Three Thunderbird Add-ons that will Boost Your Productivity

If you’d rather do this in Firefox instead, jump over to my Three Firefox Add-ons that will Boost Your Productivity article.

First off, I’d like to thank Marcio, AKA Starboy, for suggesting a few of these add-ons, and for suggesting the topic of add-ons, sometimes called extensions, for Firefox and Thunderbird. As promised, today we’ll dive into three Thunderbird add-ons that will help make your tech life easier.

If you live in your inbox, these add-ons can take some of the friction out of daily email. I’m linking directly to each add-on so you can install it without hunting through the add-ons list.

As I did for the Firefox add-ons article, I will link directly to the add to Thunderbird option for you.

Send Later

The Send Later Thunderbird extension allows you to write an email message and then tell Thunderbird when you want it to be sent. The message is saved into your Drafts folder, and delivered at approximately the specified time.

Direct install link: Send Later on Thunderbird Add-ons.

Once you add Send Later to Thunderbird, you can schedule a message from the composition window using the Send Later command. The add-on hooks the Send Later shortcut in the compose window, which is Control Shift Return, and pops up a dialog where you can choose a time.

If you want the official docs for all the scheduling options, the project keeps them here: Send Later documentation.

There are also preset buttons that will automatically select to send your email 15 minutes, 30 minutes, or two hours from now. Note that these presets can be accessed via the keyboard by pressing Control 1, Control 2, and Control 3 respectively. You also have the option of sending an email as a recurring email message.

Note that some email servers discard the headers that indicate your scheduling preferences. If this happens, you will need to tell Thunderbird to use the drafts folder under the local folders tree. To do this, you will need to edit your Thunderbird email account settings to select a different drafts folder under the Copies Folder options.

Quick Folder Key Navigation

This add-on is another set and forget extension. It allows you to quickly jump to folders in the folder pane by typing the first letter or two of the folder you want, as long as the folder pane has focus. This is great because Thunderbird does not provide this functionality out of the box, and yes, it can be a source of frustration for screen reader users, me included.

Direct install link: Quick Folder Key Navigation on Thunderbird Add-ons.

According to the add-on’s description, there’s also a QuickNav button and an F4 option to bring up a search box, then you can type a folder prefix and use Up Arrow and Down Arrow to cycle through matches.

Quick Folder Move

This extension helps you move, copy, tag, or jump to folders from the keyboard. The workflow is fast once you get used to it, and it scratches an itch that Thunderbird users have been complaining about forever.

Direct install link: Quick Folder Move on Thunderbird Add-ons.

Here’s the current keyboard workflow listed on the add-on page:

Open the Quick Folder Move popup, Control Shift N

Choose what you want to do, use Left Arrow and Right Arrow to pick Move, Copy, Apply Tag, or Go To Folder

Pick the target folder or tag, use Up Arrow and Down Arrow

Do the action, press Enter

If you’ve used an older Quick Folder Move workflow with Shift shortcuts, you may notice the newer popup based workflow feels different. If your muscle memory is yelling at you, you’re not imagining it.

Now Upgrade Your Thunderbird!

I hope this has helped you make Thunderbird work better for you. These extensions scratch an itch that many people have expressed while using the Thunderbird email client.

FAQ

What’s the quickest way to install a Thunderbird add-on?

The easiest method is inside Thunderbird: open the Add-ons Manager, search for the add-on, then install it. The links in this post take you straight to the official add-on pages.

If Send Later doesn’t send at the exact time I chose, is that normal?

It can be. Send Later schedules your message by saving it and sending it around the time you requested. Network conditions, server rules, and account settings can affect timing.

Why does folder navigation feel so slow in Thunderbird without add-ons?

A lot of it comes down to focus and navigation model. Quick Folder Key Navigation adds the missing “type a few letters to jump” behavior many people expect in folder trees.

What should I memorize first for Quick Folder Move?

Start with the popup shortcut and Enter. Once you can open it and commit an action quickly, the rest is just arrows and practice.

Until next time… Qapla!