Need a new e-mail client

[hambone79]

I need some suggestions for a new e-mail client. I have been an Evolution user since the days of Ximian, but I have become fed up with this piece of garbage. Back in the early days when it was still in beta, Evolution was lacking features but it was very solid. It seemed like every update that Ximian made improved functionality and stability to the point that it became my one and only mail client. After Novell aquired Evolution, it seems that progress has been going backwards. The program gets buggier with every release, and I still have issues with basic features not working (like play sound when new mail arrives). I'm also not real crazy about the recent deal between Novell and Microsoft so I would like to distance myself from Novell as much as possible.

Anyway, here is what I require in a mail client:
1) Support for local mail, POP, IMAP, etc.
2) Filtering with customizable filters
3) Ability to add antivirus and spam checks
4) Prefer something with integrated Addressbook and Calendar

Anyone have suggestions? I'm currently trying out Thunderbird, but it appears to have issues grabbing local mail.

[earobinson]

thunderbird?

[hambone79]

I could probably use Thunderbird if someone could tell me how to make it get local mail. I tried setting it up, but it doesn't seem to work.

[henriquemaia]

Kontact (kmail). The best email client I have used.

[Bloodfen Razormaw]

Kontact does all that trivially. And it satisfies pretty much all your complaints about Evolution. It has far, far more features, and enterprise-grade stability (and don't forget to install kmailcvt to import your mail; it will work easily as KMail can natively use the same mail format as evolution IIRC).

[urukrama]

I have been using Opera's email client for a few years now, and am quite satisfied with it. It doesn't have a calander, and some of it is a bit simple (address book, for example; it doesn't allow you to create 'groups' of email addresses), but its filtering system is still the best that I have come accross.

[hambone79]

Thanks for the suggestino to try Kontact!! This is exactly what I was looking for! Kontact makes Outlook and Evolution look like toys.

[mips]

I was just about to recommend Kontact, to late ;) It really rocks if you ask me.

[fuscia]

try balsa. here's a list of its features - http://balsa.gnome.org/features.html

[delfick]

just use the gmail web interface :D
then you have google calendar as well :D

along with the gmail skins extension for firefox (https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/2127/)
and the greasemonkey script, gmail conversation preview (http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/3759)

gmail becomes perfect :D
(if you want a gmail account i can give you one....(people still have to be invited into gmail to get a gmail address, don't they??))


i used to use thunderbird, it's a good program :D

[mips]

just use the gmail web interface :D


How is gmail performing for you lately ? I have found that in the last 2months or so that it is slow to open and sometimes times out.

[delfick]

How is gmail performing for you lately ? I have found that in the last 2months or so that it is slow to open and sometimes times out.

works well for me :D

[OffHand]

just use the gmail web interface :D
then you have google calendar as well :D

along with the gmail skins extension for firefox (https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/2127/)
and the greasemonkey script, gmail conversation preview (http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/3759)

gmail becomes perfect :D
(if you want a gmail account i can give you one....(people still have to be invited into gmail to get a gmail address, don't they??))


i used to use thunderbird, it's a good program :D

I for instance do not like to depend on Google for everything I do.

[henriquemaia]

Kontact (kmail). The best email client I have used.


Why do I feel stupid in recomending kmail to someone else while insisting with myself to use evolution? And I feel even more stupid because I'm ranting with my own stupidity for not doing nothing to change my situation for better (i.e. leave evolution).

[DigitalDuality]

e

[calvinpriest]

I was in the process of falling in love with Kontact, and then it ate a couple thousand of my IMAP emails.

There is a longstanding bug in Kontact/Kmail related to IMAP. It doesn't seem to affect everyone, but it certainly ruined my day:
http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=104956

I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Kontact to someone using POP. It's quite an elegant application on the whole. But if you'll be using IMAP, that is another matter...

Personally, I'm back to Evolution because I need a full PIM. If Kontact every fixes the bug, I'll be back. At the moment, the devs don't seem too concerned.

[Bloodfen Razormaw]

Actually the devs have already fixed the bug. However, there is not another bug fix KDE release scheduled before 4.0. If you want it fixed you have to apply the patch yourself (or you can use IMAP instead of disconnected IMAP).

[Bezmotivnik]

This is an interesting thread.

I've never found what I consider an acceptable POP/SMTP mail client in either XP or Linux. I currently use Thunderbird but I am dissatisfied with what I consider idiotic editor defaults, notably those awkward, ugly and all but uneditable quote bars. Yes, all this is tweakable, but when you change one thing, then something else mysteriously doesn't work right. Then an automatic upgrade trashes your custom settings. It's just a nightmare. I was just spending too much time in the Thunderbird support forum, and it was ultimately wasted time.

I used Sylpheed, which had editor bugs, and Opera which had the annoying bug of regenerating drafts if you went back to re-read stuff you'd already sent. Evolution in Linux produced the single most flamboyant crashes I have seen in over twenty-five years of computer use.

Etc., etc.

My priorities are for a very clean, monochrome, text-only Unicode editor with good GPG/PGP implementation -- which includes making text encryptions that are interoperable between platforms.

In the distant past, I did this by using external editors, but this seem absurd in 2006.

Most mail clients try to do too much (a lot of which is nonsense) and wind up doing it all badly, unfortunately. They are written for people without the necessity of producing, receiving and transmitting precisely-formatted quality text documents.

[gaaslight]

enter sylpheed-claws-gtk2 in the search window of synaptic. mark it for installation, apply, enjoy.

[calvinpriest]

Actually the devs have already fixed the bug. However, there is not another bug fix KDE release scheduled before 4.0. If you want it fixed you have to apply the patch yourself (or you can use IMAP instead of disconnected IMAP).

I hope you are right about the bug being fixed. My reading of the bug thread is not so hopeful. The bug was patched less then a month ago, and since then at least one person has re-reported the problem. And no dev has responded to that post.

As for IMAP vs. disconnected IMAP, while the bug was initially identified as dIMAP, there were many reports of it affecting IMAP as well.

[sizzam]

If you decide to go with Kontact and are using Gnome, check out this thread on How to make QT apps look more Gnome-ish (http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=76633).

[grte]

mutt (http://www.mutt.org/).

Kind of a pain to set up, initially, but worth it.

[henriquemaia]

Why do I feel stupid in recomending kmail to someone else while insisting with myself to use evolution? And I feel even more stupid because I'm ranting with my own stupidity for not doing nothing to change my situation for better (i.e. leave evolution).


I have changed to an webmail provider. Less trouble, no spam, renewed email usage pleasure. :D

[Eyebee]

I have been a thunderbird user for some time. I like the features. I use it on Windows machines too, so it's a familiar common interface.

However I'm giving Kontact a try out here.

[SunnyRabbiera]

Opera and kmail/kontact are my mainstays, though thunderbird is good in a pinch

[lisati]

j.(people still have to be invited into gmail to get a gmail address, don't they??))


The last time I went to log into gmail it had an option for creating a new account without the need for an invite.