Remote interface for thunderbird

Discussion of features in Mozilla Thunderbird
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itanis
Posts: 3
Joined: March 22nd, 2011, 6:30 pm

Remote interface for thunderbird

Post by itanis »

Hi,

I am running thunderbird on my box 24/7 with all my email accounts configured on it. Previously I access it using remote desktop if I am on any Machine. Since months ago I began to look for a solution that I can access my mails remotely via a web mail and with the thunderbird still running to sort out my emails constantly with the filters.

I thought of several possibilities which I still find no solution. Hope to get some assistance if anyone know if there is such an addon/features/functions that allows me to do so.

So in points, what I wish to achieve are:
1. My Thunderbird will always be running and receive/sorting out my mails.
2. Remote access method to access my mail store NOT using remote desktop methods like RDP,VNC, logmein etc.
3. My mail store still stays with me, not anywhere else in any cloud service. So using gmail/mail2web similar as a universal client will be out of question. This is really matter of taking data into own hands.. especially after recent Gmail's incident.
4. I am able to access my mails from different accounts by accessing single location easily using a browser and thus minimize the possibility of leaving any trace of my access to normal users.
5. Still keeping thunderbird as I am really a fan of Mozilla softwares eversince I dumped Outlook/IE years ago.

So the possibilities I figured used to be:
1. Web Interface for Thunderbird (I understand that there is no web interface for thunderbird, although still hope for one. )
2. An addon that allows remote access to thunderbird
3. A web mail client that can concurrently access thunderbird mail store

I hope someone can shed light if there's ways to achieve this. I believe there are others out there will want to use such solution too. Thanks! Appreciate all responses
itanis
Posts: 3
Joined: March 22nd, 2011, 6:30 pm

Re: Remote interface for thunderbird

Post by itanis »

bump. hope for any ideas even if not realized which I could research on the possibilities.. thanks!
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tanstaafl
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Joined: July 30th, 2003, 5:06 pm

Re: Remote interface for thunderbird

Post by tanstaafl »

Why not use Portable Thunderbird running on a flash/USB drive, and just plug it into the USB port on whatever PC you're using? Portable Thunderbird doesn't require any installation on the PC since its designed for roving users. Both the profile and the program ar eon the USB drive. You can buy a decent 8GB usb/flash drive from Amazon or NewEgg for less than $20.

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Move_a_profil ... hunderbird
jokob
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Joined: April 20th, 2011, 1:38 pm

Re: Remote interface for thunderbird

Post by jokob »

I would too appreciate such a feature... it's still different to carry an USB drive always along the way. I am still puzzled if it's such a problem to develop such an extension. :?:
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DanRaisch
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Re: Remote interface for thunderbird

Post by DanRaisch »

There are separate, third party remote access software for use when away from your computer. What would be the point of an extension for that purpose when webmail let's you access the server or a USB drive let's you have Thunderbird AND the data with you when you don't even have access to the Internet? If you often need to access messages when not at your primary computer you should use an IMAP account that can be accessed from any computer you do have the use of, whether at another business office, a library, or a Internet cafe.
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tanstaafl
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Re: Remote interface for thunderbird

Post by tanstaafl »

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Accessing_you ... _computers might give you some other ideas if your email provider doesn't support IMAP.
marktheslug
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Joined: January 19th, 2010, 6:27 am

Re: Remote interface for thunderbird

Post by marktheslug »

This is the exact requirement I have. I want Thunderbird running on my main server as collector and manager of email for all my domains and then I want a web interface to view my mail archive from anywhere I want without RDP etc. If anyone comes up with a solution, please let me know. Many thanks
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tanstaafl
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Re: Remote interface for thunderbird

Post by tanstaafl »

You might be able to find a IMAP server that uses mbox files and install it locally. Then you could use a web site such as http://myemail.com/ to access the IMAP server.

I think the freeware version of the Merak Mail server supports mbox files. The tradeoff is its about 5 years old and only the commercial version is still developed. Another possibility is Mercury/32 (aka Mercury Mail Transport System). Its still being developed/supported.

http://download.cnet.com/Merak-Mail-Ser ... 06310.html
http://email.about.com/cs/winserverrevi ... cury32.htm
http://www.pmail.com/overviews/ovw_mercury.htm

Note: I haven't updated http://kb.mozillazine.org/IMAP_servers to change Mercury/32's status since I haven't seen any threads yet where somebody used version 4.5 or later. Your best bet would be to try it and see how well it works.
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