How do you read your emails when you’re at your computer? Do you use a web-based email client, or do you prefer to catch up with your messages using a desktop email client?
Of course, the web email vs. desktop email client approach has its pros and cons. But we think that broadly speaking, a web-based email client is always preferable to a desktop option.
Thunderbird is a robust and powerful email program that can meet the needs of both light and power users. I use it all day every day. Mozilla’s Thunderbird is my choice for email. I use it all day every day, and I can heartily recommend it as an often more powerful and capable replacement for mail.
Let’s take a look at some reasons why you should stop using a desktop email client today.
1. Portability
If you use a web-based email client, you are going to have the same experience every time you log into your account—regardless of the machine you’re using or your location.
On the other hand, if you use a desktop client and find yourself needing to access your emails when you’re away from your computer (such as on a public PC), you might have to shift to the online email app for a few days.
It can be challenging to adapt to the different layout quickly. Options will not be in the same places, the app’s list of features will be different, and email formatting tools might not be the same.
It all adds up to more frustration, more time lost, and lower productivity levels.
2. Security
If your main laptop is often lying around on the dining table or kitchen counter, there’s a chance that other people in your family or household might pick it up and start using it.
It wouldn’t be hard for a nosey set of eyes to flick open your email app and see what’s there, especially if you leave the app running 24/7 in the background.
Of course, some desktop email clients do offer password protection and other similar security tools. In practice, however, we would question how extensively people use such features.
3. Multiple Computers = Multiple Setups
If you have multiple computers in your life, it’s more complicated than it might appear to set up your preferred desktop email client in the same way on every machine.
Typically, a desktop email client is the type of app that you can keep on customizing to your heart’s content. Custom categories, filters, behaviors, identities, signatures, and settings all take a long time to get right.
If you have two machines (or you buy a new computer), redoing all that from scratch is seriously time-consuming. And of course, there are no guarantees that you won’t overlook a small detail somewhere in the setup. It might lead to unexpected consequences during your day-to-day usage.
4. Different Operating Systems
Similarly, if you’re the type of person who uses several different operating systems, it might be a challenge to find a desktop email client that both suits your requirements and is available on all the operating systems you rely on.
For example, Mailbird is rightly regarded as one of the top email clients on Windows 10, but there is no version available on Mac. On the flipside, Spark—which has long been considered one of the best email clients on Mac—is not on Windows.
Predictably, the problem is more acute if you’re on the hunt for a Linux version of a desktop email client. And we haven’t mentioned Chromebooks; they don’t even allow you to install desktop apps. On Chrome OS, you have no choice but to use a web app.
Confusing? Yup.
5. Spam
Many of the best desktop email clients cannot effectively handle spam. Sure, you can mark a particular message as spam in your client, but there’s a high chance that the email address of the sender of the spam does not get synced with your email provider’s spam list. If the person sends you another message in the future, it will probably end up back in your inbox.
The exception to the rule is when the email provider and the email app developer is the same entity. For example, the if you mark a message as spam on the Mail app in Windows 10, it will sync to your Outlook/Hotmail/Live block list.
To find out whether Mail is the right app for you, read our comparison of Mail and Outlook in Windows 10Mail vs. Outlook: Which Email App Is Right for You on Windows 10?Mail vs. Outlook: Which Email App Is Right for You on Windows 10?Microsoft offers two email clients on Windows 10: Mail and Outlook. What are the differences and which one should you choose?Read More.
6. Longevity
I never did this. Pine (1994)->Outlook Express (1997)->Gmail (2004) has been my journey. https://t.co/t39sVxJvpJ
— Heath Borders (@heathborders) May 8, 2019
Again, we don’t want to tar all the desktop email clients with the same brush, but there’s a long list of once-popular email software that’s long since vanished.
Who can forget Sparrow on macOS? It was a paid email app that went live in February 2011. In less than one day, it became the top paid and top grossing app on the entire Apple App Store.
By July 2012, Google had completed a buyout. It quickly announced an immediate shuttering of development, with all staff being integrated into the Gmail team. Many believe Sparrow gave birth to Google Inbox in 2014, though that, in turn, was canned in 2019.
Other desktop email clients to befall a similar fate include Netscape Mail, Eureka Email, Outlook Express, and Mozilla Mail, to name a few.
Web-based email clients have no such issues; Google isn’t suddenly going to disable its Gmail web app with no warning.
7. Cost
If you want a long list of features and endless bells and whistles on a desktop email client, there’s a good chance you will need to pay for the privilege.
