en	[[!meta title="Emailing and reading news with Thunderbird"]]

en	We recommend using [[*Thunderbird*|https://www.thunderbird.net/]] in Tails for:

en	Reading and writing emails

en	Reading [[!wikipedia RSS]] and [[!wikipedia Atom_(Web_standard) desc="Atom"]] feeds for news and blogs

en	For more documentation, visit the official [*Thunderbird* Support](https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/products/thunderbird) website.

en	<div class="bug">
fa	<div class="tip">

en	The chat features of Thunderbird don't work in Tails.

en	</div>

en	[[!toc startlevel=2]]
fa	[[!toc levels=2]]

en	Installing *Thunderbird* as additional software

en	*Thunderbird* is no longer included by default since Tails 7.8 (May 2026).

en	You can install *Thunderbird* as [[additional software|persistent_storage/additional_software]].

en	A new version of *Thunderbird* is released in Debian shortly after each Tails release, because both *Tails* and *Thunderbird* follow the [[release calendar of *Firefox*|https://whattrainisitnow.com/calendar/]]. As a consequence, until Tails 7.5 (February 2026), the version of *Thunderbird* in Tails was almost always outdated, with known security vulnerabilities.

en	By installing *Thunderbird* as additional software, the latest version of *Thunderbird* is installed automatically from your Persistent Storage each time you start Tails.

en	To install *Thunderbird* as additional software:

en	Choose **Apps&nbsp;▸ Tails&nbsp;▸ Persistent Storage** to open the Persistent Storage settings.

en	Create a Persistent Storage if you don't have one already.

en	Make sure that the **Additional Software** feature is turned on.

en	Turn on the **Thunderbird Email Client** feature.

en	Close the Persistent Storage settings.

en	Restart Tails.

en	<div class="tip">

en	<p>To reopen this page after restarting Tails, choose <b>Apps&nbsp;▸ Tails&nbsp;▸ Tails Documentation</b> and go to <b>Documentation&nbsp;▸ Uncensored and anonymous Internet&nbsp;▸ Emailing and reading news with Thunderbird</b>.</p>

en	</div>

en	Tails detects that you have both the **Thunderbird Email Client** and **Additional Software** features of the Persistent Storage turned on and automatically adds *Thunderbird* to your list of additional software.

en	Tails also tries to install as additional software the language package that corresponds to the language of this Tails session, if it exists. To use *Thunderbird* in another language, see [[using *Thunderbird* in another language|thunderbird#language]].

en	[[Connect to the Tor network.|doc/anonymous_internet/tor]]

en	*Thunderbird* is downloaded and installed in the background after you connected to the Tor network.

en	This first installation can take several minutes. During this time, no *Thunderbird* launcher is available in the **Apps** menu.

en	If you are comfortable with the command line and [[set up an administration password|doc/first_steps/welcome_screen/administration_password]] when starting Tails, you can execute the following command to track the progress of the download and installation:

en	sudo journalctl -f -u tails-additional-software-upgrade.service

en	After *Thunderbird* is installed, choose **Apps&nbsp;▸ Internet&nbsp;▸ Thunderbird** to open *Thunderbird*.

en	*Thunderbird* will be reinstalled automatically every time you start Tails. Future installations will be much faster since *Thunderbird* is already downloaded to your Persistent Storage.

en	Configuring an email account

en	When opening *Thunderbird* for the first time, an assistant appears to help you configure and access your email account.

en	Enter your name, email address, and password into the corresponding fields.

en	Click **Continue**.

en	The assistant tries to configure automatically the correct settings to connect to your email provider based on your email address.

en	If the automatic configuration fails, consult your email provider about how to configure your email account manually.

en	If the automatic configuration succeeds, you might have to specify which protocol to use to connect to your email provider, either **IMAP** or **POP**.

en	- With **IMAP**, *Thunderbird* constantly synchronizes with the server and displays the emails and folders that are currently stored on the server. IMAP is better suited if you access your emails from different operating systems.

en	- With **POP**, *Thunderbird* downloads the emails that are in the inbox on the server and possibly deletes them from the server. POP is better suited if you access your emails from Tails only and store them in the Persistent Storage.

en	To know more, see also this [comparison between POP and IMAP](https://help.riseup.net/en/email/clients/#choose-imap-or-pop) by Riseup.

en	<div class="tip" id="gmail">

en	Gmail

en	You can use your Gmail account with Thunderbird in Tails.

en	Make sure that you have 2-Step Verification turned on in your Gmail account. See Google Account Help: 2-Step Verification. Configure the new account as IMAP when Thunderbird asks you to choose between POP and IMAP.

en	Reading RSS and Atom news feeds

en	On top of reading emails, you can read news feeds that use the RSS and Atom standards in *Thunderbird*.

en	To create a feed account:

en	Choose **[[!img lib/open-menu.png link="no" class="symbolic" alt="Menu"]]&nbsp;▸ Account Settings** from the main window of *Thunderbird*.

en	In the **Account Settings** tab, select the **New Account** button, and then **Feed Account**.

en	In the **Feed Account Wizard**, click **Next** and **Finish**.

en	A new feed account named **Blogs & News Feeds** appears in the sidebar.

en	Click on the **Manage Subscriptions** button in the right pane.

en	In the **Feed Subscriptions** dialog, enter the URL of the news feed that you want to follow in the **Feed URL** field.

en	For example, to subscribe to the Tails news feed, enter the following URL.

en	https://tails.net/news/index.en.rss

en	Sites often have a feed icon that points to their RSS or Atom feed.

en	If a site has no feed icon, right-click on the home or news page of the site in *Tor Browser* and select **View Page Source** in the shortcut menu. In the source of the page look for a link of type *application/rss+xml* or *application/atom+xml*. Not all sites have a news feed.

