If you want to search any website for text you see in a message in Thunderbird, you can directly run the search from Thunderbird.

How to perform a Search

Let’s say you see the phrase “I like Minotaur” and want to search the web for Minotaur. Just highlight the word “Minotaur“, then right-click and select Search Bing for “Minotaur”

Thunderbird will show the search results in your default browser.

How to change the search engine

By default, Bing is set as the search engine. To change it, do the following:

1. At the top of the Thunderbird window, click the Tools menu (Alt + T) and select Options, or click the Application menu button  and choose Options.
2. Select the General panel.
3. Under Default Search Engine, use the drop-down menu to select your preferred search engine from the list.
4. Click OK to close the Options window.

How to add Google to the search engine list

Google is not included in the search engine list, but you can add it by installing the Google Search for Thunderbird add-on.

1. Press the Alt key to display the menu bar, then click on the Tools menu and choose Add-ons.
2. On the left sidebar, make sure Extensions is selected.
3. In the search field in the top-right corner, enter Google Search.
4. Beside Google Search for Thunderbird, click Install.
5. Restart Thunderbird.

After you install the add-on, Google will be available in the list of search engines.