Frequently Asked Questions

Using Instantbird

How do I use AIM, MSN, Yahoo! or any other protocol?

Use the Account Editor to add the account of the appropriate messaging service.

I dont see Google Talk protocol in the list!

For Google Talk, use XMPP protocol and fill the username with your Google Mail e-mail address like this: "my.address@gmail.com/instantbird". Then type "talk.google.com" in the entry "Connect server".

Can I keep both Instantbird and my previous messaging client on my computer?

Absolutely yes! Instantbird and other clients can coexist without causing any trouble.

Where can I get extensions and themes (add-ons)?

Extensions and Themes can be downloaded from Instantbird Add-ons.

Downloading and Installing

Where can I download Instantbird?

We provide Instantbird for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux. You can get the latest version of Instantbird here.

How to install?

To install Instantbird, just decompress the folder and run the executable to launch the application.

Please note that installing a new version of Instantbird will not overwrite your existing profile. You won't lose any of your accounts or chat history, but some of your extensions and other add-ons might not work until updates for them are made available.

How to remove?

You can remove Instantbird simply by removing the Instantbird folder.

Removing Instantbird won't remove your accounts, chat history, extensions or other add-ons. This data is stored in your profile folder, which is located in one of the following locations depending on your operating system:

Windows Vista	Users\<UserName>\AppData\Roaming\instantbird
Windows 2000, XP	Documents and Settings\<UserName>\Application Data\instantbird
Mac OS X	~/Library/Application Support/instantbird
Linux and Unix systems	~/.instantbird

Any version of Instantbird that you install after removing Instantbird will continue to use the data from this profile folder.

What about my old Extensions and Themes?

Extensions installed under old versions of Instantbird may be incompatible and/or require updates to work with the new version. Please report any issues to the maintainer of the extension.

The developers

Who makes Instantbird?

We are currently 2, but we hope that a lot of people will contribute to this project in order to make it better. See Help->About Instantbird, Credits for a list of some of the people who have contributed to Instantbird.

Special thanks to the libpurple developers and the Mozilla contributors. Instantbird would never be possible without their great work.

What can I do to help?

Simply install it and talk about to your friends to help the community to grow.

Also we need help from developers and testers to provide as much feedback as possible to make Instantbird even better. Please read these notes and the bug filing instructions before reporting any bugs to Bugzilla. You can also give us your feedback through irc.

Why haven't you responded to the mail I sent you?

Please use bugzilla for bug filling, or go to the irc chan if you want to chat with us. We get a lot of email and your email may get lost.

Where's the Instantbird source code?

A tarball of the Instantbird source code is available for download. The latest development code can be obtained here. Please follow the build instructions.