therefore doesn't provide email or fax or phone support or a service level agreement or any guaranteed support response time. This email is an exception.

Thunderbird is a free and open source project and support like writing and documenting the code is done by a mostly volunteer community; i.e. community support is the "official" support; there is no other kind of support other than community support!

Support is done by volunteers who are often overloaded.

The number of users is large but the actual number of contributors i.e. those who help document, support, design and test Thunderbird is much, much smaller. As a result, community support contributors are overloaded.

This means that sometimes bugs, support requests and documentation requests are missed.

Try doing a search for your problem in our support forum and our support knowledge base (well over 50% of community support requests already have answers in our support forum, support knowledge base or elsewhere on the internet):

 http://support.mozillamessaging.com/en-US/search
 http://getsatisfaction.com/mozilla_messaging/ (type in the search box in the top right)

If searching doesn't help, please create a community support request: http://getsatisfaction.com/mozilla_messaging/topics/new and tell us what version of Thunderbird, if the problem occurs in Thunderbird safe mode: https://support.mozillamessaging.com/en-US/kb/Safe-Mode your email provider (e.g. gmail), your operating system (e.g. Windows 7), your anti-virus software and your ISP (e.g. Verizon)


IF YOU HAVE TIME for a full blown response

  1. create a get satisfaction (gs) topic for them with the problem in their words copied from the email and tag it "via email" in addition to normal tags and with a subject [FROM X] where X is the person's first name or whatever name makes sense that doesn't personally identify them!
  2. create a reply to the GS topic in step 1 with a solution
  3. write them an email pointing to the GS topic you created

1. gs topic for people who email

subject: [from Kelly] How do I get Thunderbird to work with flibbybet.com mail provider

content:

<a href="https://wiki.mozilla.org/Thunderbird/Support/GetSatisfaction/README#About_Get_Satisfaction">Mozilla doesn't do email support<a> so in order that others can benefit and to be fair to all, I am going to post selected emails sent to us as support topics here on Get Satisfaction

<b>QUOTE from Karen's email</b>

<blockquote>

copy and paste the description from her email e.g. i cannot receive or send email with flibbybet.com!!!! help!!!!

</blockquote>

<b>END QUOTE</b>

2. and then immediately post a reply

Hi Kelly:

Thank you for posting this problem - as Thunderbird is <b>free open source software </b> we have a number of volunteers who try to help people resolve issues with the Thunderbird software product here on Get Satisfaction; i.e. most Thunderbird support is done by <b>volunteers</b> not by employees so there is <b>no response time guarantee, email, fax or telephone support</b>. We have over 5 million users and therefore many more support requests than community support contributors.

In this particular case it's not clear what steps you followed. Please be more clear in the future.

Here's a possible solution: fill in solution

3. and then send an email with a link to the GS topic to respond to folks who email

Subject: pls check out possible TB solution at short url e.g. http://gsfn.us/t/2arx5 and reply there if you still have a problem WAS:Re: How do i modify my email signature

Hi X:

Thunderbird is a free and open source project:

First, thank you for sending us your issue with Thunderbird and I'm sorry that you are experiencing a problem. We do want to help. As free software, Thunderbird is supported by a volunteer community and therefore doesn't provide email or fax or phone support or a service level agreement or any guaranteed support response time. This email is an exception :-).

Thunderbird is a free and open source project and support like writing and documenting the code is done by a mostly volunteer community; i.e. community support is the "official" support; there is no other kind of support other than community support!

Support is done by volunteers who are often overloaded:

The number of users is large but the actual number of contributors i.e. those who help document, support, design and test Thunderbird is much, much smaller. As a result, community support contributors are overloaded.

This means that sometimes bugs, support requests and documentation requests are missed.

Try Searching first:

Please help out the community in the future:

Please consider "giving back"/"paying forward" by helping support the Thunderbird community in any way you can including supporting other users, modifying and writing documentation, testing beta builds, etc.

Possible answers to your specific questions about password problems with flibbybet.com can be found in a support topic thread I created for your problem on our Get Satisfaction forum at:

http://getsatisfaction.com/mozilla_messaging/topics/url_of_gs_topic_created_in_previous_step

Please join our Thunderbird Get Satisfaction forum and if you still have a problem after reading:

http://getsatisfaction.com/mozilla_messaging/topics/url_of_gs_topic_created_in_previous_step

(we realize it's confusing that the Thunderbird support forums are on http://getsatisfaction.com/mozilla_messaging and the Thunderbird support knowledge base is at a different website: http://support.mozillamessaging.com . My apologies for spreading support out on two different websites; we are working on consolidating them.)

then please reply in Get Satisfaction instead of this email.

