Setting Up Email: Thunderbird for Windows 10

Microsoft ended support for Windows 10 on October 14, 2025. For details, see Microsoft's announcement.  

Thunderbird is Mozilla's free email application that can be downloaded on Windows and Mac. If you need help with the download and installation process, you can find instructions on the Mozilla Thunderbird support page. 

Need to find your email username and other configuration settings? See this knowledge base article. 

Setting up your Email for Thunderbird on Windows

Go to the tutorial that matches your Thunderbird version:

• 147.0
• 91.0 - 102.0
• 78.0
• 60.0

Not sure what Thunderbird version you're using? See this Thunderbird's tutorial for help.

Thunderbird Version 147.0

The process differs depending on whether you’re an established Thunderbird user or you’re setting up Thunderbird for the first time on this device. See instructions for each scenario below: 

• First Time Thunderbird Setup
• Adding an Additional Email to Thunderbird

First Time Thunderbird Setup

Setting up Thunderbird for the first time? Follow these steps to get started. 

Note that these instructions are for Thunderbird version 147.0.2 and may not work for other versions.

1. Open Thunderbird on Windows 10
2. Click the menu button (☰) in the upper right corner
3. Click New Account 
4. Click Email
5. Fill in the fields:

Your full name	Enter the name you want to appear in the From field when you send messages.  Example: Jane Smith
Email Address	Enter your complete email address.  Example: [email protected]
Password	Enter the password for your email account.

6. Click Configure manually
7. Fill in the Incoming and Outgoing Server settings:

Incoming Server
Protocol	Choose IMAP or POP.  See IMAP vs POP: Which Should You Use?
Hostname	Enter your incoming mail server. This is usually one of the following formats:  - username.mail.pairserver.com - mailX.pair.com To find your exact server name, see Finding Your Incoming and Outgoing Servers.
Port	Enter the port number for your account type. Common defaults are IMAP: 993 (SSL/TLS) or POP: 995 (SSL/TLS). Example: 993, 995
Connection Security	Select the encryption type used to secure your connection. Common options include SSL/TLS or STARTTLS.
Authentication Method	Select the method your mail client uses to authenticate.
Username	Enter your full email address.

Outgoing Server
Hostname	Enter your outgoing mail server. This is usually one of the following formats:  - username.mail.pairserver.com - mailX.pair.com To find your exact server name, see Finding Your Incoming and Outgoing Servers.
Port	Enter the port number for your account type. A common default is 587 (STARTTLS).  Example: 587
Connection Security	Select the encryption type used to secure your connection. Common options include SSL/TLS or STARTTLS.
Authentication Method	Select the method your mail client uses to authenticate.
Username	Enter your full email address.

8. Click Done.
   
   If the Done button is unavailable, click Re-test to verify your settings. Once the test completes successfully, Done becomes available.
9. Click Finish

Adding an Additional Email to Thunderbird (via Account Hub)

After you add your first account, Thunderbird may automatically enable its experimental Account Hub workflow for adding additional accounts. 

The Account Hub feature may cause errors with some custom email addresses. If you encounter this issue, see: Turning Off the Account Hub Feature.

1. Open Thunderbird on Windows 10
2. Click the menu button (☰) in the upper right corner
3. Click New Account
4. Click Email
5. Enter the following information:
   

Full Name	Enter the name you want to appear in the From field when you send messages.  Example: Jane Smith
Email Address	Enter your complete email address.  Example: [email protected]

6. Click Continue
7. Click Edit Configuration. 
8. Fill in the Incoming Server Settings:

Protocol	Choose IMAP or POP.  See IMAP vs POP: Which Should You Use?
Hostname	Enter your incoming mail server. This is usually one of the following formats:  - username.mail.pairserver.com - mailX.pair.com To find your exact server name, see Finding Your Incoming and Outgoing Servers.
Port	Enter the port number for your account type. Common defaults are IMAP: 993 (SSL/TLS) or POP: 995 (SSL/TLS). Example: 993, 995
Connection Security	Select the encryption type used to secure your connection. Common options include SSL/TLS or STARTTLS.
Authentication Method	Select the method your mail client uses to authenticate.
Username	Enter your full email address.

8. Click Continue
9. Fill in the Outgoing Server Settings:
   

Protocol	The protocol used for sending mail. Thunderbird uses SMTP for all outgoing mail.
Hostname	Enter your outgoing mail server. This is usually one of the following formats:  - username.mail.pairserver.com - mailX.pair.com To find your exact server name, see Finding Your Incoming and Outgoing Servers.
Port	Enter the port number for your account type. A common default is 587 (STARTTLS).  Example: 587
Connection Security	Select the encryption type used to secure your connection. Common options include SSL/TLS or STARTTLS.
Authentication	Select the method your mail client uses to authenticate.
Username	Enter your full email address.

10. Click Test
11. Click Continue
12. Enter the password for your email account
13. Click Continue
14. Choose any address books or calendars you would like to sync to your account
15. Click Continue
16. Click Finish

Turning Off the Account Hub Feature

If you run into errors or an infinite loading bug when adding additional accounts through the Account Hub feature, you can temporarily disable Account Hub by following these steps:

1. Open Thunderbird on Windows 10
2. Click the menu button (☰) in the upper right corner
3. Click Settings
4. In the Account Hub section, uncheck Create accounts in the new Account Hub 

After disabling this option, follow the steps in the First Time Thunderbird Setup tutorial above to add additional email addresses to Thunderbird. 

