University Information Services at Georgetown University

How to Use Thunderbird 3: What's New in Thunderbird 3?

Thunderbird 3 comes with many features and updates that make Thunderbird 3 a significant departure from it's predecessor, Thunderbird 2.

Below is a list of some of these features and updates. Each feature or update includes a brief description for how that it works in Thunderbird 3 and Thunderbird 2. The description states if a feature is unique to Thunderbird 3.

To quickly go to a feature or update description, Just click on its name from the following list.

Migration Assistant	Smart Attachment Reminder
Selecting Messages	Creating Message Filters
Tabbed Interface	Adding Address Book Contacts
Search	Smart Folders
Toolbar	Message Headers
Archiving Messages

Feature	Thunderbird 3 Description	Thunderbird 2 Description
Migration Assistant	Helps with configuring the transition to Thunderbird 3 (displays when you first install and open Thunderbird 3) from earlier versions of Thunderbird. When you start up Thunderbird 3 for the first time, and if you used Thunderbird before (had an existing profile), Thunderbird will open a "Migration Assistant" tab. The Migration Assistant enables you to do the following: Sychronize IMAP folders Display the old toolbar from Thunderbird 2 (that contains all the toolbar buttons missing from the new toolbar) Select "Smart Folders mode" in displaying your folders Access Thunderbird "add-ons" that offer alternate ways of displaying message headers Note: You can open the Migration Assistant at any time by selecting Migration Assistant from the Help menu.	Migration assistant not availble in Thunderbird 2. Configuration assistance is available by accessing the Thunderbird online help documentation.
Selecting Messages	If you select multiple messages, you'll be able to view a summary of those messages, including threads, in the preview pane.	Summary of selected messages not available in Thunderbird 2.
Tabbed Interface	Opens new messages and folders in a tab Works a lot like a Web browser such as Firefox Enables you to keep multiple messages and folders open simultaneously in the same window	Messages can be opened in a new window, but not a new tab Folders cannot be opened in a new windowd You can open multiple messages, but only in their own separate windows
Searches	When you enter your search string, TB will give you a list of choices from which you can choose based on the search string you enter. Each search opens in a new tab. New search results interface (more comprehensive set of results data) and snippets displayed of each message in the search results. You can further refine your search from the search results. Search results can still be displayed in list format (display format in TB2).	TB provides only one set of search results based on the keywords you enter in your search (TB does not give you a list of choices you can select to search on). Displays only one set of search results at a time. Search results cannot be further refined; you'll need to perform another search. Search results displayed in the same window as your original e-mail message listing. Search results only in list format. TB conducts searches only in e-mail address or subject of a message, not in the body of the message.
Toolbar	A number of previously displayed toolbar buttons are now displayed in the message header of the preview pane. Toolbar customization possible (You can customize the toolbar to include missing toolbar buttons)	More toolbar buttons included in the toolbar by default Toolbar customization possible
Smart Attachment Reminder	When composing a message, if you enter specific keywords that are any variants of "attach" and "document", TB will display a message bar prompting you to attach your document (if you have not yet done so).	This feature not available in TB2.
Creating Message Filters	Junk filters can only be set at the account level. No mechanism to set junk filters globally.	Junk filters could be set either for each account or globally.
Adding Address Book Contacts	Can add a contact from an e-mail message in one click (from the star icon).	Contacts are added from the address book only.
Smart Folders	New view of your e-mail folders that combines special mailboxes (i.e., Inbox) from multiple accounts.	New feature not available in Thunderbird 2.
Message Headers	By default, "You" is displayed in place of your name and e-mail address. (You can change this to display your name and address.) "More" will be displayed if a message contains multiple e-mail recipients. Clicking the "More" link lists the additional recipients. Any message reply will display the date and time of the message.	Your name and e-mail address are listed in messages. All recipients listed at once. Message replies do not display day and time of the reply.
Archiving Messages	You can now move messages to a predetermined folders called “Archives” without deleting the messages. The messages will be moved to the folder, not copied to the folder. You can set up where (in which account) you want to store archived messages You create the “Archives” folder, and TB automatically creates a subfolder for the current year. (I think you can create additional subfolders of each year folder.) The first time you want to archive messages, TB will create an Archives folder. You won’t be able to delete the Archives folder once it’s created; however, you will be able to delete subfolders in Archives.	New feature not available in Thunderbird 2.