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Thunderbird...
... is a free and open-source multi-platform email client and personal information manager with news, RSS and chat client integrated.
We will learn how to connect your Cloud contacts, calendars and tasks to Thunderbird in order to manage them from one place in your desktop.
Installing Thunderbird
If you do not have it installed, go to Thunderbird page and select the download for your operating system and language. Additionally, if you use a GNU/Linux based operating system you will almost certainly find it in the software manager of your distribution.
Configuring a calendar
01. Getting the calendar address
To configure a calendar in Thunderbird, you will need to know its address first.
- Login to the Cloud
- Go to the Calendar app
- Select or create a calendar you want to sync.
- Press the "three dots" button to the right of the calendar.
- Press Copy private link. The address will be saved in the computer's clipboard.
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You will see the next message:
A good way to verify that we have the URL copied properly would be to paste it into a notepad, check it and save it. With this first step completed, we will now move on to configure Thunderbird.
02. Configuring Thunderbird
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Click on the Calendar icon at the top right.
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Right click on the calendar list and select New calendar.
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Create New Calendar process will start. Select On the Network (the calendar is stored in the cloud).
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Select the CalDAV format and enter your username.
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In the Location field, paste the link of your Disroot Calendar, the one you previously copied from the Cloud. Select Offline Support if you want to keep a local copy of your calendar to work offline. Press Next.
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Give a name to your calendar. You can also assign it a color and enable/disable reminders.
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Then press Next and then Finish.
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You will be prompted for your credentials:
- Username: Your_Disroot_username
- Password: Your_Disroot_password
- You can select the option Use password manager to remember this password so you don't get asked for it every time you connect.
- Press "OK"
Your calendar is now synced with Thunderbird. Any event created in it will appear on Disroot Cloud and vice versa.
!! #### Tip
!! If you have multiple calendars in your Disroot account, just repeat this process for each calendar. You can use a different color to each calendar to identify them. This method works for any Nextcloud provider.
!! Additionally you can sync any calendars from any provider as long as they support CalDAV protocol (you can check with your provider for more details).
03. Adding events
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Right click on the date you want to add an event.
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The New Event window will open. Now you can assign a name to the event.
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Add or create a category for the event.
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Select to which calendar the event goes to (useful in case you have multiple calendars and you want to avoid end up looking for it online in the wrong place).
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You can also set:
- If it is an All day Event.
- The Start and End of the event.
- If you want/need the event to be repeated and how often.
- Set a reminder for the event.
- Add a description, attachments or the attendees' names if it is a meeting, for example.
Once you've done, click Save and Close.
Additional options
If you right click a calendar you will find a set of options:
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Show/Hide Calendars.
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New Calendar... (To add a new one).
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Unsubscribe Calendar... (To remove it from Thunderbird).
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Export Calendar...
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Publish Calendar...
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Synchronize Calendars.
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Properties of a Calendar.
Tasks
Tasks are automatically synchronized when you integrate a calendar into Thunderbird.
Any task you create in Thunderbird assigned to a calendar will be synchronized to your Cloud Tasks app and vice versa.
Contacts
To integrate your Cloud contacts into Thunderbird you will first need to install an add-on called CardBook.
01. Installing CardBook addon
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Go to Tools and select Add-ons.
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In the Find more extensions field write cardbook and press Enter.
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Select the CardBook add-on and add it to Thunderbird.
Thunderbird will download the add-on, ask if you want to add it and finally ask you to restart.
02. Adding a remote Address Book
The process is pretty similar to the calendars integration. First you need to get the link from the contacts in your Disroot account.
Getting the Address Book URL
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Go to the Contacts app in the Disroot Cloud (1)
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Then go to the Settings (2) (the 'gear' icon in the bottom left-panel) and click on the three dots button on the right of the address book you want to synchronize.
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Select Copy link.
The URL is now copied in your computer clipboard and, as it was suggested before, it is better to save it, you will need it in the next step.
Configuring Contacts
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Click CardBook in the email tools bar.
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Right click and select New Address Book
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Select Remote and press Next
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Select CardDAV and paste the remote address book you copied before in the URL field.
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Enter your credentials
- Username: your_Disroot_username
- Password: your_Disroot_Password
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Press Validate to check if the credentials are correct (you cannot finish the process without this step)
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Once the credentials are validated, press Next
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Now you can
- change the name of the Address Book
- set a color for it
- and select to Work Offline if you want a copy of the Address Book to be stored locally.
- Press Next and then Finish.
Your contacts in your Cloud are now synced with the Thunderbird address book.
From now on, any contacts you add/remove/edit in the Cloud will be altered accordingly in your Thunderbird remote calendar and vice versa.
Synchronization
The synchronization between the local (Thunderbird) and the remote calendar (Disroot Cloud) happens every few minutes. But you can force it doing:
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Right click on the calendar in question in Thunderbird. You will find a large set of options. Select Synchronize Address Book.
If you want to move contacts from your Personal Address Book or Collected Addresses to your new remote address book:
- Select and drag the contact to your remote address book.
!! It is highly recommended that you do not forget to backup your contacts from time to time.