Thunderbird 3 : THE email client?

Displaying virtual folders, favourites, recent and unread…
When clicking on the arrows corresponding to "All folders," it is possible to customise the display. This can vary, with folders like unread, favourites (a particular email account, particular forum), recent (messages you have recently read) and virtual folders (to be created by clicking on File, New, Virtual Folder).

On the fly spam management
Received emails can be marked as spam in numerous ways: by right clicking on them with the mouse, then selecting the “Mark” menu, “As undesirable” or “as safe” if you filtered the wrong message by mistake. Otherwise, in the messages body you can simply click on the “undesired” button. By default, spam content is blocked, so it is on a case by case basis that you will have to select content to be unblocked by using the "Display content now" button, or through the yellow band with the link "Always display content coming from…".

Filtering messages in bulk
So as to better manage valid emails which were filtered, or undesirable emails which were skipped, we recommend using the "global method" which allows the integrated anti-spam to learn what is appropriate or not. You simply need to select all messages in the folder of your choice (example: Inbox or Sent) by using the Ctrl + A keyboard shortcut, and then select the "acceptable mail" option. The other possibility consists of using the excellent message Filters (Tools, message filters). This module allows you to create generic or specific action rules, for example "when receiving a message from xxx@xxx.com" which contains "xxx" characters, move the message to the recycle bin.

Additional themes and modules management
If you are used to customising your browser, then extensions and differently themed skins should be a formality for you. You simply need to visit the Mozilla add-ons side dedicated to complimentary modules and you will see that some themes are already compatible with Thunderbird version 3! Everything you need is here, from blocking advertising with Adblock Plus, Minimise on start and Close which will turn your email client into a discreet icon, Foxy Tunes which displays the track currently being played and Grammar checker. To install any of these, open the Thunderbird additional modules window (Tools). Click on Install and select the downloaded “*.xpi” file. Once you have restarted your email client then the updates should automatically be present in the same way as with Firefox!

Simple and advanced searches
We have already mentioned that auto-complete is functional once you start writing an email, making your task easier by offering suggestions relating to the term entered into the search field (a phrase in an email, the object of an email …). Each new search is opened in a different tab with the results being displayed. You will clearly see the related contacts and messages, folders (Inbox, sent …), impacted email accounts and even a graphical report. The filtering is quick and reliable (From, To, Attachment), with this search module being more powerful then the one present in Outlook.

Address book with photos added
Importing from Outlook works wonderfully, with special characters used in languages other then English being respected, while all of fields correspond perfectly (Surname, first name, telephone number …). You can also customise your contacts by adding a photo from your computer or from the web (GIF, JPEG, JPG, PNG, BMP, XBM, ICO) and include private, professional or additional information. Searching through the address book is quick thanks to the fact that it is indexed, while any printouts of the information are well presented on the page. It is easy to add new contacts, distribution lists and even LDAP directories.