Set up the Betterbird fork of Thunderbird on Linux
Tired of waiting for Mozilla Thunderbird to get updated with new features or bug fixes on your Linux system? Try out Betterbird. It is a soft fork of Thunderbird that promises to keep the email client fresh, packed with features, and up to date. Here’s how to set up Betterbird on your Linux PC.
Why use Betterbird over Mozilla Thunderbird?
Mozilla Thunderbird is an excellent email client for Linux, but it is slow to add new features and bug fixes. Betterbird is a new project that takes the Thunderbird codebase, updates it more frequently, adds new features, etc.
Betterbird is a new project. However, it uses the mature Mozilla Thunderbird codebase, so it is not unstable. Betterbird is good to use if you desire new features and don’t like waiting around for Thunderbird.
Betterbird – installation instructions
There aren’t any packages for Betterbird on Linux. Instead, users must download the TarBZ2 archive from the internet. The downloadable archive is pre-compiled, so there is no need to build anything.
Open up a terminal window to get your hands on the latest version of Betterbird for Linux. You can open up a terminal by pressing Ctrl + Alt + T on the keyboard. Or by searching for “Terminal” in the app menu.
Once the terminal window is open and ready to use, run the wget download command to grab the latest release of Betterbird.
wget https://www.betterbird.eu/downloads/LinuxArchive/betterbird-102.3.0-bb17.en-US.linux-x86_64.tar.bz2
After downloading the archive to your computer, you must extract it. To extract the files, use the tar xvf command to decompress everything.
tar xvf betterbird-102.3.0-bb17.en-US.linux-x86_64.tar.bz2
Once the command above runs, a new folder named “betterbird” will appear in your home folder (~). From here, use the touch command to create a script file. This script file will make it easier to run betterbird.
touch betterbird.sh
Open up the betterbird.sh file in the Nano text editor. Then, paste the code below into Nano.
#!/bin/bash
cd ~/betterbird/
./betterbird-bin
Save your code by pressing the Ctrl + O on the keyboard. Exit the Nano text editor by pressing Ctrl + X. Once the file is saved, open up the Linux file manager, and right-click on betterbird.sh. Select “Run as Program” to open up Betterbird.
If you do not wish to use the script file, select the “betterbird” folder, locate “betterbird-bin,” and right-click on it to launch the program.
Betterbird – Flatpak
Installing the latest Betterbird via the downloadable TarBZ2 archive isn’t the only way to set it up. You can also install the Flatpak version of the app. This version automatically updates and creates a nice desktop shortcut in the app menu.
To set up Betterbird as a Flatpak app, you must first set up the Flatpak runtime on your computer. Our Flatpak configuration guide will help you get the latest Flatpak runtime working. Then, when you’ve set up Flatpak on your computer, enter the two commands below to get Betterbird.
flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo
flatpak install flathub eu.betterbird.Betterbird
How to set up your email in Betterbird
To set up your email in Betterbird, follow the steps below.
- Launch the Betterbird application by searching for it in the Linux app menu.
- Once Betterbird is open, you will see a pop-up message in the app. This message says, “Set Up Your Existing Email Address.” Next, find “Your full name” and enter it into the text box.
- After entering your name, locate “Email address” and enter your email address. Then, Betterbird can use your email account to detect your email’s IMAP/POP3 server settings automatically.
- Locate the “Password” area and click on it with the mouse. Then, enter your email account password. Find the “Continue” button when done and select it with the mouse to move to the next page.
- After entering your password, Betterbird will automatically configure an IMAP/SMTP or POP3 server setup. For best results, we suggest selecting IMAP, as it keeps everything in sync. Click on the “Done” button when you’ve made your configuration selection.
- Betterbird will now ask you to connect your linked services. Find the “Address Books” section, and select the “Connect” button. Selecting this button will integrate your email account address book into Betterbird.
- After setting up your Address book in Betterbird, you can set up a calendar. Find the “Calendars” section, and choose the “Connect” button next to the detected calendars on your email account.
- When your address book and calendars are set up in Betterbird, find the “Finish” button to complete the setup process.
When Betterbird is fully configured by following the eight steps above, it will begin downloading your email, address book, and calendar. When the downloading is complete, you’ll be able to start using Betterbird to send/receive email on Linux.
