Thunderbird 60.9.0 email client

'Global Preferences'

(in 2021 Sep)

on an Acer desktop computer
with the Ubuntu-MATE-18.04
operating system

(version 60.9.0 was
released in 2019 Sept)

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This Thunderbird 60.9.0 'Global Preferences' page

! Note !
Notes and images and links may be
added to this page --- if/when
I re-visit this page.

Sections of this page, below :

INTRODUCTION    

'Global Preferences' Groups:

1. General

2. Display

3. Composition

4. Chat

5. Privacy

6. Security

7. Attachments

8. Calendar

9. Advanced



MORE-INFO     CONCLUSION     BOTTOM-of-PAGE

INTRODUCTION :

In 2019 October, I upgraded an Acer desktop computer from the Linux Ubuntu-MATE 16.04 (2016 April release) operating system to the Ubuntu-MATE 18.04 (2018 April release) operating system.

    Both are/were 64-bit LTS ('Long Term Support') releases.

That Ubuntu-MATE (Wikipedia link) upgrade-install is described on an:

Ubuntu-MATE 18.04 INSTALL-UPGRADE NOTES on Acer Desktop (2019 Oct) page
(not available yet, in August 2021).

Among the applications on the Ubuntu-MATE 18.04 Acer desktop computer was the Mozilla Thunderbird email client (Wikipedia link) --- version 60.9.0, released in 2019 Sept.

In 2020 March (and 2021 June), I did an upgrade (and data migration) of a Windows7-Dell desktop computer to a Windows10-HP desktop computer.

That data migration included the migration of Thunderbird 8.0 mail on the Win7 computer to Thunderbird 68.6.0 on the Win10 computer.

Note that I use the Thunderbird email client on both Linux and Microsoft Windows computers.

When I was preparing to do the migration of Thunderbird 8.0 mail files to Thunderbird 68.6.0 on the Win10-HP desktop computer, I decided to record the 'Account Settings' of Thunderbird 60.9.0 on my Ubuntu-MATE 18.04 Acer desktop computer --- to serve as a guide-and/or-comparison to the Thunderbird settings on the Win10-HP computer.

There is a set of Thunderbird 'Account Settings' windows and panels --- accessed via 'Edit > Account Settings' of the Thunderbird toolbar.

The many Thunderbird 60.9.0 'Account Settings' options are described on a separate web page.

Some of those Thunderbird 'Account Settings' windows and panels use buttons to access some of the Thunderbird 'Global Preferences' panels.

    In particular, the following Thunderbird 'Account Settings' panels give access to Thunderbird 'Global Preferences' panels:

    • An 'Account Settings' 'Composition and Addressing' panel has a 'Global Composing Preferences' button that brings up the 'Thunderbird Preferences' window positioned in the 'General' subpanel of the 'Composition' panel.

    • An 'Account Settings' 'Composition and Addressing' panel has a 'Global Addressing Preferences' button that brings up the 'Thunderbird Preferences' window positioned in the 'Addressing' subpanel of the 'Composition' panel.

    • An 'Account Settings' 'Junk Settings' panel has a 'Global Junk Preferences' button that brings up the 'Thunderbird Preferences' window positioned in the 'Junk' subpanel of the 'Security' panel.

    • An 'Account Settings' 'Return Receipts' panel has a 'Global Preferences' button that brings up the 'Thunderbird Preferences' window positioned in the 'Return Receipts' subpanel of the 'Advanced' panel.

    • An 'Account Settings' '(Local) Junk Settings' panel has a 'Global Junk Preferences' button that brings up the 'Thunderbird Preferences' window positioned in the 'Junk' subpanel of the 'Security' panel.

In short, some of the Thunderbird 'Account Settings' for a particular email account may be determined by the Thunderbird (Global) 'Preferences' settings.

This page is intended to record the 'Global Preferences' options of Thunderbird 60.9.0 on my Ubuntu-MATE 18.04 Acer desktop computer --- as they were set in mid 2021.


