Changing my Email client

[GreensandsParticipant @greensands]

I am thinking about updating my Emailer client from MS Outlook 2007 to something rather more modern. Two possible alternatives which have been suggested are Thunderbirds and EM. Before committing myself any further does anyone have any possible preferences or suggestions and/or snags to look out for.

[GreensandsParticipant @greensands]

[Thor 🇳🇴Participant @thor]

I have used Thunderbird for many years, works for me.

Thor

[Peter Ellis 5Participant @peterellis5]

Posted by Thor 🇳🇴 on 16/03/2022 14:57:34:

I have used Thunderbird for many years, works for me.

Thor

Same here. Thunderbird is good.

[Ex contributorParticipant @mgnbuk]

Another satisfied Thunderbird user here.

Nigel B.

[Steve FParticipant @stevef]

Hello

I use Thunderbird now having lost my MSOffice account.

I use it to keep track of 6 email account addresses. 2 on gmail, 1 on yahoo, 1 on outlook and 2 on btinternet. It works fine.

Only thing to be aware of.

When you add your accounts top Thunderbird make sure you use IMAP. This leaves the mail on the server. That way you can access it from other devices if needed.

If you make a mistake and use POP the emails will be downloaded to the PC and then deleted from the server. There was a setting to "leave the mail on the server" somewhere.

regards

Steve

[Grindstone CowboyParticipant @grindstonecowboy]

+1 for Thunderbird

Rob

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

Another vote for Thunderbird!

[AdrianRParticipant @adrianr18614]

I used to use Thunderbird and found it very good, but now I just use the web clients for Outlook and Gmail. That way I get access on any device, assuming I remember the password.

[Harry WilkesParticipant @harrywilkes58467]

Steve F advice good Ive used thunderbird for some years without any problems until sky moved to Yahoo and for me the best fix was to loose the sky email address

H

[Martyn DuncumbParticipant @martynduncumb88863]

yet another vote for Thunderbird

Martyn

[Anonymous]

Posted by Steve F on 16/03/2022 16:07:02:

If you make a mistake and use POP the emails will be downloaded to the PC and then deleted from the server. There was a setting to "leave the mail on the server" somewhere.

I don't use Thunderbird but using POP it should be optional – in any email client – whether you leave messages on the server or delete them.

I use POP and have all devices except my main desktop computer leave mail on server. That way they are accessible from any device until I read them on the main computer where I save and file them as appropriate and delete them from the server.

My way of working.

[Steve GarryParticipant @stevegarry36500]

Been using thunderbird for a good few years, and it manages 17 addresses across 5 different domains with no issues,

The other nice thing is being able to split mails out into local folders, using rules for each address, so I can find (for example) all the information relevant to flights with a specific airline, or all the messages that have come in from the bank, in their own folder,

Another nice trick with local folders is being able to automatically delete messages that have been read after a retention period that can be set by folder, which is perfect for managing things like flight promotions that are time limited. If I put a star on a message, even if it's been read, it won't get deleted.

[martin perman 1Participant @martinperman1]

I've used Thunderbird for years, easy to use.

Martin P

[David George 1Participant @davidgeorge1]

Have a look at office 2021 one payment and has Outlook included.

David

[An OtherParticipant @another21905]

Agree with Peter Greene above. I use Thunderbird on three different machines, all using POP because I sometimes want to access my mail offline. I have three accounts in use, and they are not deleted from the server.

[David SeniorParticipant @davidsenior29320]

I've used Thunderbird for years with no apparent problem, until I became aware that I was not receiving quite a few important emails. It took me a while to realise that I had no Spam folder, whereas on my wife's computer my account did have a Spam folder and that was where the missing emails were ending up. Turns out that I was using POP on my computer, and IMAP on hers. I had to change to IMAP and now I get all the emails. Quite why they end up in the Spam I have no idea.

Dave

[speelwerkParticipant @speelwerk]

I don't like Thunderbird at all, use it only because I cannot find a better program.

It changes font, font size and how mails are sorted randomly, cannot get spelling checker for English and German working, just a few of the most annoying things. No doubt it is me that is the problem but why is there not a program for digital dummies like me. Niko.

