Thunderbird Pro is moving closer to launch with new productivity tools: Thundermail, Appointment, and Send
Thunderbird has revealed more about Thunderbird Pro, its optional paid subscription service, and the new productivity tools it currently has in development.
First announced in April, Thunderbird Pro includes three main services: Thundermail, Appointment, and Send. Each of these tool are open source, available for community review, and can be self-hosted for users who prefer to run their own infrastructure.
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The Mozilla brand stresses the goal is not to replace the core Thunderbird desktop or mobile apps, which remain free and supported by donations, but simply to provide extra functionality for users who need it.
Thundermail will be the center piece of the new offerings. It is Thunderbird’s first email hosting service and will support IMAP, SMTP, and JMAP from launch, ensuring compatibility with Thunderbird itself as well as other clients.
Users will be able to connect their own domains or choose an address ending in @thundermail.com or @tb.pro. Servers will initially be located in Germany, with more regions planned in the future.
Appointment, the scheduling tool, is also moving forward. Although it began life as a standalone web app, the roadmap now calls for direct integration with the Thunderbird compose window, making it easier to insert meeting links without leaving the email workflow.
Planned features include multiple meeting types and, in the future, group scheduling once standards evolve to fully support it. Thunderbird says it is taking part in discussions around protocols such as VPOLL to help with that.
Send rounds out the current trio of services. Built on the existing Filelink feature, it will offer end-to-end encrypted file sharing directly from Thunderbird.
Pro subscribers will start with 500GB of storage, with no individual file size limit beyond the quota. Planned updates include chunked uploads for reliability and improved encryption to maintain security. Send will receive updates outside of major Thunderbird releases.
Thunderbird Pro's future
Looking ahead, Thunderbird says it is also exploring potential Pro services such as markdown-based notes or even collaborative tools, although these are still under consideration. Another project, called Assist, could be added to integrate privacy-focused AI features into email workflows, but that is also only being considered at the moment.
The team stresses that Thunderbird Pro is entirely optional. Core Thunderbird applications on desktop and mobile will continue to be free, with subscription revenue going towards offsetting the costs of storage and bandwidth rather than replacing donor support.
What do you think about Thunderbird Pro and its planned services? Let us know in the comments.
Image Credit: Thunderbird