Skip to content Skip to site navigation Skip to service navigation

How to Set Up Thunderbird for Stanford Google Mail

Obtaining Thunderbird

You can get a free download of Thunderbird from the Mozilla website. Follow the instructions on the site for installing Thunderbird.

Before you start

If you haven't already done so, do the following before setting up Thunderbird for use with your Stanford Google Mail account.

Configuring Thunderbird for use with G Suite (formerly Google Apps)

  1. Open Thunderbird.
  2. If you've not used Thunderbird before, the Mail Account Setup Wizard should start on its own. Otherwise, click the hamburger menu in the upper-right and go to Options >  Accounts Settings.
  3. At the bottom of the left pane of the Account Settings dialog box, click Account Actions and then click Add Mail Account.
  4. Enter your name as you want it to appear in the From field in outgoing mail and your @stanford email address. Then, click Continue.

    enter your email name and address
  5. Thunderbird will attempt to automatically configure your account settings. This will fail and a message saying "Thunderbird failed to find the settings for your email account" will display. Enter the following settings:
    Incoming:
    • IMAP
    • Server hostname: imap.gmail.com
    • Port: 993
    • SSL: SSL/TLS
    • Authentication: Normal password
    Outgoing:
    • Server hostname: smtp.stanford.edu
    • Port: 465
    • SSL: SSL/TLS
    • Authentication: Normal password
    Username: your sunetid@stanford.edu

    enter your account information
  6. Click Advanced config.
  7. In the left pane of the Account Settings dialog box, click Outgoing Server (SMTP). Select the entry for your sunetid@stanford.edu - smtp.stanford.edu and click Edit.

    outging server settings
  8. Change the User Name to your SUNet ID (not sunetid@stanford.edu).

    change your outgoing server user name
  9. Click OK to close the Account Settings dialog box.
Last modified October 11, 2018