Thunderbird 将支持 Microsoft Exchange 协议

软餐获悉，Mozilla Thunderbird 将于 7 月份原生支持 Microsoft Exchange 电子邮件协议。这是 Mozilla 首次向该电子邮件客户端添加新协议，这也是 Thunderbird 的下一个稳定版本。据悉，之后还将添加对日历和通讯录的支持。添加新协议是一项相当大的工程——目前，这个邮件客户端主要由旧的 C++代码构成，因此开发人员无法集成 Microsoft Exchange Web Services API。Thunderbird 开发团队已开始将 Rust 组件整合到 Thunderbird 的代码库中。通过使用 Rust 编程语言，这一问题将得到解决。考虑到工作量，最初只会添加对 Exchange 电邮协议的支持，后续才会支持日历和通讯录。此前，通过第三方的附加组件，已可实现使用 Thunderbird 来访问 Exchange 账户。

值得注意的是，微软将于 2026 年 10 月 1 日停止对 Exchange Online 和 Office 365 的 Exchange Web Services API 的支持。这意味着在两年后，Thunderbird 中的 Exchange 支持将不再适用于由微软托管的 Exchange 账户，只适用于组织自己管理的 Exchange 服务器。目前还不清楚 Thunderbird 团队是否会在此之前转向 Graph API，以实现这一功能。

Mozilla Thunderbird will natively support the Microsoft Exchange email protocol starting in July. This marks the first time that Mozilla has added a new protocol to its email client, and it will be included in the next stable version of Thunderbird. Support for calendar and address book integration will also be added later. The Thunderbird development team has begun integrating Rust components into the codebase of Thunderbird. Currently, the mail client is mostly comprised of old C++ code, which prevented the integration of the Microsoft Exchange Web Services API. By utilizing the Rust programming language, this limitation can be overcome. Initially, the focus will be on adding support for Exchange email protocol, with calendar and address book support to follow at a later date. Previously, it was possible to access Exchange accounts through Thunderbird using third-party add-ons. However, native support for Exchange accounts was not built into the client. It is worth noting that Microsoft will end support for the Exchange Web Services API for Exchange Online and Office 365 on October 1, 2026. This means that in two years’ time, Thunderbird’s Exchange support will no longer work for Exchange accounts hosted by Microsoft, but only for Exchange servers managed by organizations themselves. It is currently unclear whether the Thunderbird team will transition to the Graph API before that time to enable continued functionality.