The latest update is based on the underpinnings of Firefox 7

Sep 28, 2011 14:11 GMT  ·  By

Mozilla has announced that, along with Firefox 7, it's also released an update to its email and messaging suite, Thunderbird 7. The latest update to the popular email client brings several new features, including some UI tweaks and some fixes for attachment handling.

"Mozilla, a global, nonprofit organization dedicated to making the Web better, today released new versions of Mozilla Thunderbird, its free and open source email application for Windows, Mac, and Linux," Mozilla's Rafael Ebron writes.

"The new Thunderbird is based on the Mozilla Gecko 7 engine and includes security and stability fixes as well as several improvements to the user interface and the handling of email attachments," he listed some of the improvements.

Thunderbird 7, as the name implies is based on the latest Gecko 7 layout and rendering engine, the same that powers all Mozilla products, including the newly released Firefox 7 and SeaMonkey 2.4.

One new feature in Thunderbird 7 is the ability to print only a summary of email messages the user select. The Address Book has also gotten some platform improvements.

"Hundreds of Add-ons have been updated for this latest version of Thunderbird. These Add-ons, such as the Lightning Calendar, Conversation View, and Open Search can be found in the Add-ons Manager gallery," Ebron explained.

This implies that Thunderbird has switched to the automated add-on compatibility update program that Firefox add-ons have been under.

This ensures that users continue to get access to their favorite add-ons with each major update.

Existing Thunderbird users should get updated soon via the automated mechanism, but they can also trigger an update by going to the Help > About dialog. Thunderbird will then check for a new version and enable the user to update if there is one.

Alternatively, you can grab Thunderbird from the download links below, if you want to start fresh.

Mozilla Thunderbird for Windows is available for download here. Mozilla Thunderbird for Mac is available for download here. Mozilla Thunderbird for Linux is available for download here.