The Linux Society

This is just a short guide for people who are unsure about how to do the above. It probably won't be useful to everyone but I hope that it'll educate at least one person who didn't previously know how to do this.

Step 1: Configure Google Mail
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First things first , open up your web browser and navigate to GMail. Sign in to your account. Click on settings or you can always click on this link if you can't find it ( http://mail.google.com/mail/?#settings ) it will only work when signed in though. Once in the settings page , click on the "Forwarding and POP/IMAP" tab. Click on the "Enable POP for all mail" radio button (or "Enable POP for mail from now on" if you want a clean inbox with no old mail.) Click on Save Changes.

Step 2: Configure Thunderbird
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Open Thunderbird. Click on Edit ----> Account Settings...

Click on "Add Account"

You want an "E-mail account" so click on that and hit next.
Your Name is Your Name funnily enough.
Email Address is your google mail Email Address.
Type of incoming server will be "POP." and the incoming server name is: pop.googlemail.com
Incoming Username is: your gmail email username again.
Name by which you would like to refer to this account: Whatever you want , I just used my googlemail address.
Review the info and then click "Finish."

You now have an account on Thunderbird , edit it's settings in the Account Settings window.

Click on the "Server Settings" tab.

In the "Server Name" field you should have: pop.googlemail.com
In the "Port" field beside it you should have the number: 995
In the "Security settings" section you should have it set to use SSL.
The Server settings section is pretty self explanatory but I have mine set as follows: ([/] = tick [ ] = no tick.)
[/] Check for new messages at start up.
[/] Check for new messages every [10] minutes.
[/] Automatically download new messages.
[ ] Fetch headers only.
[ ] Leave messages on server
[ ] Empty deleted folder on exit

Click on the "Outgoing Server (SMTP)" tab.
Click on "Add."
Set the following:
Server name: smtp.googlemail.com
Port: 465 *EDIT , had the wrong port*
Username: joebloggs@googlemail.com (your username here)
Secure Connection: SSL.

Click "OK" once done.
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Click "GET MAIL" and it should fetch all your mail from googlemail.

Hope that's helpful to someone who has never done that before.

Gordon