7 ms·

Does anyone have a good desktop email client they recommend for windows or linux or even self hosted? All the ones ive tried are pretty awful... The problem is

Does anyone have a good desktop email client they recommend for windows or linux or even self hosted? All the ones ive tried are pretty awful... The problem is outlook was actually good in the past.

grepfru_it 3y ago
The only other decent mail client is thunderbird. There exists no mail client that is as full featured as outlook. Horde/imp maybe maybe is the closest thing you get in web form. But every mail client has a limitation that outlook does not have
- laborat 3y ago
  Unfortunately, I dislike thunderbird with a passion. In my anecdotal experience, its search is terrible - not to mention that there are two of it: a search option in the top panel that misses about 50% of relevant messages, and a very featureful search option buried within the menu bar that misses about 20% of relevant messages. Out of necessity, I've trained myself to just reboot to Windows any time I really need to find a particular email that I know I have somewhere. I also don't particularly like Thunderbird's UI, but that is something I'm able to compromise on. Not meant to be a rant, but rather: please, someone, is this really the best we have?
  - jasonjayr 3y ago
    Yea :( Most everyone has moved to webmail implementations, since it's good enough. I think even folks with the tech know-how to self-host a webmail client have done so. Personally, I use RoundCube.
  - andersa 3y ago
    Wait, what? I found thunderbird search to be a super power, so much more reliable (and fast) than outlook.
    - elaus 3y ago
      I'm in the same boat. I've even installed Thunderbird and synced a mail account just to be able to find a specific mail that neither webmail nor the Android app were able to find.
    - CJefferson 3y ago
      12 years ago I reported you can’t search for the word wedding, as it find any email that was sent on a Wednesday: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=752844 https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=752844 Did it ever get fixed? Wasn’t fixed when I tried about 2 years ago.
      - andersa 3y ago
        Interesting... you're right, this is giving me lots of wednesdays.
  - a0123 3y ago
    Search is still as bad as it ever was, unfortunately it remains the most feature complete alternative (and free). And of course, Microsoft makes it impossible to use their services with it. Or so difficult you just give up after it breaks for the 5th time in a month.
- collsni 3y ago
  2nd for Thunderbird, I like it alot
- the__alchemist 3y ago
  I have really tried to like Thunderbird. I can't. Its search is broken, it's very slow, it inserts awkward formatting in emails (Ie space below and above each line), the reply functionality is awk etc. I know it's time to go when I have to switch back to fastmail's web client to do anything "serious". I still have it installed because I want to like it, but.. No. This post has inspired me to delete it.
  - zelphirkalt 3y ago
    Have you maybe configured it to search online or something? I have used TB for years and still use it daily, daily getting some 30+ emails, that I tag and sort into folders and all that. My TB profile is several GB in size. Search is instant for me, on all my hardware, including older laptops and even an old X200, with some upgraded parts. I am not sure how it could be slow, so I am guessing something like your search needs to look for things online maybe, instead of in small inboxes and local folders.
    - grepfru_it 3y ago
      >several GB I have all of my mail going back to 2001..
      - rstuart4133 2y ago
        I have all my email going back to then too. Many GB. I always download all of it locally. The global search bar (which searches all of it) appears instantaneous. It must be well under under 200ms. Every time I've verified the result with grep the results are accurate. I have no idea how they get it so fast. Searching within a folder is different. It does a linear scan. If you don't search the body it's fast enough - a few seconds I guess on a big folder. If you search the body of the email in a big file, then yes it can take a while.
  - saratogacx 3y ago
    The Spacing isn't that weird. It just wraps paragraphs inside of paragraph tags. If you use Shift-enter you get a new line w/out a paragraph. The only real change I've had to do there is just hit enter once, where I used to hit twice.
