thunderbird 3 with lightning is the ultimate free replacement for outlook
The latest Beta release for Thunderbird 3 is finally out and it rocks!
This beta release includes:
- Tab interface for Mail
- Improvements to IMAP for faster message viewing
- Improved message reader view
- New Add-ons Manager
- Improved Address Book interface
- Improved import of mail from other Mail clients
- Integration with Windows Vista search
- Integration with Mac OS X Address Book
(1) Download and install the latest Beta Build of Thunderbird
Installation of Thunderbird itself is simple. If you have used the old Thunderbird 2 then the first thing that will look different is that you now see a tabbed view of the main email windows (in the same style as Firefox). But wait, there is loads more under the hood.
As the Developers say:
it’s far from a typical beta. In particular, unlike the traditional definition of a beta release, we’re definitely not done making feature changes, including some pretty significant feature work that we expect will be integrated in Thunderbird 3 in later beta releases, some features that will live as optional add-ons, and some experiments which may end up in later releases of Thunderbird or not, depending on the result of the experiments.
(2) Download and Install the latest Lightning addon
Simply download the latest nightly build - while the process is in Beta you realy want the newest version you can snaffle.
- You can install the latest lightning build manually so download and save the file to your hard disk.
- In Mozilla Thunderbird, open Add-ons from the Tools menu.
- Click the Install button, and locate/select the file you downloaded and click "OK".
be aware - as this is still beta software the calendar function is evolving on a near daily basis. expect some weird things to happen. ;)
Here's a sample video using JING to demonstrate the process. Once you've install the calendar function you will see a fantastic screen just like this:
THATS IT!
You can now import all your old emails from Outlook *and* import all your old calendar entries as well.
Dont forget to import your contacts.
It even has tasks.
Wow - the new Thunderbird 3 Beta is terrific. The guys at Mozilla stress that this is a beta release so shouldnt be used for production environments. However, if like me, you are happy to run with experimental software and provide feedback to guide the product creation itself, then I really cant recommend this enough.
Simply put - this is one of the best things I've installed this year - and its at the end of December 2008!
Roll on 2009 and the next beta release of Thunderbird 3.
Get the latest nightly builds here:
Comments
Theres a problem with the
Theres a problem with the auto-updater. I did the lightning update yesterday morning and got the same error (its a nightly alpha build so I'm guessing that something has screwed up in the updater). The lightning calendars are working perfectly as usual but the auto-update function is screwy. So it seems that the Calendar update function has stopped working with the first relase of Thunderbird 3b1 :(
Download manually from http://www.mozilla.org/projects/calendar/
Or if you want to stay on the bleeding edge then you can download the latest nightly build from http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/calendar/lightning/nightly/2009/ and just choose the directory (by date) that you fancy....
I've been using it for roughly a month now and am very pleased... it synchs nicely with my blackberry as well. That was a pain figuring out but thats another story ;)
Good Luck!
Lightning is back and
Lightning is back and working perfectly with Thunderbird 3b2+ (pre-release version as at today)
I ust thought I would experiment and try out the latest nightly build of the Thunderbird Beta (found here)
http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/thunderbird/nightly/latest-comm-c...
It might confuse you when you upgrade and suddenly its called 'Shredder' but that is just an internal mozilla name for a pre-release version of software. The good news is that it upgrades from Beta1 perfectly and all lightning addons are working perfectly again.
The more I use Thunderbird3 the more I like it.
I've got mine configured to fully synchronise with Google mail, so I've always got an online hot backup of my email and calendar accounts.
Cant wait to see the final Thunderbird product. :=)
it sounds like your trying
it sounds like your trying to add the CALENDAR ADDIN to Firefox, instead of to Thunderbird.
Save the Calendar addon to your disk and then use the ADDIN function from within Thunderbird itself.
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