New Start - Apple Mail or Thunderbird?
 

Hi guys
I had a new hard drive installed in my iMac and it feels like a new start now. By the way, i used to work with the email client Thunderbird and i know some friends who use Apple Mail.

Thunderbird looks powerfull with many features and a good deal of flexibility while Apple Mail look simpler and can syncronize with iCal. Which do you think is better in the overall contest?

Cheers,
Sebs

Apple Mail all the way....but Thunderbird is a good free email client. I use Thunderbird on PC's when using IMAP it does a better job than Outlook.

could you give more details...

I know some people hate Mail, but I haven't found any reason to try another product.

It stores email, searches well, does some useful Rules to incoming mail - works well with other Apple software, has good AppleScript support. It has a better database structure than Outlook.

I don't know what the selling points of Thunderbird are.

I agree with benwiggy on all those points, and I've tried the other mail clients (except Outlook). In my case, each of them led to pretty much the same thought: This is fine, but offers no advantage over what I currently use.

The one point I would add to benwiggy's list is that I prefer the more minimal interface Mail provides. No doubt, that's a personal thing, but I find the Thunderbird interface more visually eye-catching—I mean that in the glaring sense—and that doesn't sit well with me when all I really want to do is read or compose mail.

For the reasons benwiggy stated, I would recommend Mail. To me, things like email client and browsers are very similar in that the Mac ships with pretty good offerings. For most folks, I recommend using the built-in applications unless (or until) there is a missing feature or capability the user would really prefer to have. The caveat on that last statement is that Apple only updates Mail through the OS, so if you're not running the current OS (or don't plan to upgrade to the next major revision), alternative mail application may offer something of use or value.

I meant to add an additional point: If you start with Mail, it's no big deal to switch to Thunderbird later. For one, Thunderbird will easily import your messages from Mail. Likewise, if you then decide you want to stick with it over Mail, there's just one folder of Mail files to delete to avoid unnecessary data storage (if that's a concern). The same is largely the same if you try to go from Thunderbird to Mail. Point being, it's easy to start with one application and then switch to the other (even more so if your mail accounts are IMAP).

thanks for your very interesting thoughts...

the only thing i read doing a google search of "Mail or Thunderbird" is that TB is cross platform so for example, my recent case, my iMac power supply broke i was able to install TB profile file in a notebook PC and get all my emails again.

Some people in forum did complain about Mail IMAP and SMTP capabilities.

I know Thunderbird for a couple of years now, but I guess it wouldn't hurt to try Mail. The only question is to have access to all my email in a back up scenario in the future if i don't get a Mac.

By the way, does Apple Mail works well with hotmail accounts?

The format of Mail messages is not proprietary, so it shouldn't be hard to move them across machines or platforms. Even easier, are your mail accounts POP or IMAP? If they're IMAP, simply setting up an account in a mail client on any platform means your messages should be downloaded from your mail server.

Using my setup as an example: I have IMAP accounts on my Mac. They've all got an Inbox, Drafts, etc. But there are also custom folders (Mail calls them Mailboxes) I've created for organization. If I get an iPhone and add one of my existing accounts using its credentials, the same messages and folders will appear on the phone. The same would be true if I then got a Windows machine and set up the account in Outlook. This is one of the large benefits of IMAP email accounts.

I just installed Apple it looks very nice and simple indeed. I installed one of my gmail account, i guess gmail is an POP type account. It kind of bad that i cannot see my older emails. I don't know if that is a Apple Mail configuration setting or GMAIL.

Thanks NaOH,

This looks like a lot, but the information in the two lists I provide will take you about 10 minutes total.

One, you need to set Gmail to use IMAP. If you log in go to your Gmail account on the web,

1. click on the gear-like icon at the top right and select Mail Settings;
2. go to the section titled Forwarding & POP/IMAP;
3. select the Enable IMAP option (I'm not certain, but you may need to hit the Save Changes button at the bottom then repeat Step 1);
4. then go to the Labs section;
5. set Advanced IMAP Controls to be Enabled;
6. at the bottom of the page, hit the button for Save Changes.

