Making Thunderbird Accessible | blindbitesMaking Thunderbird Accessible
Posted by blindbites on August 5, 2017
https://blindbites.wordpress.com/2017/08/05/making-thunderbird-accessible/
Thunderbird is the e-mail client that I use. It has all of the settings for G
mail and many other popular e-mail services.
One way to download and install ThunderBird is to go to ninite and download
their installer which will make it very easy. You can go to their accessible
programs page at: https://ninite.com/accessible
Thunderbird can be very accessible but there are a few changes that need to be
made. Below you’ll find how I have the settings in ThunderBird for my use. I
use it with NVDA and this setup works very well for me.
One of the first things you’ll find after setting up your email account is
ThunderBird’s Calendar.
I find it a pain and its easy to disable, Press tab or shift tab until you get
to:
alert Thunderbird now contains calendaring functionality by integrating the
Lightning extension. Disable button Alt+D
After pressing space bar on disable you’ll hear the following message:
alert Lightning will be removed the next time you restart Thunderbird. You can
add it again at any time using the Add-ons Manager.
You should restart ThunderBird at this point either by using alt F4 to exit or
pressing space bar on the restart button.
In the main screen of Thunderbird
Press alt followed by V for the View Menu.
Today Pane subMenu T 1 of 3
Show Today Pane F11 checked o 1 of 1 level 1
Press enter on that item to uncheck it.
You’ll hear this message after unchecking that item:
alert Lightning will be removed the next time you restart Thunderbird. You can
add it again at any time using the Add-ons Manager.
You should restart ThunderBird at this point either by using alt F4 to exit or
pressing space bar on the restart button.
After you restart you’ll find that the Today and Calendar options that were in
the View menu have gone away.
In the main screen of Thunderbird
Press alt followed by v for the View Menu.
Toolbars subMenu T 1 of 3
I have all of the ToolBars in this section unchecked.
Layout subMenu L 2 of 3
Classic View radio menu item checked 1 of 3 level 1
Message Pane F8 not checked 3 of 3 level 1
The message pane is not something I use, you can toggle it on or off by
pressing F8 from within Thunderbird if you want to use it.
To get to Thunderbird’s Options from the main screen press alt, followed by t
for tools then o for options.
General 1 of 8
When Thunderbird launches, show the Start Page in the message area check box
not checked
When new messages arrive: grouping
Show an alert check box not checked
Show a tray icon check box not checked
Play a sound check box checked
Display 2 of 8
Advanced tab selected 3 of 3
Open messages in: grouping
A new message window radio button checked 2 of 3
Composition 3 of 8
General tab 1 of 3
Confirm when using keyboard shortcut to send message check box not checked
Composition 3 of 8
Spelling tab 3 of 3
Check spelling before sending check box checked
Enable spell check as you type check box not checked
Those few changes should make a big difference in the accessibility of
Thunderbird.
If you would like to disable the ability to click on a link in email, you can
find directions in another blog post at:
https://blindbites.wordpress.com/2013/11/08/how-to-disable-links-in-thunderbird/