Often, the developers of desktop email clients offer both a free and a paid tier. The free level will have restrictions such as limiting the number of email addresses you can add or preventing offline access.
Web-based email clients don’t have paywalls. Most even allow you to add multiple email addresses to a single account.
Read our article on the best free desktop email clientsThe 5 Best Free Desktop Email ClientsThe 5 Best Free Desktop Email ClientsYou need a free desktop email client to handle your incoming mail? Here are the best desktop email clients you can use without cost.Read More if you want to learn more.
Learn More About Email Clients
We’d love to know whether you agree with our conclusions. Do you think desktop email clients are still worth using, or do you think we’re right? Would you join us in recommending that your friends and family should stop using desktop email clients today?
Let us know in the comments, and make sure you check out our article on how to use the Gmail web app as a desktop clientHow to Use Gmail Like a Desktop Email Client in 7 Simple StepsHow to Use Gmail Like a Desktop Email Client in 7 Simple StepsWould you ditch your default desktop email client, if Gmail had more desktop-like features? Let us show you how you can set up Gmail to behave more like a desktop email client.Read More and our list of counterpoints in why you should replace your web app with a desktop appYou Should Ditch Webmail for a Desktop Email Client If...You Should Ditch Webmail for a Desktop Email Client If...A few years ago, webmail was all the rave. Wonder whether it's time to switch back to a desktop email client? Look no further. We show you the merits of a local mail service.Read More if you want further information on the subject.
Explore more about: Desktop Email Client, Email Apps, Email Tips.
- Agree with the few comments I read—article advice is poor.Webmail might work for a single casual email account you want to access across multiple devices. But once you have a serious account, or multiple accounts, desktop is far better.
- A flawed assessment of email programs. Forget not that accounting programs rely on an email client, as well as graphic design programs, if one uses them to send your invoices etc. Using webmail is good enough for personal use perhaps, but all businesses worth their salt use email clients.
- Pure rubbish. With the number of security breaches, leaked user account information etc?....I'll stick to using Thunderbird on all SIX of my computers and laptops! You mention so many issues but I'll address most of them with just one point: Did you know that you can copy the '.thunderbird' folder to ANY other computer, and as long as you install it initially, you an have your email run on ALL of those machines in exactly the SAME configuration, same themes, same password locked saved accounts etc? SO no....you can keep web-based anything.....I'll stick to T-Bird....I've been using it since around 2006....and while it has gone through its ups and downs?....I've grown accustomed to it, and prefer it over ANY other form of mail client, whether web-based or desktop. So no...this is not 7 reasons to stop, but 7 reasons to continue using a desktop mail client. Oh and also?:
Unlimited email accounts connected to it
Passwords for each account
Spam Filters
E-Mail Distribution Listsetc...etc. - Ummm, imap anybody?
- I one comment, your assessment is overly exaggerated. I use the Mozilla Thunderbird email client and I am extremely happy with it. I have had virtually none of thd issues with it that you outline. I have been using it almost since the day it was introduced.As far as web based email goes you can have it. Like another commenter said it is extremely slow, it gave me more aggravation and frustration than my web mail client ever did.
- I only have one comment- speed. Webmail is SLOW. When the day comes that a file opens, be it email, photo, drawing or word document, as fast from the web as it does from my local SSD then that is the time we should move to the cloud and web based apps.
- After loosing an entire two years of web mail based „saved“ emails during an Outlook „upgrade“ (payment confirmations, educational threads etc) I find the above arguments against desktop e-mail clients pretty weak. At least your desktop client doesn‘t delete your emails until you program it to do so, can‘t say that about a web based client.
- Love you guys, but think you blew it on this one. You need to do a follow up article on 7 Reasons Why You Should Use a Desktop Email client.1. Convenience - Aggregate multiple email providers into one application
2. Cross-Platform - Works well across platforms (Linux, Window, and Mac)
3. Flexibility - Individual web based email systems are still available. I can go into gmail from my phone, come home and any changes are synched perfectly.
4. Longevity and consistency - web based email client shuts down, no problem. I have all my stored email locally and can migrate easily to a new service. I am NOT locked into one email provider.
5. Cost... There a good desktop email clients that are free.
6. Spam - comes with built-in junk mail and spam filtering on top of that already provided by the web based service.
7. Management - It is easier to manage email - just try deleting 500 emails on any web based provider. That one thing makes it worth using a desktop client. Organize email into folders, move them around. Yes, web based can do those things, but it is clumsier and more awkward. - What nonsense
1 - GMX and Outlook mail accounts use IMAP or exchange to access all the folders and messages on the webserver regardless of which device you use.
