Our newest release, Thunderbird version 68 is now available! Users on version 60, the last major release, will not be immediately updated – but will receive the update in the coming weeks. In this blog post, we’ll take a look at the features that are most noteworthy in the newest version. If you’d like to see all the changes in version 68, you can check out the release notes.

Thunderbird 68 focuses on polish and setting the stage for future releases. There was a lot of work that we had to do below the surface that has made Thunderbird more future-proof and has made it a solid base to continue to build upon. But we also managed to create some great features you can touch today.

New App Menu

Thunderbird 68 features a big update to the App Menu. The new menu is single pane with icons and separators that make it easier to navigate and reduce clutter. Animation when cycling through menu items produces a more engaging experience and results in the menu feeling more responsive and modern.

Options/Preferences in a Tab

Thunderbird’s Options/Preferences have been converted from a dialog window to its own dedicated tab. The new Preferences tab provides more space which allows for better organized content and is more consistent with the look and feel of the rest of Thunderbird. The new Preferences tab also makes it easier to multitask without the problem of losing track of where your preferences are when switching between windows.

Full Color Support

Thunderbird now features full color support across the app. This means changing the color of the text of your email to any color you want or setting tags to any shade your heart desires.

Better Dark Theme

The dark theme available in Thunderbird has been enhanced with a dark message thread pane as well as many other small improvements.

Attachment Management

There are now more options available for managing attachments. You can “detach” an attachment to store it in a different folder while maintaining a link from the email to the new location. You can also open the folder containing a detached file via the “Open Containing Folder” option.

Filelink Improved

Filelink attachments that have already been uploaded can now be linked to again instead of having to re-upload them. Also, an account is no longer required to use the default Filelink provider – WeTransfer.

Other Filelink providers like Box and Dropbox are not included by default but can be added by grabbing the Dropbox and Box add-ons.

Other Notable Changes

There are many other smaller changes that make Thunderbird 68 feel polished and powerful including an updated To/CC/BCC selector in the compose window, filters can now be set to run periodically, and feed articles now show external attachments as links.

There are many other updates in this release, you can see a list of all of them in the Thunderbird 68 release notes. If you would like to try the newest Thunderbird, head to our website and download it today!