5 ms·

+1 When I migrated from Gmail to Fastmail years ago, I thought Fastmail felt... less featureful. When I rarely visit my abandoned Gmail, I can't believe I put

by sshine 4mo ago

+1 When I migrated from Gmail to Fastmail years ago, I thought Fastmail felt... less featureful. When I rarely visit my abandoned Gmail, I can't believe I put up with the clunkiness. Lean software stands the test of time. Fastmail hasn't had a noteworthy UI change ever. Minor annoyances: - Clicking an iPhone notification opens the app, but never brings me to the actual email - It is difficult to unfold the full extended header section on iPhone - ...I can't think of more... It saves my drafts, it's not annoying, it has a mobile app. I might switch away for a solution that is more affordable when hosting emails for many family members and organisations. But for a handful, I really can't recommend it enough.

FireBeyond 4mo ago
I use it with Spark on macOS and iOS (Spark Classic) and it just works. Archiving works fine, marking as spam actually moves and 'activates' Fastmail's training. There's email masks, aliases, the UI is always fast and responsive in the web view when I go there.
- 0xhald 4mo ago
  Have you had any issues with Spark or are there any downsides using it? I haven’t used Spark since I started using Fastmail and have been thinking about it
  - FireBeyond 4mo ago
    None that I've found. I think just make sure when you configure the account in Spark that the folders are set correctly (i.e. archive and spam folders are mapped to their folders in Fastmail) so you get the correct functionality from them.
streptomycin 4mo ago
The only thing I miss from Gmail is a "send and archive" button to save me a click when replying to emails.
vachina 4mo ago
Why are people accessing emails from the webUI. Email is SMTP and IMAP, use any number of clients to access your email.
- rb666 4mo ago
  Because Fastmail has a fantastic Web UI, have been using it for years.
  - bayindirh 4mo ago
    Nothing is more fantastic(er) than a native application handling multiple e-mail accounts without effort or lag. Thunderbird and macOS mail are great for that. Supporting everything from GMail to personal mail servers, and everything in between.
    - fuzztester 4mo ago
      What is Thunderbird written in. #lazyweb #nollm ;)
- locknitpicker 4mo ago
  > Why are people accessing emails from the webUI. Email is SMTP and IMAP, use any number of clients to access your email. Because the UX of most email clients is extremely bad when compared with the webui of these email providers.
  - notpushkin 4mo ago
    Try Mailspring. I’m a huge fan: https://github.com/Foundry376/Mailspring https://github.com/Foundry376/Mailspring
    - dotancohen 4mo ago
      That's an electron app. What does it offer that Thunderbird doesn't?
ryantgtg 4mo ago
> - Clicking an iPhone notification opens the app, but never brings me to the actual email I've been using fastmail on iOS for years and have never experienced this issue. Clicking from a notification opens up the email. Maybe there's a setting you can adjust?
- deleted 4mo ago
  [deleted]
PennRobotics 4mo ago
Fastmail had a UI change a year ago, where they went all "rounded corner" and created unique rows for every message that weren't so easily sorted with Stylus CSS. I emailed them about the changes, and a few weeks later the messages were listed in a way that I could easily apply my own stylesheet again. They also acknowledged on their subreddit the UI change was not incredibly popular (even the CEO was "not enjoying" it) and they took some feedback and provided a few better UX customizations in the options. At one point, Fastmail had an error parsing Unicode in misconfigured iCal files (Google Calendar showed events correctly) but after a short back-and-forth, they fixed it within a week. Now, Google Calendar has had a problem with my organization's iCal files for the past four weeks. Submitting a bug report via the help community is very opaque and unhelpful (a la "Have you tried turning if off and on again?"). Fastmail loads the iCal correctly. I have no clue if Google is aware or when they'll ever fix it. One huge productivity advantage to FM over Gmail? Sort by sender name. (This makes it so easy to bulk apply changes) Setting up own domain has been straightforward. (It's a bit of work ensuring DNS records have DMARC/DKIM/SPF, but it's all in the FM checklist/documentation.) Setting up Python scripts to auto email me using app passwords has been straightforward. Creating aliases and throwaways is straightforward. I have not regretted paying for email; specifically, Fastmail.
- stavros 4mo ago
  It's great when the source of revenue for a company is the user, rather than other companies that the user is being sold to. Too bad this is so rare these days.

