Filed under: Software, Internet Tools, Surveys and Polls
Mail.app replacement
Okay, sure, we've asked this before, but after months and months of using Mail.app and loving it, I'm kicking it to the curb and shopping for a new email client. Why would I do such a thing?
Well, I get about 100 emails an hour and Mail.app has started choking on them. Worse: it doesn't give an error or anything. It just stops receiving mail. It checks, says no new mail. I sit there ignoring it for a good couple of hours and then all of a sudden I think, "Hang on a minuten!" and I close Mail.app, relaunch it, and am met with a deluge of messages that I hadn't known I had been ignoring. Not good. What really doesn't make sense is that this is with an IMAP account.
Anyhoot, I'm trying out Thunderbird (which is handling the IMAP nicely), but I'm not fully sold on it. Any recommendations? What's the best non-Mail.app choice for a Mac user? And don't say Entourage. I won't have my email sullied by Microsoft.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Jake of 8bitjoystick.com said 1:07PM on 12-07-2005
Mozilla Thunderbird rocks my world.
http://www.mozilla.com/thunderbird/
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C.K. Sample, III said 1:14PM on 12-07-2005
Jake: any solution for the Address Book integration with Thunderbird?
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ad said 1:18PM on 12-07-2005
Not really cheap, but maybe PowerMail is the right client for you:
http://www.ctmdev.com/powermail/
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Patrick Haney said 1:19PM on 12-07-2005
Funny you should mention that Mail issue. I had the same problem a few weeks ago, but with POP accounts. Mail just stopped checking for new email but never bothered to let me know. It hasn't happened in a while though.
As far as alternatives go, the best one I can recommend is Thunderbird. It's my application of choice on my XP box at home and it's quite nice. For OS X, I'm sure it works well, but I'd rather stick with the integration of Mail.app.
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jimmie geddes said 1:23PM on 12-07-2005
I am also having problems with mail lately. I can receive mail, but when I try to send it out I get a smtp server error, asking me to choose another server. I can go days with it working perfectly receiving and sending mail, then I will get that error again. Thanks God for my Treo:)
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Chad said 1:24PM on 12-07-2005
I've tried thunderbird, I want to like it, but two things make me crazy...
1) If you select all mail in a mailbox and delete it, thunderbird considers them all unread and increases the count on your trash folder. Mail.app doesn't. I don't really care how many unread messages are in my deleted messages folder and the visual distraction of seeing an unread count for a folder I don't read makes me crazy.
2) Thunderbird can't display all your incoming mail (all inboxes from each account) in the same 'virtual' folder like mail.app does. This is very useful if you have multiple accounts.
O.k. maybe 3 things.
3) Thunderbird doesn't seem to understand the delete key, the little one. You have to use the delete/backspace key to delete your mail.
I don't know if anything can be done about these 3 things, but they are the things that have kept me from switching.
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Jake of 8bitjoystick.com said 1:25PM on 12-07-2005
Well Thunderbird supports importing LDIF files.
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Eric B. said 1:28PM on 12-07-2005
I have been having some issues wil Mail.app myself but I would really rather not switch because I enjoy the integration with the rest of the system. I recently started using Mail.app with an Exchange 2003 server using the Exchange Mailbox type in the setup. After awhile I started to realize that I wasn't seeing some of the messaegs and they were just disappearing into no where. If I logged into Outlook Web Access from work and then went home some of the messages wouldn't show up in my Mail.app inbox *AND* they would be *GONE* from OWA. Not good. I figured this had something to do with using Exchange support and decided to back everything up and switch to using IMAP. I don't seem to be losing messages but when I use Mail.app to move messages into folders I have about a 50/50 shot that they will actually move there and not be in OWA the next time I log in. I've started to consider using Entourage.. but it's so bloated I have been hesitant. I guess for any real world, heavy lifting email sitautions, Mail.app might not be the best way to go. I think this is the first time I've found myself dissapointed with an Apple software products functionality.
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jeff kisseloff said 1:29PM on 12-07-2005
I've been using Gyaz mail, which feels a lot like mail.app but without the little books that have bothered me with mail.app. Another plus is the always quick response to questions from the developer.
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John Laur said 1:31PM on 12-07-2005
I just want to take a moment to chime in here and say that pretty much any mail client that mainly deals with POP3 email is going to make a crappy IMAP client and vice versa. Unfortunately there are very few good IMAP clients despite more and more services moving to supporting IMAP servers. Mulberry is such a client, but the UI is dated and very confusing. Thunderbird is probably the best bet for the average joe right now.
Ironically, you would think that Outlook/Entorage being designed by their very nature to be mail-on-the-server applications would have good IMAP support; however, I guess they purposely don't in order not to cut a larger chunk out of the Exchange product line. At any rate, they still make a better IMAP client than mail.app.
