How to use CalDAV with Thunderbird and Lightning

CalDAV is another method that can be used to synchronize your mail server calendar with an email client calendar. Any CalDAV enabled calendar should provide this functionality. Thunderbird and Lightning (Calendar add-on) do provide support for CalDAV. In this post I'm going to provide details of how to configure Thunderbird/Lightning to sync with your CalDAV server.

1. Prerequisites
2. Setup network calendar
3. Sync Calendar

Prerequisites - Before getting started you need the following:

Update: Only applies to Thunderbird 2.x. Version 3.x does not yet support Lightning.

• Thunderbird (Version 2.x ONLY)
• Lightning add-on. Check with your mail server developer for compatibility.
• Mail server IP address or host name.
• CalDAV shared name or calendar name.
• The CalDAV username and password. Usually this is the same as your email account login.

Setup network calendar - After you have successfully configured an email account in Thunderbird and installed the Lightning Add-on you are ready to add your CalDAV network calendar.

Right Click under Home calendar and select New Calendar.

At this screen select 'On the Network' and press Next.

In this screen you need to select CalDAV as Format. In the Location field enter your mail servers CalDAV URL. The URL entered in this field can vary by mail server or CalDAV server. Please refer to your mail server requirements for proper URL structure. Here's two examples from VisNetic MailServer and Kerio MailServer.

Update: IceWarp Mail Server
http://[server]:[port]/webdav/[account]/[folder]/
http://192.168.1.2/webdav/user@your_domain/Events/

192.168.1.2 = the IP of VisNetic MailServer
Port = default port for VisNetic MailServer Web Control
user@your_domain = your email address
Events = this is the default name for your calendar in VisNetic MailServer

Kerio MailServer
http://[server]/calendars/[domain]/[shared calendar user]/[calendar name]
http://192.168.1.2/calendars/your_domain/user/calendar

After pressing Next to the URL window you will be asked to name the calendar and select the email account associated with this calendar. Select Next and Finish.

Sync Calendar - The calendar should ask for your username and password, usually this is your email address and password. After successful authentication the calendar on your mail server will reside in Lightning. If you add a calendar event in Lightning it will be sync'd to your mail server and the same applies to your mail server (usually via Webmail) calendar.