kmail vs thunderbird vs evolution

[DigitalDuality]

d

[Anonii]

just curious. What does everyone prefer and why? i'm using thunderbird now, but noticed that kmail integrates well with Clam and anti-spam tools (spam-assassin), and runs lighter than thunderbird does. And i'm thinking of switching.

But for me to switch will be a hassle. Not quite sure how to export e-mail out of thunderbird into kmail. So it's got to be worth it b/c it's going to take some time getting everything in it's right subfolders and re-roganized and what not. I currently run 3 e-mail pops into thunderbird as well.

I like the fact kmail is better integrated into KDE as well. Speed, added functionality, but a lack of plug-ins/themes/extentions. Not to mention the system tray functionality i've been looking for with thunderbird on linux (i don't like using alltray for that.. and i don't know if alltray even works with kde)

Is there anything else i should take into consideration?
I dont use an email client. I cant find some basic features that would be great. I prefer the web interface of gmail :/

Well, I have tried Evolution and Thunderbird, and even if Evolution is slower, I prefered it.
I dont really have reasons for this choice, it was just easier and I prefered the GUI <:

[adhuvi]

I think this is like alltray but for kde. I don't know it, just saw it in another thread.

http://kdocker.sourceforge.net/

[raublekick]

right now i use thunderbird because i heard it has better support for using multiple email addresses, which i need. i figure i use firefox, so i'll use thunderbird too.

kmail (in kontact) seems really awesome as well. never tried evolution.

the bad thing i've seen in all of them is that there is extremely poor support for exporting all of your mail.

[croak77]

I prefer KMail over Evolution. Evolution seems more sluggish on my computer. Plus I use KDE so naturally I'm gonna gravitate towards KDE applications.

[chaosgeisterchen]

Kontact rocks :)

[henriquemaia]

I use Evolution, though I prefer Kmail... I just chose Evolution because it's better integrated in Gnome, but there are a lot of funcionalities I loved in Kmail that I miss... Maybe someday Evolution will finally evolve.

[GeneralZod]

I switched from Thunderbird to Kontact about a year ago and, after a few initial bumps, I never looked back. The only things I really missed were the in-built spam filter (easily fixed via setting up Kmail to work with bogofilter), and the folder arrangement for each e-mail account (had to be arranged manually, but was pretty easy).

I've got nothing against Thunderbird, but the lack of integration into KDE (and the lack, as you mentioned, of system tray functionality) made it a bit of a pain to use.

[Bloodfen Razormaw]

KMail wins for the most functionality, best UI, and being lighter and faster than the others. Also, in the case of full suites Kontact offers better integration and far more functionality than Evolution, while also being fully modular (assuming you use a distro with split KDE). Kontact easily beats every PIM application out there, propriety or free, regardless of platform.

I'm amazed how far Kmail has come since the KDE 2 days, when it still used awful single key shortcuts, and typing "KDE" while still accidentally in the main screen meant "k" for select all mail, "d" for delete, and "e" for empty trash, thus permanently and irrecoverably deleting all your mail. ;)

[Kimm]

I have never found a mail client better than Thunderbird and thats what I'm sticking with! Thats specificaly for Spam-protection.
I also find the UI great! (altough parts of it integrate badly with GTK).

I have tried to swith to both Kmail and Evolution, but I never managed to stick with them.

[AndyCooll]

I've gone back to using Thunderbird after trying Evolution for a bit.

I quite liked Evolution actually, but was never very happy with it's spam handling. Bogofilter never worked very well for me.

:cool:

[hoagie]

The first time I installed ubuntu I tried evolution and since then I'm pleased with it. I don't know about thunderbird, neither I care so I'm just sticking with evolution.

[linuxuser28]

I use Thunderbird because that was what I was using before I started using Ubuntu. Sometime I'll try Evolution to see what it is like.

[Obor]

I use Thunderbird because I share my profile/settings with Thunderbird which I got on my windows partion. I don't think I could (or don't know how) share my emails/profiles etc between kmail in kubuntu and thunderbird in xp.

[vayu]

I use Thunderbird because I share my profile/settings with Thunderbird which I got on my windows partion. I don't think I could (or don't know how) share my emails/profiles etc between kmail in kubuntu and thunderbird in xp.

How did you do that?

[DigitalDuality]

d

[Hobbsee]

thunderbird here.

