This site will have limited functionality while we undergo maintenance to improve your experience. If an article doesn't solve your issue and you want to ask a question, we have our support community waiting to help you at @FirefoxSupport on Twitter and/r/firefox on Reddit.

Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

Is it true that Thunderbird does no longer works well with POP mail servers and only works well with IMAP servers?

more options

Our email host is telling us that our outdated POP mail server doesn't work well with Thunderbird and it the reason we're having sporadic difficulty sending out emails with attachments when using Thunderbird (no problems when sending emails directly from the email host's web portal and bypassing Thunderbird). We'll often get notification when using Thunderbird and trying to attach PDF'd documents to an email that "Sending of message failed. The message could not be sent because the connection to SMTP server timed out." The email host company is advising that this problem will be solved if we upgrade from the free POP email to the not free IMAP email. True? Or are they just using this Thunderbird problem as an excuse to sign us up for unnecessary services?

Our email host is telling us that our outdated POP mail server doesn't work well with Thunderbird and it the reason we're having sporadic difficulty sending out emails with attachments when using Thunderbird (no problems when sending emails directly from the email host's web portal and bypassing Thunderbird). We'll often get notification when using Thunderbird and trying to attach PDF'd documents to an email that "Sending of message failed. The message could not be sent because the connection to SMTP server timed out." The email host company is advising that this problem will be solved if we upgrade from the free POP email to the not free IMAP email. True? Or are they just using this Thunderbird problem as an excuse to sign us up for unnecessary services?

All Replies (2)

more options

I think they are using this as an excuse.

Messages are sent via SMTP. Both, POP and IMAP are protocols to receive mail. In any case, it would be their 'outdated POP mail server', not yours.

Check this article for troubleshooting the problem. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/cannot-send-messages

more options

When you use the web mail page you are bypassing THEIR outdated, problematic SMTP server. POP and IMAP are for receiving and have nothing to do with sending. I would find an honest email provider that knows what they are talking about and does not try to con you out of your money.