To get to the 'Global Preferences' window in Thunderbird 60.9.0, I used the toolbar path

  Edit > Preferences

There are nine (9) main panel-names shown across the top of the 'Thunderbird Preferences' window:

    1. General(1 panel)
    2. Display(3 sub-panels)
    3. Composition(3 sub-panels)
    4. Chat(2 sub-panels)
    5. Privacy(1 panel)
    6. Security(4 sub-panels)
    7. Attachments(2 sub-panels)
    8. Calendar(4 sub-panels)
    9. Advanced(4 sub-panels)

A total of 24 panels of 'Preferences' options.

The 9 sections below show settings in each of these 9 'Global Preferences' panels --- and their sub-panels.

Some of the panels (and sub-panels) have buttons which bring up a separate window of options. Most of those separate windows are not described on this page --- but most are self-explanatory.


Instead of using screen-captures of the many panels (and their sub-panels), in the sections below, I have used the following conventions:

    Titles and labels on the panels are denoted by single-quotes around the text strings.

    Text strings that I have added as comments are generally enclosed in parentheses or brackets.

    Entries in 'entry fields' are generally shown after a colon (:) at the end of the label-string for the entry field.

    Some (unlabelled) entry fields are preceded by the string 'ENTRY FIELD:'.

    Buttons are preceded by the string 'BUTTON:'.

    A checkbutton that is checked will be denoted by 'C-YES' before its label-string.

    A checkbutton that is unchecked will be denoted by 'C-NOT' before its label-string.

    A radiobutton that is selected will be denoted by 'R-YES' before its label-string.

    A radiobutton that is not-selected will be denoted by 'R-NOT' before its label-string.

    A list selection will be denoted by 'LIST:' followed by the label-string of an item selected in the list.

    If some of the LIST items are hidden from view, the hidden items are typically indicated in a comment below the LIST-line.


These notes can serve to help me check the 'Global Preferences' in any newer release of Thunderbird --- on any computer, Microsoft Windows or Linux --- especially after the migration of Thunderbird mail files.

Enough of this introduction. A description of the Thunderbird 60.9.0 'Global Preferences' follows.

1. General panel

(There were no sub-panels on the 'General' panel. The settings on the 'General' panel follow.)

Thunderbird Start Page

    C-NOT 'When Thunderbird launches, show the Start Page in the message area'

    'Location:' https://live.thunderbird.net/thunderbird/start?locale=en-GB...   BUTTON: 'Restore Default'
    (This 'Location' line was grayed-out because the checkbox was unchecked.)

Default Search Engine

LIST: 'DuckDuckGo'
(Other options in this list included 'Google', 'Bing', 'Amazon.co.uk', 'AOL UK Search', 'Twitter Search', 'Wikipedia (en)', 'Yahoo.co.uk')

When new mssages arrive

    C-YES 'Show an alert'       BUTTON: 'Customise...'

    C-YES 'Play a sound'       BUTTON: 'Play'

      R-YES 'Default system sound for new mail'

      R-NOT 'Use the following sound file'

      ENTRY FIELD: [blank]       BUTTON: 'Browse...'

    C-YES 'Show in the messaging menu'

      R-YES 'For messages in all folders'

      R-NOT 'Only for messages in my Inbox folder'


END of 'General' panel.

2. Display panel
(and its sub-panels)

(There were 3 sub-panels on the 'Display' panel --- 'Formatting', 'Tags' and 'Advanced'.
Example settings on each sub-panel follow.)


Display-Formatting sub-panel

    Fonts & Colours

      'Default font:'   LIST: 'sans-serif'   'Size:'   LIST: '16'
        BUTTON: 'Advanced...'   BUTTON: 'Colours...'

    Plain Text Messages

      C-YES 'Display emoticons as graphics'

      'When displaying quoted plain text messages:'

        'Style:'   LIST: 'Regular'   'Size:'   LIST: 'Regular'   'Colour:'   COLOR-ARRAY: black


Display-Tags sub-panel

    'Tags can be used to categorise and prioritise your messages.'

