Exchange with Thunderbird

Set up e-Mail

Before you use the Exchange service you need to set up your JGU e-mail in Thunderbird.
Here you find a manual on how to set up your JGU account in Thunderbird.

Set up exchange services

You may use Thunderbird to access your university calendar and address book.
The calendar allows you to access and edit your calendar items.
The address book contains all addresses of students and employees of the JGU.

To use Thunderbird in this way, you need to install two add-ons in Thunderbird:

  • Lightning: This add-on provides calendar functionality for Thunderbird. In some cases, this add-on comes preinstalled.
  • TbSync: This add-on lets you synchronise Thunderbird and Exchange.

To install an add-on, open Thunderbird and click on the the lines at the top right corner. A menu opens. Click on Add-ons:


Next, click on Extensions on the left hand side:


At the top right, a search box will appear. Enter the name of the add-on you want to install into this search box and press Enter.


If you found the right add-on, click on Install.

Add your account

The setup of your account differs depending on whether you have a student account (username@students.uni-mainz.de) or a university account (username@uni-mainz.de).

If the add-on is installed you will see "TBSync: idle" at the bottom right corner of Thunderbird. Click on this text:


A new window opens. Click on Account actionsAdd new accountExchange ActiveSync (EAS).


A window opens. There, enter the following:
Account Name: How you want to name this account.
User name (email address):Your uni-mainz email address.
Password: Your password

Once you have finished this, click on Autodiscover settings and add account:


A popup should appear, telling you that auto discover was successful. Click on OK to close the popup.


You will be forwarded to a new window. The only thing you should change there is the "Sync interval (minutes)" otherwise you have to sync manually.
Once you have finished, click on Enable account & try to connect to server:


You will see a window showing calendars, contacts and tasks with the status OK. You may close this window now.


Even after the status shows OK, it will take a little while until the server provides all information. Just keep Thunderbird running - after a while all data will be synced. After the initial setup the sync won't be delayed.

If the add-ons are installed you will see "TBSync: idle" at the bottom right corner of Thunderbird. Click on this text.


A new window opens. Click on Account actionsAdd new accountExchange ActiveSync (EAS).


Inside the new window, enter:
Account name: How you want to name this account
User name (email address): UNI-MAINZ/username
Password: Your password
Set server configuration to Custom configuration.

Once you have finished, click on Add account.


You will be forwarded to a new window, where you may enter the following:
Server address: mail.uni-mainz.de
Set ActiveSync version to v14.0.
Sync interval (minutes): to set up how often you want to sync the data. If this is set to 0, you need to sync manually.
Once you have finished, click on Enable account & try to connect to server.


You will see a window showing calendars, contacts and tasks with the status OK. You may close this window now.


Even after the status shows OK, it will take a little while until the server provides all information. Just keep Thunderbird running - after a while all data will be synced. After the initial setup the sync won't be delayed.