As June begins, the Thunderbird team is pushing forward with significant updates that promise to enhance user experience and expand functionality in its upcoming Extended Support Release (ESR).
One of the major updates in Thunderbird’s pipeline is the integration of Rust into its builds. The first beta version of Thunderbird 128 will come with Rust-enabled builds by default, allowing users to test experimental features without the hassle of local compilation.
However, the following two features set to elevate the Thunderbird mail client to new heights really excite us.
As we mentioned in early April, developers are advancing in adding built-in support for Microsoft Exchange. It is a game-changer feature that users have been asking for many years. Now, the devs are almost finished with this implementation.
The team has already completed the main workflow, enabling account setup, folder fetching, message fetching, and display functionalities. The focus is now on polishing the outgoing message flow. Once completed, a thorough audit will ensure that all standard features function seamlessly, offering a smoother email management experience.
The second groundbreaking feature looming on the horizon is a native Linux system tray support. While still in the testing phase, adventurous users can explore new system tray and DBus hooks via Thunderbird’s GitHub repositories.
Thunderbird 128 is also set to introduce the ability for users to customize account colors, adding visual distinction in the message list and composing window for those managing multiple accounts. Additionally, the folder pane will soon support multi-selection, improving user interaction with email organization.
Moreover, the team has completely rebuilt the Folder Compaction feature, addressing issues related to profile size and operation failures. This update is expected to be uplifted to Beta versions shortly.
Lastly, Thunderbird has achieved full support for native Windows 10/11 notifications, making them fully functional and more interactive. Future updates will focus on adding quick actions and enhancing the overall utility of these notifications.
For more information, check out the official announcement.