    LIST AREA:
    'Important'   (in red)
    'Work'   (in orange)
    'Personal'   (in green)
    'To Do'   (in blue)
    'Later'   (in magenta)

    (On the right of the LIST-AREA were 3 buttons:
    'New...', 'Edit...', and 'Delete')


Display-Advanced sub-panel

    'Reading'

      C-YES 'Automatically mark messages as read'

        R-NOT 'Immediately on display'

        R-YES 'After displaying for'   LIST: '10'   'seconds'

      'Open messages in:'

        R-YES 'A new tab'

        R-NOT 'A new message window'

        R-NOT 'An existing message window'

      C-NOT 'Close message window/tab on move or delete'

    'Display'

      C-YES 'Show only display name for people in my address book'


END of 'Display' sub-panels.

3. Composition panel
(and its sub-panels)

(There were 3 sub-panels on the 'Composition' panel --- 'General', 'Addressing' and 'Spelling'.
Example settings on each sub-panel follow.)


Composition-General sub-panel

    'Forward messages:'   LIST: 'Inline'   C-YES 'add extension to file name'
      (The other option in the LIST was 'As Attachment')

    C-YES 'Auto Save every'   LIST: '3'   'minutes'

    C-YES 'Confirm when using keyboard shortcut to send message'

    C-YES 'Check for missing attachments'       BUTTON: 'Keywords...'

HTML

    'Font:'   LIST: 'Variable Width'   'Size:'   'Medium'
      (The other options in the LIST were a long list of font names, along with 'Fixed Width'.)

    'Text Colour:'   COLOR-ARRAY: black   'Background Colour:'   COLOR-ARRAY: white   BUTTON: 'Restore Defaults'

      C-NOT 'Use Paragraph format instead of Body Text by default'

'Configure text format behaviour'       BUTTON: 'Send Options...'


Composition-Addressing sub-panel

    Address Autocompletion

      'When addressing messages, look for matching entries in:'

      C-YES 'Local Address Books'

      C-NOT 'Directory Server:'   LIST: 'None'   BUTTON: 'Edit Directories...'

    C-NOT 'Automatically add outgoing email addresses to my:'   LIST: 'Collected Addresses'

    'Default startup directory in the address book window:'   LIST: 'All Address Books'


Composition-Spelling sub-panel

    C-YES 'Check spelling before sending'

    C-NOT 'Enable spell check as you type'

'Language:'   LIST: 'English (United States)'

LINK: 'Download More Dictionaries'
(This link tries to connect to 'addons.thunderbird.net'.)


END of 'Composition' sub-panels.

4. Chat panel
(and its sub-panels)

(There were 2 sub-panels on the 'Chat' panel --- 'General' and 'Message Styles'.
Example settings on each sub-panel follow.)

(I do not use Thunderbird-Chat, so most of these settings are the Thunderbird default settings.)


Chat-General sub-panel

    'When Thunderbird starts:'   LIST: 'Connect my chat accounts automatically'
    (The other LIST option is 'Keep my Chat Accounts offline'.)

    C-YES 'Let my contacts know that i am Idle after'   LIST: '5'   'minutes of inactivity'

      C-YES 'and set my status to Away with this status message:'

      ENTRY FIELD: 'I am currently away from the computer.'

    C-YES 'Send typing notifications in conversations'

When messages directed at you arrive:

    C-YES 'Show a notification'   LIST: 'with sender name and message preview'
    (Other LIST options are 'with sender name only' and 'without any info'.)

    C-NOT 'Flash the taskbar item'

    C-YES 'Play a sound'       BUTTON: 'Play'

      R-YES 'Default system sound for new mail'

      R-NOT 'Use the following sound file'

      ENTRY FIELD: [blank]         BUTTON: 'Browse...'


Chat-Message-Styles sub-panel

    'Theme:'   LIST: 'Thunderbird'
    (Other options in the LIST were 'Bubbles', 'Dark', 'Paper Sheets' and 'Simple'.)

    'Preview:'

    A DISPLAY AREA appears here. When you choose a theme, this area shows how sent-messages and receipts would appear to the Chat user.

    'Variant:'   LIST: 'Default'
    (This line appears grayed-out for some of the theme choices.)

      C-NOT 'Show Header'
      (This checkbox appears grayed-out for most of the theme choices.)


