Wanted: Better IMAP for Windows
Looking for a serious Windows IMAP client that doesn't drive me nuts.
Actually, cross-platform would be even better. My gut feeling is that I'll end up hacking on Mozilla Mail (a.k.a. Thunderbird) to meet my needs, and hopefully someone else's.
Meantime, Eudora misses out on all sorts of things (auto-save to a remote Sent Items folder, for one); Mulberry's interface is... interesting, plus it's folder-list display doesn't work for me at all; Outlook 2K isn't actually half bad, but it's offline support is mediocre at best.
And none of them works well in my world -- where categorization / sorting happens on the server side, not at the client. That is, by the time the client sees a new email, it's no longer in the Inbox. It's in a folder.
I'd like that folder to be opened and highlighted, just as it would be if Outlook (e.g.) had routed it there all on its own. I'd like a standard new-mail notification. That's all, really. OK, I'd also like full-blown disconnected-mode support, but one step at a time.
Anyone know of a client that does this right now?
Update, 2004/10/12: Thunderbird has come a long way. Search is over, I think.
Comments
I totally agree to your problems. I am currently running the Mozilla client, which took years to provide for some sort of support for checking for new mails in other folders than the Inbox. It does, in a pretty much worse way than Outlook Express (takes ages, OE must have implemented some sort of trick to discard folders that have not changed very quickly).
My main wish list: getting rid of the stupid folder categorisation that is imposed by all mailers around. It is useful but not satisfactory. I have so many e-mails that belong to several of my categories (read folder here).
I am still puzzled. e-mail is probably one of the most used applications on the Internet. I am spending hours every day writing and reading e-mails. But, still, there is no decent client around...
Posted by: Emmanuel Frécon | April 25, 2003 2:45 PM
You'd probably like Evolution, then; it's my preferred mail client on my Linux box. Its vFolders allow you to essentially file messages (automatically) in any number of "folders" simultaneously, based on a variety of criteria. The IMAP behaviors are roughly the same as Outlook's, and there's no Windows version, otherwise I'd probably be much more interested in hacking at Evolution than Mozilla Mail.
Posted by: Paul Roub | April 25, 2003 11:15 PM
Try Mozilla Firebird.
It's a spinoff (read: thinner) of the Mozilla Mail and News client, but only for mail and news without the browser piece and aims to be more optimized.
To begin with, Mozilla Mail has one one of the most basic features needed for a good IMAP client: multiple accounts, folders, customizable drafts/sent/trash target, TLS and offline folders.
On top of that, it has HTML image blocker, simple HTML mode (along with text only mode) and shared SMTP between accounts (though each account can have its own), themes/skin, drag-and-drop, new mail icon, message filters, junk mail control, password manager/vault, and lots of other settings.
Now, with Firebird, all these features are there, but the client is thinner and overtime it should be more stable. I'm using an June 12 Alpha build (though Alpha, it's based on non-Alpha Mozilla) and it's remarkably usable for every day use to manage my 7 IMAP accounts.
Posted by: Upilogue | June 18, 2003 4:14 PM
When I last looked, Thunderbird (not Firebird, the browser) wasn't doing full disconnected-mode IMAP, and wasn't notifying of new mail that showed up in non-INBOX folders. If that's changed, I'm all over it. Firebird is actually my main browser, happy to use Thunderbird if it fits my needs.
Posted by: Paul Roub | June 18, 2003 4:39 PM
Yep. Same problems. No joy.
Posted by: Paul Roub | June 18, 2003 4:57 PM
Howdy
Offline support for Thunderbird 0.0.1 is here.
Check the URL: http://www.mozilla.org/projects/thunderbird/specs/offline.html
Posted by: Warwick Chapman | August 6, 2003 3:25 PM
Offline, yes. Disconnected, no.
Posted by: Paul Roub | August 6, 2003 4:12 PM
It's been over a year -- any luck finding a solution? Thunderbird's working great for me except for these two problems...
Posted by: Lorrin Nelson | July 1, 2004 3:52 PM
Actually, I'm pretty happy with Thunderbird as of 0.7. Disconnected mode is still a problem, but with user_pref("mail.check_all_imap_folders_for_new", true) set in my user.js, it at least does a decent job of checking all folders. *Infinitely* more stable than Outlook or OE for IMAP, as well.
Posted by: Paul Roub | July 1, 2004 4:09 PM
Hey look at that - thanks for the tip! And I see it's listed in plain sight at http://texturizer.net/thunderbird/tips.html -- silly me...
Posted by: Lorrin Nelson | July 1, 2004 5:38 PM