Press Crtl + shift + Enter to send later when you write them instead of pressing send.

But is it possible to do this as default? Currently I have to write a message, send it... write another message, send it... and each time TB has to establish the connection. I like TB (I recommend it to others) but this is one facet that makes me yearn for OE.

click the blue icon in the bottom left corner of the windows to make Thunderbird "go offline". The icon will jet a red X and go black and white. Now send later is the default.

When you click the blue icon to go online again it will ask to send the messages in the outbox folder.

Thanks Matt, that's really helpful. But I notice if I then restart TB, it is back online. Any way of having it always start offline? Okay, tried that, but the message ends up in 'Drafts' rather than the outbox. I don't see the point of the drafts folder since you can't send from there!

On the toolbar > options > Advanced >network and disk space and click the configure offline settings.

Change the default of Automatically detect to your choice.

starman said

Okay, tried that, but the message ends up in 'Drafts' rather than the outbox. I don't see the point of the drafts folder since you can't send from there!

You know editing your posts is generally a bad idea, I just answered what you asked in the email I got, then noticed this addition.

Did you click send? Mail is in drafts until you send it. When offline the option is send later, but you still have to use it.

Thanks for that Matt. Okay - message now in outbox rather than drafts, but now there is no send button! I know I'm 'now' offline but would have thought that hitting 'send' (if it was there!) would have triggered going online. So, one step forward, one back!

Lets see if you can go online. and then respond to the send all offline mail or whatever the prompt is.

Okay, emails being sent en bloc, BUT what happens is that TB connects, sends message 1, then has to reconnect to send message 2 rather than just "connect - send message 1, send message 2, disconnect. Is it meant to do this? It would be awfully slow if there were (say) 10 messages!

Each email is sent in it's own session, that s how Thunderbird works. But authentication is not what slows outgoing mail. Anti virus scanning and a shortage of upload bandwidth is what slows things down. Most providers offer about 10% of their advertised download bandwidth when it comes time to actually send something to the internet.