Step into the #ThunderbirdTimeMachine for a look back at Thunderbird 3.0!

Released on December 8, 2009, v3.0 introduced a Migration Assistant to let you easily activate new features (like Smart Folders and redesigned Toolbar) or stick with the old ones.

#tbt #ThrowbackThursday

Thunderbird 3.0 also saw the debut of the Add-ons Manager, letting you extend the functionality and visual look of Thunderbird.

Plus, it introduced tabbed email view, new account setup wizard, & auto-downloading of IMAP folders 😀

#tbt #ThrowbackThursday #ThunderbirdTimeMachine

Version 3.0 of Thunderbird also ditched compatibility for Windows 95, 98, and ME.

The organization that developed & produced #Thunderbird 3.0: Mozilla Messaging.

Hope you enjoyed this blast from our past. Let us know if you personally used Thunderbird 3.0 back in the day. #tbt

Thunderbird Time Machine: Thunderbird 3.0

One of the most rewarding things about using open-source software is that YOU can contribute directly. Don't know how to code? Don't want to donate money? That's OK! Give some time and knowledge instead!

🧵 Here are 6 ways to help make a difference! 🧵
#Thread

#1: Join The Support Crew

Are you an experienced Thunderbird user who knows the software inside and out? Maybe you want to pay it forward and volunteer some time to help new users!

To get involved: https://wiki.mozilla.org/Thunderbird/tb-support-crew

#2: Help Test Thunderbird

Help improve Thunderbird by simply using it! Testing is a great way to contribute and requires no prior experience. Help us catch those bugs before they get loose!

To get involved: https://wiki.mozilla.org/Thunderbird:Testing


#3: Go Bug Hunting

Speaking of bugs, capturing and reporting Thunderbird bugs is an invaluable activity. And you’ll enjoy the satisfaction of helping MILLIONS of other users avoid that bug in the future!

To get involved: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/

#4: Translate It

We want the entire world to use Thunderbird, which is why it’s currently available in more than 60 languages. If you’re a wordsmith who understands multiple languages, you can make a huge difference.

To get involved: https://pontoon.mozilla.org/projects/thunderbird/


#5: Document All The Things

From beginner tutorials to technical guides, there’s always a need for helpful information to be written down & easily found.

There are many ways you can contribute to Thunderbird documentation.

To get involved, start here: https://www.thunderbird.net/en-US/get-involved/#documentation


#6: Sharing Is Caring

Do you share our social media posts? Tell your friends and colleagues about Thunderbird? Then you're contributing!

Word of mouth is a key ingredient to the success of Thunderbird, and ANY open source project.

Enthusiasm is contagious. Keep sharing 💙

How You Can Contribute To Thunderbird (Without Knowing How To Code)

Experience the future of Thunderbird by running Beta!

(Nice side-effect: it's a GREAT way to help improve Thunderbird for everyone.)

With v106 Beta now available, it's the perfect time to share some resources to help you get started.

Download Beta here:
http://thunderbird.net/download/beta

We want you to have the smoothest Beta experience possible. One of the first questions you might ask is "SHOULD I run Thunderbird Beta?"

This support article will help you answer that: https://www.thunderbird.net/en-US/download/beta/#shouldi

Just like important data on your OS, you should back up your Thunderbird profile before running Beta. If it's less than 2GB, you can export it with Thunderbird 102's built-in Export tool
( ≡ > Tools > Export).

OR you can follow this support guide: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/profiles-where-thunderbird-stores-user-data#w_backing-up-a-profile


You're awesome if you use Beta, but you get bonus points for discussing Beta with the Thunderbird developers + community. And it's as easy and sending and receiving email. Join the conversation here (and feel free to ask Beta-related questions too): https://thunderbird.topicbox.com/groups/beta


Found a bug in Beta? Please use @bugzilla to let us know about it, or to check if it already exists: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/enter_bug.cgi?format=guided#h=dupes%7CThunderbird%7C


And finally, if you want to stop using Beta and go back to the regular (Stable) release of Thunderbird, here's instructions for that: https://www.thunderbird.net/en-US/download/beta/#uninstall

Thanks for helping us continue to make Thunderbird the best it can possible be. You rock!

Experience the future of Thunderbird: Try Beta!

Thunderbird is #opensource. Most people know that. 

But how do you CONTRIBUTE to Thunderbird? That means knowing how to code, right? NO!

How can YOU help make a big difference in the Thunderbird community? We have a few ideas, so keep reading... 👀🧵

A friend of ours, @bashfulrobot, compares a software project to a construction job:

"Programming is the carpenter, but you still need the architects, designers, project managers, and permit people to make a construction job come together," he says.

It takes an entire community!

Making Thunderbird requires the skills of programmers, graphic designers, translators, writers, financial supporters, enthusiastic fans, quality assurance helpers, bug hunters, & beta testers. 

Even if you just have an idea to share, you can make a difference! 

Still here? Great! We're going to share a bunch of links, and one of them might be a great fit for you. 

No matter what your skill set is, you CAN help make Thunderbird and its global community better than ever. 

Keep reading the thread, then let's rock!

Are you a Thunderbird pro? Maybe you want to #PayItForward and volunteer some time to help new users! 
 