- rapnie 3y ago
  > There exists no mail client that is as full featured as outlook Possibly. It may also be the most feature-bloated unintuitive UI. Using Linux myself, but always astounded when helping my non-technical mother with the latest murky weirdness thrown at her by Outlook. Some people just need simple mail facilities, not a Rube Goldberg 'ribbonware' cube. And on Windows maybe most people want easy & simple.
  - trelane 3y ago
    > Some people just need simple mail facilities, not a Rube Goldberg 'ribbonware' cube. Fortunately for those people, mutt still exists.
- BirAdam 3y ago
  Evolution.
- zelphirkalt 3y ago
  I would add though, that TB has features, that Outlook does not have, so it is not like TB only implements a subset of functionality that Outlook offers, but rather it implements different features and, at least for me, it is way better than Outlook ever was.
exitzer0 3y ago
Evolution seems to work fine for me.
3np 3y ago
I tried most of them. It's a little bit different but Astroid is great and my favorite GUI desktop client right now. Lightweight, flexible and renders html all right. It uses notmuch, which takes a little bit of setup but in return you get really good search which I never felt a need to tune. You should also try out if either thunderbird, evolution or kmail does it for you. If you're up for terminal, aerc (optionally supports notmuch). roundcube for self-hosted webmail. cypht could also be worth checking out. maybe later on mailpile when/if they get their 2.0 out.
- jpeeler 3y ago
  Does Astroid feel done? Because the last commit was 7 months ago.
  - 3np 3y ago
    I wouldn't be that absolute about it, but nothing comes to mind as missing or broken from the top of my head so far. That being said, it does look like it would benefit from some more support: https://github.com/astroidmail/astroid/issues/669 https://github.com/astroidmail/astroid/issues/669 https://github.com/astroidmail/astroid/issues/744 https://github.com/astroidmail/astroid/issues/744 ...How's your C++? (;
gtech1 3y ago
I fully ditched Outlook because of this crap. Been using eM Client (emclient.com) for a few months now and love it.
garyclarke27 3y ago
On Mac You can still use the old Outlook. You have to switch back everytime there is an update but it's very easy. The new one is awful because it does not have tabular list view, with sortable columns such as: datetime, from, to, cc, etc which are critical for me.
BirAdam 3y ago
I really like Mutt. Vivaldi’s mail client isn’t bad. I think Evolution is okay.
cynicalsecurity 3y ago
Thunderbird.
l_nk 3y ago
I use emClient. Its paid, but its a one time fee and the client works very well event with calendar integration (gmail and outlook).
globular-toast 3y ago
> The problem is outlook was actually good in the past. That's not a problem, it's just a (dubious) statement. The problem is to find a mail client that is good now. Thunderbird is the best.
npteljes 3y ago
I have tried several, and liked none of them. I'm currently on Geary, but it's lacking in functionality, and it has things like search results being a bit different upon each of my searches. Starred messages cannot be shown on top. Eyeroll. I think Evolution and Thunderbird are the top contenders, and of the self-hosted ones, Roundcube. https://wiki.gnome.org/Apps/Geary https://wiki.gnome.org/Apps/Geary https://roundcube.net/ https://roundcube.net/
squarefoot 3y ago
Claws Mail. https://www.claws-mail.org/index.php https://www.claws-mail.org/index.php It's lightning fast, to the point I can keep all my emails online (>70000 posts), all accounts, all mail lists, everything, since day one about 30 years ago, and search through them at any moment. Runs pretty much everywhere, including ARM, also there are tools to import mail and contacts from Outlook.
noirscape 3y ago
Thunderbird for desktop. If you're selfhosting your mail, the best webmail client is Roundcube. Sure it ain't pretty, but it's robust as hell. For android, use K-9 Mail (it's on F-Droid).
- NoGravitas 3y ago
  Rainloop is an okay, simpler webmail client. It is lacking in a lot of features that Roundcube has, but sometimes you just want easy access to your email when you're away from your full-featured desktop client. K-9 is good; it's going to be rebranded as Thunderbird for Android soon. FairEmail is also good. It has a different set of trade-offs from K-9, so better for some people, worse for others.
Paianni 3y ago
nPOPuk?

