Email on a network with Thunderbird
 

I have a network of three computers, all of which are running Thunderbird 0.9. I was wondering if it is at all possible to set things so a message need only be downloaded once off the internet mail server, from any computer on the network, then subsequently shared with all of the other computers on the network.

Thunderbird
 

Just a suggestion, and in no way meant to indicate expertise. :)

Set the client to leave a copy of the message on the server for 1 day. Next, set your automatic message refresh to a syncronized schedule on each machine.

That will make it 100% automatic, instead of having to download it once in the first place.

Alternatively, you could use a centralized mail storage folder shared on one pc, accessed by each machine when the client loads.

this may sound like overkill, but since you have 3 computers you could set one to download all of your mail off of the server, then set it as the mail server for the other two. that way they do the sharing bit you are talking about.