Setting up Thunderbird IMAP and Exchange
One of the features of my old Exchange box that I was missing (other than the integrated Gmail calendar), was the ability to switch between my webmail account and Thunderbird. When setting up my account with POP I was unable to have the same folder system on both versions which just led to confusion and time wasted searching for messages. Enter IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol)... IMAP allows your email client to 'talk' to the webmail version and replicates the set up you have on your local machine. Any moving of messages, creating of folders etc is immediately reflected in your online account making it far easier to keep track of messages andenables you to work from several computers easily. For example, you can set up your email account with Thunderbird at home, in the office and access it online when out and about all the time maintining a uniform structure. So without further ado I have provided you with a set of simple instructions for setting up Gmail IMAP with Thunderbird (thanks to the Gmail site for the initial guide!) Step One - Enable IMAP Log into your Gmail accountGo to the settings and click on the Forwarding and POP/IMAP tabLook for the IMAP Access option and click the Enable IMAP optionSave Changes Step Two - Add and Configure Thunderbird Account Go to Thunderbird and go to Tools - Account SettingsClick on Add AccountSelect Email and nextEnter Your name and your full Gmail address (ie. info@googlemail.co.uk) and hit nextSelect IMAP as the server and imap.googlemail.com in the incoming server fieldSet your incoming username as your full email address -hit nextSet your account name as your full username and click Next then Finish Click on the account on then left hand pane and go to Edit - PropertiesClick on Outgoing Server and then AddIn the description add any nameAdd smtp.googlemail.com in the Server Name fieldChange the port to 993Tick the 'Use name and password' and put in your username as your full email addressClick the TLS radio button Once that's all done, click on the server settings optionChange the port to 993Under Security Settings click on SSLFinally, I like to click on the Check for messages at startup and Check for new messages every 10minutes option.