Microsoft has introduced the official finish of the Mail app in Windows 11: From 2024, PCs and notebooks will solely be delivered with Outlook for Windows as a mail program. That’s dangerous information for customers who’ve intentionally determined towards Microsoft’s e mail colossus Outlook.
It is true that Outlook for Windows is a slimmed-down and subsequently leaner model of the e-mail flagship from Microsoft 365 — which you’ll already download for free from the Microsoft Store.
But for a lot of customers, the title Outlook is synonymous with an overloaded, cumbersome, and unwieldy utility. This is the place Thunderbird 115 is useful: The new version of the open-source mail basic comes with a modernized person interface and some new capabilities within the type of “Supernova.”
Tip: If you wish to check out Thunderbird first with out obligation, uncheck the field “Set Thunderbird as default program for emails” on the finish of the set up. Thunderbird will nonetheless ask you later whether or not you wish to set this system as your default mailer. Then take away the tick subsequent to “Check every time Thunderbird is started” and click on on “Skip integration.”
New map view with three columns
The fundamental innovation of the overdue makeover in Thunderbird “Supernova” is the three-column view. It shows the emails within the inbox in card kind and now not in an infinite desk.
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The fundamental element of Supernova is the map view: It organizes the message listing in a vertical structure and is thus oriented in the direction of webmail companies and smartphones.
The message view in Thunderbird 115 consists of three columns: The account and folder space, the messages within the inbox and the chosen mail. This implies that you now not see only one line of every message, however two, as is common with mail apps on cell units. Use the slim bar on the left-hand aspect of the window to change between mails, handle guide, contacts, and different workspaces.
The card view replaces the earlier listing view with its horizontal association because the preset default view.
The benefit of the cardboard view is that it makes it simpler to learn messages within the inbox and permits quicker navigation. Each card comprises a preview of the message textual content, sender, topic and date — the remaining is hidden. This permits you to scan messages extra rapidly and prioritize essential emails.
However, the earlier desk view remains to be accessible: Click on the show choices button on the prime proper of the message listing. Here you possibly can swap between the cardboard and desk view.
Thunderbird makes dealing with emails extra handy
With the introduction of the map view, the builders have lastly introduced Thunderbird into the current. A comparability of the Mozilla mail program with Outlook, but in addition with options resembling Mailspring, Emclient, and The Bat, all of which have lengthy had not less than one different to the normal desk view on board, exhibits that renovation work was needed.
And a take a look at the mailbox show in webmailers resembling Google Mail or Outlook.com additionally emphasised how urgently the Mozilla builders wanted to refresh the mail show.
The promoting promise that with Supernova, Thunderbird brings “a technically utterly overhauled person interface for the primary time” is, nevertheless, overstated. After all, the brand new show primarily impacts the inbox — the opposite home windows are largely the identical as earlier than.
The new dynamic toolbar with search area is situated above the three-column view. It is all the time current and adapts to the respective context. What precisely you are able to do with it subsequently will depend on whether or not you’re at present looking out your inbox, coming into contacts, or checking appointments within the calendar.
Good: The search area (shortcut Ctrl-Ok) suggests what you may be searching for as you kind. Speaking of icons: The Thunderbird makers have given this system a number of spruced-up icons.
The toolbar additionally comprises the three-bar button from Firefox, which you should use to entry the slimmed-down fundamental menu. You can open the total menu bar by urgent the Alt key.
If you miss the acquainted window bar, click on on the three bars after which on Settings > General. Remove the tick from “Hide system window title bar” and ideally additionally from “Automatically hide tab bar.” Retrieve the menu bar after tapping the Alt key beneath View > Toolbar by ticking “Menu bar.”
Adjustments to the design
The Thunderbird builders have already efficiently revised the calendar space over the course of the yr. In Thunderbird 115, the choice to paint calendars individually has been added.
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Also new, however actually to not everybody’s style: Thunderbird mechanically teams associated emails and replies by dialog. This is sensible as a result of you possibly can keep watch over the dialog historical past.
However, auto-grouping makes it troublesome so that you can rapidly discover particular person messages in your inbox. To swap off dialog grouping, click on on the show choices button on the prime proper of the message listing. Under “Sort by,” choose the choice “Not grouped” as an alternative of “Grouped by topic.”
The calendar in Thunderbird has already been revised in earlier variations. As a end result, it appears to be like extra trendy and is harking back to Outlook 365 and Google Calendar when it comes to look and operation. Thunderbird 115 provides an improved mini-month view. The builders have additionally optimized the day, week, and month grid. Also new: You have extra colours accessible to paint calendars in accordance with your needs.
Solve the most important issues
If the message listing in Thunderbird appears to be like too compact in your display screen and is troublesome to learn, you should use the density setting to extend the spacing between the weather.