Next, you then need to re-add the account in Mail. In Mail,

1. go to Preferences;
2. select the Accounts section;
3. click on your Gmail account, then press the minus-sign button (-) to remove the version you already set up;
4. to add the Gmail account using IMAP, have a look at these instructions.

For some bonus tips, have a look at this lengthy article on one person's well thought-out configuration. Read the whole thing if you want, but the key instructions are under the section heading for
"How to Configure Everything for Maximum Happiness."

good info NaOH! thanks...i am getting better with Apple Mail now. It has a nice interface.

I was able to install the IMAP account just great. Two minor inconveniences i have to solve but i guess i will find a solution with further reading

1) Avoid storing the sent mail in the server account.

2) How can i configure an "Incoming Mail" folder? I have Sent and All Messages, but for organizing purposes an Incoming Mail folder would be nice

cheers,
S

Issue #1

1. In Mail, open Preferences.
2. In the Accounts section, select your Gmail account on the left.
3. On the right, select the tab titled Mailbox Behaviors.
4. De-select the option for Store Sent Messages On The Server.

Issue #2 (I think this will be correct)

1. In the Gmail web interface, use the gear icon at the top right to select Mail Settings.
2. Go to the Labels section.
3. For the Inbox listing, make certain Show In IMAP is checked.

If my instructions for solving #2 are incorrect, just let me know. I'm setup in the same way you'd like to be configured, so it's likely just a matter of me properly determining how I did this a long time ago.

Thanks, problem 1 solved.

Regarding Issue 2: I couldn't quite get to the solution to Labels. This is the menu from the Gear Icon like in Spanish but i couldn't tell to some word similar to labels here.

Looks like I wasn't clear with my instructions for #2. Have a look at this screen shot to see where I was referencing. Remember, you go to Gmail on the web, then use the gear icon at the top right to select Mail Settings. From there, you'll select Labels (or the Spanish equivalent) to see something like this:

Thanks man, i am checking for labels in gmail web now. By the way, i cannot exctly find out which one says "Inbox listing, make certain Show In IMAP is checked."


don't worry i will look for a walkthrought at Google.

Apple Mail (hereafter, Mail.app) has an interface and feature set that takes some getting used to. That said, it's absolutely worth getting used to its quirks, because it has awesome integration with OS X, and can't be beat for searching (thanks to Spotlight integration).

Thunderbird is awesome, no doubt. It is probably the best IMAP client around, just because it has so many options and is configurable. If you can't find the option you need in the account settings or the app's preferences, there's always the config editor that lets you add or edit key/value pairs, plus there's add-ons. If you find yourself using Windows and Linux often along with your Mac, it's great to have Thunderbird around, since it looks and acts the same on all three platforms.

Thunderbird's tremendous cross-platform support led me to use it on my Mac for a while, since I find myself on Linux quite a bit and Windows occasionally (not by choice, to be sure!). But after a while, I began to miss the speed and flexibility of Mail.app, so I've been back on it since Snow Leopard came out.

In reality, you can't go wrong with either one, but if I have to pick, the OS X integration makes Mail.app the winner in my book.

very good analysis. Yes, it was kind of hard just going the easy way and just update my profile with Thunderbird which is nice but visually cluttered compared to Mail or doing the miles and taking the time to learn Apple Mail from zero.

Thanks leamanc.

Are you staying on apple or going to move platforms?

mostly Mac but it useful in case of accident to be able to move to a PC like when my iMac broke on last week.

As with most Apple software, the amount of 'learning' required to use Mail is almost none.

I moved to Thunderbird for that very reason, along with backing up the important stuff daily.

Mail does not transport easily, while Thunderbird does

well for a newbie like me it was a piece of cake configuring POP email account in Apple Mail but not as easy with IMAP ones.

By the way, i did install all my account...some cannot be configured as IMAP and have only POP profile. I cannot find where is my Sent Message folder....ummmm

well, it has been a couple of days using Apple Mail and i am quite please with it. Not too many IMAP accounts installed neither getting worried -at least now- for what might happen in the future if i have to move my email profile/library to a PC in case of malfunction.

Really nice integrated system, Agenda and so forth.