thunderbird ubuntu

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 thunderbird

This 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=beta

After 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 thunderbird

Installing 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 thunderbird

But on older Ubuntu versions, the Thunderbird version that’s installed from the default repos will be outdated as well.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/ppa
sudo apt update && sudo apt install thunderbird

As with the snap, you can launch Thunderbird from the Applications menu, or from the terminal by entering

thunderbird

Updating/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 thunderbird

Similarly, if you need to remove Thunderbird, you can use

sudo apt remove thunderbird
Anup Thapa

Senior Writer

Anup Thapa is a Linux enthusiast with an extensive background in computer hardware and networking. His goal is to effectively communicate technical concepts in a simplified form understandable by new Linux users. To this end, he mainly writes beginner-friendly tutorials and troubleshooting guides. Outside of work, he enjoys reading up on a range of topics, traveling, working out, and MOBAs.