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Manual account configuration instructions seem incorrect. How can I deal with this?

  • 2 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 5 views
  • Last reply by Ismatic

Ismatic
Ismatic
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Hi Thunderbird people. I'm trying to help set up a new Thunderbird mail account, and have to resort to Manual Configuration because the Auto setup doesn't succeed for my sister's provider. Problem is, when I try to follow the step-by-step 'Manual Account Configuration' instructions on the Mozilla website, crucial steps seem unavailable. Specifically: after entering the basic user information, and pressing STOP, I cannot then set the Server names, Ports and IMAP / POP before pressing MANUAL CONFIG. I seem only able to proceed beyond STOP by pressing Manual Config', the Servers (etc.) at left can't be accessed without changing them for an existing account. Can someone please clarify this part of the process? Has the screen sequence changed in recent times, or is the current 'Manual Account Configuration' article correct and up-to-date right now? Thanks for any advice you might offer.

Hi Thunderbird people. I'm trying to help set up a new Thunderbird mail account, and have to resort to Manual Configuration because the Auto setup doesn't succeed for my sister's provider. Problem is, when I try to follow the step-by-step 'Manual Account Configuration' instructions on the Mozilla website, crucial steps seem unavailable. Specifically: after entering the basic user information, and pressing STOP, I cannot then set the Server names, Ports and IMAP / POP before pressing MANUAL CONFIG. I seem only able to proceed beyond STOP by pressing Manual Config', the Servers (etc.) at left can't be accessed without changing them for an existing account. Can someone please clarify this part of the process? Has the screen sequence changed in recent times, or is the current 'Manual Account Configuration' article correct and up-to-date right now? Thanks for any advice you might offer.

All Replies (2)

sfhowes
sfhowes
  • Top 10 Contributor
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Try this: go offline by unchecking File/Offline/Work Offline, then File/New/Existing Mail Account, enter your name, email and password, Continue, choose IMAP or POP, then Advanced config. This will bring up Account Settings where you can enter the incoming and outgoing server settings.

After that, go back online by unchecking File/Offline/Work Offline.

Ismatic
Ismatic Question owner
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Hi, SF Howes - thanks very much for responding and for the promising approach to resolving this problem. I guess going offline means that the auto-config 'lookup' is thus prevented from inserting settings inappropriate to this account / provider, after which we can manually enter my sister's provider's official settings.

I won't be able to try this for a day or two yet, but I will come back to tell you how things went. Thanks again, SFH! (From Ismatic)