Setting up SMTP in Thunderbird

In Thunderbird the outgoing server is separate from your mail account: you add our relay as an extra outgoing server (SMTP) and then attach it to one or more identities. That makes Thunderbird one of the easiest programs to connect to 2Mail.

What you need

• the server name shown in your 2mail account
• an SMTP login and password created in the dashboard for Thunderbird — one login per application, so you can revoke them separately
• a sender address on a domain that is registered as a sending domain in your account

Step 1: add the outgoing server

Open the account settings and go to the section with the outgoing servers (SMTP). Add a new server and give it a recognisable name, for example your company name followed by 2Mail. That way you spot it straight away among the other servers later on.

Step 2: connection and security

In the server name field, enter the server name from your 2mail account. Choose port 587 and STARTTLS as the connection security. As the authentication method, pick the normal password; Thunderbird asks for the password the first time you send and then keeps it in the password manager. Enter the SMTP login as the username.

Step 3: attach the server to your identity

A new outgoing server is not used automatically. Go to the account or identity you want to send with and select the server you just created as its outgoing server. If you send from several addresses, repeat this for each identity. If you want all accounts to send through 2Mail, set the new server as the default server.

Step 4: test

Send a test message to an address outside your own domain and then open the delivery log in the 2Mail dashboard. If the message is there with a positive status from the receiving server, all is well. If it is not there, it never reached us and the fault lies on the Thunderbird side — usually an identity that still points at the old server.

Common mistakes

• Password asked again and again — the login is wrong or revoked. Create a new one in the dashboard and remove the old one from the password manager.
• Message leaves through the old server — step 3 was skipped. Check for each identity which outgoing server is selected.
• Sender rejected — the sender domain has not been added yet, or the SPF and DKIM records are not right yet.

Why a relay is useful even for an ordinary mail program: read how an SMTP relay works.

Still stuck?

Let us know via contact which error Thunderbird shows and at what time you tested. We check in the log whether the message reached us.