2 - Security? Well I don't use my laptop in the house usually and when i am out it has a screen lock, same goes for my desktop but then the only people looking would be whoever stole the device.
3 - Multiple set ups on different computers - you have to be pretty dumb if you think that it is difficult to achieve this by exporting and importing settings.
4 - Well, my phone is android and my desktop and laptop are windows and there hasn't been any problem yet.
5 - The only problem with spam filtering is that the latest MS outlook no longer supports the best spam filter I ever used, spambayes. However, webside filtering on the IMAP accounts is robust so it isn't much of an issue.
6 - I use Outlook for some accounts and windows live mail, which was ditched by MS in 2012, for other accounts. It still works fine
7 - I haven't paid for an email client, everSo, article author, please explain how you would access a saved email on a web server when the internet connection goes down; how do you set up multiple (6 plus) email accounts from different providers on the same web based account instead of having to log in, log out, log in, log out etc etc for every account. Oh, hang on, you are probably such a simple person that you only have one email account, (probably don't even own a back up phone either) - I have yet to find a web based client that supports multiple mail services. I use outlook, yahoo, att, gmail, protonmail, and a few others. There is not a single web based solution to access all these from one place. I can do that in the windows 10 Mail app. And before you lambast me for using all these services, some are personal, some are business, some are my spam catchalls. I use separate emails for different things.
- Same here, with Windows 10, it's Outlook/Hotmail/Live & after that is where the troubles begins. Tried to add GMail, and could had, yet there was a warning after inputting my password & I backed out. Didn't think of adding Yahoo, due to the enormous amount of spam coming in. While Microsoft's servers may had (with a lot of luck) caught 25% of it, the rest would be sitting in my inbox, plus my iPhone.So while I like having Outlook/Hotmail (have one of each) on Windows 10, the heck with a free service handling the rest. Before Windows 8 was released, I fetched all of my email from the browser, despite many using clients & some articles recommending such, and I can keep on doing so today. Being logged into Google Chrome, GMail is a click away, and with it, a 100% free calling service (just no inbound), just need to install plug-in.Thanks, but no thanks to an AIO email client. The one I did try on Linux Mint (Thunderbird) was one mess to setup & me being very intolerant of what I can't learn fast made things all the more harder. Mainly because these are all free services, I didn't have the POP or whatever setting needed. And some still gets spam in their inbox, no matter how much is spent on filters.
- If my email is in my desktop machine, it is secure. If it is in somebody else's server, it is available to the world, both as part of the email application, (why do you think Google hosts gmail?), industry, government spooks, and hackers.
- You cannot create folders in a webmail client and that is how I organize my email.
- That's right! Cannot even create these in the Windows email client for their service only, must login via the browser to create new folders.Great point there!
- '2. Security'
Considering that most users leave their email client running in a separate window/tab all day, a web email client can be exploited as easily as a desktop mail client.'4. Different Operating Systems'
Thunderbird has versions for Linux, OS/X and Windows.'5. Spam'
Over the years of using various email clients, desktop email clients provide better spam filters and better spam handling than web-based email clients. Desktop email clients will allow spam to be permanently deleted. GMail does not allow that, forcing the user to empty the SPAM folder manually.'7. Cost'
Again, Thunderbird. It is complete free and completely unlimited.'Would you join us in recommending that your friends and family should stop using desktop email clients today?'
Only if they switched to Proton Mail.- Well Proton has a Thunderbird bridge program (in beta for Linux). I still can't get it to work, but when I do, I'll have the best of both worlds.
- Not one of your seven points are valid! Not one! I firmly believe you have copied this article without researching as any 'average' user can find flaws in each of your points.....
- I think you must be correct. In any case this was a real non-contribution.
- All well and good, apart from when (like me) you use two separate work-provided email accounts, one own business account, and a personal account (which has been in use for years , and would be a major PITA to get rid of). The big issue I have is trying to find a desktop email client that Google will actually play nicely with. Because Outlook is not it!
- Mailbird works fine with gmail
- This entire article is retarded. Get a Hotmail, Outlook.com or Office 365 account and your e-mails, contacts and calendar will automatically sync between the devices and e-mail server using the system used by Microsoft Exchange eliminating the limitations of POP3 and the retarded e-mail system called IMAP.....
