I use the Thunderbird mail program. I really like it, as it does everything I need a mail program to do, and then some. The fact that it’s free, is a bonus.

Recently Thunderbird upgraded to v3.0.1 and well, the folks at Thunderbird could have done a better job on configuring the email account setup process.

By default, Thunderbird is setting up IMAP email accounts. Since I prefer POP3, and apparently so do a lot of other folks, I’m not sure why Thunderbird has decided to choose for me which type of mail account I want to setup.

However, thankfully there is a way around this.

First, initiate the setup of an account and let it continue as if setting up an IMAP account. While the pop-up account setup window is still open, after it’s finished checking the IMAP account configurations, you’ll see a screen that looks like this:

Click the ‘Edit’ button to change the settings. Then you’ll see the screen change to this:

Click the arrow next to where it says IMAP in the incoming server settings and select POP. Make sure to change the port  number (in the above example, the port is shown as 110) and your security preference.

Choose your desired outgoing server settings.

Click ‘Re-test Configuration’ to make sure you’re settings are correct.

That’s it!

Traci Knoppe

P.S. Do you use Thunderbird, or another mail program?