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Especially customers who swap from an older Thunderbird model to the Supernova version typically complain concerning the considerably poorer readability of the message listing. Especially after switching to the listing view, the inbox seems crowded and compressed, relying on the display screen dimension and determination.
You can treatment this with extra space between the management parts — and there’s a density setting for this: To make the message listing extra ethereal and thus loosen it up, click on on the three-bar button. Change the “Density” from “Compact” (left button) to “Standard” or “Relaxed” (proper button). The latter setting works with bigger distances between the person parts of the message listing and is advisable for giant, high-resolution screens.
If the font within the inbox is just too small total, there’s a easy resolution within the three-bar button: Click on the plus and minus buttons behind “Font size.” This permits you to regulate the font dimension program-wide. You can change the textual content dimension within the message window as regular utilizing the keyboard shortcuts Ctrl+ and Ctrl- or by utilizing the mouse wheel whereas holding down the Ctrl key.
Set up a shared inbox
Options inside the Folder Pane give customers extra flexibility for categorizing and sorting e mail.
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Many e mail accounts and plenty of folders make the folder listing on the left within the Thunderbird message view complicated. It is subsequently a good suggestion to summarize a number of mail accounts compactly in a shared inbox. You also can enhance the overview by hiding particular person folders. Favorite folders for incessantly used mailboxes save time when viewing and sorting new messages.
This is precisely why Thunderbird now affords “sortable folder modes.” You can entry the choice menu within the mixed account/folder listing on the prime by clicking on the three dots. Go to “Folder modes” and check out what the person choices do by ticking and unticking the bins.
With “All folders”, Thunderbird shows a listing of all configured accounts individually with Inbox, Outbox, Sent, Drafts, Trash, and so forth. “Grouped folders” turns the “Inbox” and “Outbox” into fundamental folders during which your accounts seem.
Tuning for information safety
Setting up Thunderbird 115 is fast and simple. The set up wizard acknowledges earlier variations of this system and carries out an replace. The first time you begin this system, the wizard will immediate you to arrange your mail account. Once this has been accomplished, the standing bar within the backside right-hand nook exhibits how far Thunderbird has progressed with downloading the mails.
The Mozilla builders declare that information safety and privateness are a prime precedence. Nevertheless, it’s advisable to undergo the safety settings proper at the beginning. Click on the gear icon on the backside left and on the “Privacy & Security” part.
Emails could include exterior content material resembling on-line photographs or CSS stylesheets. To defend your privateness, Thunderbird doesn’t reload such exterior content material by default, however shows a yellow notification bar to point that exterior content material has been blocked. Tracker renders the mail program ineffective on this manner, however comfort additionally suffers.
If you need Thunderbird to mechanically reload photographs from the Internet, uncheck the field subsequent to “Allow external content in messages.” For “Accept cookies from third-party providers,” it’s advisable to set “Only from visited third-party providers.”
If you all the time permit third-party cookies, web sites can monitor your actions as a way to personalize content material. Also tick the field subsequent to “Send a Do Not Track notification that your online activities should not be tracked.”
If you wish to defend the passwords saved in Thunderbird to your mail accounts with a grasp password, activate “Use master password.” Enter the specified password twice. Remove the tick within the “Data collection …” part. Make certain that the checkboxes in entrance of “Check messages for fraud attempts (phishing)” and “Antivirus software …” are ticked.
These add-ons are worthwhile
ImportExportTools outputs the messages in PDF or TXT format. The emails can be exported as a CSV file for additional processing in Excel.
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Add-ons assist you to complement Thunderbird with further capabilities and customise this system to your wants.
You can set up them by clicking on the three-bar menu and “Add-ons and Themes.” Pay consideration to the required compatibility with Thunderbird 115 and newer. If you’re switching from an earlier Thunderbird model to the Supernova version, the TB 102/TB 115 Addon Compatibility Tester is useful: The device exhibits which of the beforehand put in add-on modules don’t work with the brand new Thunderbird. You will obtain strategies for options.
With XNote you possibly can rapidly connect notes to emails. They present area for reminders and duties that you simply wish to full in reference to the respective e mail. ImportExportTools NG offers Thunderbird extra choices for exporting or importing emails.
If you’ve arrange a number of mail accounts in Thunderbird, QuickFolders lets you hold monitor of all of the folders. You can arrange folders which might be notably essential to you as separate tabs and entry them simply.
The AutoarchiveReloaded add-on ensures that emails which might be now not wanted are archived. You specify which accounts you wish to clear out and set a schedule for the add-on to hold out computerized archiving.
Sooner or later, virtually each Thunderbird person finds that unintentional mouse actions within the folder listing mess up the present emails. DisableDragAndDrop protects you from by accident shifting folders by stopping disastrous mouse actions within the folder space.
This article was translated from German to English and initially appeared on pcwelt.de.