To change email password in Thunderbird, you must first update it with your email provider, then make sure the saved password in Thunderbird matches. This guide shows you the two ways to change email password in Thunderbird: when the app prompts you, or by manually editing your saved passwords.
Before you start: change your email password with your provider
Thunderbird does not change your email account password on the server. It only stores the password used to access your account. So before doing anything in Thunderbird, log in to your webmail (like Gmail or Yahoo) or your hosting control panel (like cPanel) and create a new password there. If you skip this step, no amount of updating Thunderbird will help, because the server will still reject your old credentials.
Open Mozilla Thunderbird
Launch Thunderbird on your computer by double-clicking its icon on the desktop or selecting it from your applications folder. Once the app opens, you'll see your email accounts and folders in the main window. If you have multiple accounts, make sure you know which one you're updating the password for before proceeding.
Method 1: enter the new password when Thunderbird prompts you
The most common scenario is that Thunderbird fails to connect to the mail server after you've changed your password with your provider. When this happens, a dialog box appears asking for your password. This typically occurs when you click "Get Messages" or try to send an email. Type your new password into the field, and make sure the option to use Password Manager to remember this password is checked, then click OK. This is the fastest way to change email password in Thunderbird because it requires no menu navigation.
Method 2: manually update your saved password in Thunderbird
If the prompt doesn't appear, or you prefer to update the password ahead of time, use the manual method. Start by clicking the Thunderbird menu icon (three horizontal lines) or the "Tools" menu, then select "Settings." From there, navigate to "Privacy & Security" in the left panel, scroll down to the "Passwords" section, and click "Saved Passwords...".
Show and edit saved passwords
In the Saved Passwords window, click "Show Passwords" and confirm with "Yes" if prompted. You'll now see a list of all stored credentials. Locate the entry for your email account, note that both IMAP/POP and SMTP entries may be present for the same address. You have two options here: select the old entry and click "Remove" to delete it (Thunderbird will then prompt you for the new password on the next connection), or double-click the password field to directly edit it and type the new password. If you see multiple entries for the same account, it's advisable to remove the obsolete ones to avoid confusion later.
Restart Thunderbird and verify the change
After updating the password through either method, restart Thunderbird to ensure the changes take full effect. Close the application completely and reopen it. Then send a test email to yourself or click "Get Messages" to confirm that the new password is accepted by the server. If you receive no error messages and your emails flow through normally, the update was successful. If you still get authentication errors, double-check that you've entered the correct password with your provider and that you updated the right account in Thunderbird.
