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Best email client for Mac?

Discussion in 'Fred's House of Pancakes' started by daniel, Oct 10, 2011.

  1. daniel

    daniel Cat Lovers Against the Bomb

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    I've been using Thunderbird ever since I started using Firefox, longer ago than I can remember. Basically, I just figured if I was using Mozilla's browser, I'd use their email client. I've never liked Thunderbird all that much, but it's okay.

    Now that I've been reluctantly forced to abandon Firefox since it went berserk, I no longer feel any brand loyalty keeping me with Thunderbird. But I don't much care for the email client included in OS X.

    I'd like to know what your favorite email client is. What's the best? Why? (Programs from Microsoft need not apply. Sorry. I just think that MS is buggy garbage and a security threat.)

    Thanks.
     
  2. Corwyn

    Corwyn Energy Curmudgeon

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    What don't you like about TB and Mail? What do you like?

    I wish I had Mac Mail on my Dell. I use Thunderbird but am not happy with it.
     
  3. Troyroy

    Troyroy Member

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    I run Entourage......it does just what I want it to do........Runs fine.
     
  4. Southern Dad

    Southern Dad Active Member

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    I'm sorry that you don't like Microsoft Outlook but I swear by it. I am able to use it across platforms. On the Mac it is even better especially since it syncs with my iPhone and iPad. Every once in a while Microsoft turns out something that works well.
     
  5. eagle33199

    eagle33199 Platinum Member

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    I used to use Thunderbird, but had some problems with it... Switched over to the default Mail application and haven't had any complaints (been using it for a few years now). It handles multiple accounts just fine, hooks into anything with pop or imap just fine, and they've even added in a nice conversation view - a much better way to look at all of the e-mails in a conversation than what Outlook provides (We just upgraded Office at work, so it's a pretty fair comparison). Search with it seems to go quicker than Outlook too - I've got well over 10k e-mails on my mac at home, and only 6k at work with Outlook. What can I say... I never delete e-mails :p
     
  6. clintb

    clintb Clueless n00b

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    Since my multiple email accounts are all with Google, I use Sparrow. Very nice interface and minimal design.
     
  7. SageBrush

    SageBrush Senior Member

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    Daniel, you have to say what you want from the email client to get useful recommendations.

    In my case I give priority to a simple interface, threaded messages, excellent search, and keyboard shortcuts, so gmail works best for me. My only complaint is not being able to paste graphics inline, but that is not enough to cancel the other advantages.
     
  8. daniel

    daniel Cat Lovers Against the Bomb

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    Yeah. The problem is that I'm not entirely sure what I want. :D The latest version of Thunderbird is 7.0.1 and that's the same version number that's on the version of Firefox that went berserk on me. So I'm reluctant to upgrade Thunderbird. But if I'm not going to upgrade, I also don't want to keep using an out-of-date program. I'll probably give the default Mail program a try. I didn't much care for the looks when I saw it on a friend's computer, but I've never actually used it.

    And any new program, I'll have to re-configure with my folders the way I want my mail directed. :mad:
     
  9. TonyPSchaefer

    TonyPSchaefer Your Friendly Moderator
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    Yep. Same here. I decided that rather that fighting the default apps, I would try to embrace them. So I opened Mail and when it said, "do you want to import from another mail client?" I had it suck in all my TB mail. As should be expected, it went smoothly and immediately started downloading new mail. I used to open TB from time to time just to see that I was getting everything. I might as well uninstall it at this point.

    Still use Firefox though. Will be switching to Safari soon, probably. There are still some plug-ins for Ff I really like.
     
  10. SageBrush

    SageBrush Senior Member

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    So far as I know the programs have very little shared code-base. TB probably uses the FF renderer for inline html, but not much else. Since email html is pretty simple I doubt you will see much if any overlap in problems.
    'Why ? In what sense is it "out of date." ? I think you are suffering from old MS trauma :eek:

    Folders have their place, but keywords, a few filters, and excellent search is overall a real improvement. I doubt you will will find many people who tried this new paradigm and went back to folders for organization. Don't let the simple interface of gmail fool you; a LOT of really smart thinking went into its design, for people who care about email and use it a lot.
     
  11. Stev0

    Stev0 Honorary Hong Kong Cavalier

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    Wait - are you saying you use Outlook on a Mac? You just made millions of Mac Fanboys AND Microsoft Zombies cry.

    But yeah, I like the default Email client for the Mac. It can send mail, it can receive mail, it can flag spam, and it can put mail into folders. Why would you need to do anything else?
     
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  12. Southern Dad

    Southern Dad Active Member

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    Yes, I like to use Microsoft Outlook on my Mac. It synced well with my iPad & iPhone. The contacts updated in MobileMe with no issues. One of the issues I've found with other email products is the trouble with using Exchange Server accounts. One of my primary email accounts is an exchange server while others are IMAP or POP. It is hard to find a single client that works well with all of them.
     
  13. hyo silver

    hyo silver Awaaaaay

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    Mail is simple and effective. I like that in a computer.
     
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  14. daniel

    daniel Cat Lovers Against the Bomb

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    I am now using Mail. We'll see how it goes. Importing my address book was a little confusing, but I managed it.
     
  15. finman

    finman Senior Member

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    been using MacMail for 2 years now (old G4 iBook Tiger 10.4.11). works great. simple. and it's an Apple product...no virus or malware issues.

    I also use Thunderbird on my PCs (laptop and tower). It's been working fine..but i love Mac mail much more. no 'issues' with Thunderbird...it just has too much clutter compared to Mac mail.

    Did i mention the lack of virus and malware issues with all my Macs? and no stupid updates like windows for every little thing...good god that gets annoying when working on others PCs. TechMedicMobile.com is my business.