Removing Replies that contain attacks and/or profanity

see HOWTO on our Workflow page

Hi. I understand from your reply that you are frustrated. However profanity, disrespectful language and comments and replies without solutions are unacceptable because they violate the CCPact: http://getsatisfaction.com/ccpact Therefore I have removed your reply. Continued solution-less comments or replies, use of profanity or insulting language will result in deletion of your account from the Get Satisfaction community.

Archive the topic if there's profanity and only 1 ranter & ranter doesn't really want help

see HOWTO on our Workflow page

This post has been archived because of profanity or insulting language, which is unacceptable according to the <a href="http://getsatisfaction.com/ccpact">CC Pact</a>. Users agree to abide by the pact when they sign up for Get Satisfaction. Continued use of profanity or insulting language will result in deletion of your account from the Get Satisfaction community. If you want help from the community, please create a new community support topic without profanity or insulting phrases: http://getsatisfaction.com/mozilla_messaging/topics/new. Refer to the <a href="http://wiki.mozilla.org/Thunderbird/Support/GetSatisfaction/README>README</a> for information about the required information.

Removing Profanity and Attack Language from Replies

see HOWTO on our Workflow page and also email support AT getsatisfaction.com and CC roland AT mozillamessaging.com

Hi. I understand from your post that you are frustrated. However profanity and disrespectful language are unacceptable because they violate <a href="http://getsatisfaction.com/ccpact">CC Pact</a>. I have asked the Get Satisfaction staff to remove the offending text in your post. Continued use of profanity or insulting language will result in deletion of your account from the Get Satisfaction community.

Set the emoticon text to something like:"I’m hopeful that bug Y will be solved soon/the community can help X soon thereby lessening X's frustration."

Use one topic, not multiple topics

see Create a summary thread if users post their problem across multiple threads

Hi X:

Please don't post different parts of your problem across multiple support topics. It makes it difficult for the community to focus on your problems.

I've created a "summary topic" at: http://getsatisfaction.com/mozilla_messaging/topics/blah

which attempts to pull together your problems into a cohesive support topic that the community including myself can focus on to solve your problem. Please reply on the "summary topic".

When people complain about response time

Hi All:

<b>A Gentle reminder: Thunderbird is a free and open source project:</b>

First, thank you for sending us your issue with Thunderbird and I'm sorry that you are experiencing a problem. We do want to help. As free software, Thunderbird is supported by a volunteer community and therefore doesn't provide email or fax or phone support or a service level agreement or any guaranteed support response time.

Thunderbird is a free and open source project and support like writing and documenting the code is done by a mostly volunteer community; i.e. community support is the "official" support; there is no other kind of support other than community support!

<b>Support is done by volunteers who are often overloaded:</b>

The number of users is large but the actual number of contributors i.e. those who help document, support, design and test Thunderbird is much, much smaller. As a result, community support contributors are overloaded.

This means that sometimes bugs, support requests and documentation requests are missed like this one was.

<b>Try Searching first:</b>

Please help out the community in the future:

by first doing a search for your problem in our support forum and our support knowledge base (well over 50% of community support requests already have answers in our support forum, support knowledge base or elsewhere on the internet):

http://support.mozillamessaging.com/en-US/search

http://getsatisfaction.com/mozilla_messaging/ (type in the search box in the top right) by giving as much detail in your support requests as possible

Please consider "giving back"/"paying forward" by helping support the Thunderbird community in any way you can including supporting other users, modifying and writing documentation, testing beta builds, etc.

<b>Possible answers to your specific questions</b>

Add-ons install/uninstall doesn't work

Find your profile folder according to http://www.mozilla.org/support/thunderbird/profile#locate , close Thunderbird and rename the extensions.ini, extensions.rdf and extensions.rdf files by appending "-old" to theirs names. Now restart Thunderbird. Does installing/uninstalling extensions work now as expected?

Inbox or email disappeared

(seems to happen frequently after an upgrade)

Hi X:

(<b>always <a href="http://support.mozillamessaging.com/en-US/kb/profiles?s=profile&as=s#w_backing-up-a-profile">backup your Thunderbird profile which contains your email</a> before trying anything!</b>)

[<b>My apologies of course if you have tried any or all of the following steps; it wasn't clear from your post what troubleshooting and workarounds you have tried</b>]

0. double check the email wasn't deleted from another device using IMAP e.g. mobile like iPhone or another computer or using a web browser and webmail

1. Perhaps you have accidentally configured Thunderbird not to show your email! Perhaps the following will show it again:

<b>Thunderbird Menu | View | Folders All </b>

2. Perhaps it's caused by a Thunderbird add-on.

Try Thunderbird Safe Mode by following these instructions: https://support.mozillamessaging.com/en-US/kb/Safe-Mode

If you can see your email in TB Safe mode, it's a Thunderbird add-on problem (theme, plugin or extension, try re-enabling your Thunderbird Add-ons one at a time in Tools | Add-ons

3. <a href="http://support.mozillamessaging.com/en-US/kb/inbox-or-other-folder-full?s=compact+folder&as=s#w_compact-one-or-more-folders">compact</a> and re-index (right click <b>Properties and then Repair Folder</b>) the inbox and any other folders that have disappeared.

