If the automatic configuration succeeds, you might have to specify which protocol to use to connect to your email provider, either **IMAP** or **POP**.
- 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.
- 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.
<p><i>GnuPG</i> and <i>[[Kleopatra|encryption_and_privacy/kleopatra]]</i> allow you to work with OpenPGP encrypted text and files. Consider using <i>Kleopatra</i> instead of <i>Thunderbird</i> if you want to exchange encrypted text and files, but not by email.</p>
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*.