Before you start, have your full email address and mailbox password ready -- see Email client settings if you need the underlying server details this guide fills in for you.

Add the account

1. Open Thunderbird. If this is your first account, the setup wizard opens automatically; otherwise go to the hamburger menu > Account Settings > Account Actions > Add Mail Account.
2. Enter your name, your full Mila email address, and the mailbox password, then click Continue.
3. Thunderbird tries to detect the right servers on its own. If it comes back with IMAP on imap.mila.cx and SMTP on smtp.mila.cx, it found the correct settings -- select Done. If it fails, comes back with the wrong protocol, or times out, click Manual config instead.

Manual configuration

If auto-detect didn't work, fill in the fields yourself:

• Incoming: IMAP, imap.mila.cx, port 993, SSL/TLS, normal password.
• Outgoing: smtp.mila.cx, port 465 with SSL/TLS (or port 587 with STARTTLS if 465 doesn't connect on your network), normal password.
• Username (both incoming and outgoing): your full email address.

Click Re-test, and Thunderbird should confirm both connections. If you get a certificate warning, double-check the hostname shown matches imap.mila.cx or smtp.mila.cx exactly before accepting it.

Confirm it's working

Once the account finishes setting up, give Thunderbird a moment to fetch your folder list, then send yourself a test message from the new account to confirm both directions work.

Using POP3 instead

If you'd rather download mail to one machine than sync it, pick POP3 from the account type dropdown during setup and use pop.mila.cx, port 995, SSL/TLS in place of the IMAP settings above. Check Thunderbird's "leave messages on server" option under the account's Server Settings if you don't want mail removed from Mila after it downloads.

Server-side filters

Thunderbird's own message filters only run while Thunderbird is open and connected. For filtering that applies to mail whether or not any client is running, use the panel's own filtering and forwarding settings instead -- see Forwarding.