topic Re: Thunderbird and Linux in Email

Thunderbird and Linux

slowtime — Sat, 23 Aug 2025 07:34:09 GMT

I have Linux on my laptop and I want to use Thunderbird as my email client. We have two mailboxes on my Plusnet email account and I only want to use one with Thunderbird. Can anyone help me with the seting, please?

Re: Thunderbird and Linux

jab1 — Sat, 23 Aug 2025 07:40:22 GMT

@slowtime Which settings do you need? This is the PN email setup guide: https://www.plus.net/help/email-guides/how-to-set-up-plusnet-email/

Re: Thunderbird and Linux

slowtime — Sat, 23 Aug 2025 07:47:38 GMT

Hi and thanks for your reply.. I have followed the link that you sent but the error message "page not found" came up.

Re: Thunderbird and Linux

jab1 — Sat, 23 Aug 2025 07:55:20 GMT

Strange - it comes up for me, from the link, with no problem.

Try this one : https://www.plus.net/help/ , and then use the A-Z list at lower left.

Re: Thunderbird and Linux

slowtime — Sat, 23 Aug 2025 08:18:56 GMT

Hi John,

I tried your first link again and got it to work. I found the list of settings. However, I have tried those and that is where my problem arose, unfortunately. An error message to the effect that outgoing mail was working but incomming wasn't came up.

Any ideas?

Aidan.

Re: Thunderbird and Linux

MisterW — Sat, 23 Aug 2025 08:31:28 GMT

@slowtime if you are accessing the primary mailbox on your account then the username should be your accountname and the password the one you use to access the member centre.

If its a seconday mailbox then the username should be your accountname+mailboxname ( note the '+' sign is needed ) and the password the one you set when the mailbox was created

Re: Thunderbird and Linux

slowtime — Sat, 23 Aug 2025 09:27:43 GMT

Thanks for your message MisterW. It's the secondary account that I want to use with Thunderbird. The app will open on the laptop and asks for a "password." As you suggested, I put in the PN username+mailboxname, unfortunately that didn't work.

Just to check, the "username" that I put in was the bit after the @ in my email address and (after the + symbole) the maibox name. Am I getting this right? I then get the "failed to connect" message so there is no opportunity to then put in the password for the mailbox.

I hope that this makes sense.

Re: Thunderbird and Linux

MisterW — Sat, 23 Aug 2025 09:32:52 GMT

Just to check, the "username" that I put in was the bit after the @ in my email address and (after the + symbole) the maibox name. Am I getting this right?

Yes

When setting up a mail account ,Thunderbird tries to 'guess' the correct settings when you enter the email address. This doesnt work for a Plusnet mailbox, so you need to select 'Manual setup' then it should allow you to setup the server and username/password details.

Re: Thunderbird and Linux

slowtime — Sat, 23 Aug 2025 09:32:12 GMT

* symbol

Re: Thunderbird and Linux

slowtime — Sat, 23 Aug 2025 09:33:51 GMT

OK, thanks. I'll try a manual input and get back to you if I need to.

Re: Thunderbird and Linux

jab1 — Sat, 23 Aug 2025 09:37:43 GMT

@MisterW wrote:

When setting up a mail account ,Thunderbird tries to 'guess' the correct settings when you enter the email address. This doesnt work for a Plusnet mailbox, so you need to select 'Manual setup' then it should allow you to setup the server and username/password details.

One of the somewhat less helpful 'improvements' most mail clients seem to have adopted over the years

Re: Thunderbird and Linux

slowtime — Sat, 23 Aug 2025 16:00:54 GMT

All sorted now, thanks. Another wrinkle that I learnt was that "password" can relate to a specific mailbox password and not always the overall account password.

Thanks for your help.