Mozilla Thunderbird - Setting up an e-mail account

How to set up the e-mail inbox of your student or staff account in Mozilla Thunderbird:

• Mozilla Thunderbird - Setting up an e-mail account
• Problems connecting to the account
• Error message "The incoming mail server is already in use"
• Not all folders displayed in SOGo are synchronized in Thunderbird

1. Open the account wizard via the menu item File - New - Existing e-mail account [Figure 1 and Figure 2]. This wizard opens automatically the first time you start Thunderbird. (If the menu bar is hidden, click on the three dashes at the top right instead - New account - Existing e-mail address)

2. In the account wizard, enter your name, your e-mail address (in the form kennung@smail.uni-koeln.de or kennung@uni-koeln.de) and the password for your student or staff account [Figure 3].
   Theidentifier is either your account name (combination of up to 8 letters and numbers), which is always available as the default e-mail address, or, if you have set it up via uniKIM , an alias address, usually in the form firstname.surname.

   Theidentifier is either your account name (combination of up to 8 letters and numbers), which is always available as the default e-mail address, or, if you have set it up via uniKIM, an alias address, usually in the form firstname.surname. Click Next. If there is an Internet connection and the access data has been entered correctly, the server settings required for setting up the account will be determined automatically.

3. Check the entries and leave the selection at IMAP, then click on Done [Figure 4].
4. Click on Finish to complete the setup [Figure 5].

You can now use the mail account in Thunderbird.

Problems connecting to the account

If you encounter problems during setup, click on manual configuration in the setup wizard and compare the settings with the defaults on this page .

If you have already created a mail account in Thunderbird with the default mail address benutzername@(smail.)uni-koeln.de, you cannot set up another mail account with your alias address in the way described above. This applies to all types of alias addresses, i.e.

• vorname.nachname@uni-koeln.de or v.nachname@uni-koeln.de for personal accounts
• bezeichnung@einrichtung.uni-koeln.de for aliases in virtual mail domains
• vorname.nachname@smail.uni-koeln.de or v.nachname@smail.uni-koeln.de for student accounts

In this case, you will receive the message The incoming mail server is already in use when you try to set up the mail account.

This is because the alias address is only a reference to the existing e-mail account, but not an independent e-mail account that you could query separately. All e-mail messages, regardless of whether they are sent to the standard e-mail address or to the alias address, end up in the same inbox folder.