Setup your Microsoft 365 Email on Mozilla Thunderbird

Purpose

These instructions are useful for running a version of Thunderbird 77.0b1 or later, supporting OAuth2 modern authentication.

Thunderbird Setup

1. Launch Thunderbird to bring up the main Thunderbird interface.
   • If you have other accounts configured, you can navigate to the Thunderbird interface by clicking on Local Folders on the left-hand side.
   • Select Email under the "Setup Another Account" section in the main window.
2. On the "Mail Account Setup" window, enter information into the available fields listed below and select Configure manually.
   1. Your name: Your name as you would like it to appear
   2. Email address: Your NetID email (NetID@utdallas.edu)
   3. (IMPORTANT) Password: Do not enter your password on this login screen. Only enter your email address and name.

3. Enter information into the available fields as shown below and then select Advanced config.
   1. INCOMING
      1. Protocol: IMAP
      2. Server: outlook.office365.com
      3. Port: 993
      4. SSL: SSL/TLS
      5. Authentication: Normal password
      6. Username: Your NetID email
   2. OUTGOING
      1. Server: smtp.office365.com
      2. Port: 587
      3. SSL: STARTTLS
      4. Authentication: Normal password
      5. Username: Your NetID email

4. Select OK.

5. In the Server Settings tab, change Authentication method: to OAuth2.

6. Go to the Outgoing Server (SMTP) tab and select Edit.

7. Change Authentication method: to OAuth2, ensure connection security is STARTTLS and select OK.

8. Restart Thunderbird.
9. You will be prompted to sign in with your UTD password, enter it and select Sign in.

10. Authenticate with Duo.
11. Select Accept.

12. Thunderbird is now set up, but please complete the steps below.

Reconfigure Folder Mapping

Clients configured using Microsoft Exchange protocol use different folders for some primary mail folders. For consistency, we highly recommend configuring Thunderbird to use these same folders. This will make it less confusing if you also use the web client for Microsoft 365 or a different desktop client using the Exchange protocol.

1. Right-click on your Microsoft 365 account > Subscribe.

2. Place a checkmark within the box next to each of these folders: Drafts | Deleted Items | Sent Items.
3. Select Subscribe.

4. Select OK.
5. Right-click on your Microsoft 365 account > Settings.

6. In the Server Settings tab, change When I delete a message: to Move it to this folder: Deleted Items 

7. In the Copies & Folders tab, change Place a copy in: to Other: Sent Items.

8. In the Copies & Folders tab, change Keep draft messages in: to Other: Drafts.

9. Restart Thunderbird

Disable the Adaptive Junk Mail Controls

Microsoft 365 server-side junk/spam filtering is already enabled for all Microsoft 365 accounts.

1. Right-click on the Email address you just configured in the left-hand pane and select Settings.

2. In the “Junk Settings” tab, uncheck the box for Enable adaptive junk mail controls for this account.

3. Restart Thunderbird.