Evolution or Thunderbird?

[L8erG8er]

I was using Thunderbird in Jaunty, but was never happy with Thunderbird's unfortunate habit of automatically putting quote lines in replies and forwards, etc., without extensions to stop them.

Since installing Karmic, I'm running Evolution as it came. So far, it seems more stable in this release, we'll see. I really like it's integration with the desktop environment. I like to set alarms on certain events in the Calendar, and I don't have to be running Evolution to see the alarm reminders pop up on the panel, which is nice.

See, this is one more example of how everyone looks for their own needs in an app. There's no right or wrong answer, just what works for you!

[gacb]

I use Thunderbird for business. I can format HTML messages with the Quick Text plugin and personalize them - hundreds at a time with Mail Tweak.

I also receive thousands - not counting spam - of messages per year, many with attachments. I can keep Thunderbird under 1GB by saving needed attachments elsewhere and deleting the attachments.

I keep Evolution just for reminders, using another plugin that synchronizes Lightning and Evolution events and tasks.

[Old Codger]

I prefer Thunderbird, mainly because it works well on my Macs when I'm running Mac OS 10.6. and because I like it fat better than Apple's Mail program. Unfortunately, I've been unable to SEND e-mail using either Evolution or Thunderbird when I switch to Ubuntu 10.4. The error message tells me it's an authorization problem and recommends that I don't use that option. Did that and still neither can send. I guess the next step is to call my ISP provider. :confused:

[XubuRoxMySox]

The new Thunderbird (version 3) - and the only available in the repos - insists on IMAP and balks at send outgoing e-mail. I had it working for a little while (yay!) but an update killed that.

You can get the old version in a tarball from Mozilla, or use Seamokey, which is an integrated mail/news-and-browser "internet suite" from Mozilla. It works perfectly just like the old Thunderbird 2 did (another yay!).

Lightning calendar works in it too (yet another yay!).

Hope that helps somebody,
Robin

[lemort]

Strange I have always used Evolution since my beginning days on computer. I use Thunderbird at work, though, where I only have Windows and Evolution for Windows was just too slow for me. I prefer Thunderbird over Outlook any time, but Evolution over Thunderbird. I like Evolution's "behaviour" and interface much more. Maybe it's habits, but I wouldn't switch unless I had to.

[bunburya]

Can I get anyone's opinion what how Evolution compares with Thunderbird+Lightning as an integrated email client and calendar? I used to not pay much attention to calendars but when I worked in a firm with MS Outlook I found out how useful they could be for keeping yourself organised. So I was happy to find that Evolution was Gnome's answer to Outlook and has all the same features task/appointment scheduling, reminders etc. I haven't tried Thunderbird for this reason, even though I hear very good things about its mail client.

Can anyone tell me whether Thunderbird + Lightning offers as good an experience as Evolution when you take into account features other than mail client (particularly calendar)?

[wheels666]

I'll tell you one right now: detaching of attachments or deleting of attachments.

Sometimes people will send me a huge image file or a PDF, and I don't want that cluttering up my inbox. I still want the message I was sent (maybe the accompanying text had some important information), but I want the attachment to be on my hard drive, not on my email account.

How do you delete an attachment in Evolution?


More importantly, how do you open an attachment without having to save it in Thunderbird?

I wanted to like Thunderbird because I'm a big fan of Firefox - BUT

after using it for 2 weeks, i have gone with Evolution - Thunderbird will probably be great one day, but right now it's so woefully lacking in features as to be unusable...a mail programme that doesn't even open attachments! - it's so far behind Outlook 2003 it's unbelievable...a real shame

Evolution meanwhile is only missing a few features (like text highlight, and drag and drop between folders, that are std on outlook 2003

[piggyslasher]

There's a much more up to date guide here, complete with how to integrate it your desktop like Evolution.

Replace Evolution with Thunderbird completely in Ubuntu (http://www.techgarten.com/ubuntu/replace-evolution-thunderbird-completely-ubuntu/)

[Roasted]

While I like both, I have recently sided with Evolution. It's network support for businesses is pretty impressive, and sucked up the info from the exchange server at work without any issue.

Probably the biggest thing about Evolution that I like is it's an entire package. It *is* Outlook for Linux. Thunderbird, I'm sorry, is not. For Thunderbird to work properly, you need a ton of add-ons to make it happen. Ever try running Ubuntu 64 bit with Thunderbird and the lightning extension? How about if you throw the Mozilla PPA into the mix? Don't even bother. With each update, the extension breaks, rendering your calendar extension unusable.

I love Thunderbird, and I'm sure in the future we'll see a more feature packed version of it. But even the latest version lacks enough features to make it not the best solution for businesses, or even somebody who just wants a feature packed email client at home. Evolution surprised me with how much support it had, and the built in contacts/calendar is a severe +1.

I still love my Firefox though... :guitar:

[slackthumbz]

I'll use evolution when setting up access to my gmail account via imap is as simple as entering my address and password like it is in thunderbird.

[Roasted]

I'm beginning to question my last opinion which sided with Evolution.

Evolution - Slower than Thunderbird. Better Google Calendar integration. Better all around client, feature wise.

Thunderbird - Much quicker. Literally zero connect time to the Exchange server, whereas Evolution sits there for a while. When it closes, it closes. When it opens, it opens. Unlike Evolution that sometimes experienced slowness with the corresponding actions.

But Evolution is giving me some headaches. I feel like I'm spending too much time waiting for it. And about the awesome Google calendar integration? For some reason my Calendar isn't showing up today. Awesome.

