Thunderbird:Help Documentation:Menu Reference

This menu reference describes each menu item in the main Thunderbird window.

Thunderbird Menu (Mac Versions)

About Thunderbird

Displays a dialog box with information about Thunderbird, including the current version and a brief list of credits.

Preferences...

Displays the <a href="prefs.xhtml&pref.pluralCaps; window</a>, where you can change the &pref.plural; in Thunderbird.

Quit Thunderbird

Closes all opened windows in Thunderbird and exits Thunderbird completely.

File Menu

New

New Message...

Opens a window for composing a new e-mail message.

New Folder...

Opens a dialog for creating a new folder or subfolder in any account.

New Saved Search...

Opens a dialog for creating a new Saved Search folder in any account.

New Account...

Starts the New Account Wizard. This wizard will help set up a new mail, news, or rss feed account.

New Address Book Card...

Opens a dialog window for creating a new contact in the Adress Book.

Open Saved Message...

Displays an Open File dialog where you can select a previously saved message from your local disks or network. (You can currently view many file types in Thunderbird, including HTML/XML files, image files, text files and more).

Attachments

Displays a submenu showing each of the attachments in the current selected message (if any exist). Each attachment has its own submenu with the open to either open it or save it.

Close (Window)

Closes the current window.

Save As

File

Displays a 'Save Message As' dialog where you can select a location on your local disks or network to save a copy of the message you are currently reading. You can save as .eml, .html, or .txt file types. In the MS Windows version, select these under 'Save as type:', in the Linux version change the default extension of '.eml' to either '.html' or '.txt' if you wish to save it in one of these other formats. (Note, the only way to open a '.eml' format file in the Linux version is to use the 'File / Open Saved Message' menu selection.)

Template

Saves the message you are currently reading into the Template folder of the current mail account.

Get New Messages for

This menu item has multiple sub-menus. The sub-menus allow you to specify which mail, or rss feed accounts, to check for new messages.

Get All New Messages

Causes Thunderbird to check all accounts for new messages.

Send Unsent Messages

Send unsent messages queued during offline use.

Subscribe...

Opens a dialog which allows you to subscribe or unsubscribe to IMAP folders or news groups.

Rename Folder

Opens a dialog box which allows you to rename the currently selected folder. The Inbox, Drafts, Templates, Sent, Junk, and Trash folders may not be renamed.

Compact Folders

Compacts the mail in each folder of the currently selected account. This process removes extra space within the mail file folders which accumulates when deleting messages in the middle of the file. This can recover large chunks of hard drive space.

Empty Trash

Empties the trash folder of the currently selected account.

Offline

Work Offline

Switch Thunderbird into offline mode. This allows you to read and compose mail when not connected to a network.

Download/Sync Now...

TBD

Offline Settings

Opens a dialog to allow setting the prefernces for offline usage.

Get Flagged Messages

TBD

Get Selected Messages

TBD

Page Setup...

Opens the Page Setup dialog which allows the setting of printing properties.

Print Preview

Opens a window containing a preview of what the current message will look like when it is printed.

Print...

Displays the Print dialog, where you can specify the number of printed copies, etc. Click OK to print the page.

Exit/Quit

Closes all opened windows in Thunderbird and exits Thunderbird completely.

Edit

Undo

Undoes the last action in a text field. If you later decide you don't want to undo an action, use the Redo command.

Redo

Redoes the last Undo command.

Cut

Cuts the selected text from a text field and stores it in the clipboard. Paste the text elsewhere by using the Paste command.

Copy

Copies the selected text to the clipboard. Paste the text in a text field by using the Paste command.

Paste

Pastes text stored in the clipboard into a text field.

Cancel Message

Cancel a message posted to a newsgroup. You may only cancel your own posts to a newsgroup.

Delete

Deletes the selected text from a text field.

Delete Folder

Deletes the selected folder.

Delete Message

Deletes the current message or selected messages.

Select

Select All

In the message pane this command selects all messages in the current folder. If viewing or composing a message, it selects all the text of the message.

Thread

Selects all messages in the currently selected thread.

Find

Find in This Message...

Displays the find in This Message dialog box. Enter the text you wish to find in the textbox, and as you type Thunderbird will automatically find and select the first occurrence of the entered text on the page. Click Find Next or Find Previous to find the text at other locations in the page, and click Highlight to highlight all occurrences of the text on the page.

Find Again

Searches for the next occurrence of the text specified when using the Find in This Message... command.

Find Previous

Searches for the previous occurrence of the text specified when using the Find in This Message... command.

Search Messages...

Displays the Search Messages dialog box.

Search Addresses...

Displays the Advanced Address Book Search dialog box.

Folder Properties...

Displays the selected folder's name and default character encoding.