END of 'Chat' sub-panels.

5. Privacy panel

(There were no sub-panels on the 'Privacy' panel. The settings on the 'Privacy' panel follow.)

Mail Content

    C-NOT 'Allow remote content in messages'     BUTTON: 'Exceptions...'

    LINK: 'Learn more about the privacy issues of remote content'
    (If you click on this link, it tries to connect to 'support.mozilla.org'.)

Web Content

    C-YES 'Remember web sites and links I have visited'

    C-YES 'Accept cookies from sites'     BUTTON: 'Exceptions...'

      'Accept third-party cookies:'   LIST: 'Never'
      (Other LIST options were 'From visited' and 'Always'.)

      'Keep until:'   LIST: 'I close Thunderbird'     BUTTON: 'Show Cookies...'
      (Other LIST options were 'They expire' and 'ask me every time'.)

    C-YES 'Tell sites that I do not want to be tracked'

    LINK: 'Learn more about Do Not Track'
    (If you click on this link, it tries to connect to 'www.mozilla.org'.)


END of 'Privacy' panel.

6. Security panel
(and its sub-panels)

(There were 4 sub-panels on the 'Security' panel --- 'Junk', 'Email Scams', 'Anti-Virus' and 'Passwords'.
Example settings on each sub-panel follow.)


Security-Junk sub-panel

    'Set your default junk mail settings. Account-specific junk mail settings can be configured in Account Settings.'

    C-YES 'When I mark messages as junk:'

      R-YES 'move them to the account's "Junk" folder'

      R-NOT 'Delete them'

    C-NOT 'Mark messages determined to be Junk as read'

    C-NOT 'Enable adaptive junk filter logging'     BUTTON: 'Show log'
          (The 'Show log' button is grayed-out when this checkbox is unchecked.)

    BUTTON: 'Reset Training Data'


Security-Email-Scams sub-panel

    'Thunderbird can analyse messages for suspected email scams by looking for common techniques used to deceive you.'

    C-YES 'Tell me if the message I am reading is a suspected email scam'


Security-Anti-Virus sub-panel

    'Thunderbird can make it easy for anti-virus software to analyse incoming mail messages for viruses before they are stored locally.'

    C-NOT 'Allow anti-virus clients to quarantine individual incoming messages'


Security-Passwords sub-panel

    'Thunderbird can remember passwords for all of your accounts.'

    BUTTON: 'Saved Passwords...'

    'A Master Password protects all your passwords, but you must enter it once per session.'

      C-NOT 'Use a master password'     BUTTON: 'Change Master Password...' (grayed-out)

(NOTE:
I do not let Thunderbird remember my passwords. I prefer to keep my MANY, MANY passwords elsewhere. Also I do not use the Thunderbird Master Password feature.)


END of 'Security' sub-panels.

7. Attachments panel
(and its sub-panels)

(There were 2 sub-panels on the 'Attachments' panel --- 'Incoming' and 'Outgoing'.
Example settings on each sub-panel follow.)


Attachments-Incoming sub-panel

    (ENTRY FIELD for search:) [blank]

    (TABLE of Content-Types and Actions:)

    Content Type Action
       
    HTML document (text/html: .htm,.html,.sht... LIST: 'Always ask'
    image/jpg type (image/jpg: .jpe,.jpeg,.jpg) LIST: 'Always ask'
    JPEG image (image/jpeg: .jpe,.jpeg,.jpg) LIST: 'Always ask'
    PDF document (application/pdf: .pdf) LIST: 'Always ask'
    VCS/ICS calendar (text/calendar: .ics,.icz) LIST: 'Always ask'

    (Other LIST options besides 'Always ask' were 'Save File', 'Use SeaMonkey (default)', 'Use other...', 'Application Details...', 'Delete Action'.)

    R-NOT 'Save files to'   LIST: 'Desktop'   BUTTON: 'Browse...'

    R-YES 'Always ask me where to save files'


Attachments-Outgoing sub-panel

    C-YES 'Offer to share for files larger than'   LIST: '5'   'MB'

    (NOTE: I may want to turn OFF this checkbox.)

