Knowledge Base - FAQ

Setting up an IMAP account with Mozilla Thunderbird on Microsoft Windows XP

Summary:

Using IMAP email is especially useful if you wish to keep all of your mail organization on the mail server and have it accessible by a multitude of devices instead of on one primary device as POP3 does. In this way all of your email organization will be identical weather you are viewing it with your IMAP mail client on your computer, on your mobile device or through the Kattare Webmail interface.

If you are not running Windows XP, your screens may be slightly different but setup should be the same. Here is a quick summary of the important settings to use:

Account Type: IMAP
Email Address: username@kattare.com (your full email address)
Incoming Mail Server: mail.kattare.com
Incoming Mail User Name: (your POP3 username as displayed in the Email Management here.)
Incoming Mail Password: (your POP3 password from the same page.)
Outgoing Mail Server: mail.kattare.com, check USE AUTHENTICATION
Outgoing Mail User Name: (your POP3 username as displayed in the Email Management here.)
Outgoing Mail Password: (your POP3 password from the same page.)
Account Settings; Outgoing Server (SMTP): Server Port 25 -or- 2525 (See NOTE at the end of the FAQ)

And here are the step by step instructions:

The first time you start up Thunderbird, it will automatically jump into the Account Wizard. If this is not the first time you have run Thunderbird, you can get to the wizard by clicking Tools, then Account Settings... and the Add Account button at the bottom left..

In the New Account Setup pane, select "Email account" then click Next.

In the Identity pane, enter your name and email address then click Next.

In the Server Information pane, select an incoming server type of IMAP and enter mail.kattare.com as the both the Incoming Server and Outgoing Server. Click Next.

In the User Names pane, enter your POP3 User Name as you have been told by your local Systems Administrator, IT Guru, or the Kattare Members Section Email Management Page. Click Next.

In the Account Name pane, enter any description of the email account you like in the Account Name field then click Next.

In the Congratulations! pane you can review your settings. Make sure everything looks right before clicking Finish.

Despite having completed the wizard, there are still a couple of settings that will need to be changed to ensure trouble-free operation. To get started, enter your Password in the Mail Server Password Required window that pops up. Be sure to check Use Password Manager to remember this password to avoid having to enter your password every time.

Open the Tools menu and select Account Settings.

In the Account Settings window, select Server Settings and click the Advanced button.

NOTE: At this point, you may have to restart Thunderbird to refresh the mail folders.

In the Account Settings window, select Copies & Folders. Under When sending messages, automatically:, select Place a copy in: then click Other and browse to the sent-items folder on the Kattare IMAP account. Do the same for the Drafts folder below.

In the Account Settings window, select Junk Settings. Click Move new junk messages to: then click Other and browse to the spam folder on the Kattare IMAP server.

Click the OK button in the Account Settings window to save the changes and close the window.

You should now see your newly created account in the left column of Thunderbird.

NOTE: Some ISPs will block the outgoing mail port 25 if it is not connecting to their own server. In this case, Kattare has a work-around port to use so that you may continue to send mail through Kattare's mail server. Select the Tools menu again and open Account Settings.... In the Account Settings window, select Outgoing Server (SMTP). Click on the Kattare mail server and push Edit. In the SMTP Server window, enter 2525 into the Port: field then click OK. Click the OK button in the Account Settings window to save the changes.