I tried kmail, found it crashed quite often, and had trouble with the profiles (i need to be able to send and receive from multiple accounts). I hope to be able to make it work the way i want it to in future though...

[Bezmotivnik]

I use Thunderbird, but I'm not 100% happy with it, particularly the way auto-updating seems to change custom settings I can't remember how to reprogram. #-o

I haven't used Evolution in a long time. Not only did I hate it, but in 5.04, it produced the most incredible, exotic crashes I have ever seen in nearly twenty-five years of computer use.

I'm pretty demanding of e-mail programs. I think Thunderbird might eventually work OK for me, but it's pretty kludgy.

I also tried Sylpheed and didn't much care for it. Editor bugs, particularly -- as is also the case with Thunderbird, which also has some really awful defaults.

[Obor]

How did you do that?

howto share thunderbird & firefox profiles between dapper and xp guide here (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=203524)

[fuscia]

i like sylpheed-claws, kmail and even pine, but i prefer the way i can handle images in thunderbird the best, so i use thunderbird.

[jan]

Thunderbird gets my vote.

[scorp001]

Yeah i know it all - heard it all - but i still feel even though thunderbird is my mail client of choice [[ i do not have a better option - in windows i wud have used pegasus mail but it crashes under wine each time i try to send mail ]] it [TB] compares well with outlook express and NOT outlook itself. It does need quite abit more maturerity in terms of basic features. We need to compare thunderbird with profeesional mail clients and not personal ones like OE - tho that is what it compares with at present.

Past 2 weeks i have spent looking for a suitable means of merging my client addresses with email - it wud be rather naive to think i want to spam - email is basic core of CRM and outloot works great but...

No Open office is gr8 for docs n all and i use it 100% but it simple does not work with email - the mail merge in OO2 sucks. i have tried every patch - all useless in dapper...

UBUNTU is the right step Fwd but we also need the folks in other spheres to realise they need to target the business user and thunderbird is not it neither is evolution - yucks - mem hungry. kmail and kontact give pop3s error and nothing works.

anyone got ideas about mail merge programs for linux besides openoffice.

[ShanghaiTeej]

UBUNTU is the right step Fwd but we also need the folks in other spheres to realise they need to target the business user and thunderbird is not it neither is evolution - yucks - mem hungry. kmail and kontact give pop3s error and nothing works.

anyone got ideas about mail merge programs for linux besides openoffice.

I don't know what denotes a memory hog in your mind, but Evolution only asks for 25 megs of resident memory on my computer (i'm running Edgy). You also have evolution data server and things like that, but that's already running anyway. Evolution has many faults, but I don't think it's that much of a memory hog.

[NiceGuy]

Not to mention the system tray functionality i've been looking for with thunderbird on linux (i don't like using alltray for that.. and i don't know if alltray even works with kde)

I use the 'new mail icon' extension - http://moztraybiff.mozdev.org/. It works well under gnome but apparently works well under KDE, and IceWM (running 'icewmtray') aswell.

[theratster]

I've used mostly Thunderbird, but it seems a bit sluggish (I'm running Xubuntu on an old PII-300Mhz.

Which do you think is the fastest mail client that still maintains a decent amount of functionality? So far, Thunderbird is great in what I need it to do (POP3, and some IMAP), but like I said, feels a bit slow on my slow-poke machine.

[ice60]

i just started using thunderbird again and like it, i use it with the Enigmail extension
https://addons.mozilla.org/thunderbird/71/

i asked how to set it up because i hadn't used it for a couple of years and set it up like this below, i like that setup.
http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showpost.php?p=842957&postcount=3

i got a 'reply to list' extension too for mailing lists
http://open.nit.ca/wiki/index.php?page=ReplyToListThunderbirdExtension&7

@theratster have you looked at sylpheed? i haven't actually used it, but i think it might use fewer resources :confused:

here's a screenshot of sylpheed
http://sylpheed.sraoss.jp/images/sylpheed2-mainwindow.png
http://sylpheed.sraoss.jp/en/

[theturtlemoves]

I use evolution, for the simple reason that it's the only one that works with MS exchange, and I don't want to use the IMAP method. It's also reaonable, though they broke the exchange connector spectacularly recently and haven't yet put it back together.

[mysticrider92]

I personally prefer Thunderbird. I think Evolution is a bit too slow and there is too much on the window. I have never tried Kmail, so I don't really know anything about it.

