Three Great Thunderbird Extensions

I know I have my patterns – I get my computer set up and for the next 2 years I leave it nearly as-is. Then I get a new machine (Lenovo X61) and it’s time to see what’s new out there.

I did that search four weeks ago when installing Thunderbird and came across some really great plug-ins. With a month of daily use under my belt, I want to recommend the top three for your consideration:

1. Nostalgy – Despite the goofy name, this plugin is genius for people who love keyboard shortcuts. If you’ve ever used Eclipse’s Ctrl-Shift-R shortcut that lets you just start typing any filename in your workspace with an as-you-type filtered list of available files to select from, you will fall in love with this. With any message(s) selected, Nostalgy lets you hit “S” and then start typing a folder name and select from a list of matching email folders. Hit enter and all of the selected messages will be moved to that folder. Need to open a folder quickly? Hit “G”, start typing the name of a folder and hit enter as soon as it’s the first match in the dynamic list. It’s so simple, yet so sweet. For organized folder-users, this is a dream plugin.
2. Recipients Overview – One downside to the X61 is it has a low resolution of 1024×768 when mobile. While I spend most of my time docked, screen real estate becomes a real issue on the road. Thunderbird has a nice feature that lets you condense the header information on a message to take up less space but it doesn’t list all of the people on the TO and CC list. I consider this important information for deciding how to handle and/or reply to an email. Recipients Overview simply enables listing all of the recipients in the condensed view saving you space when you need it without cutting out important details.
3. Slideshow – This one is a little simple but so many times that’s all it takes to make your life easier. If you receive a message with images attached, Slideshow will give you a one-click option to open them in a slideshow format for viewing. This is usually much easier than trying to view them in the confine of the message window but doesn’t require an external image editor. Sweet and simple!

Try them and let me know if you find them as helpful as I do!