How about a mail client that isn't slow and doesn't suck?

[dazzakoh]

Question that cannot be resolved... I prefer Thunderbird for mail, Evolution for everything else. I find Evo's mail a little flaky. But like some people, I suspect I might crawl back and try it again after another update....

[Fatman_UK]

Option #3. I totally hated Evolution. I liked Thunderbird until it started doing weird things to my work email account. Now I'm using Claws-Mail and casting a speculative eye over the Aethera project on SourceForge.

I have no brand loyalty. :P

[WinRiddance]

I've used Thunderbird for the past 5 years ... but switched to Evolution not too long ago because I just couldn't deal with the ongoing problems that I was experiencing, ever since the latest Thunderbird was released. Primarily the lack of support is what bothers me more than anything. I can spend days searching through the mozilla and that other huge Thunderbird forum ... finding many other people with all sorts of problems ... none of which are answered in any kind of timely fashion. Heck, most of the real problem questions that I've seen weren't answered at all. Oh, and setting up accounts in the latest Thunderbird, what a pain in the rear ... UNBELIEVABLE !!! With 9 different email accounts I expect to be able to set an account up in a matter of seconds. Thunderbird's "auto-configure" was a nightmare and then some, at least for me. With Evolution I could set my accounts up easily without any problems whatsoever.

It was a time consuming (about 6 hours) pain in the rear to import dozens of Thunderbird folders with thousands of messages that span 10 years total, but at least now I'm using a program with actual support. When I upgraded to Ubuntu 10.10 my Thunderbird got totally hosed with missing settings and local store folder options that I could no longer change or access. There were several other related problems too, with embedded "things" that prevented me from making needed adjustments that were never a problem before, none of which I could find answers for. It seems almost like any kind of viable Thunderbird support was abandoned ever since the last release. And it's not just Linux users either ... the majority of complaints and problems in the forums are by Windows users. No more Thunderbird for me, ever again !!! Sorry ...

[WinRiddance]

Couldn't leave it alone ... it just bothered me too much after years of using Thunderbird ... so here's the solution to the second half of my previous gripe (mind you though, this was never an issue before, with older versions of Thunderbird):

Anyway, if you've rebuilt your system from scratch, or upgraded to a buggy running version of Ubuntu (as was the case with my upgrade to version 10.10), followed by no longer being able to access your old store/profile folder with all of its previous settings and emails, then do the following in this very order ...

1. Make sure that you actually have a backup copy of your prior Thunderbird stuff.

2. Open up Thunderbird, then go to Edit and open up the Preferences. Go to the Advanced settings and locate the tab for Network & Disk Space. Now go ahead and clear your cache!

3. Then locate your existing email store/folder which contains all of your past emails & custom folders, the one that you'd been using before. If you've tried this earlier and it didn't work ... it was probably because you didn't clear the cache first.

4. If applicable, also locate the new or changed path to your downloaded files. See all of the screenshots below for additional help. I can't believe that this was not posted in the help section or a Mozilla Thunderbird FAQ online ... least not when I wasted my time looking through the Mozilla forum.

Last but not least, if that still didn't work for you then it's either more than likely an issue with missing file permissions, or an issue with inadvertently deleted files/folders which can no longer be located on your machine.

.

[Svento]

I did try Evolution but I couldn't link it to our Google Calendars. Also I'm very used to Thunderbird and arranging a new program would be a lot of work. My settings are imported from an old Thunderbird installation in XP and some settings and a lot of mail were in turn imported from an even older Outlook Express. Besides I like Mozilla products, the fact that everything can be customized.

[Sven6210]

I am tempted whether I shall give Evolution another try. When I started with Ubuntu I only tried Evolution for a short time. In those days I had two major reasons for not using it.



I was running Ubuntu on my Netbook, however my laptop was still under Windows XP with Thunderbird. Using Thunderbird in Windows XP and Ubuntu allowed me the same look & feel on both platforms and to exchange the address books through a synchronising software via my FTP server
When trying Evolution it felt rather slow and not so comfortable for quickly writing an email

Now some time has passed and things have changed. Currently I am using Ubuntu on all my machines. I still have Windows available in dual boot, but I only start it once a month to update the AntiVirus and load all Microsoft updates. But since I can do everything I want to do with Ubuntu, I do not really need Windows any more.

Additinally I suppose Evolution also improved. So I am considering giving Evolution a new try, especially because of the possibility to synch the contacts with UbuntuOne. Are there any users that can share with me their experience of changing from Thunderbird to Evolution and the experience with the UbuntuOne integration for the address book. I have sevarl machines and that would be a real asset/convenience for me.

Thank you in advance

Sven

[gandalf69]

I was also tempted to give Evolution a go.
I use free Yahoo. Thunderbird installed itself without any fuss, it was too easy.
I can't get anywhere with Evolution, it asks about remembering password but then doesn't ask for it. Any useful suggestions on setting it up for free Yahoo will be appreciated.

[johntaylor1887]

I was also tempted to give Evolution a go.
I use free Yahoo. Thunderbird installed itself without any fuss, it was too easy.
I can't get anywhere with Evolution, it asks about remembering password but then doesn't ask for it. Any useful suggestions on setting it up for free Yahoo will be appreciated.

I believe only premium yahoo accounts are supported. That's why I use gmail almost exclusively.

[gandalf69]

I believe only premium yahoo accounts are supported. That's why I use gmail almost exclusively.

Thanks, if it is set up for POP only that would explain it. I wonder why 'they' don't say so.

Your gggggmail seems to have the sssstutters:)