Thunderbird Setup (new mail server)

IMPORTANT: If your account was created after August 2008 or you have been told that you have moved to the new mail server, use these instructions. If you are not new or have not been moved, click here.

PLEASE NOTE: Many users who have bought new machines (does not apply to computers provided by Physics Computer Services) and have Symantec/Norton Internet Security on their machines are unable to send email. This occurs because Symantec/Norton expects to be able to scan each outgoing email but cannot scan encrypted messages. Our outgoing server uses encryption as a part of our effort to maintain security. You may:

1. Attempt to turn off this scanning by following the instructions from Symantec:
   Article #2003020715374936 - click here
2. Uninstall Norton Internet Security. If you also uninstall the anti-virus client, please immediately install McAfee from FAS here. (You should also uninstall "Live Update" in this case).

If you cannot connect to your mail from outside, you can always use our webmail system at https://mail.physics.harvard.edu.

Setting Up Thunderbird to Connect to Mail.Physics.Harvard.Edu

Mozilla Thunderbird is our de facto e-mail client and the instructions below assume you have a relatively recent version. It is available for free for most platforms (Unix, Linux, Macintosh and Windows) from mozilla.com. The first time you open the Thunderbird, you will get the email account wizard. The first dialog box from this wizard is shown below:

The e-mail account radio button is selected by default, so just click the "Next" button to advance to the next dialog box:

Fill in your real name and e-mail address. The username is the same one you use to log in to Linux, Mac OS X and Windows. Click the "Next" button to advance to the next dialog box:

The default protocol is POP, which we do not support. You should select the IMAP radio button. Both the incoming and outgoing server names are the same, "mail.physics.harvard.edu". Click "Next" to get:

and fill in your username (the first part of your email address before the @physics.harvard.edu part). Click "next" to get:

You can call the account anything you want. "Physics" works well for most. The default is the same as your email address, which is a bit cumbersome. However, this is only really significant if you are configuring Thunderbird to access multiple accounts. Otherwise, it really doesn't matter much, so just click "Next" to get the summary which should look something like this:

You can now click "Finish", but you are not finished.

The next thing you'll see is this error dialog:

because Thunderbird assumes an insecure IMAP server, it is unable to connect to ours which is secured. So click "OK" to dismiss the error dialog (you really don't have any choice) and select "Account Settings" from the "Tools" menu:

Click on the "SSL" checkbox under "Use secure connection" and then click "OK":

Click on "Outgoing server" and the "Edit" to make changes to the default outgoing (SMTP) server.

And here your settings should look like the above. Make certain to select the "TLS" radio button to turn on SMTP/SSL (another security layer) and click "OK".

Note: We recommend using port 587 instead of port 25 in the following secion. The reason is that port 587 is generally not blocked by ISPs such as Comcast, which does often block port 25. Using port 587 will get around this problem and allow you to send mail from, hopefully, most anywhere. Port 25 is, however, still available if you must use it for some reason.

Click "OK" to finish.

Now, to get Thunderbird to try again, click on your inbox.

Enter your password when prompted (whether you choose to save your password is up to you. Please consider carefully whether this will put your e-mail at risk of being read by others when you are away from your computer. If you do not lock your screen when away or otherwise secure your computer, which is highly recommended, this may not be a good idea) and click OK.

And that should do it. If you have previously set up mail folders in your account and do not see them, right-click on the account name (above your inbox) and select "Subscribe" to subscribe to your existing folders. If you do not have existing folders, any new folders you create will show up as you create them. Folders stored in your Physics account (not Local Folders) are backed up nightly and accessible from your e-mail client as well as from webmail (https://mail.physics.harvard.edu).