- The only other non-Microsoft email (not mentioned above) that didn't play well with their email app (for me) was iCloud Mail. Things may have changed since I last tried, there was a time when the POP3 setting was indeed needed for some services.Lastly, I have to consider my security. Have an email account for different needs & sure (by accident) wouldn't want the screensaver to not lock & there goes my private life. This is one of the issues that wasn't discussed (in depth) of the article. Say one's married yet likes to flirt, or has a lot more female friends than normal (or vise versa).There's not going to be a lot of happiness in many homes over such leaks. And forget placing the blame on the service, that's the last thing the other spouse/partner wants to hear. Another reason to at least keep some email accounts in the browser only. Oh, and work also, where there's supposed to be secret discussions (not to be leaked). All it takes is someone (anyone) to discover such an email & there goes one's job.Too many negatives to have an AIO email client across the board.
- The issue that no one writing these articles ever seems to consider is PRIVACY. Why does Gmail have the right to read and store every email I write? Every job I onboard with via email, giving all my Personal Identifying Information?
I am looking into how I might find a way to be able to send emails that don't get stored ANYWHERE but on my computer. I am not sure, but it seems like using Outlook might be a way to accomplish this. I've used Gmail for quite a while but have also been very distressed that they have access to my private communications. Now Gmail has launched a new feature where they offer you 'automated suggestions' for how to reply to your own private email! And no one is even mentioning the word PRIVACY in any of this discussion about web email clients versus desktop, etc?- How will you be able to access your email messages on every device you have unless the messages are stored on their server? In that case, you're better off with a desktop client, because you don't seem to need accessing email on different devices. It's not Gmail's fault, they're actually providing you a feature for free.
- I use Outlook and have since 1998. I now have my own website and Outlook is my interface to it. I use POP3 (because when you delete something using IMAP, it gets deleted from all devices, which I'm not a fan of). My outgoing emails are not stored on the site. My incoming emails are only stored for 2 weeks. When I travel I copy my PST file (the standalone--no Exchange--data set) from my desktop to my laptop and when I return I copy it the other way. As far as my phone is concerned, it's an Android and I use Companion Link software & DejaOffice. Works great, and DejaOffice is a much better piece of software than the Gmail software that comes on my phone.
- Really! That's the main reason why I won't use Gmail or similar for personal email. At least Proton is encrypted end to end. They can't read it at all. Their interface is pretty primitive, but it works.
- Set up some webmail accounts for my parents for their occasional use. Set up an alias account for myself for specific times I didn't want to give out my usual address. After an initial flurry of activity and communications activations (from financial institutions etc) we neither of us used these accounts. 6 month later the webmail provider (yahoo) DELETED the accounts and their contents, no questions asked (it was all there in the small print, sent of course, by email). Fact is providers view your messages on their webmail server as their property to do with as they so wish.So the idea that webmail is always backed up and therefore always there is just rubbish. It is if you use it, but leave it to fester for a while and it will evaporate. On the other hand, I have archives from email clients going back 15 years. They will never disappear (well, not in my lifetime).
- AND gmail has the legal right to read the content, which is why lawyers and others who value confidentiality avoid gmail accounts.
- If you only use one email address, and you don't need to quickly access emails, web clients are for you. but try fetching that second email account through Gmail, which does so like twice a day and you'll see why a client handling multiple Imap accounts might make more sense for some people.On the enterprise level, webclients do not scale, and when you add exchange into the mix its a non starter.
- I have all my email programs on my desktop. All of them and they work flawlessly.
I dont want no bs interactive website crap with flash. I control my email not you. I never have to be online to access 13 accounts with over 50k emails. Seems like the millennials want to change what works perfect. Good luck with that. I will always have email on my desktop. And ive never had any issues with the 6 reasons that are listed here. So this is a crock of bs. Im going to writer an article on why you should keep your desktop client and which ones.!- Yes!
- i'll chalk it up to the fact that it was 2012 when the guy wrote this. What in the hell is Thunderbird anyway??? Everyone and their mother should be using Windows Mail app that comes with Windows 10. You can put multiple accounts on there from ANY email address and it keeps it all in one place. Should you need to check your email elsewhere, you just go to outlook.com or live.com to pull it up using the web-based server. Simple pimple. And no, I never use threaded emails. HORRIBLE.
- You really entrust Microsoft with your personal Data?
- Who uses anything microsoft these days? Ever heard about privacy? Most likely not. Sleep on.
- And you trust Google?!
