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:
Not sure what Thunderbird version you're using? See thisThunderbird's tutorial for help.
Thunderbird Version 91.0 - 102.0
- Open the Thunderbird application
- 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.
- Click Email
- 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.
- Underneath the fields, click Configure Manually
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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:
- Open the Thunderbird application
- In the left sidebar, click Local Folders
- Under the Set Up Another 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 your email password, 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 Configure Manually
- Next to Server, enter the incoming and outgoing mail servers
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 |
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:
- Open the Thunderbird application
- On the main page, under the Create a new account heading, click Email
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 |
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 |
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.
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)