Article Contents

Install Duo

Install Thunderbird on Windows or Mac

Add Rice Gmail to Thunderbird

Troubleshooting Duo

The following instructions are for faculty and staff who have had their email accounts migrated to Gmail. The Office of Information Technology recommends that you use the Google Chrome browser and Gmail apps on your mobile devices to access your email. However, you can access emails from your Rice Gmail account through Thunderbird by using the instructions in this article.

Install Duo

Rice's two-factor authentication app, Duo Mobile, is required to access your Rice Gmail account on your computer. Before continuing with the rest of the instructions, make sure that you have enrolled in Duo. You can also access the Duo Mobile app through a secondary device (i.e., another phone or tablet) if you already have it installed elsewhere. Learn more about Duo enrollment.

Install Thunderbird on Windows or Mac

Visit this website to learn how to install Thunderbird on your Windows computer

Visit this website to learn how to install Thunderbird on your Mac computer

Add the Rice Gmail Account to Thunderbird

1. After installing and opening Thunderbird for the first time, you will receive a dialog box requesting additional information. Put in your name and email as netid@mail.apps.rice.edu. No password is required at this point. Select Continue. 

2. Review the sub-menu that pops up. Select IMAP and then Done. 

3. Review the next window that appears asking to log into Google. Enter your NetID. 

4. Review the Rice Identity Provider login prompt that appears next. Enter your NetID and password. Select Login. You will also see a prompt for Duo authentication. Complete the prompt.

5. Select Allow on the next page that appears after completing Duo authentication. The page will ask to grant permissions to Mozilla Thunderbird Email. 

6. Select Connect next to your address book and calendars if you would like to connect them to Thunderbird. 

While connecting a Calendar, you will see several options. OIT suggests picking a separate color per calendar connected, a refresh time of 30 minutes, and leaving read-only unchecked. You can check Show reminders if you want Thunderbird to notify you before events.

If you get a popup like the one shown below right after setting up your account asking you to submit or discard changes to an event, OIT recommends that you select Discard to ensure setup works correctly.