Exchange Calendars in Mozilla Thunderbird with Lightning

This post shows how you may add your Exchange Server calendar to Thunderbird with Lightning Add-on.

1. Install Thunderbird with Lightning. 

Download Thunderbird from Mozilla. The most recent reversions, such as, version 38.6.0 has already included Lightning.

2. Install the Exchange Calendar Lightning Add-on

The Exchange Calendar Lightning Add-on was previously the Exchange EWS Provider Add-on for Lightning that was developed at 1st Setup. It is now being maintained and developed by Ericsson.

Download the binary build of the recent version from its release channel. For instance, you can download directly the binary build of the per-release v3.6-beta1, exchangecalendar-v3.6.0-beta1.xpi.  Save the xpi file and note the location.

Now, you can install the Lightning Add-on.

1. On Thunderbird, switch to the Calendar Tab by pressing "CTRL-SHIFT-C".
2. Then go to "Tools", then "Add-ons", "Settings", "Install Add-on from File ...", and finally, select the downloaded xpi file to install. Upon completion, restart Thunderbird. 

3. Add an Exchange Calendar to Thunderbird. 

This step turns out to be a trick part. If you network administrator is cooperative and publicizes the settings for your Exchange Server, your life can be easier. Unfortunately, it has been not my case. Below are the steps you may try.

(1). Set up Exchange Calendar in Thunderbird using Exchange's autodiscovery function

You may follow the instruction provided by the developers of the Exchange Calendar Lightning Add-on and attempt to set up your Exchange calendar in Thunderbird Lighting.  The instruction is "How to Add Your Calendar to Thunderbird".

If this attempt fails, you may try the second approach below.

(2). Set up Set up Exchange Calendar in Thunderbird mannually

When you come to this step, the last attempt must have failed. However, it still sometimes provide you with a piece of useful information, that is, the "Primary email address" that may not necessarily be what you think it should be.

You may follow the steps outlined in "Add a Microsoft Office 365 Calendar" at 1-st Setup.

However, I found that in my case the "Primary email address" and the "Username" were different and the Username must take the form of "myusername@mycompany.com" while the "Primary email address" takes the form of "myusername@mycompanyaltname.onmicrosoft.com".

You may have to try both combinations to see which one works for you.

Reference

1. Leah S., "Office 365 (Thunderbird) - Exchange Calendar and Tasks Add-On for Lightning," https://kb.wisc.edu/office365/page.php?id=29243, retrieved on February 29, 2016
2. Leah S., "Office 365 (Thunderbird) - Configure Thunderbird," https://kb.wisc.edu/office365/page.php?id=28427, retrieved on February 29, 2016
3. Mozilla Support Forum, "Thunderbird does not work with office 365,"  https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1059850, retrieved on February 29, 2016
4. Mozilla Developers, "Thunderbird Lightning User Interface," https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/lightning-user-interface#w_switching-between-mail-tabs-and-lightning-tabs, retrieved on February 29, 2016
5. 1st Setup Admin, "Add a Microsoft Office 365 Calendar," http://www.1st-setup.nl/wordpress/wp_super_faq/add-a-microsoft-office-365-calendar/, retrieved on February 29, 2016
6. 1st Setup Admin, "Exchange EWS Provider Add-on for Lightning," http://www.1st-setup.nl/wordpress/poducten/exchange-ews-calendar-and-tasks-add-on-for-thunderbird-lightning/ , retrieved on February 29, 2016
7. Ericsson Exchange Calendar Team on Github, "How to Add Your Calendar to Thunderbird," https://github.com/Ericsson/exchangecalendar/wiki/How-to-Add-Your-Calendar-to-Thunderbird, retrieved on February 29, 2016
8. Ericsson Exchange Calendar Team on Github, "Exchange Calendar Lightning Add-on Release," https://github.com/Ericsson/exchangecalendar/releases, retrieved on February 29, 2016