Software Update: Mozilla Thunderbird 0.9

The folks at Mozilla have upgraded the open source email client Thunderbird to version 0.9. The release is from this server available for download for Windows, MacOS X and Linux. Thunderbird is an open source and cross-platform mail and newsgroup client with features such as a junk mail filter, spell check and the ability to further extend its functionality using extensions. The release notes of version 0.9 look like this:

Saved Search Folders

Saved Search Folders display messages based on previously set search criteria. For example, instead of filtering messages into a new folder, you could create a Saved Search Folder that lists all the messages received from a certain person over the past 30 days, even if those messages are stored in different folders and subfolders.

Message Grouping

You can now group messages in a folder by attributes such as date, sender, priority or a custom label. For instance, a folder grouped by date will group messages from today, yesterday, last week, etc. into self-contained groups in the message list pane. (View > Sort By > Grouped By Sort)

Other New Features

• Messages with attachments now get marked as such in the message list pane immediately and not when the message is displayed.
• Improvements to Thunderbird’s Global Inbox support for POP3 users.
• The new quick search bar introduced in 0.8 now features a clear button when search text is present inside the quick search box.
• Fixed a regression introduced in 0.8 where a user could not change the local folder path in the Account Manager.
• Improved offline support including fixes for common offline-related problems.
• Improved privacy controls block remote content in e-mail messages from senders not in your address book.
• Long file attachment names are no longer truncated in the message pane.
• Bug fixes too numerous to mention!

Known Issues

• If Thunderbird 0.9 is placed in a location with limited access privileges, it should be run by a user with access to that location first, so that all initial startup files are generated. There may be issues still where if a restricted-access user is the first to run the application, these files may not be generated properly and Thunderbird may enter an infinite restart loop. This will be fixed in a future release.
• The RSS reader does not work if the RSS feed requires a user name and password.
• You cannot create more than one RSS account via the Account Manager.
• Linux: Thunderbird does not properly dispatch browser URLs to the default browser out of the box. Read about how to make this work here.
• The default dictionary is English-only. To add a non-English dictionary, read the installation instructions.
• Windows users can synch their address book with a Palm device by installing the Palm Sync extension for Thunderbird. Save the file locally and install it from the extensions dialog in Thunderbird. The extension will not show up in the list of extensions.
• The enable/disable option for adaptive junk mail detection appears to apply to all accounts (Tools > Junk Mail Controls > Adaptive Filters). It is, however, a per account option. To set the option for a specific account, choose the account in the ‘Account:’ dropdown on the ‘Settings’ panel, then switch to the ‘Adaptive Filters’ panel and set the option. Repeat per account as needed.
• The default theme is almost finished. There are still some Classic theme icons in the UI. Please do not file bugs about icons not being converted to the new theme.