Thunderbird Mail and Newsreader

Default Trash folder
The name that MS Exchange gives to the "Trash" folder is "Deleted Items". By default, Thunderbird creates a new folder called "Trash". In order for Thunderbird to use the correct folder for deleted mail do the following:


Subscribe to the "Deleted Items" folder on the Exchange Server
Close Thunderbird
Edit the prefs.js file, adding the line:
user_pref("mail.server.server1.trash_folder_name", "Deleted Items");
(where server1 is the serverID for the Exchange account)
Restart Thunderbird
The "Deleted Items" folder should now have the little trash bin icon.
Delete the "Trash" folder (after moving its contents).

Default Sent folder
The name that MS Exchange gives to the "Sent" folder is "Sent Items". By default, Thunderbird creates a new folder called "Sent". In order for Thunderbird to use the correct folder for sent mail do the following:


Subscribe to the "Sent Items" folder on the Exchange Server
In the Copies & Folders page in the Exchange account properties, set the "Place a copy in" folder to be "Sent Items"
or edit the pref.js file as follows:
user_pref("mail.identity.id1.fcc_folder", "imap://username@hostname/Sent Items");
user_pref("mail.identity.id1.fcc_folder_picker_mode", "1");
(where id1 is the identity for the Exchange server account)
Restart Thunderbird
The "Sent Items" folder should now have the little sent items icon.
Delete the "Sent" folder, after moving its contents back to the folder they should have been in!

Exchange (5.5) Global Address List
To access a Exchange GAL in Thunderbird (pre-Active Directory!):

Create a new Address Book, set the name and hostname fields appropriately.
Base DN:cn=Recipients,ou=,o=
Port Number: 389
Bind DN: o=,cn=

Exchange (5.5) Global Address List Idle Timeout
There seems to be a problem with accessing the Exchange GAL. It will work for a bit (when TB is first started) and then fail.

Set the LDAP idle timeout on the Exchange Server to 0.

Exchange (2K - -Active Directory) Global Address List
To access a Exchange GAL in Thunderbird (Active Directory), where the Active Directory Domain Name is company.com, the "short" version of the Domain Name is company, and the User Name is username:

Create a new Address Book, set the name field appropriately.
Hostname: IP Address or hostname of Active Directory Global Catalog Domain Controller
(might be the same as the exchange server, but not necessarily)
Base DN: DC=company,DC=com
Port Number: 3268
Note, that this is not the standard LDPA port (389) as Active Directory has now nabbed that for its services.
Bind DN: company\username

Copying from Exchange User Mailboxes to Public Folders
If you try to drag a mailbox item from your mailbox to a Public Folder then you will receive the message: "There is no replica for that mailbox on this server." This is a quirk of Exchange's IMAP4 support. Two work arounds are as follows:

Move the Exchange Mailbox item to a Local Folder, then move the item back to the Exchange Public Folder
If the Public Folder has been e-mail enabled, forward the Mailbox item to the Public Folder Email address.

Thunderbird Tips Misc
Text files as Attachments
By default, Thunderbird sends a text file attachment in-line rather than as an attachment. It sets Content-Disposition:inline. To alter this behaviour (Content-Disposition:attachment) do the following:

Close Thunderbird.
Add this line to the prefs.js file:
user_pref("mail.content_disposition_type",1);
Restart Thunderbird.
Filtering by header
It is possible to filter by any header content, although not this is not immediately obvious.

In the message filter definition dialog box, Open the "Subject" dropdown to see the list of defined headers. These are the headers that are matched against.
Select "Customize..."
Type in the name of the header you wish to filter on
Click "Add", "OK".
Re-open the dropdown and see your new header in the list.
Add your filter criterion.

Thunderbird Newsreader Tips
Making Newsreader behave like Outlook Express
If you click on the Column headers in the news reader, the articles become unthreaded. To switch off this behaviour:

Add the following to the prefs.js file:
user_pref("mailnews.thread_pane_column_unthreads", false);