The Account hub feature is experimental and may change in future Thunderbird versions. If Thunderbird removes this option or updates the Account Hub, this workaround may no longer be needed. 

Thunderbird Version 91.0 - 102.0

1. Open the Thunderbird application
2. In the left sidebar, click Local Folders

   If you have not yet set up Thunderbird with any email account, there will be no sidebar. In this case, proceed to step 3.

3. Click Email
   
4. A pop-up will appear. On this pop-up, enter the following information:
   • Your Name: This name will display on the email address
   • Email Address: The email address you want to add to the email client
   • Password: The password for the email address. Note that this is not the password for your hosting account.

5. Underneath the fields, click Configure Manually
6. In the Protocol field, choose between IMAP or POP.

   For more information about the difference between IMAP or POP, see our IMAP vs POP article.

   
7. Next, fill out the rest of the fields in both the Incoming Server and Outgoing Server sections:
   • Hostname: Enter your incoming/outgoing servers. For more information about how to find your mail servers, see our article: How to Find Your Email’s Incoming and Outgoing Servers
   • Port: Enter your port number. This field will vary based on whether you chose IMAP or POP. You can find common port numbers in our IMAP vs POP article.
   • Connection security: In most cases, you can leave this on Autodetect.
   • Authentication method: In most cases, you can leave this on Autodetect.
   • Username: Re-enter your email address.
8. Click Done

   If the Done button is grayed out, click the Re-test button to verify that the information above is correct. If it is, this will make the Done button clickable. If it stays grayed out, double-check the information you just entered for errors.

9. Click Finish

If all the information is correct, your email address will be added to the Thunderbird email client.

Thunderbird Version 78.0

Once you have downloaded and installed Thunderbird on your Windows machine, you can follow these steps to set up your Pair email: 

1. Open the Thunderbird application
2. In the left sidebar, click Local Folders
3. Under the Set Up Another Account heading, click Email
4. A window will appear. Enter your email information here:
   

   Your Name	This name will appear as the sender of your email
   Email Address	The Pair email address you are planning to use with Thunderbird
   Password	Your email address password.    Note: This is your email password, not your ACC account password

   
5. Click Continue
6. Select IMAP or POP. For more information see our IMAP or POP: Which One Should You Use? article
7. Click Configure Manually
8. Next to Server, enter the incoming and outgoing mail servers
   
   

Next to Username, enter the email you are currently adding

Incoming	Incoming mail server   Example: username.mail.pairserver.com, mailX.pair.com
Outgoing	Outgoing mail server    Example: username.mail.pairserver.com, mailX.pair.com
Username	The email address you are currently setting up

Click Re-test

If no errors appear, click Done

Your Pair email address should now be displayed in the Thunderbird sidebar. You can click the name of your address to view its inbox. 

Thunderbird  Version 60.0

Once you have downloaded and installed Thunderbird on to your machine, you can follow these steps to set up your Pair email:

1. Open the Thunderbird application
2. On the main page, under the Create a new account heading, click Email
   

A window will appear. Enter your email information here:

Your Name	This name will appear as the sender of your email
Email Address	The Pair email address you are planning to use with Thunderbird
Password	Your email address password. Note: This is not your ACC account password

Click Continue

Select IMAP or POP. For more information see our IMAP or POP: Which One Should You Use? article

Click Manual Config

Enter the incoming and outgoing mail servers and the username:

Incoming	Incoming mail server Example: username.mail.pairserver.com, mailX.pair.com
Outgoing	Outgoing mail server Example: username.mail.pairserver.com, mailX.pair.com
Username	The email address you are currently setting up

Click Re-test

If no errors appear, click Done

Your Pair email address should now be displayed in the Thunderbird sidebar. You can click the name of your address to view its inbox.

Using SSL to Secure Your Email

Pair Networks provides support for SSL/TLS and STARTTLS encryption for all IMAP, POP, and authenticated SMTP connections. Using encryption is an important way to prevent your password from being stolen.

POPS/IMAPS only secures the connection between your email reader and the mail server. Once it reaches the mail server, it will be in plain text. For additional security, you would need to encrypt the email message itself. The port for POPS is 995, the port for the IMAPS is 993, and the ports for encrypted authenticated SMTPAUTH are 465 and 587. These are the standard ports for these services, and you should not need to manually set them.

Please note that we replaced the secure certificate used to provide POPS, IMAPS, and SMTPS email services (sending and receiving email over SSL). Our SSL certificate vendor has changed to a new "root" certificate, which is recognized by most, but not all, email programs. If your email program begins returning errors and indicates that the server certificate is not recognized, please download the root certificate below and install it in your email program. The specifics of how to install a certificate will vary from program to program -- please consult the help files of your program for details.

USERTrust RSA CA Root.crt

Please also note that our mail servers use an SSL certificate. If you use this SSL option in conjunction with a domain name, your email reader may warn you that the domain names do not match. Some email readers will allow you to ignore this warning. In these cases, your incoming email will remain secure.

However, some email readers will not let you proceed if the security certificates do not match. If this occurs, please verify your incoming server settings as follows:

For accounts created prior to June 1, 2011:

mailX.pair.com

( X is your server number)

For accounts created on or after June 1, 2011:

username.mail.pairserver.com

( "username" is your main account username)