Does anyone have a good desktop email client they recommend for windows or linux or even self hosted? All the ones ive tried are pretty awful... The problem is outlook was actually good in the past.

grepfru_it 3y ago

The only other decent mail client is thunderbird. There exists no mail client that is as full featured as outlook. Horde/imp maybe maybe is the closest thing you get in web form. But every mail client has a limitation that outlook does not have

laborat 3y ago
Unfortunately, I dislike thunderbird with a passion. In my anecdotal experience, its search is terrible - not to mention that there are two of it: a search option in the top panel that misses about 50% of relevant messages, and a very featureful search option buried within the menu bar that misses about 20% of relevant messages. Out of necessity, I've trained myself to just reboot to Windows any time I really need to find a particular email that I know I have somewhere. I also don't particularly like Thunderbird's UI, but that is something I'm able to compromise on. Not meant to be a rant, but rather: please, someone, is this really the best we have?
- jasonjayr 3y ago
  Yea :( Most everyone has moved to webmail implementations, since it's good enough. I think even folks with the tech know-how to self-host a webmail client have done so. Personally, I use RoundCube.
- andersa 3y ago
  Wait, what? I found thunderbird search to be a super power, so much more reliable (and fast) than outlook.
  - elaus 3y ago
    I'm in the same boat. I've even installed Thunderbird and synced a mail account just to be able to find a specific mail that neither webmail nor the Android app were able to find.
  - CJefferson 3y ago
    12 years ago I reported you can’t search for the word wedding, as it find any email that was sent on a Wednesday: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=752844 https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=752844 Did it ever get fixed? Wasn’t fixed when I tried about 2 years ago.
    - andersa 3y ago
      Interesting... you're right, this is giving me lots of wednesdays.
- a0123 3y ago
  Search is still as bad as it ever was, unfortunately it remains the most feature complete alternative (and free). And of course, Microsoft makes it impossible to use their services with it. Or so difficult you just give up after it breaks for the 5th time in a month.
collsni 3y ago
2nd for Thunderbird, I like it alot
the__alchemist 3y ago
I have really tried to like Thunderbird. I can't. Its search is broken, it's very slow, it inserts awkward formatting in emails (Ie space below and above each line), the reply functionality is awk etc. I know it's time to go when I have to switch back to fastmail's web client to do anything "serious". I still have it installed because I want to like it, but.. No. This post has inspired me to delete it.
- zelphirkalt 3y ago
  Have you maybe configured it to search online or something? I have used TB for years and still use it daily, daily getting some 30+ emails, that I tag and sort into folders and all that. My TB profile is several GB in size. Search is instant for me, on all my hardware, including older laptops and even an old X200, with some upgraded parts. I am not sure how it could be slow, so I am guessing something like your search needs to look for things online maybe, instead of in small inboxes and local folders.
  - grepfru_it 3y ago
    >several GB I have all of my mail going back to 2001..
    - rstuart4133 2y ago
      I have all my email going back to then too. Many GB. I always download all of it locally. The global search bar (which searches all of it) appears instantaneous. It must be well under under 200ms. Every time I've verified the result with grep the results are accurate. I have no idea how they get it so fast. Searching within a folder is different. It does a linear scan. If you don't search the body it's fast enough - a few seconds I guess on a big folder. If you search the body of the email in a big file, then yes it can take a while.
- saratogacx 3y ago
  The Spacing isn't that weird. It just wraps paragraphs inside of paragraph tags. If you use Shift-enter you get a new line w/out a paragraph. The only real change I've had to do there is just hit enter once, where I used to hit twice.
rapnie 3y ago
> There exists no mail client that is as full featured as outlook Possibly. It may also be the most feature-bloated unintuitive UI. Using Linux myself, but always astounded when helping my non-technical mother with the latest murky weirdness thrown at her by Outlook. Some people just need simple mail facilities, not a Rube Goldberg 'ribbonware' cube. And on Windows maybe most people want easy & simple.
- trelane 3y ago
  > Some people just need simple mail facilities, not a Rube Goldberg 'ribbonware' cube. Fortunately for those people, mutt still exists.
BirAdam 3y ago
Evolution.
zelphirkalt 3y ago
I would add though, that TB has features, that Outlook does not have, so it is not like TB only implements a subset of functionality that Outlook offers, but rather it implements different features and, at least for me, it is way better than Outlook ever was.

