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<p>Hey all,</p>
<p>As you've likely heard by now, Thunderbird 78 is out. We are not
automatically updating our users likely until Thunderbird 78.2 as
to allow us time to get in some features (like OpenPGP support),
and to give add-on authors more time to develop support for the
new release. But anyone is welcome to update manually today by
downloading the 78 <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://thunderbird.net">from our website</a>.</p>
<p>I'd like to thank all of you on this list who contributed to this
release. Without this community, an enormous release like this
would not have been possible. It's amazing to look back on the
last three years, and the challenges that were present for
Thunderbird and to see how far we've come. There are still issues,
but each release we chip away at some of the things that have held
the project back. At this point we've chipped away at the wall of
technical debt and the "Thunderbird is dead" myth enough, that I
feel we can finally see some sunlight.</p>
<p>So what's new in the release? For a wordier rundown, check out
the <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://blog.thunderbird.net/2020/07/whats-new-in-thunderbird-78/">"What's
New in Thunderbird 78"</a> blog post. Or if you like just
scanning release notes, <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.thunderbird.net/thunderbird/78.0/releasenotes/">you
can find them here</a>. Here are some highlights from the blog
post and release notes:<br>
</p>
<p> </p>
<header class="entry-header">
<h1 class="entry-title">What’s New in Thunderbird 78</h1>
</header>
<p>Thunderbird 78 is our newest ESR (extended-support release),
which comes out yearly and is considered the latest stable
release. Right now you can download the newest version <a
href="https://thunderbird.net">from our website</a>, and
existing users will be automatically updated in the near future. <b>We
encourage those who rely on the popular add-on Enigmail to wait
to update</b> until the automatic update rolls out to them to
ensure their encrypted email settings are properly imported into
Thunderbird’s new built-in OpenPGP encrypted email feature.</p>
<p>Last year’s release focused on ensuring Thunderbird has a stable
foundation on which to build. The new Thunderbird 78 aims to
improve the experience of using Thunderbird, adding many
quality-of-life features to the application and making it easier
to use.</p>
<h2>Compose Window Redesign</h2>
<p><a
href="https://blog.thunderbird.net/files/2020/07/compose-comparison.png"><img
class="alignnone size-large wp-image-839"
src="https://blog.thunderbird.net/files/2020/07/compose-comparison-600x206.png"
alt="Compose Window Comparison, 68 and 78" width="600"
height="206"></a></p>
<p>The compose window has been reworked to help users find features
more easily and to make composing a message faster and more
straightforward. The compose window now also takes up less space
with recipients listed in “pills” instead of an entire line for
every address.</p>
<h2>Dark Mode</h2>
<p><a
href="https://blog.thunderbird.net/files/2020/07/Dark-Mode-1.png"><img
class="alignnone size-large wp-image-841"
src="https://blog.thunderbird.net/files/2020/07/Dark-Mode-1-600x420.png"
alt="Dark Mode" width="600" height="420"></a></p>
<p>Thunderbird’s new Dark Mode is easier on the eyes for those
working in the dark, and it has the added benefit of looking
really cool! The Dark Mode even works when writing and reading
emails – so you are not suddenly blinded while you work.
Thunderbird will look at your operating system settings to see if
you have enabled dark mode OS-wide and respect those settings.
Here are the instructions for <a
href="https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208976">setting dark
mode in Mac</a>, and <a
href="https://www.pcmag.com/how-to/how-to-enable-dark-mode-in-windows-10">setting
dark mode in Windows</a>.</p>
<h2>Account Setup & Account Central Updated</h2>
<p><a
href="https://blog.thunderbird.net/files/2020/07/account-setup.png"><img
class="alignnone size-large wp-image-842"
src="https://blog.thunderbird.net/files/2020/07/account-setup-600x309.png"
alt="Account Setup and Account Central Updated, comparison
between 68 and 78" width="600" height="309"></a></p>
<p>The Account Setup window and the Account Central tab, which
appears when you do not have an account setup or when you select
an existing account in the folder tree, have both been updated.
The layout and dialogues have been improved in order to make it
easier to understand the information displayed and to find
relevant settings. The Account Central tab also has new
information about the Thunderbird project and displays the version
you are using.</p>
<h2>End-to-End Encrypted Email Support</h2>
<p><a href="https://blog.thunderbird.net/files/2020/07/e2eprefs.png"><img
class="alignnone size-large wp-image-843"
src="https://blog.thunderbird.net/files/2020/07/e2eprefs-600x469.png"
alt="New end-to-end encryption preferences tab." width="600"
height="469"></a></p>
<p><b>Thunderbird 78.2</b>, due out in the coming months, will offer
a new feature that allows you to end-to-end encrypt your email
messages via OpenPGP. In the past this feature was achieved in
Thunderbird primarily with the Enigmail add-on, however, in this
release we have brought this functionality into core Thunderbird.
We’d like to offer a special thanks to Patrick Brunschwig for his
years of work on Enigmail, which laid the groundwork for this
integrated feature, and for his assistance throughout its
development. The new feature is also enabled by the RNP library,
and we’d like to thank the project’s developers for their close
collaboration and hard work addressing our needs.</p>
<p>End-to-end encryption for email can be used to ensure that only
the sender and the recipients of a message can read the contents.
Without this protection it is easy for network administrators,
email providers and government agencies to read your messages. If
you would like to learn more about how end-to-end encryption in
Thunderbird works, check out our article on <a
href="https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/introduction-to-e2e-encryption">Introduction
to End-to-end encryption in Thunderbird</a>. If you would like
to learn more about the development of this feature or participate
in testing, check out the <a
href="https://wiki.mozilla.org/Thunderbird:OpenPGP">OpenPGP
Thunderbird wiki page</a>.</p>
<h2>Other Notable Changes:</h2>
<ul>
<li>Calendar and Tasks Integrated</li>
<li>Folder Icons and Colors Updated</li>
<li>Minimize to Tray added for Windows</li>
<li>OTR Messaging Support</li>
<li>Checkbox Message Select Column</li>
<li><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.thunderbird.net/en-US/thunderbird/78.0/releasenotes/">So
much more.</a><br>
</li>
</ul>
<h2>Great Release, Bright Future</h2>
<p>The past year has been an amazing year for Thunderbird. We had an
incredible release in version 68 that was popular with our users,
and laid the groundwork for much of what we did in 78. On top of
great improvements in the product, we moved into a <a
href="https://blog.thunderbird.net/2020/01/thunderbirds-new-home/">new
financial and legal home</a>, and we grew our team to thirteen
people (soon to be even more)!</p>
<p>We’re so grateful to all our users and contributors who have
stuck with us all these years, and we hope to earn your dedication
for the years to come. Thunderbird 78 is the beginning of a new
era for the project, as we attempt to bring our users the features
that they want and need to be productive in the 2020s – while also
maintaining what has made Thunderbird so great all these years.</p>
<p>Thank you to our wonderful community, please enjoy Thunderbird
78.</p>
<p><a href="https://thunderbird.net">Download the newest release
from our website.</a></p>
<p>---<br>
</p>
<p>Ryan Sipes<br>
Community & Biz Dev. Manager<br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true" href="https://thunderbird.net"><b>Thunderbird</b></a><br>
</p>
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