Thunderbird HowTos

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To get started creating the most basic extension framework, please see Building a Thunderbird Extension.

This page is organized into two parts: common TB use cases and common techniques. This provides a quick way to get you started. Both parts are about accomplishing things programatically, but these parts split everything into things users do that you would like to improve, and things you need to do to accomplish that goal.

See also "An overview of Thunderbird components". Many of the components described on that page have links to related examples.

Each of the pages listed in this section contains a number of related topics. For example, the "Compose New Message" page contains sections that describe how to open a new message window, modify a message body, etc.

Access address book Get all address books Get one address book Search for a particular contact property (name, email) Search for multiple contacts Add / edit / Delete contacts Add and use custom properties Add / edit / delete mailing lists Display properties dialogs to the user Set up custom address book Set up auto-complete to use the address book Compose new messages Open New Message Window Modify Recipient List TODO Modify Header Add Header Modify Message Body Intercept Outgoing Message Get Access to the Compose Window before the Editing is Started

Folders and messages Perform Operation on Folder Determine Selected Folder Check for New Mail TODO Watch for New Mail List Subfolder List Message Select Messages Inspect Selected Messages Check if a Message is a Feed Item Move Selected Message Copy Selected Message View message List Attachments Read Attachment Save Attachment Access Message Get Message Body by Header Get Message Header by URI/URL Get MIME Headers for any message Search Messages Display a message yourself using <iframe>s Reply to message Modify Quoted Message (before normal composition) TODO Reply to a given message, reply to all, forward it, reply to list, and all variants

• Show a user-defined activity in the Activity Manager window NEW!
• Show a user-defined activity with cancel capability (JavaScript) in the Activity Manager window NEW!
• Show a user-defined activity with undo capability (C++) in the Activity Manager window NEW!
• Add an activity with a custom context type in the Activity Manager window NEW!
• Add a fully customized activity in the Activity Manager window NEW!