Set Up Axigen Email in Thunderbird

Mozilla Thunderbird is a free email app for Windows, Mac, and Linux. Use it to read and send mail from a LochStudios Mail mailbox (hosted business email on Axigen). Use IMAP so the same folders, read state, and sent items show on every device.

This article is for LochStudios Mail. It is not the same product as shared hosting email (the mailboxes you create in cPanel). If that is the product you have, follow Set up email in Mozilla Thunderbird instead. Unsure which one you have? Open a support ticket and we will check with you.

Prefer the browser? Sign in at the portal, open the mail service, and click Log in to WebMail. See What is Axigen webmail and how to sign in.

Settings you will enter

Hostname is usually mail.yourdomain.com once the domain's DNS and MX records point at LochStudios Mail. Swap in your domain. Confirm it on the mail service in the portal, or open a support ticket if you are unsure. Username is always the full email address. Password is the mailbox password, not your portal password.

We recommend IMAP. Full notes: Axigen email server settings.

This product does not use a separate app password. Use the mailbox password in Thunderbird.

Add the account in Thunderbird

The account wizard looks slightly different by Thunderbird version. The fields are the same.

1. Open Mozilla Thunderbird.
2. Start the mail account wizard:
- On first launch, Set Up Your Existing Email Address (or Add your existing email) appears on its own.
- Later: open the menu (three lines) → New Account → Email.
- Or File → New → Existing Mail Account.
- Or menu → Account Settings → Account Actions → Add Mail Account.
3. Enter:
- Your name: the name people should see on mail you send.
- Email address: the full address (sales@yourdomain.com).
- Password: the mailbox password.
- Leave Remember password ticked if this is your own computer.
4. Click Continue (or Set up).
5. Thunderbird will try to fill the servers for you.
- If it finds settings, choose IMAP (recommended) unless you specifically want POP, review the hostname and ports, then click Done.
- If it cannot find them, click Configure manually (or Manual config) and use the table above.
6. For a manual incoming server:
- Protocol: IMAP or POP3.
- Hostname: mail.yourdomain.com (your domain).
- Port: 993 (IMAP) or 995 (POP).
- Connection security: SSL/TLS.
- Authentication: Normal password.
- Username: the full email address.
7. For the outgoing (SMTP) server:
- Hostname: mail.yourdomain.com.
- Port: 587 with STARTTLS, or 465 with SSL/TLS.
- Authentication: Normal password.
- Username: the same full email address.
8. Click Re-test if the button is there, then Done.

Thunderbird should open the inbox. Click Get Messages (or right-click the inbox and choose Get New Messages) to fetch mail.

If Thunderbird cannot verify the account, do not keep a guessed server name. Enter mail.yourdomain.com and the full address, then match the ports and security above.

IMAP or POP

IMAP keeps mail on the server and shows the same folders, read state, and sent items on every device. Use IMAP if you also check mail in WebMail, on a phone, or on another computer.

POP (POP3) downloads messages to this Thunderbird profile. Many setups then remove the copy on the server. Use POP only if you want mail stored on this one computer and you do not need it elsewhere.

We recommend IMAP.

Do not use the older unencrypted ports (IMAP 143, POP 110, SMTP 25) even if Thunderbird lists them. Port 25 is for server-to-server mail, not for the app.

After it connects

• IMAP usually downloads headers first. The full message loads when you open it. To pull a folder now, right-click it and choose Get New Messages.
• POP downloads whole messages to this computer. That first fetch can take longer on a large mailbox.
• Send a test message to another address, then reply to it, so you know both receive and send work.
• Thunderbird checks for new mail on its own. Change how often under Account Settings → the account → Server Settings.
• Contacts in Thunderbird's Address Book stay on this computer unless you add CardDAV. Calendars and contacts on the mailbox use CalDAV and CardDAV. See Sync calendar and contacts (CalDAV and CardDAV) in Axigen.
• Message Filters in Thunderbird (Tools → Message Filters, or the account's filter list) run on this computer. Rules that should run even when Thunderbird is closed belong in WebMail. See Create filters and rules in Axigen Webmail.
• You can read already-downloaded mail without a connection: File → Offline → Work Offline.
• Compact (right-click a folder) only tidies Thunderbird's local copies. It does not raise the mailbox quota on the server. See Managing your mailbox storage and quota in Axigen.

Add another mailbox the same way. Each address is its own account.

LochStudios Mail allows 2000 emails per hour from the mailbox. Split large sends, or open a support ticket if you need a different setup.

Need a new password? See Change your Axigen mailbox password.

Open WebMail from the portal

You do not need to guess a hostname.

1. Sign in at the portal.
2. Open the mail service for the domain.
3. Click Log in to WebMail.
4. Sign in with the full email address and the mailbox password if WebMail asks.

Once DNS and MX for the domain are on our mail, you can also open https://mail.yourdomain.com (swap in your domain). Confirm the hostname on the mail service in the portal if you are unsure.

If WebMail works, the mailbox is fine. Connection problems in Thunderbird are then the hostname, port, security, or password.

If Thunderbird will not connect

Cannot sign in

• Username must be the full address, not only the part before @.
• Use the mailbox password. Portal and mailbox passwords are different unless you set them the same.
• Reset the mailbox password, then update Thunderbird. See Change your Axigen mailbox password.
• To remove a bad account and start again: right-click it in the folder pane, choose Remove Account (or Delete), then add it with the table above.

Cannot reach the server

• Hostname should be mail.yourdomain.com for that domain, not a name you invented. Confirm it on the mail service in the portal.
• IMAP is 993 with SSL/TLS. POP is 995 with SSL/TLS. SMTP is 587 with STARTTLS, or 465 with SSL/TLS. Do not mix those pairings.
• Check that this computer's firewall or security software is not blocking those ports.
• Confirm you can still send and receive in WebMail. If WebMail works, the mailbox is fine and Thunderbird's settings need another look.

Certificate warning

• The hostname in Thunderbird must match the name on the certificate, usually mail.yourdomain.com.
• Do not add a security exception for a name you typed by guesswork. Fix the hostname, or open a support ticket.

Mail is not arriving in Thunderbird

• IMAP: right-click the folder and choose Get New Messages.
• POP: Account Settings → Server Settings, and check whether mail is left on the server.
• Open WebMail and look in Inbox and Spam. If it is missing there too, the mailbox is not receiving yet.
• New messages land here only if this domain's MX records point at LochStudios Mail. Creating the mailbox does not move mail from another service. See MX records and how email routing works.

Cannot send

• Open Account Settings → Outgoing Server (SMTP) and confirm hostname, port, username, and that authentication is Normal password.
• Try 465 with SSL/TLS if 587 with STARTTLS does not connect (or the other way around).
• Use the mailbox password, not your portal password.

Still stuck? Open a support ticket and we will help. Unsure which product or DNS mode the domain uses? Say so in the ticket and we will check with you.

Related

• Axigen email server settings
• What is Axigen webmail and how to sign in
• Change your Axigen mailbox password
• Create filters and rules in Axigen Webmail
• Sync calendar and contacts (CalDAV and CardDAV) in Axigen
• Set up Axigen email in Microsoft Outlook
• Set up Axigen email on Android
• Set up Axigen email on iPhone and iPad
• Set up email in Mozilla Thunderbird
• Email is not sending or receiving