Setting Up Email: Thunderbird for Windows 11

Note that these instructions are for Thunderbird version 149.0 and may not work for other versions.

Set up your Pair Networks email in Thunderbird on Windows 11. Follow steps to connect your Pair account securely and start sending email.

Prerequisites: 

• Your Pair custom email address and password. See A Guide to Mailboxes.
• Your incoming and outgoing mail server information. See Finding Your Incoming and Outgoing Servers. 
• Thunderbird on a Windows 11 device

Finding Information About Your Account Settings

If you need help finding your username and other configuration settings, see our article, How to Set Up an Email Reader.

Setting Up Your Email with Thunderbird on Windows 11  

The process differs depending on whether you’re an established Thunderbird user or you’re setting up Thunderbird for the first time on this device. See instructions for each scenario below: 

• First Time Thunderbird Setup
• Adding an Additional Email to Thunderbird

First Time Thunderbird Setup

Setting up Thunderbird for the first time? Follow these steps to get started. 

1. Open Thunderbird on Windows 11
2. Fill in the fields:

Your full name	Enter the name you want to appear in the From field when you send messages.  Example: Jane Smith
Email Address	Enter your complete email address.  Example: [e-mail]
Password	Enter the password for your email account.

6. Click Configure manually
7. Fill in the Incoming and Outgoing Server settings:

Incoming Server
Protocol	Choose IMAP or POP.  See IMAP vs POP: Which Should You Use?
Hostname	Enter your incoming mail server. This is usually one of the following formats:  - username.mail.pairserver.com - mailX.pair.com To find your exact server name, see Finding Your Incoming and Outgoing Servers.
Port	Enter the port number for your account type. Common defaults are IMAP: 993 (SSL/TLS) or POP: 995 (SSL/TLS). Example: 993, 995
Connection Security	Select the encryption type used to secure your connection. Common options include SSL/TLS or STARTTLS.
Authentication Method	Select the method your mail client uses to authenticate.
Username	Enter your full email address.

Outgoing Server
Hostname	Enter your outgoing mail server. This is usually one of the following formats:  - username.mail.pairserver.com - mailX.pair.com To find your exact server name, see Finding Your Incoming and Outgoing Servers.
Port	Enter the port number for your account type. A common default is 587 (STARTTLS).  Example: 587
Connection Security	Select the encryption type used to secure your connection. Common options include SSL/TLS or STARTTLS.
Authentication Method	Select the method your mail client uses to authenticate.
Username	Enter your full email address.

8. Click Done.
   
   If the Done button is unavailable, click Re-test to verify your settings. Once the test completes successfully, Done becomes available.
9. Click Finish

Adding an Additional Email to Thunderbird (via Account Hub)

After you add your first account, Thunderbird may automatically enable its experimental Account Hub workflow for adding additional accounts. 

The Account Hub feature may cause errors with some custom email addresses. If you encounter this issue, see: Turning Off the Account Hub Feature.

1. Open Thunderbird on Windows 11
2. Click the menu button (☰) in the upper right corner
3. Click New Account
4. Click Email
5. Enter the following information:
    

Full Name	Enter the name you want to appear in the From field when you send messages.  Example: Jane Smith
Email Address	Enter your complete email address.  Example: [e-mail]

6. Click Continue
7. Click Edit Configuration. 
8. Fill in the Incoming Server Settings:

Protocol	Choose IMAP or POP.  See IMAP vs POP: Which Should You Use?
Hostname	Enter your incoming mail server. This is usually one of the following formats:  - username.mail.pairserver.com - mailX.pair.com To find your exact server name, see Finding Your Incoming and Outgoing Servers.
Port	Enter the port number for your account type. Common defaults are IMAP: 993 (SSL/TLS) or POP: 995 (SSL/TLS). Example: 993, 995
Connection Security	Select the encryption type used to secure your connection. Common options include SSL/TLS or STARTTLS.
Authentication Method	Select the method your mail client uses to authenticate.
Username	Enter your full email address.

8. Click Continue
9. Fill in the Outgoing Server Settings:
    

Protocol	The protocol used for sending mail. Thunderbird uses SMTP for all outgoing mail.
Hostname	Enter your outgoing mail server. This is usually one of the following formats:  - username.mail.pairserver.com - mailX.pair.com To find your exact server name, see Finding Your Incoming and Outgoing Servers.
Port	Enter the port number for your account type. A common default is 587 (STARTTLS).  Example: 587
Connection Security	Select the encryption type used to secure your connection. Common options include SSL/TLS or STARTTLS.
Authentication	Select the method your mail client uses to authenticate.
Username	Enter your full email address.

10. Click Test
11. Click Continue
12. Enter the password for your email account
13. Click Continue
14. Choose any address books or calendars you would like to sync to your account
15. Click Continue
16. Click Finish

Turning Off the Account Hub Feature

If you run into errors or an infinite loading bug when adding additional accounts through the Account Hub feature, you can temporarily disable Account Hub by following these steps:

1. Open Thunderbird on Windows 11
2. Click the menu button (☰) in the upper right corner
3. Click Settings
4. In the Account Hub section, uncheck Create accounts in the new Account Hub 

After disabling this option, follow the steps in the First Time Thunderbird Setup tutorial above to add additional email addresses to Thunderbird. 

The Account hub feature is experimental and may change in future Thunderbird versions. If Thunderbird removes this option or updates the Account Hub, this workaround may no longer be needed.

Using SSL to Secure Your Email

Pair Networks provides support for SSL/TLS and STARTTLS encryption for all IMAP, POP, and authenticated SMTP connections. Using encryption is an important way to prevent your password from being stolen.

POPS/IMAPS only secures the connection between your email reader and the mail server. Once it reaches the mail server, it will be in plain text. For additional security, you would need to encrypt the email message itself. The port for POPS is 995, the port for the IMAPS is 993, and the ports for encrypted authenticated SMTPAUTH are 465 and 587. These are the standard ports for these services, and you should not need to manually set them.

Please note that we replaced the secure certificate used to provide POPS, IMAPS, and SMTPS email services (sending and receiving email over SSL). Our SSL certificate vendor has changed to a new "root" certificate, which is recognized by most, but not all, email programs. If your email program begins returning errors and indicates that the server certificate is not recognized, please download the root certificate below and install it in your email program. The specifics of how to install a certificate will vary from program to program -- please consult the help files of your program for details.

USERTrust RSA CA Root.crt

Please also note that our mail servers use an SSL certificate. If you use this SSL option in conjunction with a domain name, your email reader may warn you that the domain names do not match. Some email readers will allow you to ignore this warning. In these cases, your incoming email will remain secure.

However, some email readers will not let you proceed if the security certificates do not match. If this occurs, please verify your incoming server settings as follows:

For accounts created prior to June 1, 2011, the email server will follow this formula: 

mailX.pair.com
(where X is your server number)

For accounts created on or after June 1, 2011, the email server will follow this formula: 

username.mail.pairserver.com
(where "username" is your main account username)