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Changing Mozilla Thunderbird Password

Almost everyone who uses Mozilla Thunderbird is impressed with the tons of features that are built into this free e-mail client. However, as with most freebie software, it is not always very intuitively designed and some things are not easy to figure out. One such situation becomes apparent when the need arises to change an e-mail account password. Sometimes you need to change a password because you have changed it on your e-mail server. Sometimes you need to change it because you accidentally entered and saved an invalid password, which may prevent you from accessing your e-mail. Sometimes you just need to remove a password that you have accidentally saved on a PC used by multiple people.

Changing a password in Thunderbird is not very difficult. Just follow these steps. This method works for both 1.x and 2.x versions of Thunderbird.

  1. Select Tools, Options from the top menu.
  2. Select Privacy.
  3. Select the Passwords tab.
  4. Click the Edit Saved Passwords button.
  5. Make sure that the Passwords Saved tab is selected on the Password Manager dialog box.
  6. Look for the name of the e-mail account that you wish to change. Highlight the account name and click the Remove button. This will allow you to re-enter the password the next time you try to access your mail.
  7. Click the OK button.

Thunderbird allow you to view your passwords by clicking on the Show Passwords button on the Passord Manager window. It is therefore not a good idea to save passwords on any PC that is used in a multi-user environment, such as an office.

saving Thunderbird password

You should see something similar to this the next time you try to retrieve e-mail. If you wish to save the password so that you do not have to re-enter it again, just click the checkbox next to the label "Use Password Manager to remember this password."

Remember that is is not a good idea to save a password if the the PC is used by multiple people. If you accidentally save a password in this situation, just follow these instructions to remove the password from Thunderbird.

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20 Responses to “Changing Mozilla Thunderbird Password”

  1. David Thomas Says:
    August 8th, 2007 at 5:38 am

    On Mozilla Thunderbird version 1.0.7-1.1.fc4 (20050929), there is no Tools->Options
    function on the menu.

  2. TE Says:
    August 20th, 2007 at 5:48 am

    Hi David

    I suggest you do an update to a current version. You are using an old version of Thunderbird that contains numerous vulnerabilities. The update is usually painless. :D

  3. Linda DeGrasse Says:
    October 6th, 2007 at 8:45 am

    I actually have a question that is a little different than this, but it is along the same lines. I would like to disable the password entirely when opening Thunderbird. I am the only person using the computer and nobody else has access. I have spent quite a bit of time trying to figure this out on my own, to no avail. Any assistance will be greatly appreciates.

  4. TE Says:
    October 6th, 2007 at 4:31 pm

    Hi Linda

    I assume you are talking about the password that’s requested when you retrieve your e-mail.

    It’s easy to “disable” the password request. You need to have a password saved for each e-mail address so that Thunderbird can access your account. When you try to retrieve your e-mail a dialog box pops up that asks for a password. Just enter the password and check off the small checkbox that says, “Use Password manager to remember this password”. That stores your password and Thunderbird won’t ask for it again unless it fails to access your e-mail account.

    If that doesn’t solve you issue, please give me more details.

  5. bradyo Says:
    November 7th, 2007 at 8:28 pm

    I’m with you right up until step #4. There is no “View Saved Passwords” button in my rev of Thunderbird. I’m using version 2006 (20070728).

    Stumped in San Francisco.

  6. TE Says:
    November 8th, 2007 at 5:33 pm

    Doh! You found a typo. I changed number 4 to read, “Click the Edit Saved Passwords button”

    Try it again. :D

  7. kitakagaya Says:
    November 15th, 2007 at 12:55 am

    I have kind of the opposite problem… Thunderbird will NOT ask me for a password and I want it to! I need to enter the password to be able to access my mail, but after a new install of Thunderbird (latest version just downloaded) and entering all the account info, at no stage have I been asked for a password and I can’t find anywhere to enter one. There are no popup boxes of any kind, and nothing in the saved passwords area.

    How can I force Thunderbird to ask me for my password?

  8. TE Says:
    November 18th, 2007 at 8:44 pm

    The time to enter the password is when you attempt to retrieve your e-mail. The password request comes from the e-mail server. Thunderbird has the ability to store the password, but if Thunderbird never gets the password request, you will never see the password dialogue box.

    It sounds like you are not connecting properly with the e-mail server. It could be due to a requirement to use an SSL port or a particular security setting. Read my articles about dealing with Thunderbird connection problems. That should resolve the issue.

  9. Mr. X Says:
    December 3rd, 2007 at 6:05 pm

    Unfortunately, nothing shows up in the list when I click the “Edit saved passwords” button. See, I created a secondary E-mail account, but I cannot figure out the password. Anyone have any more ideas?