We even have a private discussion group for our support crew to help each other, so they can better support Thunderbird users. 

To get involved: https://wiki.mozilla.org/Thunderbird/tb-support-crew

Want to help improve Thunderbird by simply using it? Testing is a great way to #contribute and requires no prior experience! 

Help us catch those bugs before they get loose! 
Here's all the info you need to get started: https://wiki.mozilla.org/Thunderbird:Testing 

Speaking of bugs, capturing and reporting Thunderbird bugs is really important. It's invaluable!

And you'll enjoy the satisfaction of helping MILLIONS of other users avoid that bug in the future!

We use Mozilla's Bugzilla, a very powerful tool: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/

We want the entire world to use Thunderbird. If you know multiple languages, you can help us achieve that!

To get involved with localizing the Thunderbird app, go here: https://developer.mozilla.org/docs/Mozilla/Projects/Thunderbird/Thunderbird_Localization

Or join 100 other contributors who help #translate our site!  https://pontoon.mozilla.org/projects/thunderbirdnet/

Know what else is important? Documentation! From beginner tutorials to technical guides, there's always a need for helpful information to be written down and easily found. 

There are many ways you can contribute to Thunderbird documentation. Start here: https://www.thunderbird.net/en-US/get-involved/#documentation

Financial contributions are another way to help. Thunderbird is both free and freedom respecting, but we’re also completely funded by donations!

Year after year, the generosity of our donors makes it possible for  Thunderbird to thrive. You can donate at give.thunderbird.net.

Do you share our tweets? Do you tell your friends and colleagues about Thunderbird? Then yes, you are contributing! 

Word of mouth and community promotions are another key ingredient to the Thunderbird (and any open source) project. 

Enthusiasm is contagious. Keep sharing ❤️

If you DO have coding skills there are so many ways to help! 

One of those ways is adding new functionality and designs to Thunderbird with Extensions and Themes! 

Here's what you need to know about making add-ons for Thunderbird: https://developer.thunderbird.net/add-ons/about-add-ons

And of course we're always looking for contributions to Thunderbird itself from the talented #FOSS developer community! 

Our Developer Hub has everything you need to start hacking away on Thunderbird: https://developer.thunderbird.net

Last but not least, @k9mail_app is now part of the Thunderbird family. As we work towards bringing Thunderbird to Android, contributions are encouraged! Find out how you can help the K-9 Mail team here: https://k9mail.app/contribute

We can't wait to hear how you'll contribute! 


How To Contribute To Thunderbird (Without Knowing How To Code!)

What's Coming in Thunderbird 102 (2022) 🧵:

The Big Stuff:
- Spaces Toolbar
- New Address Book
- Link Preview Cards
- Account Setup Hub
- Matrix Support (Preliminary)
- Import/Export
- Message Header Redesign

Let's look at each of these in depth.

Spaces Toolbar

The new Spaces Toolbar is an easy, convenient way to move between different activities in the application. Such as managing your Email, your contacts via address book, using the calendar and tasks functionality, chat, and other full-tab activities (add-ons too!)

If you want to save screen real estate, the Spaces toolbar can be dismissed and you can move between the different activities Thunderbird offers via the new pinned Spaces tab. (Pictured to the left of the tabs at the top)

(New) Address Book

After a couple of release teasing a new address book - it's coming in this release. Not only is there a design that makes it easier to navigate and interact with your contacts. but new features enable you to better understand who you communicate with.

Link Preview Cards

The new Thunderbird will have a feature that Twitter users are familiar with. When a link is added in the composer, you will have the option to convert it into a rich link preview with content displayed from the website (Twitter link pictured below, WIP).

Account Setup Hub

In past releases, we have improved first time account setup. When setting up an email, autodiscovery of calendars and address books works really well! But managing accounts and setting up after the first time has lagged. We are updating that experience in 102.

Import/Export

Moving accounts and data in and out of Thunderbird should be a breeze! Until now, add-ons have had to be used for this. In this release we are making a great Import/Export experience a core part of the Thunderbird experience.

Matrix Support

Support for the popular chat protocol: Matrix, is coming to 102. While this has existed behind a pref in a beta state in 91, it will finally be usable out-of-the-box in this release. Updates to chat for a better user experience will be in this release as well.

Message Header Redesign

Another UX/Visual update can be seen in the redesign of the message header. The new design better highlights important info, makes it responsive and easier to navigate.

Honorable mentions:

- The UX/UI for OpenPGP is getting improvements to make it easier to use.
- Maildir, a new storage format, will be available - improving data safety, allowing incremental backups of messages & allowing antivirus to better interact with messages.

That's 102! If you want to follow along and play with this work - try out our beta or nightly release! You can find these by scrolling down near the bottom of our website:

https://thunderbird.net

Finally, if you want to support Thunderbird's development - we are funded primarily by user donations! Over 99% of our funding comes from our users! You can donate to support our team's work here:

https://give.thunderbird.net

This was first posted on the timeline of @ryanleesipes - Thunderbird's Product Manager, with a shoutout to our fantastic team that has to be included here:

https://twitter.com/ryanleesipes/status/1505611912112852994?s=20&t=p8DhCkTohk4PvL9cEHy3jQ

You can read the unrolled version of this thread here: https://typefully.com/mozthunderbird/myfTbOX