Detailed step-by-step guide to setting up an IMAP email account in Thunderbird

Email Accounts, IMAP Mail

Here’s a detailed step-by-step guide to setting up an IMAP email account in Thunderbird (2025).

What you’ll need first

Before you begin, make sure you have:

  1. Your full email address (e.g. you@yourdomain.com).
  2. The password for that email.
  3. Incoming mail server (IMAP) settings: the hostname, port, security mode (SSL/TLS etc.).
  4. Outgoing mail server (SMTP) settings: same type of info (hostname, port, security).

If you don’t know the server settings, you may find them in your Space WWW user area .

Step-by-Step Setup in Thunderbird

1. Open Thunderbird and start adding a new account

  • Launch Thunderbird.
  • If this is the first account you’re adding, it might prompt you right away to set up an account. If not: go to the Thunderbird menu (≡) → Settings → Account Settings, or look for “Account Actions” → “Add Mail Account”.
  • Alternatively: File → New → Existing Mail Account (or something similar depending on your OS version) to start adding an email.

2. Enter your basic info

You’ll be prompted for:

  • Your name (this is what recipients will see in the “From” field)
  • Your email address
  • Your email account password

There should also be an option like “Remember password” so you don’t have to enter it every time.

3. Switch to manual configuration (if necessary)

Thunderbird often tries to auto-detect the settings. That sometimes works, sometimes not. If you need control (or the automatic detection fails), choose “Manual config” or “Configure manually”.

4. Fill in the IMAP (incoming) settings

Here are the fields you’ll need to fill in (the exact names may differ slightly):

Field What to enter
Protocol IMAP (remote folders)
Incoming server / Hostname e.g. mail.yourprdomain.com 
Port 993
Connection Security SSL/TLS
Authentication method Usually “Normal password” or “Encrypted password” or “OAuth2” if supported.
Username the full email address

5. Fill in the SMTP (outgoing) settings

Similarly, for sending mail:

Field What to enter
Outgoing server / Hostname e.g. mail.yourdomain.com
Port 587
Connection Security STARTTLS
Authentication method Usually same as for incoming; often “Normal password” etc. Sometimes providers require OAuth2.
Username Usually full email address (same as incoming) 

6. Test the configuration

  • Thunderbird has a “Re-test” or “Check settings” button in the manual config dialog. Use that to verify Thunderbird can connect to both the IMAP and SMTP servers with the data you entered.
  • If connection fails, Thunderbird will show errors (wrong port, authentication rejected etc.). Double check hostname, port, password, username. Also check the information in the user area of our website.

7. Finalize & finish

  • Once testing succeeds, click Done or Create Account.
  • Thunderbird will then download folder structure, sync the Inbox etc.
  • If needed, you can go into Account Settings → Copies & Folders to set where Sent, Drafts, Trash should be stored (on server or locally).
  • Also check Synchronization & Storage options if you want to cache messages locally etc.

Additional Tips / Troubleshooting

  • If automatic detection fails, try looking up your IMAP/SMTP email settings (on our user area).
  • If mails aren’t syncing (or not appearing), check the folder subscriptions (Thunderbird → Right-click on account → Manage Folder Subscriptions). Sometimes only Inbox is turned on by default.
  • If outgoing mail doesn’t send, check the SMTP settings (correct port, authentication, SSL etc.).
  • Make sure firewall or antivirus on your machine isn’t blocking the ports.