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Settings for using Hermes with Thunderbird.

You need to configure Thunderbird with the secure settings described on this page.

If you would also like to be able to look up Cambridge email addresses automatically, please see the page on configuring Thunderbird to use the University LDAP Directory. Do this after you have set up access to Hermes.

Due to the rapid prototyping and development model chosen by Mozilla, Thunderbird has a habit of changing the names, locations or default settings for options, or other configuration changes and assumptions, which makes it difficult to maintain up-do-date version-specific instructions. The instructions provide a general guideline.

You will need to find where to create a new account, for example Tools -> Account Settings -> Add Account

  • On the Mail Account Setupscreen
  • Select Continue
  • Thunderbird will attempt to auto-configure settings but will not succeed.
  • Now, on the Mail Account Setupscreen
    • For Incoming
      • Check that the pull-down menu is set to IMAP
      • Set Server hostname to imap.hermes.cam.ac.uk
      • For Port select 143
      • For Connection security select STARTTLS
      • For Authentication select Normal password
    • For Outgoing
      • Set Server hostname to smtp.hermes.cam.ac.uk
      • Set Port to 587
      • Set Connection security to STARTTLS
      • Set Authentication to Normal password
      If you select Re-test now then it is likely to fail as there is a bug in their test code. Select the options as given above then select Done and not Re-test.
       
  • Make sure your CRSid (e.g. xyz789) appears as your Username
  • Now select Advanced config
  • Select Server Settings then Advanced. From the settings window that appears
    • Remove the tick by Show only subscribed folders
    • Check that Allow server to override these namespaces is ticked
  • Select OK to close the various windows
  • Select Get Mail from the top menu bar and enter your Hermes password when asked.

Your account is now basically set up. There are other changes you may choose to make. For example, if you are changing to Thunderbird from another email client, the default settings may cause a large amount of data to be downloaded to synchonise Thunderbird with your email on Hermes, and this may not be appropriate for the network connection you are using. To change these select (depending on operating system and Thunderbird version)
Edit->Account Settings or Tools->Account Settings and then select your account name.

For example you may wish to change:-

  • What happens to messages you delete - Server Settings
  • Whether you wish to automatically file a copy in a folder, and what folder you wish to use for draft messages - Copies & Folders
  • Whether you also wish to download copies of messages onto your computer - Synchronization & Storage

From Edit->Preferences (Thunderbird->Preferences on a Mac) you may wish to consider:

  • Whether Thunderbird should automatically add outgoing email addresses to an address book - Compostion->Addressing
  • Whether you want to add local processing for junk and other unwanted email to the settings already in place on Hermes - Security