exitzer0 3y ago

Evolution seems to work fine for me.

3np 3y ago

I tried most of them. It's a little bit different but Astroid is great and my favorite GUI desktop client right now. Lightweight, flexible and renders html all right. It uses notmuch, which takes a little bit of setup but in return you get really good search which I never felt a need to tune. You should also try out if either thunderbird, evolution or kmail does it for you. If you're up for terminal, aerc (optionally supports notmuch). roundcube for self-hosted webmail. cypht could also be worth checking out. maybe later on mailpile when/if they get their 2.0 out.

jpeeler 3y ago
Does Astroid feel done? Because the last commit was 7 months ago.
- 3np 3y ago
  I wouldn't be that absolute about it, but nothing comes to mind as missing or broken from the top of my head so far. That being said, it does look like it would benefit from some more support: https://github.com/astroidmail/astroid/issues/669 https://github.com/astroidmail/astroid/issues/669 https://github.com/astroidmail/astroid/issues/744 https://github.com/astroidmail/astroid/issues/744 ...How's your C++? (;

gtech1 3y ago

I fully ditched Outlook because of this crap. Been using eM Client (emclient.com) for a few months now and love it.

garyclarke27 3y ago

On Mac You can still use the old Outlook. You have to switch back everytime there is an update but it's very easy. The new one is awful because it does not have tabular list view, with sortable columns such as: datetime, from, to, cc, etc which are critical for me.

BirAdam 3y ago

I really like Mutt. Vivaldi’s mail client isn’t bad. I think Evolution is okay.

cynicalsecurity 3y ago

Thunderbird.

l_nk 3y ago

I use emClient. Its paid, but its a one time fee and the client works very well event with calendar integration (gmail and outlook).

globular-toast 3y ago

> The problem is outlook was actually good in the past. That's not a problem, it's just a (dubious) statement. The problem is to find a mail client that is good now. Thunderbird is the best.

npteljes 3y ago

I have tried several, and liked none of them. I'm currently on Geary, but it's lacking in functionality, and it has things like search results being a bit different upon each of my searches. Starred messages cannot be shown on top. Eyeroll. I think Evolution and Thunderbird are the top contenders, and of the self-hosted ones, Roundcube. https://wiki.gnome.org/Apps/Geary https://wiki.gnome.org/Apps/Geary https://roundcube.net/ https://roundcube.net/

squarefoot 3y ago

Claws Mail. https://www.claws-mail.org/index.php https://www.claws-mail.org/index.php It's lightning fast, to the point I can keep all my emails online (>70000 posts), all accounts, all mail lists, everything, since day one about 30 years ago, and search through them at any moment. Runs pretty much everywhere, including ARM, also there are tools to import mail and contacts from Outlook.

noirscape 3y ago

Thunderbird for desktop. If you're selfhosting your mail, the best webmail client is Roundcube. Sure it ain't pretty, but it's robust as hell. For android, use K-9 Mail (it's on F-Droid).

NoGravitas 3y ago
Rainloop is an okay, simpler webmail client. It is lacking in a lot of features that Roundcube has, but sometimes you just want easy access to your email when you're away from your full-featured desktop client. K-9 is good; it's going to be rebranded as Thunderbird for Android soon. FairEmail is also good. It has a different set of trade-offs from K-9, so better for some people, worse for others.

Paianni 3y ago

nPOPuk?