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AK said 1:32PM on 12-07-2005
Thunderbird is excellent, especially for creating HTML based messages. I do wish there was a way (thinking AppleScript) to use Apple Address Book (or frankly an even better contact manager). Thunderbird has a horrible address book.
Aside from that, I can live with using the "delete/backspace key" and where my email goes. I've tried using Opera Mail and Entourage - but Thunderbird is by far the best.
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Chris Alford said 1:37PM on 12-07-2005
I've moved from Entourage to Mail and from Mail to Thunderbird. I too get hundreds of email and Thunderbird has been exactly what I need to handle my 4 gig database.
It works fantastic with applying rules and applying colors to important emails you are looking for. It does everything that Entourage does. Move the database from one mac to another is a snap also.. just grab the library and copy it over and bam.. you're second mac is up to date also.
The only issue I do have with Thunderbird is the ability to remove the attachment without deleting the entire email. If they would include this.. I would be in heaven.
Thunderbird is the best I've used so far. Bravo Guys.
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systemsboy said 1:39PM on 12-07-2005
I wanted to post saying I never have problems with Mail.app, but I know the second I do that it'll crap out on me. Still, I hear about all kinds of problems with Mail, and yet, over 7 machines running both Tiger and Panther, reading multiple, and often huge POP and IMAP accounts, I rarely have any problems. Which is why I stick with Mail.app. The only real issue I've ever had is that if people don't manage their inboxes (i.e. put old mail into folders and keep the inbox count down under about 2000) Mail will start acting funny. Otherwise, it works well for me, and our staff, under heavy use, every single day.
Sorry, I know that's not what you were looking for...
Most people I know who are unsatisfied with Mail.app and want a free replacement go with Thunderbird, which, in my very limited experience, works quite well. My problem with it is (or has been) that it lacks (or lacked) support for AddressBook, and there is (was? -- it's been awhile) no way to transfer your AddressBook addresses, particularly the groups. I could be wrong about this, or maybe it has changed, but as I remember it, that was my major hangup, and why I decided to stick with Mail.app.
Good luck.
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ToeKnee said 1:42PM on 12-07-2005
I've got numerous e-mail accounts for my different hats, and some of them I manage in Mail and most of the in Eudora, which I've used since about 1997. I have to say, it's amazingly configurable, the filters are the most flexible, and my enormous database of messages always moves quickly when opening windows, etc. The addressbook supposedly works with Addressbook, but I don't use it that way.
I was purchasing Eudora Pro every few years for a long time, but now I just make do with the tiny ad that is on the screen when Eudora is at the front. You just don't get the excellent Spam filtering in this sponsored mode. But now most of my accounts channel through two Gmail accounts (which catch about 1,500 Spams per day), and I further check them with Gmail's web interface before downloading them to Eudora, which then runs about 25 filters on them to sort them into a myriad of folders. According to Eudora's statistics, I've sent and received 85,000 e-mails with it, and it's very quick and snappy. It's ugly, though... but you can customize all the colors and fonts..
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Scott said 1:45PM on 12-07-2005
I used to use Thunderbird, until it developed a nasty habit of "losing" my e-mails. I put in quotes because it wasn't deleting them, it just wasn't able to read the files on my computer as it should and refused to display them. I tried importing the original file but no luck. Thankfully, I was able to import the file into Mail.app so I now have access to those e-mails.
This happened just before Tiger, so this issue might have been solved by now, but once bitten, twice shy.
May I ask why you are against Entourage, besides it being a Microsoft product? I use it at work and I've never really had any trouble with it.
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umijin said 1:46PM on 12-07-2005
Eudora.
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Jeff said 1:46PM on 12-07-2005
Am i the only one still using Eudora?
Going on 10 years and still running....
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Peter Reali said 1:52PM on 12-07-2005
I agree with (most) everyone. The Mail.app integration with Address Book.app is esential. I've been having a differnt problem with Mail.app...when I delete mail using the Mail.app, they still appear on the server (and yes, I checked the settings). I have a .Mac email, and when I log into the web based .Mac email, all the email's I've deleted in Mail.app are still there. Apple tech supports solution: Re-Install OS X. I don't know about anyone else, but this seems to be there answer for EVERYTHING lately....a very Microsoftesque solution (and VERY ANNOYING)
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Ron Rosson said 1:52PM on 12-07-2005
I looking for something that will talk to exchange without having to have IMAP enabled. A must is to take advantage of the features in Tiger which MS Entourage does not.
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Chris Meisenzahl said 1:59PM on 12-07-2005
Another vote here for Thunderbird. Earlier versions were flaky. But the last two revisions work great for me.
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