  10. TE Says:
    December 4th, 2007 at 5:59 am

    Hi Mr. X

    Did you make sure that the Passwords Saved tab is selected on the Password Manager dialog box?

    If you don’t see any passwords, then you have not saved any.

    If you have forgotten your password, you will have to get it from your ISP or e-mail provider.

  11. SA Says:
    January 11th, 2008 at 2:08 am

    Hi,
    I have different problem but in the same line….
    In my Thunderbird , the check box saying “Use Password manager to remember this password” never appears in password window.
    What will be the problem?
    I was using version 2.0.0.4. Now I am using 2.0.0.9.But still the issue is there.

    Thanks in advance…..

  12. TE Says:
    January 18th, 2008 at 6:03 am

    Hmmm. I looked for a flag in Thunderbird that might turn this message off, but didn’t find any.

    Has anyone else seen this problem? Any solutions found?

  13. Gabix Says:
    April 19th, 2008 at 8:33 am

    Same as kitakagaya (I’m not asked for a password and it doesn’t show any mailbox://myaccount@pop.mail.provider.com in the password administrator). I’ve been once asked at first but I mistyped it and never asked again. The strange thing is that sending mail through the SMTP (with that particular account and where I typed the password correctly) works perfectly.
    Is there another way to input a password in the pass admin other than being asked by the server? (entering manually a pass in there).

    Th error message that I get is: in spanish: “Se produjo un error al enviar la contraseña. El servidor de correo pop.mail.provider.com respondió: Service temporarily unavailable”, I´ll try to translate it: An error ocurred sending the password. Server “x” sayd: service temporarily unavailable.

    This server x doesnt use any secure conection (TLS, SSL, in this case NONE)

    HELP!!

  14. TE Says:
    April 23rd, 2008 at 5:21 am

    Hi Gabix

    If you have saved passwords, they should display in the Password Manager. Try clicking on the Show Passwords button to see if anything displays. Also, make sure that the Passwords Saved tab is selected in the Password Manager. If they are not showing, it is possible that either Thunderbird is not finding the file or perhaps it is corrupted and it cannot read it. However it is strange that you can access the account where you entered the password correctly. That indicates that Thunderbird is reading the file.

    Try clicking on the Remove All button in the Password Manager. That should force you to re-enter each password as you access each e-mail account the next time.

    I don’t know of another way to input another password. That is what the Password Manager is supposed to handle.

    Always make sure that you are using a current version of Thunderbird. There are a lot of bugs and security issues with older versions.

  15. Tim Says:
    June 14th, 2008 at 11:39 pm

    This didn’t work for me, still not getting prompted; monitoring the mail server, Thunderbird is just throwing the mail at it and not trying tho authenticate. Running 2.0.0.14. Same with 2.0.0.12. Luckily for me, I can modify the mail server but this isn’t a solution for mobile users. Guess I’m stuck with Outlook. Too bad.

  16. Joy Says:
    September 27th, 2008 at 3:55 am

    I had saved passwords, but I wanted to change them. I did a “remove all” in the password manager. It shows that I have no passwords saved.

    Now when I click on get mail for all accounts(some are via SSL or TLS), it seems Thunderbird is simply going to the server without prompting for a password. But no new mail shows up.

    Strangely, when I send mail out from my gmail or road runner accounts, the outgoing mail does get sent. I thought they required a password at their smtp servers. What is going on here?

    Something is broke here. Really broke.

  17. Joy Says:
    September 27th, 2008 at 4:01 am

    Ok, additional searching yields this comment from here: http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?f=39&t=857265 …

    If your servers settings are wrong (even a trailing space) then the server never is found and the password is never requested. This has to be it. Just wish I could figure out what part of my current settings is the trouble maker!

  18. Joy Says:
    September 27th, 2008 at 4:23 am

    And the final answer is… new wireless router firewall is blocking outbound SSL on port 995. Finally!

  19. TE Says:
    September 29th, 2008 at 1:42 pm

    Hi Joy

    Good troubleshooting! Glad you found it.

    There are dozens of variables that can affect both inbound and outbound messages and most of them have nothing to do with Thunderbird. Unfortunately, Thunderbird does not always give a clear indication as to why it is having problems and it usually gets the blame.

    Thanks for following up with your solution. :D

  20. westedge Says:
    October 3rd, 2008 at 8:28 pm

    Ok, for me: I have passwords for both accounts that I have set up, I am asked for them when accessing email, yet under “Edit Saved Passwords”, “Password Manager’s Passwords Saved” tab no passwords are showing. What to do?

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