Thunderbird Setup

This guide will help you set up Mozilla Thunderbird for the first time so you can send and receive email with your Sonic.net account.

1. Download and install the Mozilla Thunderbird from Thunderbird.net.
2. Under Accounts, click on Create a new account — Email.
3. Click Skip this and use my existing email.
4. You will be prompted to provide your name, email address, and password. The name you provide here will be displayed to recipients of your outbound mail.
5. Click Continue.

You will be prompted to verify information about the Sonic.net mail servers.

Select IMAP (remote folders).

• Incoming: imap.sonic.net.
• Outgoing: mail.sonic.net.

6. Click Done to create your account.

Thunderbird IMAP Settings

The majority of settings available in Thunderbird are a matter of personal preference. 

This section is intended to serve as a reference for troubleshooting.

Getting to Account Settings

To access the account settings in Thunderbird:

1. Select Tools.
2. Click Account Settings.

Account Settings

The first page you will be shown is Account Settings.

Here you can specify your name, email address, and reply-to address.

If your reply-to address is your Sonic.net email address, you can leave this field blank.

The Organization field is optional.

In Account Settings, you can specify a signature to beat the bottom of every email you send.

• If you are using an HTML signature, be sure to place a select the Use HTML box.

Server Settings

In the Server Settings category, your Server Type should be IMAP Mail Server.

• If this is incorrect, you will have to create a new IMAP mail account in Thunderbird to change it.

The Server Name should be imap.sonic.net.

The Username should be your Sonic.net account name in lowercase

You can set up your email account using either SSL/TLS (secure) or non-secure connection settings.

• SSL/TLS encrypts the connection between Thunderbird and the mail server to protect your login information and messages

• Sonic.net strongly recommends using SSL/TLS whenever possible.

By default, the IMAP Mail Server (imap.sonic.net) port will be set to 993 with the Connection security set to SSL/TLS (located in Security Settings ⇾ Connection security drop down menu).

• If the port is set to 143 and SSL/TLS is not selected, update the port to 993 and select SSL/TLS. 

All other settings here are optional.

Copies & Folders

The settings in this category are entirely optional and can be configured according to your preferences.

Composition & Addressing

In the Composition & Addressing category, you can choose whether to compose messages in HTML and whether quoted text in replies appear above or below your response.

Unless you have a specific reason not to, select Use my global LDAP server preferences for this account. This setting is optional, and you can specify a different LDAP server if desired.

Synchronization

Default settings in this section are generally fine.

Use caution in the Disk Space category.

• If you limit the size of messages downloaded, you might miss important emails.

Return Receipts

The settings in the Return Receipts category are entirely optional.

The default option, Use my global return receipt preferences for this account, is suitable for most users.

Security

In the Security category, you can choose your default encryption and digital signing methods.

These settings are a matter of personal preference and usually do not require configuration for most users.

Outgoing Server (SMTP)

The Outgoing Server category allows you to configure your outbound mail server settings.

You can add or edit multiple outgoing mail servers using the Add and Edit buttons.

Edit Outgoing Server

The Server Name for Sonic.net is mail.sonic.net.

We recommend setting the port to 465 and using SSL/TLS.

The Authentication method should be set to Normal password.

The Username is your Sonic.net username.