View

Toolbars

Mail Toolbar

Toggles the visibility of the mail toolbar, which usually contains standard command buttons (Send, Compose, Reply, etc.).

Search Toolbar

Toggles the visibility of the search toolbar, which allows you to select the types messages shown in the Message pane.

Status Bar

Toggles the visibility of the status bar, located at the bottom of the window. The status bar displays useful information about messagese.

Customize...

Displays the toolbar customization dialog. You can drag and drop toolbar buttons to/from the toolbars here. You can also right-click on the navigation toolbar and select Customize... to show this dialog.

Layout

Classic View

Changes the layout of the main Mail & Newsgroups window to the classic three-pane view. The window is divide into two columns. The left column contains the Folders pane. The right column contains the Messages.

Wide View

Changes the layout of the main Mail & Newsgroups window to a three-pane view, with the Message pane spanning the entire width of the window. The upper half of the window is divided into two columns. The left column contains the Folders pane. The right column contains the Messages.

Vertical View

Changes the layout of the main Mail & Newsgroups window to a three-pane side-by-side view. The left column contains the Folders pane. The middle column contains the Messages. The right column contains the Message pane.

Message Pane

Toggles the visibility of the Message pane in the main Mail & Newsgroups window.

Sort By

Allows the selection of properties by which messages will be sorted for display.

Messages

Allows the selection of properties for which messages will be displayed.

Threads

Allows the selection of properties for which message threads will be displayed.

Headers

All

Displays full headers for messages.

Normal

Displays only the Subject, From, Date and To headers for messages.

Message Body As

TBD

Display Attachments Inline

When checked, attachments appear within the message body.When unchecked, attachments display in the Attachments pane only.

Text Size

If the text of a message is too small or too large, you can change it to a more comfortable size.

Increase

Displays the text of a message one size larger. You can also do this with the keyboard (see Keyboard Shortcuts for instructions).

Decrease

Displays the text of a message one size smaller. You can also do this with the keyboard (see Keyboard Shortcuts for instructions).

Normal

Displays the text of a message at its normal size.

Character Encoding

TBD

Message Source

Displays the the complete message as recieved. The headers, body, and attachments are shown in plain text.

message_security_infoMessage Security Info

Displays a dialog box with information on whether the current message was digitally signed and whether the message was sent using encryption.

Go

The Go menu contains menus for navigating through your messages.

Next

Message

Selects the next message in the current folder.

Unread Message

Selects the next unread message in the current folder

Flagged Message

Selects the next flagged message in the current folder.

Unread Thread

Selects the next unread thread in the current folder.

Previous

Message

Selects the previous message in the current folder.

Unread Message

Selects the previous unread message in the current folder.

Flagged Message

Selects the previous flagged message in the current folder.

Mail Start Page

Displays the mail start page in the view pane.

Message

New Message

Opens a window to create a new message.

Reply

Reply to the currently selected messages

Reply All

Reply to sender and CC'ed recipients of the currently selected messages.

Forward

Forwards the currently selected message(s).

Forward As

Inline

Copies the text of the message to be forwarded into the body of the email.

Attachment

Adds the message to be forwarded as an attachment to the email.

Edit Message as New

TBD

Open Message

Open currently selected message in a new window.

Move

Move currently selected messages to different folder.

Copy

Copy currently selected messages to different folder.

Tag

(It was previously called Label ) Puts one or more tags on currently selected messages or removes one, several or all the tags on the selected message.

see more on tags (tags page, organizing mail, views..)

Mark

TBD

Create Filter from Label...

TBD

Tools

Address Book

Opens the Thunderbird's address book.

Extensions

Opens the Extension Manager, where you can see all extensions installed on this version of Thunderbird. You can also choose to uninstall extensions from this dialog. For more information, see the Extensions help topic.

Themes

Opens the Theme Manager. From here, you can switch the current theme that Thunderbird is using. You can also install and uninstall themes from this dialog. For more information, see the Themes help topic.

Message Filters...

Opens the Message Filters dialog box, where you can see the current user created message filters and if the are enabled for each mail/news account. You can choose to edit, delete, change the order of current filters, or run a filter on a mail folder. New filters may also be created.

Run Filters on Folder

Run users mail filters on a selected folder in the Folders pane of the main Thunderbird window.

Junk Mail Controls

TBD

Run Junk Mail Controls on Folders

TBD

Delete Mail Marked as Junk in Folders

TBD

Import...

Opens the Import Wizard dialog, which allows you to import account information, emails, address books, from e-mail clients like Microsoft Outlook, Qualcomm Eudora, Netscape, or Mozilla.

Account Settings...

TBD

Help

Help Contents

Opens the Thunderbird Help web page, which contains useful information that can help you use Thunderbird.

About Mozilla Thunderbird

Displays a dialog box with information about Thunderbird, including the current version, a brief list of credits.