Thunderbird - Changing the Stored Password

Best Effort Support Only

This document contains instructions on using a non-Microsoft email client, such as Apple Mail or Thunderbird. Microsoft does not recommend these clients for use with Office 365, and there are often significant limitations in client functionality as a result.

Because of this, the DoIT Help Desk is only able to offer best effort support for these clients, and certain issues may require the use of a Microsoft client in order to be resolved. For more information on Office 365 client support, please see: Office 365 - Which clients/protocols will be supported?.

This document describes how to remove the stored password from Thunderbird and enter a new one. Follow these steps if you have recently changed or reset your Office 365 email account password, and you use Thunderbird to save your email account passwords.

Note: These steps will not change the password to your email account, only the password that has been saved in Thunderbird. To change a Office 365 email account password, see the Reset NetID Password section of NetID - Modifying your Account.

  1. Open Thunderbird.

    • On a Windows machine, go to Tools, then Options.
    • If using a Mac, click on the Firefox menu and select Preferences...
    • If using Linux, click on Edit and select Preferences...
    Win: Go to Tools, then Options. Mac: Go to Firefox, then Preferences.

  2. Click the Security button, and go to the Passwords tab. Click Saved Passwords....

    Go to Security, Passwords, then click Saved Passwords...

  3. Click Show Passwords. You may be prompted for the master password.

    Click Show Passwords.

  4. A box will appear that says Are you sure you wish to show your passwords? Press Yes.

    Press Yes.

  5. If you have opted to save both your incoming (imap://) and outgoing (smtp://) mail server password in Thunderbird, you will see them listed separately even though they are technically the same password, as shown below. To change a stored password, highlight it and press Remove.

    • Note: If you are removing saved passwords because you have changed your NetID account password, you will need to delete both in order to send and receive mail.

    Press Remove.

  6. Close all windows and quit Thunderbird.

  7. Reopen Thunderbird.

  8. Thunderbird will attempt to check the incoming server for new mail, at which point it will prompt you for a new password (provided you deleted the incoming server password). Enter the new password and check Use Password Manager to remember this password. Press OK.

    If you deleted your outgoing server password, you will be prompted to re-enter your password the first time you try to send a message from your account.

    9. Check the box and press OK.