Download Mozilla Thunderbird 3.0 Beta 2

The second beta release of Mozilla Thunderbird 3.0 was released on Thursday. Mozilla Thunderbird is an open source and cross platform mail and newsgroup client with features such as support for multiple mail and news accounts, a junk mail filter, a spell checker and a customizable appearance. In version 3.0, a large number of changes have been made, including to the autoconfiguration module. Furthermore, Thunderbird now uses tabs, messages can be grouped as conversation and the search functionality has been greatly improved. More information about the changes in version 3.0 can be found in this blog are being found. Here’s a summary of the key changes in this second beta:

What’s New in Thunderbird 3 Beta 2

Thunderbird 3 Beta 2 is based on the Gecko 1.9.1 platform including some major re-architecting to provide improved performance, stability, web compatibility, and code simplification and sustainability.

There are over 340 changes in this release, many laying the groundwork for future changes. Some notable changes include:

User Experience Improvements

• Message Archive
  You can now file messages from your Inbox or other folders into the new Archive folder system.
• Activity Manager
  The Activity Manager records all the interactions between Thunderbird and your email provider in one place.

Performance improvements

• Faster Message Loading for IMAP
  Thunderbird will now download IMAP messages by default in the background to allow for faster message loading, and better offline operation. This feature can be enabled on an individual folder basis (via folder properties), or for all folders in an account, via Account Settings / Sync & Disk Space.

For a more detailed list of bug fixes, see the Rumbling Edge.

Known Issues

This list covers some of the known problems with Thunderbird 3 Beta 2. Please read this before reporting any new bugs.

All Systems

• If you use or had previously used the master password feature, you may be prompted to enter your master password when you first start up Thunderbird.
• Your passwords are stored in a new location. If you go back to using a previous version of Thunderbird, or switch back and forth between Beta 2 and an older version, your password lists do not get updated.
• The toolbar drop down folder picker does not work in Beta 2.
• The extended columns in the folder pane was removed in Beta 1. There is an add-on that restores the functionality.
• If using SSL or TLS, and the certificate that comes from the server is self-signed, expired, or has a domain that does not match the server domain, a dialog will be shown asking if Thunderbird should permanently make an exception for the cert. This should only be done if the error is understood.
• JavaScript has been disabled due to security issues (Bug 453943).
• Ensure extensions either come from a secure server using the HTTPS protocol or are digitally signed, or they will fail to install.

Microsoft Windows

• Make sure Windows 95/98 compatibility mode is disabled for the Thunderbird executable. The setting will be inherited from previous Thunderbird installations if the original directory is over-written. Certain issues will go away once the compatibility mode is disabled (Bug 381922).