Configuring RSS in Thunderbird

Really Simple Syndication (RSS) is a commonly used mechanism by which people browsing the web can "subscribe" to their favorite websites, blogs, and other web resources. If a website has been set up to provide an RSS "feed", you can configure an "aggregator" (commonly your web browser or email client) which checks that feed on a regular basis, and lets you know whenever the website in question has been updated. Typically, you can even jump directly to the new page or entry through the aggregator.

Thunderbird, NSIT's recommended email client, is also one of the best RSS aggregators around. It requires some initial setup -- configuring an RSS account to hold the feeds you subscribe to -- but after that, adding and browsing feeds is very straightforward.

Configuring an RSS Account

To use RSS in Thunderbird, you must first configure an RSS account. To do this:

  1. Go to File → New → Account.
  2. Select "RSS News & Blogs" and click Next.
  3. Give the account a name. It defaults to "News & Blogs", but you can give it any name you want.
  4. You'll be asked to verify the name you selected; if it's OK, click Finish. The RSS account you just created will appear in the Folders pane on the left, immediately above the "Local Folders" collection.

Over time, you may want to create multiple RSS accounts to sort out your RSS feeds according to topic, source, or personal importance -- for example, creating one account for University RSS feeds, and another for your friends' blogs. Once you've decided on a name, click Next.

Subscribing to RSS Feeds

There are two methods of subscribing to new RSS feeds, depending on how the feed is being presented to you.

  1. Many (if not most) sites will have a special icon denoting an available RSS feed. The most common icons are feed image, RSS image, and XML image. The University tends to prefer feed image. If you encounter a site with one of these icons, open Thunderbird, then drag the icon to the RSS account you want to contain the subscription. It should appear in your subscription list and start downloading recent updates.
  2. If the above method doesn't work, you'll have to resort to the more complicated method:
    • Open Thunderbird, and click once on the RSS account you want to add the feed to.
    • Click "Manage Subscriptions" on the right-hand pane.
    • Click Add, and then cut-and-paste the address of the feed you want into the "Feed URL" box. The address should end with either ".rdf" or ".xml".
    • Click OK, then close the RSS Subscriptions Window. You should now be subscribed to the feed.

Accessing RSS Feeds

Once you've subscribed to a feed, accessing it is easy. Each feed will act just like any regular mailbox. Just click on the feed you want to check, and then the update you want to read. If you don't want a particular update to appear any more, delete it just as you would an email message. That's it!

Last updated: 10/03/06