RSS Part 4: Thunderbird

Thunderbird is mostly known as an email client, but it also supports RSS (as well as NNTP and various chat protocols). It is built on the Mozilla platform and shares a lot of code with the Firefox browser. I have been using Thunderbird as my personal RSS client for about five years, so I am quite familiar with it.

RSS Client HOWTO

Many people are not aware that Thunderbird can be used as an RSS client, and the usability has room for improvement, so I will give a quick overview. If you are using Thunderbird only for RSS, you can cancel the email configuration that starts when your first run the program.

First, you have to create an “account” by selecting either New | Feed Account... from the hamburger menu or File | New | Feed Account... from the top menu. I name my account “RSS” for simplicity.

If you are migrating from a different client, right click on the account (RSS) in the folders tree and select Subscribe... to open the “Feed Subscriptions” window. Use the Import button at the bottom of the window to import an OPML file.

Folders can optionally be used to organize feeds hierarchically. To create a top-level folder, right click on the account (RSS) in the folders tree and select New Folder... in the popup menu. To create a folder within a folder, right click on the parent folder in the folders tree and select New Subfolder... in the popup menu. Drag-and-drop a folder to move it to a different parent folder.

Thunderbird allows you to add any number of feeds to a folder. This is done in a separate “Feed Subscriptions” window that is accessed by right clicking on the account (RSS) or a folder and selecting Subscribe....

To add a feed, select the target folder in the “Feed Subscriptions” window and enter the feed URL into the “Feed URL” text box. Upon entering the feed URL, some options are enabled. For example, you can configure how often to automatically check for new items in the feed. Click the Add button at the bottom to add the feed. The feed is displayed on a level below the folder, and selecting a feed allows you to change options or remove the feed. When adding another feed to the same folder, select the folder again.

Drag-and-drop a feed to move it to a different folder. Alternatively, select the folder in the Store Articles In selection box in the settings for the feed. Note that folders can only be organized in the main window while feeds can only be organized in the “Feed Subscriptions” window.

In the main window, the items for all the feeds within a folder are displayed in the same list. If you would like to see all items about a specific topic together, add those feeds to a single folder. If you would like to see the items for feeds separately, create a separate (sub)folder for each feed.

Select the account (RSS) and press the Get Messages button in the top toolbar to get messages in all of the feeds. Select a folder and press the Get Messages button to get messages in all of the feeds in that folder.

The message list is designed for email, but it is easily customized using the Select columns to display icon at the right. For example, I customize my UI to show only the following, sorting by date.

Subject
From
Date

These settings are per folder. To use consistent settings in all folders, first configure one folder and then select Apply columns to... | Folder and its children... | the account (RSS) | the account (RSS) in the popup menu for the Select columns to display icon.

When viewing an item, the link is displayed in the headers area, and clicking the link opens it in your browser. Podcast enclosures are displayed at the bottom as attachments. When there is only one (the common case), the name of the file is displayed, and the link can be copied via a right click. When there is more than one, the attachment pane can be displayed in order to see the list of all attachments. (For those who prefer to download from the client, a Save button is available.)

When processing items, I recommend deleting them. If you leave read items in the list, the programs gradually gets slower and slower as well as takes up more and more drive space. I process feeds separately, grouped by category, using the delete button on my keyboard to delete items as I go. Deleted items are moved to the trash, which can be selected in the folders tree. The trash allows you to process feeds quickly without having to worry about losing an item. The “quick filter” toolbar is convenient for searching for a deleted item that you would like to reconsider. Select the Quick Filter button in the top toolbar to toggle the display of the quick filter toolbar.

After processing all of the feeds, right click the Trash in the folders tree and select Empty Trash to really delete the items. To ensure that the software continues to run fast, I recommend then selecting the account (RSS) and selecting File | Compact Folders from either the hamburger menu or the top menu.

To export your feeds to OPML format, use the Export button at the bottom of the “Feed Subscriptions” window. The exported file stores the feeds along with settings (including the folder hierarchy) and the last update time. You can use this file to quickly restore your Thunderbird settings when configuring a new computer or recovering from a drive failure, for example. Most RSS clients are able to load this file as well, so it can also be used to migrate to a different client.

Exporting to OPML is nice, but it unfortunately has to be done manually. (There is not CLI option to do it.) When configuring automated backup, you can backup your Thunderbird user directory (~/.thunderbird on Linux). If you delete items and compact folders, this directory does not get too large.

My Client Requirements

How does Thunderbird measure up to my client requirements?

Thunderbird meets my essential requirements, and I have been able to process my personal feeds more efficiently with Thunderbird than with any of the other RSS clients that I have used in the past. I am investigating alternatives due to the validation issues, but I now only have one problematic feed, and it rarely has new items.

Thunderbird is a native application and performs very well (as long as you delete items and compact folders). While the usability of configuration has room for improvement, it is very easy to use once you know how to use it. I like the utilitarian user interface because I use my RSS client with a focus on productivity. (I am not the target user for RSS clients that try to present feeds like a magazine or newspaper. Those clients are for people who enjoy browsing feeds casually.) The UI is consistent with my browser (Firefox).

Thunderbird allows me to use my fonts of choice, with good support for multiple languages. HTML content is displayed using the same engine that powers Firefox, allowing me to filter items quickly, without loading the vast majority of them in my browser. Tables allow me to easily see version changes, which is important for my work.

Thunderbird allows me to organize feeds hierarchically, allowing me to optimize the order that I process new items. It has trash functionality, which greatly improves my efficiency in filtering items. It can check feeds manually as well as periodically, and it does not bother me with notifications.

Overall, Thunderbird is an excellent client for my needs. I am curious if I will find one that I like even better.