(LIST AREA:) [blank]

(On the right of the LIST AREA was the message line
'Add a new Filelink storage service' --- and below
the LIST AREA were two buttons.)

BUTTON: 'Add...'   BUTTON: 'Remove'

(The Add button presented two 'online storage services':
'WeTransfer' and 'Box'.
These could be added to the LIST-AREA.)


END of 'Attachments' sub-panels.

8. Calendar panel
(and its sub-panels)

(There were 4 sub-panels on the 'Calendars' panel --- 'General', 'Alarms', 'Categories' and 'Views'.
Example settings on each sub-panel follow.)


Calendar-General sub-panel

    General Settings

      'Date Text Format:'   LIST: 'Long: Wednesday, September 1, 2021'
      (The other LIST option was 'Short: 9/1/21'.)

    Timezone

      'Select the closest city in your timezone:'   LIST: 'America/New York'
        (The LIST offered a long lists of 'Continent-or-Ocean/Countries'.)

    Default Values for New Items

      LIST: 'Events'   'Default Length:'   LIST: '60'   'minutes'
        (The other LIST item was 'Tasks'.)

    Today Pane

      'The Upcoming section shows:'   LIST: '5'   'days'

    Accessibility

      C-NOT 'Optimise colours for accessibility'

    Events and Tasks

      C-NOT 'Edit events and tasks in a tab instead of in a dialog window.'


Calendar-Alarms sub-panel

When a Reminder is Due:

    C-YES 'Play a sound'   ENTRY FIELD: chrome://calendar/content/sound.wav

      BUTTON: 'Use default sound'   BUTTON: 'Browse...'   BUTTON: 'Play'

    C-YES 'Show the reminder dialogue (X)'

    C-YES 'Show missed reminders for writable calendars'

Reminder Defaults

    'Default Snooze Length:'   LIST: '5'   'minutes'

    'Default reminder setting for events:'   LIST: 'Off'

    'Default reminder setting for tasks:'   LIST: 'Off'

    'Default time a reminder is set before an event:'   LIST: '15'   LIST: 'minutes'
    (Other time units in the latter list are 'hours' and 'days'.)

    'Default time a reminder is set before a task:'   LIST: '15'   LIST: 'minutes'
    (Other time units in the latter list are 'hours' and 'days'.)


Calendar-Categories sub-panel

    Name Colour
       
    Anniversary (none)
    Birthday (none)
    Business (none)
    Calls (none)
    Clients (none)
    Competition (none)
    Customer (none)
    Favourites (none)
    Follow Up (none)
    Gifts (none)
    Holidays (none)
    Ideas (none)
    Issues (none)
    about 9 more items (none)

    (Below this table area are 3 buttons, as follows.)

    BUTTON: 'New...'   BUTTON: 'Edit...'   BUTTON: 'Remove'


Calendar-Views sub-panel

General

    'Start the week on:'   LIST: 'Sunday'     C-YES 'Show week number in views and minimonth'

Workweek

    'Include these days in the workweek:'

    C-NOT 'Sun'   C-YES 'Mon'   C-YES 'Tue'   C-YES 'Wed'   C-YES 'Thu'   C-YES 'Fri'   C-NOT 'Sat'

Day and Week Views

    'Day starts at:'   LIST: '8:00 AM'     'Show:'   LIST: '9'   'hours at at time'
    (The latter LIST shows '1' thru '24' hours.)

    'Day ends at:'   LIST: '5:00 PM'

    C-NOT 'Show location'

Day and Week Views

    'Number of weeks to show (including previous weeks):'   LIST: '4 weeks'
    (This LIST shows '1 week' thru '6 weeks'.)

    'Previous weeks to show:'   LIST: 'none'
    (Other items in this LIST are '1 week' and '2 weeks'.)


END of 'Calendar' sub-panels.

9. Advanced panel
(and its sub-panels)

(There were 4 sub-panels on the 'Advanced' panel --- 'General', 'Data Choices', 'Network & Disc Space' and 'Certificates'. Example settings on each sub-panel follow.)