[Anonymous]

Thunderbird was originally conceived as a replacement for Eudora when Qualcomm stopped supporting the latter. It (Thunderbird) failed miserably in that capacity. It's been developed in a different direction since.

Although Eudora was dumped back in XP days (~2006) it has still worked fine with every version of Windows since and performs well, albeit with a little help from the "Hermes" fix to combat recent SSL changes and there's a hardy band of users (including me) who feel that it's still the best email client around (by far).

That said, it is getting long in the tooth and there are signs that changes both in Windows and email handling generally may lead to its demise eventually so I wouldn't recommend it for new users.

Pandora was created as a somewhat lookalike replacement and has an enthusiastic following (though I haven't tried it).

Edited By Peter Greene 🇨🇦 on 17/03/2022 21:53:21

[Bob Unitt 1Participant @bobunitt1]

Posted by Thor 🇳🇴 on 16/03/2022 14:57:34:

I have used Thunderbird for many years, works for me.

Thor

Me too. It takes a bit of getting used to, after other mailers, but is well worth the effort.

[Dr. MC BlackParticipant @dr-mcblack73214]

I am still using Eudora on my Apple Mac

I have NOT found any other email client that has the same features and allows searching as quickly.

If Eudora stops working, I'll revert to Royal Mail Letterpost

MCB

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

Posted by Peter Greene 🇨🇦 on 17/03/2022 21:47:52:

Thunderbird was originally conceived as a replacement for Eudora when Qualcomm stopped supporting the latter. It (Thunderbird) failed miserably in that capacity. It's been developed in a different direction since.

…

A number of posts favour Eudora and other products over Thunderbird without explaining why.

I use Thunderbird because:

• Works the same on Windows and Linux (I use both O/S)
• Set-up fairly painless, including presets for most email providers.
• Is free and maintained, notably security and privacy fixes
• Supports up-to-date protocols, POP/SMTP, IMAP, HTTP and encryption etc.
• Handles multiple email accounts from different providers
• Has the usual edit, spell-check,contacts. spam, sort, search, ordering and labelling capabilities
• Lots of configuration options if needed
• I don't need the collaborative/team features offered by the likes of Outlook.
• Not found anything I need that Thunderbird doesn't provide.

What does Eudora offer that overcomes it being out of support since 2006? (The 2018 Open Source version released by the Computer History Museum appears to be the 2006 code.)

And opening the field fully, what functions do folk have in their favourite email client that makes it their 'must have' choice?

Dave

[Dr. MC BlackParticipant @dr-mcblack73214]

Eudora allows redirection as distinct from forwarding.

I have never found any other email client software that allows redirection.

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

Posted by Dr. MC Black on 22/03/2022 13:56:29:

Eudora allows redirection as distinct from forwarding.

I have never found any other email client software that allows redirection.

Hmmm,

• I've never wanted to redirect personal email. Businesses often do it, but not me.
• Thunderbird has a redirect plug-in, but it only works when the computer is switched on and Thunderbird is running. Not ideal for redirecting email long-term because the home computer has to be left switched on and unattended. OK up to a point, but a business redirecting email should worry about the reliability.
• Email redirect is best done by the server, not by an on/off client, because the server is always on. Not all ISP's support redirect (all mine have, so it's not uncommon) but if they redirect it's set up by logging into the email account on the server, not from the client. Much more reliable.

Dave

[BikepeteParticipant @bikepete]

Posted by Dr. MC Black on 22/03/2022 13:56:29:

Eudora allows redirection as distinct from forwarding.

I have never found any other email client software that allows redirection.

Pegasus Mail has this, assuming by redirect you mean what I think you mean (forward unaltered aka "bounce", so it reaches your chosen recipient pretty much the same – with just an extra line in the headers to document the redirection – as if it had been sent to them by the original sender – thus allowing your recipient to reply by default to the original sender, not to you).

It's still under active development (since 1990!) and has worked brilliantly for me for 20+ years. But it's arguably not as user-friendly as some alternatives (perhaps because it's so feature-rich and configurable), and it's also heavily dependent on the continued health and dedication of just one main developer, so maybe not an obvious first choice. But worth a look, IMO… (and it's free for both private and business use).

Edited By Bikepete on 22/03/2022 15:07:46

[Author]

Posts