[mahy]

Thunderbird is probably the best option for home users, being lightweight, and also very flexible and customizable. The only problems i've heard of are with importing foreign s/mime certificates. I still use it on windows.

Evolution's what i use now on Ubuntu. I experienced some difficulties with importing contacts from Gmail, but apart from that, it works great. And you don't need a plugin to do GPG encryption. Use this if you want a fully-fledged alternative to MS Outlook (Exchange server and all). The latest version 2.8 (only available in Edgy as of now) also offers the fabled vertical view.

I was using KMail for a short period and i hate every bit of it. I don't know why, it just doesn't suite me.

Not to forget: there's also Opera Mail. Really cool, but no GPG (and no prospect of it).

Mahy

[Castar]

Thunderbird on Windows (damn MFC programming! :D)

Kmail on linux. Kontact is truly amazing and much faster than Evolution and Thunderbird in my laptop. The only thing missing is proper Exchange server contacts access and that's about all you've ever need. :)

[funkyade]

Gone through the range here.

Sylpheed-claws
Kmail
Thunderbird
Evolution
Balsa

Of them all I much preferred Kmail, then Sylpheed, then Thunderbird. I'm currently using thunderbird as I am not running KDE anymore, and the latest versions of Sylpheed don't seem to deliver anymore.

If anyone knows of a good way to export mail from thunderbird to Kmail then I would switch back...

[dsanderson]

I want to use Kmail, but am having nightmares getting it to work. I am a newbie so forgive my stupidity. When I originaly downloaded the program via Add/Remove, it installed some other package as well. Sorry dont remember what it was, but the only thing I checked off was Kmail so I assumed it was some associated package.
No matter what I try to do, it will NOT send mail. If I set up an IMAP account, it will download my IMAP folders fine, but when I write an email and try to send it, the mail just goes to the Local Outbox and sits there, no error message, no nothing. I have been pulling my hair out on this one.

What am I missing? I have the Send TAB set up exactly as I do in other email clients. And there is NO error, so I dont get it, its like it is not even trying to send.

Any help would be appreciated. I am using my Palm (Finaly with Ubuntu), and love the KPIM apps, this is the only thing that is keeping me from a complete switch from ******* at this point. (Well, no exactly, I still am confused as hell as to how to install applications that require a manual install, but I figure give me time on that one!)

[bailout]

I don't use kmail but it sounds like it is sending to the outbox and then you have to send the outbox contents. Email clients like outlook express used to do this when dialup was standard so that you could write emails and then send them in a bunch.

Look for a command "send queued" or similar. You can usually set in the options whether you want emails to be sent to the outbox or sent directly to recipient.

[viper]

Used Evolution in Breezy and dapper never really liked it moved over to Thunderbird now (never tried Kmail)

[dsanderson]

Thanks for the quick answer. I already tried that one too. When I try send queued, it just sits there doing nothing at all. It's like it does not even try to make a network connection. The downloads again, are fine. I have uploaded some screenshots of the login screens and main screen. And the mail.grupo-utopia.com is not an error, my smtp server uses mail.x.x as the format.
What gets me is that NOTHING happens, it does not even seem to try to send.

[calvinpriest]

Ok, I just went through the process of switching from Evolution to Kontact. I have to say I was REALLY liking it...and then it ate my email (or a lot of it anyway).

I use IMAP (currently Cyrus with Kolab) and it turns out there is a nasty, longstanding bug in Kmail when using IMAP:
http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=104956

I wasn't sure what was going on, but thousands of messages had disappeared (and a short while later even more disappeared) with no apparent reason or pattern. VERY disconcerting.

So I still think Kontact is wonderful in many ways, but you couldn't pay me to use it with IMAP. From what I can tell, the bug doesn't affect some people, and other people are only affected occasionally. But I kind of like being able to trust my email program.

With that being said, if you are using POP, there's no reason I know of not to use Kontact/Kmail. It is fast, feature-rich, and generally elegant. But if you are using IMAP, choose Evolution or Thunderbird.

[kuja]

Kontact (which has Kmail integrated) gets my vote. It's quick, light, and integrates well. What more could we want? Well, I hear in KDE4 Kmail and akregator will more or less merge (or similar), seeing as they're delivering the same sort of content anyway. mmmm KDE4 :D~~

[funkyade]

I want to use Kmail, but am having nightmares getting it to work. I am a newbie so forgive my stupidity. When I originaly downloaded the program via Add/Remove, it installed some other package as well. Sorry dont remember what it was, but the only thing I checked off was Kmail so I assumed it was some associated package.
No matter what I try to do, it will NOT send mail. If I set up an IMAP account, it will download my IMAP folders fine, but when I write an email and try to send it, the mail just goes to the Local Outbox and sits there, no error message, no nothing. I have been pulling my hair out on this one.

