I posted the following recently. Hopefully this will help get you started.

On the question of attachments, you can add an attachment--when
composing a message--by going to File -> Attachment -> File .... Using
Thunderbird in Linux with Orca, I hear when there's an attachment as I
arrow up and down my in box. I think this also works in Windows, but
maybe that's just with Jamal's scripts for JAWS. If a message has an
attachment, you can go to File -> Attachments to save, open or detach
each attachment or all attachments. I guess you could also check this
submenu if you ever think a message has an attachment.

Here's what I posted to this list earlier. Note that at the bottom
there's a link to a podcast on using Thunderbird with Window Eyes.

I switched from Lotus Notes to Thunderbird several years ago. Now I
mostly run Thunderbird under Linux (the Vinux distribution) with Orca,
but I think a lot of what I do will apply.

I have two accounts set up in Thunderbird. One is my GMail account. I
also have GMail set up to pull all of my other personal email (Road
Runner, Yahoo, AOL, ...). The other is my company's email system.

I think the Microsoft email clients are similar in this respect, but
each account has it's own folder. Within each folder is a in box folder.

Here's what I typically do. First, I set the in box folder in GMail to
be my default folder. You can do this by arrowing to that folder in your
folder list, pressing the application key or shift+F10 and then checking
the default folder button. Now whenever you bring up Thunderbird,
that'll be the folder you'll start in.

When I'm done reading the new messages in that folder, I backtab into
the folder list, arrow up once to the folder for GMail, press left-arrow
to collapse that folder and then down arrow to the in box for my
company's email and tab over into that list.

Another thing I do frequently is just look at the unread messages. You
can do this by selecting View -> Threads _. Unread. Go back to seeing
all of the messages by selecting View -> Threads -> All.

If you want to combine folders then I'd suggest looking at the options
under View -> Folders. I see there's a unified option, and all option, a
favorites option and so on. I haven't played with any of these options
in a while.

I just use the preview pane and jump around with the F6 key, but a lot
of people like to use the enter key on each message to bring it up in
it's own window. People do this for performance and security, but I
don't worry about either! You can change this by going into Options or
Preferences, going into the Advanced page and then Reading and Display.
You'll see a drop down box for "Display message in" where you can select
a tab, window and so on.

Jamal Mazrui wrote some scripts for JAWS that give you a more Outlook
Express like look and feel. They also provide quite a few more features.
You can get them from the following links. I'll include the location of
the zip file because he also provides a lot of information for the
Thunderbird user and the blind Thunderbird user in particular.

Executable installer
http://EmpowermentZone.com/tb_scr.exe

Zip archive for manual install
http://EmpowermentZone.com/tb_scr.zip

He also includes the following information on a podcast on using
Thunderbird with a screen reader.

An excellent audio tutorial on using Thunderbird with a screen
reader, Window-Eyes in particular, but with broader applicability -- is
featured in an edition of ACB Radio's Main Menu show located at
http://mainmenu.acbradio.org/podcast/2010-08-21.mp3

Let me know if you have any specific questions!

On 17/08/11 14:12, Penny Reeder wrote:
> Dear All,  I am still having problems using the web for gmail.  So, I
> downloaded Thunderbird.  Does anyone know of a pod cast, or even just
> simple written instructions for using Thunder 3.5 with WindowEyes 7.2?
>  For instance, I can't find "attachments" on any menue, or any
> keyboard command that will allow me to open an attachment, or attach a
> file for that matter.  Thanks so much for your help.
> Peny
> 
> 
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-- 
Christopher (CJ)
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