Office 365 (Thunderbird) - Client Capabilities

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 provides an overview of a range of functions and behavior when interacting with Office 365 using Mozilla Thunderbird. The functionality considered pertains to the Email, Calendaring, and Contacts portions of the Office 365 suite..

Key
This client is able to perform these functions very well, with few or no issues. This client is able to perform these functions very well, with few or no issues.
This client has some issues performing these functions. Certain tasks may require a different client or additional steps. This client has some issues performing these functions. Certain tasks may require a different client or additional steps.
This client is not able to perform these functions; a different client is needed to complete these functions. This client is not able to perform these functions; a different client is needed to complete these functions.
These functions have not yet been tested using this client. These functions have not yet been tested using this client.

Email Functions Yes/No Notes
Client accessible per ADA guidelines These functions are untested.
Configure for access There are some issues with configuring this client. Without any third-party add-ons, Thunderbird does not support Exchange configuration, so IMAP must be used. By default, an IMAP subscription only subscribes you to Inbox. Default configuration creates a new "Sent" folder (vs "Sent Items") and "Trash" folder (vs "Deleted Items"). Other folders in account can be subscribed to, but must be done so manually. It is possible to subscribe to "non-mail" folders that the Exchange system uses for processing other items, like "Calendar". Doing so does not provide any type of calendar functionality.
Send and receive These functions are performed very well, with few or no issues.
Move message to a folder These functions are performed very well, with few or no issues.
Create, rename, and delete folders These functions are performed very well, with few or no issues.
Set sharing permissions for entire mailbox It is not possible to perform these functions.
Set sharing permissions for folder(s) It is not possible to perform these functions.
Interact with a shared mailbox There are some issues with these features. Certain tasks may be impossible or problematic.
Interact with a shared folder It is not possible to perform these functions.
Authenticate and send as another user These functions are performed very well, with few or no issues.
Send on behalf of another user (change identities) These functions are performed very well, with few or no issues. If you have "Send As" permissions, you can do so. If you do not, you will receive an SMTP 5.7.1 error stating "Client does not have permissions to send as this sender."
Send as Alternate Address These functions are performed very well, with few or no issues.
Set and modify server-side filters It is not possible to perform these functions.
Set and modify client-side filters These functions are performed very well, with few or no issues. As with any client-side functionality, these only take place when and if the configured client is actively running and connected to the mail server.
Expand recipients from server-side distribution list It is not possible to perform these functions.
Forward email inline These functions are performed very well, with few or no issues.
Forward email as attachment These functions are performed very well, with few or no issues.
View full headers of a message These functions are performed very well, with few or no issues.
Export email (to import elsewhere) These functions are performed very well, with few or no issues.
Detach attachments from email messages It is not possible to perform these functions. "Detach" functionality exists, but it doesn't work properly. Attachment will be saved, but not removed from original message.
Set tags, flags, or categories on email There are some issues with these features. Certain tasks may be impossible or problematic. Flags and tags exist, but are not always interpreted in identical fashion by both Exchange systems and Thunderbird. Example: Thunderbird sees a "follow up" flag as a Star.
Print a message These functions are performed very well, with few or no issues.
Auto-complete email addresses from server Global Address List It is not possible to perform these functions.
Auto-complete email addresses from server Personal Address Book It is not possible to perform these functions. Personal address book is not synced with Office 365 cloud and cannot be synced.
Auto-complete email addresses from local Personal Address Book These functions are performed very well, with few or no issues.
Recover deleted emails from Deleted Items These functions are performed very well, with few or no issues.
View emails in threaded or conversation view These functions are performed very well, with few or no issues.
Set reminder on email messages These functions are performed very well, with few or no issues.
Create an event from an email message These functions are performed very well, with few or no issues.
Use a Digital ID to digitally sign an email These functions are untested.
Set a priority on an email message These functions are performed very well, with few or no issues. There exist 5 message priorities when composing, from highest to lowest. The flag is shown in Exchange clients.



Calendar Functions Yes/No Notes
Configure for access It is not possible to perform these functions. Lightning is the de facto calendaring add-on for Thunderbird, since it is created and maintained by Mozilla. Unfortunately, current versions of Thunderbird produce an error when attempting to configure a calendar in Lightning, even when an add-on for Exchange Web Services is used.



Contacts Functions Yes/No Notes
Configure for access It is not possible to perform these functions. Thunderbird does not have built-in functionality to connect to an Exchange MAPI address book.
View and use the Global Address List (GAL) It is not possible to perform these functions.
Create a personal contact stored on the server It is not possible to perform these functions.
Modify a contact stored on the server It is not possible to perform these functions.
Delete a contact stored on the server It is not possible to perform these functions.
Create and modify local contacts These functions are performed very well, with few or no issues.
Auto-complete addresses from contacts These functions are performed very well, with few or no issues.
Create server-side distribution list It is not possible to perform these functions.
Modify server-side distribution list It is not possible to perform these functions.