by sshine 4mo ago

FireBeyond 4mo ago

I use it with Spark on macOS and iOS (Spark Classic) and it just works. Archiving works fine, marking as spam actually moves and 'activates' Fastmail's training. There's email masks, aliases, the UI is always fast and responsive in the web view when I go there.

0xhald 4mo ago
Have you had any issues with Spark or are there any downsides using it? I haven’t used Spark since I started using Fastmail and have been thinking about it
- FireBeyond 4mo ago
  None that I've found. I think just make sure when you configure the account in Spark that the folders are set correctly (i.e. archive and spam folders are mapped to their folders in Fastmail) so you get the correct functionality from them.

streptomycin 4mo ago

The only thing I miss from Gmail is a "send and archive" button to save me a click when replying to emails.

vachina 4mo ago

Why are people accessing emails from the webUI. Email is SMTP and IMAP, use any number of clients to access your email.

rb666 4mo ago
Because Fastmail has a fantastic Web UI, have been using it for years.
- bayindirh 4mo ago
  Nothing is more fantastic(er) than a native application handling multiple e-mail accounts without effort or lag. Thunderbird and macOS mail are great for that. Supporting everything from GMail to personal mail servers, and everything in between.
  - fuzztester 4mo ago
    What is Thunderbird written in. #lazyweb #nollm ;)
locknitpicker 4mo ago
> Why are people accessing emails from the webUI. Email is SMTP and IMAP, use any number of clients to access your email. Because the UX of most email clients is extremely bad when compared with the webui of these email providers.
- notpushkin 4mo ago
  Try Mailspring. I’m a huge fan: https://github.com/Foundry376/Mailspring https://github.com/Foundry376/Mailspring
  - dotancohen 4mo ago
    That's an electron app. What does it offer that Thunderbird doesn't?

ryantgtg 4mo ago

> - Clicking an iPhone notification opens the app, but never brings me to the actual email I've been using fastmail on iOS for years and have never experienced this issue. Clicking from a notification opens up the email. Maybe there's a setting you can adjust?

deleted 4mo ago
[deleted]

PennRobotics 4mo ago

Fastmail had a UI change a year ago, where they went all "rounded corner" and created unique rows for every message that weren't so easily sorted with Stylus CSS. I emailed them about the changes, and a few weeks later the messages were listed in a way that I could easily apply my own stylesheet again. They also acknowledged on their subreddit the UI change was not incredibly popular (even the CEO was "not enjoying" it) and they took some feedback and provided a few better UX customizations in the options. At one point, Fastmail had an error parsing Unicode in misconfigured iCal files (Google Calendar showed events correctly) but after a short back-and-forth, they fixed it within a week. Now, Google Calendar has had a problem with my organization's iCal files for the past four weeks. Submitting a bug report via the help community is very opaque and unhelpful (a la "Have you tried turning if off and on again?"). Fastmail loads the iCal correctly. I have no clue if Google is aware or when they'll ever fix it. One huge productivity advantage to FM over Gmail? Sort by sender name. (This makes it so easy to bulk apply changes) Setting up own domain has been straightforward. (It's a bit of work ensuring DNS records have DMARC/DKIM/SPF, but it's all in the FM checklist/documentation.) Setting up Python scripts to auto email me using app passwords has been straightforward. Creating aliases and throwaways is straightforward. I have not regretted paying for email; specifically, Fastmail.

stavros 4mo ago
It's great when the source of revenue for a company is the user, rather than other companies that the user is being sold to. Too bad this is so rare these days.