Thunderbird’s built-in Calendar works on Linux without the old Lightning add-on. You can keep a calendar only on your computer, connect to a CalDAV or other supported network calendar, synchronize Google Calendar, create recurring events, set reminders, and send invitations from the same desktop app.
If your Thunderbird installation is very old, update it before following the steps below. Mozilla recommends using one installation method at a time on Linux and notes that distribution packages can lag behind Thunderbird’s own releases. See Mozilla’s Thunderbird for Linux installation guide if you need to reinstall or switch package sources.
Launch Thunderbird and select Calendar from the Spaces toolbar. On layouts where the Spaces toolbar is collapsed, open the application menu and use the calendar-related option instead. You do not need to search the Add-ons Manager for Lightning; current Thunderbird includes calendar functionality as part of the application.
If you do not already have a calendar, choose New Calendar. Thunderbird offers two basic choices: On My Computer stores the calendar in your Thunderbird profile on this Linux PC, while On the Network connects to an online calendar. See Mozilla’s calendar setup documentation for the supported choices.
Use a local calendar for this PC only; use a network calendar when the schedule must sync with other devices.
For a typical network calendar, select On the Network, enter the username or email address requested by the provider, add the calendar location when needed, and choose Find Calendars. Thunderbird will show calendars that the server makes available; select the ones you want and subscribe.
Google Calendar uses Thunderbird’s built-in connection flow. Mozilla’s current Google Calendar instructions direct users to Menu > New Account > Calendar > On the Network, then to sign in with the Google account and subscribe to the calendars they want. Google authentication may open a browser-based sign-in rather than asking for a password inside Thunderbird.
After setup, use the Calendar toolbar to switch between available views such as day, week, multiweek, and month. The list on the left lets you show or hide individual calendars.
Click New Event, or use File > New > Event. Thunderbird also documents Ctrl+I as a shortcut for a new event. Enter a title and select the calendar that should store the event, then add the location, start and end time, description, and reminder as needed. Mozilla’s event guide describes these fields and the all-day option.
For a repeating meeting, appointment, or routine, set the event to repeat daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, or with a custom schedule. You can also choose when the recurrence ends. Add a reminder so Thunderbird alerts you before the event. When finished, save the event.
If the selected online calendar supports scheduling and is associated with an email identity, add attendees to the event. Thunderbird can mark people as required or optional and send invitations. This is most useful with CalDAV or provider-hosted calendars; a purely local calendar does not synchronize an invitation workflow across devices.
Use the calendar list to open a calendar’s properties. Depending on the calendar type, you can change its name or color and manage options such as refresh behavior, reminders, read-only status, or offline support. If a remote calendar appears stale, try synchronizing it from the calendar list and confirm that the account credentials and server address are still valid.
Older Linux tutorials often tell users to install the Lightning extension, add a special Ubuntu PPA, or use distribution-specific commands just to unlock Calendar. Those instructions are obsolete for modern Thunderbird. Calendar is integrated into Thunderbird, so the important step is simply to keep the application reasonably current through the same package channel you installed it from. For update details, see Mozilla’s Thunderbird update guide.
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