4. *Briefly* try turning off anti-virus and your firewall (<a href="http://thunderbirdtweaks.blogspot.com/2011/07/anti-virusfirewall-programs.html">why? because anti-virus and firewalls can block Thunderbird and email especially after an upgrade</a>) and see if your email comes back. If it doesn't please configure your anti-virus and firewall not to block Thunderbird.

5. If the above doesn't work, copy and paste the output of <b>Help | Troubleshooting Information </b> into a new reply in this thread

Setting attachments to editable

Warning: If you edit the files and don't manually choose another location to save them, you could lose these edited files. 1. Open from the "Tools" menu the "Options" item. 2. Go to the "Advanced" pane and select the "General" tab. 3. Click "Config editor" and confirm the security warning. 4. Search for "browser.helperApps.deleteTempFileOnExit" and if you find it, double click it and set the value to False. 5. If you don't find it, right click into the main area, choose "New" > "Boolean", add "browser.helperApps.deleteTempFileOnExit" as name and choose "False" as value. Now they should be editable.


Change quote and reply format

There are two extensions to change the quote and reply header: <a href="https://nic-nac-project.org/~kaosmos/changequote-en.html">Change quote and reply format</a> <a href="https://addons.mozilla.org/thunderbird/addon/14662">SmartTemplate</a> (read the description on the page!)


CompactHeader (just link)

<a href="https://addons.mozilla.org/thunderbird/addon/13564">Compact Header</a>


CustomizeHeaderToolbar (just link)

<a href="https://addons.mozilla.org/thunderbird/addon/45601">CustomizeHeaderToolbar</a>


Disable IMAP indexing

To disable the downloading of messages from IMAP servers for indexing: Go menu Tools > Options > Advanced > General > Config Editor. Confirm the warning, search for mail.server.default.autosync_offline_stores, doubleclick it for toggling it to false. The messages will still be stored offline if you read them. For general disabling of indexing, go to menu Tools > Options > Advanced > General and disable 'Global Search and Indexer'. Then restart Thunderbird.


Extra Folder Column (just link)

<a href="https://addons.mozilla.org/thunderbird/addon/9716">Extra Folder Columns</a>

Launch Thunderbird from Firefox (Get Mail Plus

The extension <a href="http://webdesigns.ms11.net/getmail.html">Get Mail Plus</a> allows to launch Thunderbird from Firefox. Use at your own risk.


Hide tab bar

You can hide the tab bar. Go to menu Tools > Options > panel Advanced > General. Press the button 'Config Editor' and confirm the warning. Search and doubleclick mail.tabs.autoHide so its value changes to true. If you have only one tab, the tab bar should disappear.


Import Export Tools

The <a href="https://nic-nac-project.org/~kaosmos/mboximport-en.html">Import Export Tools</a> extension allows importing and exporting messages and folders in various formats. Use at your own risk.


Lightning (just link)

<a href="https://addons.mozilla.org/thunderbird/addon/2313">Lightning</a>


Manually sort folders

<a href="https://addons.mozilla.org/thunderbird/addon/15102">Manually sort folders</a>, an extension, can do this. After install, go into menu Tools > Manually sort folders.


Separate/global inbox (only works for POP, doesn't work for IMAP)

Go to menu Tools > Account settings. Search for the account you want changed and select 'Server settings'. In the right pane, press the 'Advanced' button next to 'Empty Trash on Exit'. Here you can choose between separate and global inbox.

SMTP authentication problem

Go to menu Tools > Account settings > Outgoing Servers (SMTP), select your SMTP server and press the Edit button. Check "Use name and password" and put the same information into it like for receiving mails. Then press OK and close all settings dialogs. Now try again. Nearly every mail server nowadays requests for authentication at sending because else it would abused for sending Spam.


Thunderbird 2 download

You can get the latest Thunderbird 2.0.0.* release at http://releases.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/thunderbird/releases/latest-2.0/ . Please keep in mind that there are no further security updates planned for Thunderbird 2. If you have some time, please report the problems and why you are switching back so the developers can fix this issues.

Virtual Identity (just link)

<a href="https://addons.mozilla.org/thunderbird/addon/594">Virtual Identity</a>

Use TB Safe Mode to Find problematic extensions

Does it work in <a href="http://support.mozillamessaging.com/en-US/kb/Safe+Mode">TB safe mode</a>? If yes, disable all extensions, restart Thunderbird, and enable one extension, restart Thunderbird and check if it still works. Continue you so until it doesn't anymore and you found the problematic extension which you should disable. Please also report it here.

