Thunderbird Desktop
Version 78.0 | Released July 17, 2020
Check out the notes below for this version of Thunderbird. As always, you’re encouraged to tell us what you think, or file a bug in Bugzilla.
** Thunderbird version 78.0 is only offered as direct download from thunderbird.net and not as an upgrade from Thunderbird version 68 or earlier.** A future release will provide updates from earlier versions.
Add-on support: As of version 78.0, Thunderbird only supports MailExtensions. Your favorite add-ons may not have been updated for compatibility.
At this time, users of the Enigmail Add-on should not update to Thunderbird 78.
OpenPGP functionality for Thunderbird 78 is still work in progress, and is disabled by default in the initial 78.0 release. See the wiki for how to enable and help with testing.
System Requirements: Details
- Windows: Windows 7 or later
- Mac: macOS 10.9 or later
- Linux: GTK+ 3.14 or higher
What’s New
new
New Account Hub for centralized account setup
new
Redesigned recipient address fields (To, Cc, Bcc) as single-line input fields (pills) for multiple addresses instead of one line per address. More improvements to come.
new
Color customization of Folder Pane icons
new
Allow selecting messages via selection boxes instead of classic selection. "Select Messages" column needs to be selected via the thread pane's column picker.
new
"Delete" action column in thread pane (message list). "Select Messages" column needs to be selected via the thread pane's column picker.
new
Themes can be previewed in the Add-On Manager
new
Minimize to tray support added for Windows
new
New config option to anonymize message date header
new
Global Search menu item in app menu
new
Additional Enterprise policies
new
Calendar: Added ICS import support to -file command line option
new
Calendar: Add event preview to ICS import dialog
new
Chat: OTR messaging support
new
Chat: IRC echo-message capability
What’s Changed
changed
Add-on support: As of version 78.0, Thunderbird only supports MailExtensions and MailExtension Experiments. Restartless add-ons and non-restartless legacy add-ons using XUL overlays are no longer supported.
changed
**As of version 78.0, "sideloaded" extensions are no longer supported. Enterprise administrators can deploy extensions using policies.
changed
Linux minimum runtime requirements have changed: GTK 3.14, GLIBC 2.17, libstdc++ 4.8.1 Details
changed
Thunderbird Options/Preferences tab redesigned and with new user interface
changed
Account creation dialog redesigned and with new user interface
changed
Account Manager moved to a tab
changed
Add-ons manager with new user interface and notifications
changed
Improved "Recent" folder list for "Move to" and "Copy to" in message context menu
changed
Improved UI of global search results tab
changed
Improvements to the location bar of a tab displaying web pages
changed
Use scalable icons throughout Thunderbird to improve support for HiDPI monitors and dark mode
changed
Address books are now stored as SQLite databases to prepare for future addressbook improvements. Existing address books in MAB format (using a Mork database) will be converted.
changed
New parser and formatter for vCard. vCard versions 3.0 and 4.0 are now supported.
changed
Various theme and dark mode improvements
changed
Various look and feel improvements
changed
Improved dialog for folder compaction (purging of deleted messages)
changed
Graphics hardware acceleration is now enabled by default
changed
TLS 1.0 and 1.1 disabled
changed
Calendar: The Lightning calendar add-on is now integrated into Thunderbird
changed
Calendar: Lightning version removed from Thunderbird user agent string
changed
Calendar: Web Calendar Access Protocol (WCAP) support removed
changed
Calendar: Storage access is now asynchronous to improve performance
changed
Calendar: Location URLs are now clickable
changed
Addon Developers: Updates to and expansion of MailExtensions APIs. Details
What’s Fixed
fixed
Password display font had characters that were difficult to read
fixed
When copying messages from an IMAP folder to a local folder, offline store wasn't used
fixed
While Thunderbird was in safe mode, the help menu did not offer an item to restart with add-ons enabled
fixed
Mailbox quotas not displayed correctly
fixed
Images not rotated when composing a message
fixed
Email addresses sometimes displayed incorrectly in message composer
fixed
Many accessibility fixes and improvements: message composer, account setup, attachment pane
fixed
Mailbox format conversion fixes
fixed
Address book improvements: exporting, editing contacts, contact photos
fixed
Chat: Renaming contacts in context menu did not work
fixed
Calendar: Task and event dialogs were sometimes too small for their content
fixed
Calendar: URLs in the event reminder dialog were not clickable
fixed
Various security fixes
Known Issues
unresolved
Mail header toolbar (Reply, Forward, Archive, Junk buttons) no longer configurable
unresolved
Preferences search not available
unresolved
Drag and drop of address book contacts not working in some situations