en	[[!wikipedia RSS]] and [[!wikipedia Atom (web standard) desc="Atom"]] are similar standards and their differences don't really matter to readers.

en	Click **Add**.

en	*Thunderbird* verifies and downloads the content of the feed.

en	Close the **Feed Subscriptions** dialog and the **Account Settings** tab.

en	A new feed account named **Blogs & News Feeds** appears in the sidebar of the main window of *Thunderbird*.

en	Enhanced privacy

en	*Thunderbird* in Tails is configured for additional privacy and anonymity.

en	For example, *Thunderbird* in Tails:

en	Removes information about the language of your session or spellchecker from the headers of the emails that you send.

en	Removes information that could identify you as a Tails user from the headers of your emails.

en	Only allows secure protocols and disables insecure protocols, like SSLv3.

en	Disables tracking technologies, like cookies and JavaScript, when viewing emails or feeds in HTML.

en	These enhancements are inherited from the former [*TorBirdy*](https://gitlab.torproject.org/legacy/trac/-/wikis/torbirdy) extension.

en	<div class="caution">

en	The email addresses that you write to are stored in your address book by default.

en	<p>To stop collecting outgoing email addresses automatically, open <b>Settings&nbsp;▸ Composition</b> and turn off the option <b>Automatically add outgoing email addresses to my collected addresses</b>.</p>

en	Using Thunderbird in another language

en	To use *Thunderbird* in another language, you can install the thunderbird-l10n-lang package using the [[Additional Software|persistent_storage/additional_software]] feature. Replace lang with the code for your language. For example, `vi` for Vietnamese.

en	Tails automatically installs the language packages for Arabic, German, Spanish, Farsi, French, Hindi, Bahasa Indonesia, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Turkish, and Simplified Chinese.

en	[List of available *Thunderbird* language packages](https://packages.debian.org/search?keywords=thunderbird-l10n&searchon=names&suite=stable&section=all)

en	OpenPGP encryption

en	<div class="next">
fa	<div class="note">

en	GnuPG and [[Kleopatra|encryption_and_privacy/kleopatra]] allow you to work with OpenPGP encrypted text and files. Consider using Kleopatra instead of Thunderbird if you want to exchange encrypted text and files, but not by email.

en	The OpenPGP keys stored in GnuPG and Kleopatra are separate from the keys stored in Thunderbird.

en	See also the official [OpenPGP in Thunderbird - HOWTO and FAQ](https://support.mozilla.org/kb/openpgp-thunderbird-howto-and-faq).

en	Setting up a Primary Password (recommended)

en	In *Thunderbird*, OpenPGP private keys are not protected by a passphrase. That's why we recommend that you set up a Primary Password.

en	With a Primary Password, your private key is encrypted in your *Thunderbird* profile and is only unlocked while *Thunderbird* is running. If your *Thunderbird* profile is stored in your Persistent Storage, then your private key is encrypted twice: once by *Thunderbird* in your profile and a second time by the encryption of the Persistent Storage.

en	Choose **[[!img lib/open-menu.png alt="Menu" class="symbolic" link="no"]]&nbsp;▸ Settings**.

en	Choose **Privacy & Security**.

en	In the **Passwords** section, select the option **Use a Primary Password**.

en	In the **Primary Password** dialog, enter your Primary Password and click **OK**.

en	Importing an existing private key

en	*Thunderbird* uses a different keyring than *GnuPG*.

en	If you already have an OpenPGP private key outside of *Thunderbird*, follow the instructions below to export it from *GnuPG* and import it into *Thunderbird*.

en	Export your private key using

en	From the desktop:

en	Choose **Apps&nbsp;▸ Accessories&nbsp;▸ Kleopatra**.

en	Select the private key that you want to migrate to *Thunderbird*.

en	Choose **File&nbsp;▸ Backup Secret Keys…** and save this private key to your *Home* folder.

en	Close *Kleopatra*.

en	Import your private key in

en	In *Thunderbird*:

en	Choose **[[!img lib/open-menu.png alt="Menu" class="symbolic" link="no"]]&nbsp;▸ Account Settings**.

en	In the left pane, identify the account that corresponds to the private key that you want to import and choose **End-to-End Encryption**.

en	In the right pane, click the **Add Key…** button.

en	In the dialog that appears, select the option **Import an existing OpenPGP Key** and **Continue**.

en	Click the **Select File to Import…** button and choose the private key that your exported from *Kleopatra*.

en	In the next dialog, make sure that your private key is listed and that the option **Treat this key as a Personal Key** is selected.

en	Click **Continue**, enter the passphrase for your private key (if any), and click **Continue** again.

en	Your private key should now be listed in the **End-to-End Encryption** settings of your account.

en	Select your private key to enable OpenPGP encryption for this account.

en	Generating a new OpenPGP private key

en	In the left pane, identify the account for which you want to create a new OpenPGP private key and choose **End-to-End Encryption**.

en	In the **Add a Personal OpenPGP Key** dialog, choose **Create a new OpenPGP Key**.

en	Review the settings in the next dialog, click the **Generate key** button, and then click **Confirm**.

en	Encrypting an email

en	To prevent you from sending unencrypted emails by mistake, *Thunderbird* in Tails is configured with the option **Enable encryption for new messages** turned on by default in the account settings.

en	When composing an email:

en	If the **Encrypt** toggle button is on, *Thunderbird* will encrypt the email before sending.

en	*Thunderbird* warns you if you miss the key of some of the recipients or if you still have to accept some of their keys.

en	Choose **Security**&nbsp;▸ **Key Assistant** to see the keys of the receipts and solve any issue.

en	To send an unencrypted email, turn off the **Encrypt** toggle button.