What am I missing? I have the Send TAB set up exactly as I do in other email clients. And there is NO error, so I dont get it, its like it is not even trying to send.

Any help would be appreciated. I am using my Palm (Finaly with Ubuntu), and love the KPIM apps, this is the only thing that is keeping me from a complete switch from ******* at this point. (Well, no exactly, I still am confused as hell as to how to install applications that require a manual install, but I figure give me time on that one!)

Don't Panic, it sounds like you haven't setup your default identity. KMail uses that to send all your mails from - even those from different accounts (like thunderbird, only more configurable).

Just go to TOOLS -> CONFIGURE KMAIL -> IDENTITIES and set up your default identity anf then go to ACCOUNTS and add an account for sending via SMTP or whatever, KMail will even check your server to see what options it supports!

hth

[dsanderson]

Thanks hth, I did. I followed all of the instructions here and in other forums before posting.

[TheRingmaster]

about the lack of system tray functionality in thunderbird, there is an extension for that called "minimizetotray". look it up. it is pretty cool.

here is a link to the website:mozdev.org - minimizetotray: index (http://minimizetotray.mozdev.org/)

[funkyade]

Thanks hth, I did. I followed all of the instructions here and in other forums before posting.

I'm at a bit of a loss after that. Are you certain all your settings etc on your mail-server are okay? Is your mail-server using standard ports? Have you double-checked your sending identity to make sure your account is actually being used and not the default sendmail settings?

You could try installing sendmail (switch back to the default sendmail identity) and see if that helps, it could open another can of worms, but it may be worth trying.

#> sudo aptitude install sendmail it may ask for permission to install some dependencies, that should be okay. I'm not sure if you will need to do further configuration or not - it's a while since I have used sendmail.

Do you have problems with another mail client using the same settings, if so, then I hazard a guess it's not KMail that is the problem.

btw (by the way) : hth = hope this helps ! :-)

[dsanderson]

LOL! Ah, the joys of internet abreviations!
To answer the question, Evolution works fine. And sendmail terrifies me. LOL!

[gosh]

I use thunderbird because it has a plaxo plug-in

[podunk]

Kubuntu! Kontact! KAlarm! Kontact mail!

Kmail/Kontact mail takes longer to train the spam filter than Thunderbird - but once it's trained it's almost invincible to spam. After the first day I've never had a good email sent to the spam folder. I found a hint after it was to late - if you click the "Not Spam" button on *good* mail as well as the spam button on spam it will train much faster.

Kubuntu Dapper is a truly amazing product for the business world. It's fast, it's stable and has some very powerful and productive applications.

Kontact is the PIM I've always wanted, I just didn't know it. ;-). I used 2 PIMs in Windows, Kontact has the functionality of both plus some. And it's *fast!*

Linux spends a lot of time catering to the hobbyist, people that want the latest and greatest to tweak and fiddle with. This is good because I assume this is the main driver of the constant improvement in Linux.

I've come to believe that something that is often overlooked is the potential Linux has to enhance the bottom line. I think this potential goes far beyond just the readily apparent savings on software and computer life extension to greatly increased productivity.

Having multiple desktops available in conjunction with sticky key desktop switchers like 3ddesktop is very productive, it lends itself to a high level of organization. Coupled with Linux's efficient use of CPU and memory resources you are able to have far more applications open at once without the degradation in performance you experience in other OS's.

Canonical and Red Hats's server packages and support prices are very competitive.

I'm migrating my business to Linux. I chose Kubuntu because it's more "clickable" than Ubuntu or Xubuntu. I expect the learning curve to be much faster - plus I like the bouncing icons when you start an application! :-)

Personal computer useage wasn't driven by the hobbyist, it was driven by corporations looking to enhance the bottom line. The viability of Linux would be well served by us stressing the business potential in addition to the gee wiz of compiz.

[sophtpaw]

does Kontact and kmail install in ubuntu alrite? or is it best left for Kubuntu?

thx

--
sophtpaw

[bailout]

I see from your screenshots that you are running kontact under gnome rather than kde. Assuming you installed ubuntu and then added kontact through synaptic I wonder whether there is a missing part of kde that is needed? I would suggest that you post for help on the kmail mailing list where you will probably get help from people who are more knowledgable. Or just install kubuntu ;)

[podunk]

Whoopsi - completely missed the problema person posted with mail sitting in the outbox.

