Set up FranklyMail in Thunderbird
This adds a FranklyMail mailbox as a new account in Thunderbird, the open-source desktop mail client for Windows, Mac and Linux.
Thunderbird’s first move when you add an account is to search the internet for a configuration it recognizes for your domain — a step called autoconfiguration. FranklyMail doesn’t publish one of those yet, so the search comes back empty every time, and Thunderbird’s response is to offer a manual form instead of an error. That’s expected, and it’s the step this guide is written around.
Before you start.
Two things, and both come from the FranklyMail panel rather than from Thunderbird itself.
- The mailbox's address, for example you@yourdomain.com.
- The mailbox password — or an app password from Settings in the FranklyMail panel. Not your FranklyMail account sign-in password.
Step by step.
Written against Thunderbird's current screens — the label on the button is the label you'll actually see.
- 1
Open Account Settings → Account Actions → Add Mail Account.
- 2
Enter your name, the mailbox address, and the mailbox password, then click Continue.
Thunderbird searches for a configuration and comes back with nothing usable.
- 3
Click "Configure manually" — it appears as a button under that message, easy to miss the first time you’re looking for it.
- 4
Fill in the Incoming side: Protocol IMAP, Hostname mx1.franklymail.com, Port 993, Connection security SSL/TLS, Authentication method Normal password, Username the full address.
- 5
Fill in the Outgoing side, just below it: Hostname mx1.franklymail.com, Port 465, Connection security SSL/TLS, Authentication method Normal password, Username the full address.
- 6
Click Re-test.
Thunderbird checks both servers and marks the fields green if it can connect — that’s a connection check, not proof the password is right, so a wrong password can still pass this step.
- 7
Click Done.
If the password was wrong, Thunderbird will prompt for it again the first time it tries to check the mailbox, rather than failing here.
The settings, if Thunderbird asks for them directly.
Everything above written out as a table, in case the steps skip ahead of what your screen is showing.
mx1.franklymail.com- Incoming
- IMAP, port 993, SSL/TLS
- Outgoing
- SMTP, port 465, SSL/TLS
- Username
- The full mailbox address — not just the part before the @.
- Password
- The mailbox's own password, or an app password from Settings. Never the password you sign in to the FranklyMail panel with — that's a different credential and every client in this guide will reject it.
The same host also serves POP3 on port 995, which some older clients ask for instead. POP3 removes mail from the server as it downloads, so only the first device to check ever sees a message — IMAP is the right choice unless you have a specific reason to want that.
If it doesn't work.
- Re-test comes back red instead of green.
- Check both hostnames read exactly mx1.franklymail.com — it’s common to fill in the incoming host and leave the outgoing one on Thunderbird’s guessed placeholder. Confirm the ports and Connection security (SSL/TLS) match this guide on both sides.
- Re-test is green, but Thunderbird keeps asking for the password.
- That’s a login failure, not a connection one — re-check the password is the mailbox password or an app password, not the FranklyMail account sign-in password, and that the username is the full address.
- Mail arrives but nothing sends, or the reverse.
- Open Account Settings → Server Settings for the incoming side and Account Settings → Outgoing Server (SMTP) for the outgoing side — Thunderbird keeps them in different panels, so a setting fixed on one doesn’t touch the other.
- Still stuck.
- Email hello@franklymail.com with whatever Thunderbird’s error console or the Re-test screen showed. The exact wording is what makes the difference between a fast answer and a guess.
Other clients
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