How do I configure Thunderbird/Icedove to use May First/People Link email?

In Thunderbird (Icedove in Debian Linux), click on edit -> account settings ... and click the Add Account ... button. If the email account button is not checked check it.

The first step in creating a Thunderbird account, is to provide your name and email address. If you are setting up your own email, use your name and addres. If you want mail to appear to come from an organization as a whole, you can put only your organization's name instead of your own.

Next, you'll need to decide whether you want a POP account or an IMAP account. In most cases, we recommend POP, but if you plan to use webmail frequently or will use multiple accounts to check your email, you may want to use IMAP.

You'll also need to tell Thunderbird where to find your mail server. This is your "primary server" and you can find out the name of your primary server by logging into the ​Members control panel.

Finally, you get to decide whether or not this account should use your "Global Inbox" -- if you only have one email account, or you want all of your different email accounts to appear in the same folder, leave this checked. If you want to maintain a separate set of inbox, sent mail, trash folders, along with whatever folders you use to sort your messages, un-check the Global Inbox box.

You should have set up your username when you created your email address in the ​Members control panel. Enter it here:

The next screen will ask you to create an account title. You'll be able to change this, but if you didn't choose "Global Inbox," this will be the title of your account in the Thunderbird menu.

Thunderbird will tell you you are done, but you aren't! Sorry.

Once your settings are in place, you'll have to make some final configuration changes. You'll need to make sure the "SSL" button is checked, which will change to default port to 993 (if you are using IMAP) or 995 (if you are using POP).

You should also look over the other settings and adjust them to meet your needs.

The composition settings are optional, but we highly recommend turning off HTML email, which will ensure that your mail is legible to more readers. We often find that the default reply settings are not to our liking, and you may want to change these as well.

Next configure your outgoing server (smtp). If you are using a MF/PL server, make sure the outgoing port is set to 587. NOTE: If you are installing Thunderbird 3.0 you should select "STARTTLS" and make sure "secure authentication" is not checked. The other settings remain the same. (​See screenshot)

Lastly, if you are using IMAP, we strongly encourage you to enable offline caching, ​as explained on ​webchick.net. That will make it much faster to read your email.

MFPL is moving to an improved process for mail setup. As of 6/27/11, this new setup is still experimental. Instructions for setup on Thunderbird 5 are available email_setup_thunderbird_beta here.