Advanced-General sub-panel

'Determine how Thunderbird handles return receipts'     BUTTON: 'Return Receipts...'

    (This 'Return Receipts' button brings up a window of options. That window is not represented here, but the options are self-explanatory.)

Scrolling

    C-NOT 'Use autoscrolling'

    C-YES 'Use smooth scrolling'

Date and Time Formatting

    C-NOT 'Application locale: English (United Kingdom)'

    C-YES 'Regional settings locale: English (United States)'

System Integration

    C-NOT 'Always check to see if Thunderbird is the default mail client on startup'   BUTTON: 'Check Now...'

Advanced Configuration

    C-YES 'Enable Global Search and indexer'

    'Message Store Type for new accounts:'   LIST: 'File per folder (mbox)'
      (The other LIST option here is 'File per message (maildir)'.)

    C-NOT 'Use hardware acceleration when available'

    BUTTON: 'Config Editor...'
    (There is a warning that this config-editor
    should only be used if
    'you are sure of what you are doing'.)


Advanced-Data-Choices sub-panel

Crash Reporter

    'Thunderbird submits crash reports to help Mozilla make your e-mail client more stable and secure'

    C-NOT 'Enable Crash Reproter'
      (I turned this OFF.)


Advanced-Network-&-Disc-Space sub-panel

Connection

    'Configure how Thunderbird connects to the internet'     BUTTON: 'Settings...'

      (This internet 'Settings' button brings up a window of options. That window is not represented here, but the options are similar to those seen on other proxy-setting windows.)

Offline

    'Configure offline settings'     BUTTON: 'Offline...'

      (This 'Offline' settings button brings up a window of options. That window is not represented here, but the options are fairly self-explanatory.)

Disc Space

    'Your cache is currently using 129 MB of disk space'     BUTTON: 'Clear Now'

    C-NOT 'Override automatic cache management'

      'Use up to'   LIST: '350'   MB of space for the cache'
        (This line is grayed-out when the checkbox above is unchecked.)

    C-YES 'Compact all folders when it will save over'   LIST: '20'   'MB in total'


Advanced-Certificates sub-panel

'When a server requests my personal certificate:'

    R-NOT 'Select one automatically'     R-YES 'Ask me every time'

C-YES 'Query OCSP responder servers to confirm the current validity of certificates'

BUTTON: 'Manage Certificates'   BUTTON: 'Security Devices'

    (Each of these 'Manage Certificates' and 'Security Devices' buttons bring up a window of options. These windows are not represented here, but these same buttons-and-windows may be familiar because they can be seen in some of the Thunderbird 'Account Settings' panels.)


END of 'Advanced' sub-panels.


END of Thunderbird 60.9.0 'Global Preferences' Notes.
(on Acer desktop computer, Ubuntu-MATE 18.04 operating system)

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

To find more information on Thunderbird and its settings, you can try WEB SEARCHES on keywords such as the following.

You can also try Wikipedia pages like the following, and following links on those pages for even more information.

CONCLUSION:

These 'Thunderbird 60.9.0 Global Preferences Notes' may be used to help me check on Thunderbird 'Preferences' --- specifically for the Thunderbird 68.6.0 release installed in 2021 on the afore-mentioned HP-Windows10 desktop computer.

These 'Thunderbird Global Preferences Notes' may be used to help me if/when I have to migrate Thunderbird mail to a new release of Thunderbird --- for example, if I have to do another data migration from a Windows 10 computer to a Windows 11 computer --- or when I have to migrate Thunderbird mail to another Linux computer.

One could bring this web page up in a web browser on any Microsoft Windows or Linux computer, and check 'mail settings' on that computer by comparing to the notes on this page.

Hence, this web page is provided on the internet --- to help me, and perhaps others.

Go to Top of Page, above.

Bottom of this page describing
Thunderbird 60.9.0 'Global Preferences'.

To return to a previously visited web page location, click on the Back button of your web browser, a sufficient number of times.

OR, use the History-list option of your web browser.

OR ....

Go to Top of Page, above.

Or you can scroll up, to the top of this page.


Page history:

Page was created 2021 Sep 01.