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Fixing Reset Thunderbird Preferences

Since the release of Thunderbird 2.0 over the summer, many users have experienced the "thunderbird preferences reset syndrome", an unfortunate but easily cured side-effect of the update.

Symptom: When replying, text of the original message appears as an attachment rather than in the body of the reply.

Fix:

The Forward Messages box is likely set to "As Attachment." Change it to "Inline."

Symptom: When replying, cursor jumps below text of original message.

Fix:

Symptom: Names and email addresses are not automatically looked up as you type in the To: box.

Fix:

1. Check the Directory Server box, then click Edit Directories.
2. The LDAP Directory Servers dialog box will pop up. Click Add.
3. The Directory Server Properties dialog will pop up. Fill out the General tab as follows:
   
   
   
4. "LC LDAP" will now appear as an option in the LDAP Directory Servers box. Click OK
5. In the Directory Server pulldown menu, select "LC LDAP" and click OK.
6. Go to Tools > Account Settings… > Composition & Addressing, select Use a different LDAP server, select "LC LDAP" from the pulldown menu, and click OK.

Symptom: Thunderbird doesn’t automatically add “@lclark.edu” after I type usernames in the To: box.

Fix:

Click on Config Editor. In the Filter: box, type “mydomain” This should bring up the autocompleteToMyDomain setting. Double-click on it to change its value to True.

Symptom: Can’t delete folders.

Fix:

Delete the folders. If you want your messages to be retained in the trash folder before they are deleted permanently, you should then change this setting back to “Move it to the Trash folder.”

Symptom: Can’t delete messages.

Fix:

First, check to see if you are over quota. Go to:
http://www.lclark.edu/~infotech/CONNECTIONS/check.html and enter your username and password. (There is a link to this on the webmail login page, which is easier to remember).

Assuming you are over quota, you will likely want to think, in the longer term, about moving old correspondence to your Local Folders (at the bottom of the folder list in thunderbird).  This means that the old correspondence will reside on your hard drive, not on the server. It won’t count against your quota, but it won’t be remotely accessible.

However, most immediately, you need to delete stuff to get under quota!

Delete unwanted messages until you are under quota. If you want your messages to be retained in the trash folder before they are deleted permanently, you should then change this setting back to “Move it to the Trash folder.”