Making the QuickBooks 2010 accounts package work with the Mozilla Thunderbird e-mail client

When Intuit released QuickBooks 2010, they made a number of serious enhancements to usability and functionality. There was one regression, however, which was probably deemed to affect only a small proportion of the product's userbase. Support for third-party SimpleMAPI e-mail clients like Mozilla Thunderbird was removed, leaving users to be saddled with one of the big three Microsoft options: Outlook Express, Outlook and Windows Live Mail. But users of Thunderbird are quite vociferous and both GetSatisfaction and Intuit's own community forum are rife with unhappy stories.

There is a solution - it is simple to achieve but looks rather oblique on paper.

Simply install PDFCreator (here's a direct link to a recent version), which is a virtual printer that produces PDF files rather than physical paper documents. Then print the statement from QB on that virtual printer and you can e-mail directly from there instead! Problem solved. Although I've yet to test, this is probably a total fix so long as Thunderbird is definitely your default mail client in Windows.

I solve problems like this for my clients very frequently in exchange for a small fee. Kohera is extremely loyal to its paying customers: please do consider getting in touch. If you require any assistance with these steps, a detailed breakdown or a consultancy visit, please do ring.

I would be glad of a comment if this worked for you (or if it didn't): it is good for morale!