There are certain settings in Thunderbird that control things such as the location of Sent, Drafts & Templates, the behavior of message replies and forwarding, signature files and vCards, default search directories, etc. To change these settings, follow the directions below.

Sent messages, Drafts and Templates going to Local Mail folders

Users may find that their Sent mail, Drafts and Templates are going to the Local Mail rather than the server. In the case of Drafts and Templates, this setting will prevent old drafts and templates from working properly. To fix this:

• Click Tools, then select Account Settings.

• Click Copies & Folders listed under the user's account name.

• On the right, change the "Place a copy in.." setting for Sent mail from Local Folders to the user's email account name.

• Do the same for Drafts & Templates.

• Click OK.

Message replies are going below the original message and not above

Users may find that when they reply to a message, their reply goes below the quoted message, not above. To fix this:

• Click Tools, then select Account Settings.

• Click Composition & Addressing listed under the user's account name.

• Where it says "Automatically quote the original message..." change the setting to "Start my reply above the quote."

• You can also control where the user's signature appears (if applicable).

• Click OK.

Forwarded messages are going as attachments and not inline

Users may find that when they forward a message to someone, the forwarded message appears as an attachment in the Attachments pane, rather than appearing inline in the forwarded message. To fix this:

• Click Tools, then select Options.

• Click Composition

• On the right at the top, change the Forwarded Messages from As Attachment to Inline.

• Click OK.

Signature file or vCard is no longer attached to outgoing emails

Users will find that their old email signature or vCard is missing. If the original signature file was saved in the user's My Documents folder, all that they need to do is reattach it. If they cannot find their signature file, they must recreate it and then attach it. Click here for instructions on how to do this (this link will bring you to another site).

Villanova Directory is not installed or is not configured properly

Users may complain that whenever they address a message to someone on campus, Thunderbird does not seem to find anyone listed in the Villanova Directory. If this is the case, it is possible that the Villanova Directory was either not installed on the machine or it was not configured to be the default search directory in Thunderbird.

Click here for directions on how to install/configure the Villanova Directory as Thunderbird's default search directory.

Users are having difficulty finding people in Villanova Directory

If you are searching for someone in the Villanova Directory and you cannot find that person, it may be the way that you are typing the person's name.

In the Search For box, you must type either the entire first name or the entire last name of the person you are searching for, or you can type both.

If you do not want to type the entire first name, or if you are unsure of the spelling of the person's first name, you can use the asterisk (*) wildcard in your search. For example, to search for Tracy Johnson, you can type tra* johnson, rather than type the entire first name.

Note: If you are typing in a name and the person you are looking for is not appearing, it may be that they have a middle initial in their email address. In this case, type the person's full first name, followed by an asterisk (*), then type a space and their last name (e.g., Tracy* Johnson will result in Tracy Johnson and Tracy L. Johnson).

If you still cannot find the person, try searching for them at http://directory.villanova.edu.

Back to Updates & Fixes Page

Updated: 11/08/2006