Wrong Community

Hi X you posted this in the Get Satisfaction community for Thunderbird. Get Satisfaction hosts support sites for many different companies. Are you possibly looking for one of these? e.g. Facebook or other GS community i.e. something other than firefox (refer firefox folks to support.mozilla.com)

At the top of the screen where it says "Community-powered support for," make sure it shows the company in which you are interested.

If you'd like to use an image, you can use the code here to paste into your Get Satisfaction reply:

<a href="http://s3.amazonaws.com/satisfaction-production/s3_images/186826/wrong_wai.png%22><img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/satisfaction-production/s3_images/186826/wrong_wai_inline.png%22 alt="" /></a>

Mozilla doesn't offer email accounts or create email accounts for you

Mozilla doesn't operate an email service or create email accounts e.g. you@thunderbird.com . You can use any standard POP or IMAP email service with Mozilla Thunderbird like the following free email providers (in no order): gmail, Hotmail, Comcast, fastmail, Verizon and many others both free and paid! This means that you have to create the email address using gmail, Hotmail, etc and then add that email address to Thunderbird by creating a Thunderbird account for that email address.

Mozilla only offers English Language Support - boilerplate A ("Google Translate case") for non English support topics in Get Satisfaction

Hi X

My apologies, but I don't read or write <language> so this response will be in English, as Mozilla only offers support in English in the official forum.

I have translated your request using Google Translate and based on that here's some suggested solutions:

<suggested solutions>

If that doesn't solve the problem, please reply in English if you can, if not, then try one of the unofficial third Party non English support forums: https://wiki.mozilla.org/Thunderbird/Support/Community_support_based_on_languages#Non_English_Thunderbird_Support_Forums

Specifically the third support forum for your language is here: <put in link to language specific forum e.g. for German http://www.thunderbird-mail.de/wiki/Hauptseite >

Mozilla only offers English Language Support - boilerplate B (no time for Google Translate or translate not available/helpful for that language) for non English support topics in Get Satisfaction

Hi X

My apologies, but I don't read or write <language> so this response is mostly in English.

Mozilla only offers support in English in this official support forum on GetSatisfaction. Please try one of the unofficial third Party non-English support forums listed at https://wiki.mozilla.org/Thunderbird/Support/Community_support_based_on_languages#Non_English_Thunderbird_Support_Forums and tag this topic, to indicate you went to another forum, with

closeme-<locale> 

where <locale> is the two character country code for your language. For example closeme-es for spanish.

If you are unable to get a response in the non-English forum, or no forum exists for your language, please tag this topic, to indicate you need help in THIS forum, with

 helpme-<locale>

For example helpme-fr for french.

Tracking and privacy concerns specifically about Google but applies to others

Hello Mr./Ms. X

I appreciate that you took the time to mail us about your concerns with tracking.

Thunderbird has no deal with Google or anybody else to share any information in exchange for money or anything else.

We are continually exploring some ways to bring revenue in, but maintaining our user's control over their privacy is a far higher priority for us, and so we would not approve a feature of that sort, no matter how much money it came with.

As you probably know, when you check your email, that will involve several requests to your mail server, and when you click a link that displays a webpage, the page could load content from many other hosts, and Google is a popular web-site statistic tracking page, which could explain some of the requests.

Please create a new community support topic at:

http://getsatisfaction.com/mozilla_messaging/topics/new with the link you clicked on that is giving you privacy concerns, and then email me the link to your community support topic.

Then, I will check it out and see what the various connections it makes are and then explain it in public for others to benefit by replying to your Get Satisfaction topic.

Since your Thunderbird support topic was solved, please consider helping other Thunderbird users

Hi X:

We noticed that members of the Thunderbird support community (who are mostly volunteers since Thunderbird is free and open software) resolved your problem.

You can help other Thunderbird users as a way of "paying forward" the help you received. Here's how:

  • Search for similar Thunderbird support questions. Usually more than one person has asked the same question. For example, if your question was about putting an image file in your signature, search for "signature image" to find similar questions. If you find a question similar to your own, please reply with the solution.

Feel free to email me (rtanglao AT mozilla.com). I'd be happy to help you get started with Thunderbird support or any other method of helping Mozilla or Thunderbird out.

Potential New Localizer

Hi X The best way to start with Thunderbird application localization would be to contact the the folks that do the <lang> (e.g. Filipino) translation of Firefox and start by working with them. They'll be able to give you pointers and details. You can find the details of who to contact here:

https://wiki.mozilla.org/L10n:Teams:<lang> e.g. nl,de,jp,etc