Thunderbird 3

JohnH · Apr 04, 2010, 20:03:37

Having used Thunderbird for the last couple of years, I stuck with it when Thunderbird 3 came out last month. However, there are some really irksome features in the latest version that made me make an executive decision this weekend and move over to the Sea Monkey email application. For example, it is not now possible to view all recipients of an email. You can see three of them, but if there are more, you have to click on the word "more" which will then expand the list to a maximum of ten. Apparently, this is a known issue and will not be fixed until 3.2 is released.

I also don't like all the other periphery that has turned up in emails, like the 'reply', 'forward' and 'junk' buttons that are totally unnecessary because they are already in the mail toolbar.

Having said this, I don't think the Sea Monkey browser is a patch on Firefox, so I won't be totally keeping Simon company.

Steve · Apr 04, 2010, 20:09:02

Isn't Sea Monkey based on FF and Thunderbird?

JohnH · Apr 04, 2010, 20:14:02

It is, but there are variants. The email application of SM does not (yet at least) have the same annoying issues I described.

Also, I think the FF browser is more intuitive in the use of tabbed browsing and where it places the 'Home' button, which it does not seem possible to replicate in SM.

Steve · Apr 04, 2010, 20:27:05

I've never tried it, I used to use Thunderbird 2 and was very happy with it. Since moving to Mac their Mail program is no frills but works very well and I like Safari because of the lack of clutter I ended up adding to FF (Safari doesn't have many toys and is probably safe enough on a Mac)

Simon · Apr 04, 2010, 20:50:05

Quote from: JohnH on Apr 04, 2010, 20:14:02
It is, but there are variants. The email application of SM does not (yet at least) have the same annoying issues I described.

Also, I think the FF browser is more intuitive in the use of tabbed browsing and where it places the 'Home' button, which it does not seem possible to replicate in SM.

You can move the Home button to wherever you want it in SM, John. Right click the Toolbar and select Customise. You may have to drag the Home button from where it currently is, to the box, then drag it from there to where you want it.

JohnH · Apr 04, 2010, 21:22:34

Thanks for that, Simon.

Alas, the clincher for me is that SM does not have an inbuilt FTP client like FF does with the FireFTP add-on.

Simon · Apr 04, 2010, 21:37:08

You can get FireFTP for SeaMonkey, John.

http://xsidebar.mozdev.org/modifiedmisc.html#fireftp

drummer · Apr 05, 2010, 01:54:19

I read about the problems with Thunderbird 3, so I didn't bother upgrading v2.0.0.23.

It's still there if you want it.

JB · Apr 05, 2010, 10:04:38

I'm on 2.0.0.24 which seems fine.

JohnH · Apr 05, 2010, 10:29:14

Quote from: drummer on Apr 05, 2010, 01:54:19
It's still there if you want it.

I just wonder if it's as straightforward as uninstalling version 3 and then installing 2.0.23 or 24, or if there is more to it.

JohnH · Apr 05, 2010, 12:33:09

Quote from: Simon on Apr 04, 2010, 21:37:08
You can get FireFTP for SeaMonkey, John.

http://xsidebar.mozdev.org/modifiedmisc.html#fireftp

Thanks Simon, didn't know that.

Simon · Apr 05, 2010, 16:36:44

I don't give up easily.

Rik · Apr 05, 2010, 16:56:18

So we heard.

JohnH · Apr 05, 2010, 18:11:38

Quote from: Simon on Apr 05, 2010, 16:36:44
I don't give up easily.

What about the search bar like you get in Firefox, where you can look at Google, or Wikipedia or any number of search engines?
Bet they don't do that.

Rik · Apr 05, 2010, 18:22:50

You can probably get a Google toolbar, John.

Simon · Apr 05, 2010, 18:23:36

I'll check later.

JohnH · Apr 05, 2010, 18:53:58

Quote from: Rik on Apr 05, 2010, 18:22:50
You can probably get a Google toolbar, John.

Yes, you can Rik. But I don't think the other search engines are available.

Bet Simon's creating an add-on as we speak.....

Rik · Apr 05, 2010, 18:55:24

That or a DR roast...

JohnH · Apr 05, 2010, 19:08:40

I'm sure he's got his priorities right.

...that's the add-on out the window, then.

Rik · Apr 05, 2010, 19:10:45

You haven't tried Simon's cooking then...

zappaDPJ · Apr 05, 2010, 19:33:55

I can't believe this thread has got this far without anyone mentioning Alan Tracy

Anyway, does anyone have an opinion on how this mail client compares to MS Outlook? I was rather surprised to find Windows 7 contains no email client and as I'd just install Office I decided to try Outlook again which I really disliked when I tried it years ago.

It appears to have had a huge make over and it impressed me no end by connection to IDNet's mail server (in and out going) with nothing more than my email address. However I'd still be interested to compare it with other clents including Thunderbird. Any opinions?

Simon · Apr 05, 2010, 19:38:46

I'm no help there, Zap, as, like yourself, I haven't used Outlook for years, and haven't tried the new version either. You can lose nothing by giving Thunderbird a try, although, I'm not sure you can easily transfer mail from one client to the other.

Rik · Apr 05, 2010, 19:42:50

I preferred Outlook to TB when I tested them both about three years ago, Zap. In particular, I found that TB didn't handle digitally signed mail very well.

JohnH · Apr 05, 2010, 19:43:20

Yes, you can transfer mail quite easily from Outlook.

I find Thunderbird much better for maintaining mailing lists and for mail shots. However, as I have said at the beginning of this thread, version 3 now only shows three recipients by default and there's no workaround, other than to regress or swap to Sea Monkey, which seems a decent email client. It's also very straightforward for adding new email accounts.

zappaDPJ · Apr 05, 2010, 19:49:39

Thanks, I think I'll take a look at it