Setting up SMTP in Thunderbird

In Thunderbird you add our relay under Account Settings, Outgoing Server (SMTP): the server name from your 2mail account, port 587, connection security STARTTLS, authentication method Normal password, and your SMTP login as the user name. After that you select that server for every identity you want to send with, because a new outgoing server is not used automatically. Your incoming mail stays exactly where it is.

What you need

• the server name shown in your 2mail account
• an SMTP login and password that you create 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

1. Open the menu (the three lines at the top right) and choose Account Settings.
2. At the bottom of the left-hand column, click Outgoing Server (SMTP) and then Add.
3. Description: a recognisable name, for example your company name followed by 2Mail. That way you spot the server straight away among the others later on.
4. Server Name: the server name from your 2mail account.
5. Port: 587.
6. Connection security: STARTTLS. Do not choose SSL/TLS: that method does not belong with port 587, and Thunderbird then waits until the connection times out.
7. Authentication method: Normal password.
8. User Name: your SMTP login, so not the email address of your mailbox.
9. Confirm with OK. Thunderbird asks for the password the first time you send and then keeps it in the password manager.

Step 2: attach the server to your account

1. In the left-hand column of the account settings, click the name of the account you want to send with.
2. At the bottom, under Outgoing Server (SMTP), select the server you just created.
3. If you want all accounts to send through 2Mail, go back to the list of outgoing servers, select the new server and click Set Default. Accounts that use the default server then follow automatically.

Several identities

If you send from one account with several sender addresses, each address has its own identity in Thunderbird, and each identity its own outgoing server. Open Manage Identities for the account, edit the identity and select the 2Mail server there. If you forget this, mail from that identity still leaves through the old server. Every sender address must also be on a domain that has been added as a sending domain in your 2mail account.

Step 3: 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.

Making Thunderbird ask for the password again

If you have replaced the SMTP login or saved a typo in the password, Thunderbird keeps trying the old password. This is how you clear it:

1. Open the settings and go to Privacy & Security.
2. Under the passwords, click Saved Passwords.
3. Find the line that starts with smtp:// and contains the 2Mail server name, and remove it.
4. Send a message again: Thunderbird asks for the password and offers to save it.

Error messages and what to do about them

• Sending of the message failed — this is only the title of the window. Read the sentence below it: Thunderbird shows literally what the mail server responded, and that response points to the cause.
• Login to the server failed, or the password is asked for again and again — the login is wrong or revoked, or you are using your mailbox details. Create a new SMTP login in the dashboard and clear the old password as described above.
• The connection to the outgoing server timed out — SSL/TLS is set instead of STARTTLS, the port is not 587, or a firewall, antivirus program or network blocks port 587. Test on another network, for instance through your phone's hotspot. If it works there, have port 587 opened.
• Certificate warning, asking you to add a security exception — do not add that exception. Usually the server name was entered wrongly, so the certificate does not match the name; check the name in your 2mail account. Sometimes an antivirus program intercepts the encrypted connection; in that case switch off its mail scanning.
• Sender rejected — the domain of the sender address has not been added as a sending domain in your 2mail account yet. Add it, then get the SPF and DKIM records right. The free checker shows you at once what is missing.
• The message leaves, but is not in the delivery log — it went through another server. Check for each account and each identity which outgoing server is selected.

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

Frequently asked questions

Does my incoming mail keep working as before?

Yes. You only change the outgoing server. Your mailbox, your folders and the settings for incoming mail stay as they are.

Is Normal password actually safe?

Yes, in combination with STARTTLS. The connection is encrypted first, and only then does the password travel over the line. The name merely says that the password is not encrypted separately on top of that. Never use this method with the connection security set to None.

Can I use a different outgoing server for each address?

Yes. Thunderbird stores the outgoing server per identity. So you can have your business address send through 2Mail and a private address through your provider's server.

Why a separate SMTP login for Thunderbird?

Because you can then revoke it on its own. If a laptop goes missing, you revoke only that login and your web shop, your CRM and your other devices simply keep sending.

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.