Thunderbird is a free and open-source email client that comes preinstalled with Ubuntu. Assuming you’re running Focal (20.04 LTS) or newer, the latest stable version of Thunderbird should already be installed on your system.
If you removed Thunderbird in the past and need to reinstall it, or are running a Ubuntu version older than Focal, you can follow along with this guide to manually install the latest Thunderbird version.
Installing the Thunderbird Snap
On older Ubuntu versions, you can install Thunderbird with
sudo snap install thunderbirdThis will install the latest version from the stable channel. You can install the beta version too if you want, but most users should stick to stable as it’s much more reliable.
sudo snap install thunderbird --channel=betaAfter installing it, you can enter thunderbird in the terminal or launch it from the Applications menu.
Managing the Thunderbird Snap
The snapd daemon will automatically update Thunderbird when a newer version is available. And if you need to remove Thunderbird in the future, you can use
sudo snap remove thunderbirdInstalling Thunderbird with apt
As mentioned earlier, if you’re using Focal or a newer Ubuntu version, you can easily install Thunderbird with
sudo apt install -y thunderbirdBut on older Ubuntu versions, the Thunderbird version that’s installed from the default repos will be outdated as well. In such cases, you can add the MozillaTeam PPA first, and then install Thunderbird.
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:mozillateam/ppasudo apt update && sudo apt install thunderbirdAs with the snap, you can launch Thunderbird from the Applications menu, or from the terminal by entering
thunderbirdUpdating/Removing Thunderbird on Ubuntu
You’ll get a notification in the Software Updater when a new Thunderbird version is available. But you can also manually check for updates using
sudo apt update && sudo apt install --only-upgrade thunderbirdSimilarly, if you need to remove Thunderbird, you can use
sudo apt remove thunderbird