I want a decent email client to use on my PC.

I use Mail on my Mac and it's awesome, specifically because search is lightning fast and it's fairly responsive to use.

I have ~60k emails, which is where it gets a bit of a mess (I really want them all stored locally for quick access)

I've tried Outlook but it was just rubbish. Windows 8's Mail just didn't seem to work for me. Thunderbird seemed ok but now it seems to be quite slow both with the interface but also at getting mail / updating messages at read.

It's really annoying that I'm always reading emails on my phone because they always to come to it way before they do on my PC.

Bonus if it could do Hotmail as well but in no way essential.

And while I'm at it, something that allows me to view my Google Calendar & Contacts would be awesome, too.

Suggestions?

Jack, Sadly Mac Mail is the only good Email client out there. Thunderbird is a pile of masturbation leftovers. Outlook is worse. Gmail is also bad (for a company that specializes in search, why do they suck so bad at search).

You could tell Mac Mail to only get Headers. Saving space.

Gmail actually has the best search by far - but I'm not keen on webmail and would much prefer it all to be on my PC - I also want one email client to manage several addresses.

60k emails is only 2GB ish so I might as well keep them all.

Quote from Jakg :

Gmail actually has the best search by far - but I'm not keen on webmail and would much prefer it all to be on my PC - I also want one email client to manage several addresses.

60k emails is only 2GB ish so I might as well keep them all.

I find GMail to have absolutely terrible search. I can find emails exponentially faster in Mac Mail than Gmail's search.

I'm also using Thunderbird for years and like it less each time I run it. You can try Postbox which is something like Thunderbird with everything it's missing, but...why would anyone pay for email client today is unknown to me.

For a web client - I really like Outlook.com. Gmail is so ugly and messy even with adblock that I can't simply force myself to use it. Outlook.com looks much better and is much more useable.

Quote from majod :

I'm also using Thunderbird for years and like it less each time I run it. You can try Postbox which is something like Thunderbird with everything it's missing, but...why would anyone pay for email client today is unknown to me.

Thanks for the recommendation - I've installed it now. It helpfully pulled across all of my Thunderbird settings, but not, for some reason, any of my actual emails so I'll have to leave it on overnight to download them all...

Quote from Jakg :

Thanks for the recommendation - I've installed it now. It helpfully pulled across all of my Thunderbird settings, but not, for some reason, any of my actual emails so I'll have to leave it on overnight to download them all...

Jack: All Postbox is is an older version of Thunderbird with some extensions.

Quote from dawesdust_12 :

Jack: All Postbox is is an older version of Thunderbird with some extensions.

That much is obvious the second you dip into the options, but it claims to be much faster (which I doubt! Mozilla stuff is generally very bloated and sluggish...) but I have to at least try it.

Quote from Jakg :

That much is obvious the second you dip into the options, but it claims to be much faster (which I doubt! Mozilla stuff is generally very bloated and sluggish...) but I have to at least try it.

I can't see how it can be remarkably better than Thunderbird. No matter how polished you make a turd, it's still shit.

I agree, Postbox is mostly UI changes. Plus I don't have any problem with Thunderbird performance (5 imap accounts), I just dislike the useability. IMHO today there are only two choices: MS Outlook or Thunderbird. I'm not willing to pay for MS Office so I use Thunderbird and secretly wish it will become more solid.

Quote from majod :

I agree, Postbox is mostly UI changes. Plus I don't have any problem with Thunderbird performance (5 imap accounts), I just dislike the useability. IMHO today there are only two choices: MS Outlook or Thunderbird. I'm not willing to pay for MS Office so I use Thunderbird and secretly wish it will become more solid.

Cross platform at least. It's unfortunate for Windows/Linux users that Apple Mail is pretty much the best desktop mail client out there. Fast, handles multiple accounts well. If its supported, your account can be integrated into Calendar, Notes, Reminders, Messages and Contacts to give you the whole plethora of services.

Who still isn't using Macs?

Quote from dawesdust_12 :

Cross platform at least. It's unfortunate for Windows/Linux users that Apple Mail is pretty much the best desktop mail client out there. Fast, handles multiple accounts well. If its supported, your account can be integrated into Calendar, Notes, Reminders, Messages and Contacts to give you the whole plethora of services.

You sound like a iSalesman.

Quote from Bose321 :

Who still isn't using Macs?

everyone else besides Dustin and you.

Quote from -NightFly- :

everyone else besides Dustin and you.

Please, I have everything from Apple.

Quote from -NightFly- :

You sound like a iSalesman.

That's not my intent. As part of my job I do email support sometimes, and of all the clients I've set up (over 100), the ones that use outlook take more support time than anyone that uses Apple Mail. Never mind random outlook bugs that decide for it to forget your password unless you reset up the account (it won't save the password when it prompts), or how Outlook really doesn't do well at connecting with IMAP servers.

Plus using Apple Mail myself for over 10,000 emails across 2 accounts, I also know that it does excel.

Postbox is faster than Thunderbird (by a bit), but I'm still not impressed - for a start it has a weird bug (like Thunderbird) where if an email arrives as already read (I have lots of Gmail filters to hide pointless emails by marking them as read) it still tells me I have a new email - even though there isn't a single unread mail in the program.

EDIT - That is to say, it's still a bit of a let down

Quote from Bose321 :

Who still isn't using Macs?

who the hell still uses mail outside of their jobs?

Quote from shotglass :

who the hell still uses mail outside of their jobs?

+1

A full year on I'm back here again...

I've ditched Thunderbird on my home PC for Outlook.

At work I used Thunderbird, but we've now ditched Google Apps for Exchange email and Thunderbird doesn't appear to support Exchange. Any free alternative? Or do I have to start using my own copy?

I'm using Opera 12.16... 2 accounts, 15k+ messages = no problem!

http://www.techrepublic.com/bl ... -to-your-exchange-server/

It's not free but does work. If you need your work emails availible anywhere just use exchanges imap feature. You should be able to get them on any android or apple phone with very little effort. Includes your calender etc....

Quote from Racer X NZ :

http://www.techrepublic.com/bl ... -to-your-exchange-server/

It's not free but does work. If you need your work emails availible anywhere just use exchanges imap feature. You should be able to get them on any android or apple phone with very little effort. Includes your calender etc....

I don't yet know the IMAP details (company setting it up have no clue...) and I can't yet put the account on my phone (one of the Exchange policies is "must have passcode" which I don't want (and the company can't work out how to turn it off!).

It depend's which version of Server and exchange your running but it's not rocket science.
http://www.kishmish.com/kb/article.php?id=33

That's for an android nexus but it's not too dissimilar on any other phone.

If it's your phone, not a company one, make sure you keep it backed up as the co can do a remote wipe if the sys admin is having a play !