Addressing an Email

__TOC__ Addressing an email using Thunderbird is not a difficult task, but there are different ways it is done, with some differences from other mail programs. The most obvious change people migrating from Microsoft products see, is that Thunderbird does not place more than one recipient in each addressing box, instead creating multiple addressing boxes. This does not in any way affect the way the mail appears to the recipient, it was just a layout choice that was made early in the Thunderbird design process. ==Address Fields== '''To:''' The primary recipient(s) of this email <br> '''CC:''' (Carbon Copy) The secondary recipient(s) of this email. Recipients will see the email addresses of those in the To: and CC: field<br> '''BCC:''' (Blind Carbon Copy) Addresses in this field will have mail sent to them, but recipients won't know who was in the BCC: field i.e. those in the BCC: field will receive the email but those in the To: and CC: fields won't know who was in the BCC: field If there is no entry in the To: field but only in the BCC: then the mail will be sent to all the BCC recipient(s) and the mail will be displayed to recipients as being sent to "undisclosed recipients" or similar wording by the receiving email program. ===Special Note for Google users=== Google IMAP mail accounts will remove the names in the BCC list from your sent folder. That is the sender i.e. you, will have no record of to whom an email was BCCed to. If you need a record of whom you BCCed in an email, you will have to manually record this yourself before sending the email. This is a feature only of Gmail. ==Selecting the entries from your address book.== Thunderbird does offer a Write option if you right click a contact in the list. [[Image:Address Book :Right Click Menu]] This is handy if you want to send just one mail, but rather useless if you have multiple people in mind to send the mail to. There is however a little used key combination supported by the operating system that allows you to select multiple entries in a list such as the one in the address book. By holding down the {key Ctrl } key you can select multiple entries, one per mouse click. Clicking on an entry in the list that is already selected will deselect that item. [[Image:Address Book: Ctrl to select]] In addition to this there is the ability to use the {key Shift } key. Holding down the {key Shift } key will see everything in the list between your mouse clicks selected [[Image:Address Book: Shift to Select]] It is possible, using a combination of {key Shilf} and {key Ctrl } in the same action, changing the Key held down at appropriate times can make very efficient use of your time while fine tuning the list selected. ===Selecting the entries from the Contact Pane.=== Whenever you click Write, Forward or reply, Thunderbird opens a compose window. One of the features of the compose window is that it contains a contact pane from which you can see all of the entries in your address book. This pane can be turned on and off using the F9 key, or from the {menu View} menu in the compose window. [[Image:Compose Windows: Contacts Pane]] You can select entries from this pane simply by Double clicking, or by using the buttons at the bottom of the pane [[Image:Compose Windows Contacts Pane Buttons]] or by right clicking on the entries you have selected with your mouse and the {key Ctrl} and {key Shift } keys and select a destination from the menu. [[Image:Compose Window: Contacts pane: Right CLick menu]] After you select the add option the addresses will be added to the list of recipients at the top of the mail, one line per recipient. ==Typing the entries Manually== Type the email address directly into the relevant field at the top of the email, after you have typed a few characters Thunderbird will probably be able to auto complete the entry for you by using your address books. Additional entries will be made available to enter addresses into when you press enter.

Addressing an email using Thunderbird is not a difficult task, but there are different ways it is done, with some differences from other mail programs. The most obvious change people migrating from Microsoft products see, is that Thunderbird does not place more than one recipient in each addressing box, instead creating multiple addressing boxes. This does not in any way affect the way the mail appears to the recipient, it was just a layout choice that was made early in the Thunderbird design process.

Address Fields

To: The primary recipient(s) of this email
CC: (Carbon Copy) The secondary recipient(s) of this email. Recipients will see the email addresses of those in the To: and CC: field
BCC: (Blind Carbon Copy) Addresses in this field will have mail sent to them, but recipients won't know who was in the BCC: field i.e. those in the BCC: field will receive the email but those in the To: and CC: fields won't know who was in the BCC: field

If there is no entry in the To: field but only in the BCC: then the mail will be sent to all the BCC recipient(s) and the mail will be displayed to recipients as being sent to "undisclosed recipients" or similar wording by the receiving email program.

Special Note for Google users

Google IMAP mail accounts will remove the names in the BCC list from your sent folder. That is the sender i.e. you, will have no record of to whom an email was BCCed to. If you need a record of whom you BCCed in an email, you will have to manually record this yourself before sending the email. This is a feature only of Gmail.

Selecting the entries from your address book.

Thunderbird does offer a Write option if you right click a contact in the list. The image "Address Book :Right Click Menu" does not exist. This is handy if you want to send just one mail, but rather useless if you have multiple people in mind to send the mail to. There is however a little used key combination supported by the operating system that allows you to select multiple entries in a list such as the one in the address book.

By holding down the Ctrl key you can select multiple entries, one per mouse click. Clicking on an entry in the list that is already selected will deselect that item.

In addition to this there is the ability to use the Shift key. Holding down the Shift key will see everything in the list between your mouse clicks selected

It is possible, using a combination of Shilf and Ctrl in the same action, changing the Key held down at appropriate times can make very efficient use of your time while fine tuning the list selected.

Selecting the entries from the Contact Pane.

Whenever you click Write, Forward or reply, Thunderbird opens a compose window. One of the features of the compose window is that it contains a contact pane from which you can see all of the entries in your address book. This pane can be turned on and off using the F9 key, or from the View menu in the compose window.

You can select entries from this pane simply by Double clicking, or by using the buttons at the bottom of the pane

or by right clicking on the entries you have selected with your mouse and the Ctrl and Shift keys and select a destination from the menu. The image "Compose Window: Contacts pane: Right CLick menu" does not exist.

After you select the add option the addresses will be added to the list of recipients at the top of the mail, one line per recipient.

Typing the entries Manually

Type the email address directly into the relevant field at the top of the email, after you have typed a few characters Thunderbird will probably be able to auto complete the entry for you by using your address books. Additional entries will be made available to enter addresses into when you press enter.