In the Settings>Sending there is a drop down menu That says - Never Automaticaly. Did you change that to Send on all mail checks?

[funkyade]

I'm running under XFCE, not a gnome or KDE fan particularly. Under XFCE, you need to enable "launch KDE services on startup" if you are using any KDE apps, otherwise you can get some weird behaviour - this in the sessions settings menu - or just very slow startup of KDE apps.

Not sure about Gnome, maybe something similar?

[DeadEyes]

I use Thunderbird on XP and Edgy that way I can access my mail regardless of which OS I boot.

[danielferber]

I have tried all three, and must confess that I am very disappointed.

I work on a greate international company. All day long we sent email to each other and set conference calls with people across several countries. I have looked for a solution with mail+calendar.

KMail: IHMO, this is the mos interesting project, with the best integration, most useful functionalities and so on... The usability is fantastic. I really was impressed about KMail. But on the everyday live, I discovered that KMail is too buggy and simple unusable. After one week, have lost several mails while writing them when Kmail suddenly crashed, after having lost part of the mail database once. Recently I gave KMail a second chance, and it deleted all messages from my IMAP because of a bug in the filter mechanims. I am still very angry about. KMail cannot understand calendar entries received by email (from Lotus Notes). It is not reasonable to use KMail for my work.

Evolution: Nice looking. For someone who has used KMail, looks quite simple, with few functionalities. It is very very slow, sometime it may take one minute or two to get a message from IMAP, even when using cache (strange, but Evolution can only open a message from cache after receiving a aother copy from internet). I miss option searching messages recursively in several folders. Frequently looses calenday entries and gets confused by timezones. When I receive an invitation from other country, I message shows the right hour, but appears misplaced in the calendar. Crashes often while writing new messages. It is not reasonable to use Evolution for my work.

Thunderbird: Works well, although I dont like it so much. But it is the only one that crashes rarely, does not loose messages and works well for everydays live. Therefore I use it, since it is the most stable.

KMail and Evolution present very interesting ideas, but I have to choose one that works and is reliable.

[shining]

KMail and Evolution present very interesting ideas, but I have to choose one that works and is reliable.

If you have time, it would be nice to check the issues you have with kmail and evolution are reported, so that there is at least a hope they will be fixed :)

For kmail:
https://launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/+source/kdepim/+bugs (ubuntu launchpad)
http://bugs.kde.org/ (upstream bugzilla)

For evolution:
https://launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/+source/evolution/+bugs
http://bugzilla.gnome.org/

[danielferber]

If you have time, it would be nice to check the issues you have with kmail and evolution are reported, so that there is at least a hope they will be fixed :)


Yes, you are right. I have already been reporting and voting for the bugs for about six months. I have seen effort in Evolution, but not for KMail. People keep discussing the same bugs over months, but no one finds the solution for the problems in KMail.

Still like KMail very much, and hope it will get usable again soon. But for now, I have to stay content with Thunderbird.

[shining]

Yes, you are right. I have already been reporting and voting for the bugs for about six months. I have seen effort in Evolution, but not for KMail. People keep discussing the same bugs over months, but no one finds the solution for the problems in KMail.

Still like KMail very much, and hope it will get usable again soon. But for now, I have to stay content with Thunderbird.

Ah ok, too bad. I also hope the issues in KMail will eventually be sorted out.

[oygle]

I've tried Evolution, didn't like it, and now trying Thunderbird. Looking for a suitable replacement for Pegasus Mail, which can only be run under WINE of course. (There doesn't seem to be any Linux email client that comes close to the functionality and many features that Pegasus Mail has).

I currently use GNOME, so can Kmail be used under GNOME, or do I have to switch to KDE to test it ?

Realise this thread is a bit old, but it would be interesting to know what people are using now, and why. :)

[L8erG8er]

Thunderbird, Evolution was just way too buggy for me. The integration in Gnome was great, but not worth it until improvements are made.

[PS8]

I used evolution and tried thunderbird also for my exchange mail. However, found them both to be slow and buggy. Moreover, the icon set was too large. I switched to Kmail and it just works. It's quick and the interface is friendly. I wish they had a vertical view too.