- Syncing may have its advantages but can also be a nightmare. Most free email clients sync. Now, receiving/sending an email from a client is an all day process, not to mentioned LOST emails, forever in cyber space.I had to quit clients when X client synced and I lost about over 4,000 emails I had neatly stacked in folders for future reference.There are NO INTELLIGENT EMAIL PLATFORMS AVAILABLE whether web based or client based. All 132% pure CRAP.Kind regards,
Volodya Sokolov - Btyahoo.com
- I have successfully configured all of my devices to use the email services that I want. My phone I am sure is using IMAP however, I wish to have my emails available offline on my 'personal home computer' which was the whole purpose of having a home computer in the first place so that is setup for POP3. I will use the 'chromebook' as an example of the new 'dumb terminal' of yesteryear's remote job entry terminal. The internet is a wonderful tool until it is not available. Therefore, a device that requires the internet to be functional is by my ancient definition, a 'dumb device'.
- t
Did you get rid of my email address book on Webmail when you went to the new Windows 10. Mind has disappeared. - I left gmail for the slow yahoo because gmail CANNOT search mail by partial word. It is shocking that Google is the best search engine, yet delegates mail search to using 'tags'. More often than not I remember a part of word not an exact word or tag and I was constantly not able to find the relevant mail with gmail.
- Point by point:
1. Syncing between multiple computers: I only have one computer.
2. I hate email threads and I have set my gmail to not use them. If you can't keep up with your friends and colleagues, then just post your cat pictures on facebook.
3. My email address is at gmail.com and I use a pop3 client to get the email. I won't need to change my address unless google goes belly up.
4. While it is convenient for google - and the NSA - to search all my email, my client has a search as well, duh. I do backups myself, so the email is transparently included.
5. Since my client pops from gmail, I've already got spam filtering.
6. One click translation?!? Google translate is horrible - if it only produces meaningless translations, you're lucky, it often gets the meaning wrong. It would be funny if it weren't so sad - actually, when I'm bored or frustrated, I have google translate something just to get a great laugh. - A bunch of mail accounts to manage (different roles, different jobs, different providers), the lack of S/MIME and PGP/MIME in most web clients (would you ever upload your Private Key to a webmail client, seriously?), the lack of interface at most webmail clients (can you explicitly unmark an e-Mail as forwarded?) and the ability to search all emails in a folder quickly (some providers/ software vendors are simply unable) made me using a cross-platform e-Mail client.
- I DON'T HAVE A DAMN SMART PHONE LIKE EVERY ONE ELSE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
- Kathy Kaps Lock
- I'm trying to find a replacement to Windows Live Mail since we won't be abble to use it anymore... I found EM Client and love it but the problem is syncing the 2 computers and the phone... Doesn't do it! Windows Live Mail was... Please anybody can help me find a free desktop mail? I have 2 different Gmail adresses and 2 Hotmail ones. Thank you!
- Em Client, with Windows mail ( IMAP ) should sync. Be sure both Outlook.com and Gmail accounts are setup as IMAP.
- For myself. I will stick with my desktop email. I have SIX different email accounts that span a range from GMail...to AOL..(yes I still use 'em!) and from Yahoo...and Hotmail to 'Mail.com'. I'm not one for having to jump through different web pages, and most of the time? when I'm out and about? I don't check email that much. So for me it makes no sense to try and juggle various email account in a cloud environment. Since I can just pop open my Thunderbird.....Icedove....or Evolution email clients (on various machines of course!) and access all my emails. The cloud is there for whom needs it. I am not one of those people. I prefer to keep as MUCH as possible under my own control....guess that makes me paranoid?...but you know what?...since it's my information, I can do whatever I damn well please with it!...LoL!
- > If so, why?
>
Because I simply don't like the idea of someone browsing thru my private communications.If Your life is so boring and not interesting at all - so be it. Mine is not. I can imagine several people who would really, really like to see my mails. For me and in my opinion, 'cloud mail' is a childish idea and people who use it betray the trust of others.But the sad thing is, they will never know it. When I discover someone stores his email on a public server permanently, I will simply cut the communication. I found there is no point in discussing this topic, since 'everybody is using cloud services'. So have fun, but with someone else.- Everything you email and receive travels through a server and is captured so the point of privacy is moot
- 'But the sad thing is, they will never know it. When I discover someone stores his email on a public server permanently, I will simply cut the communication. I found there is no point in discussing this topic, since 'everybody is using cloud services'. So have fun, but with someone else.'I seriously have no idea what the ____ you are talking about...
Cloud is just a fancy name for server. You're emails, no matter what platform, pass thru clouds and servers at some point.
Not to mention clouds are probably more secure then your PC from data breaches.- But most email clients contractually agree not to read the contents, while gmail says just the opposite.
- Just use Openmailbox. Short alias (opmbx) and BOTH IMAP & webmail.
- BTW, consider the case where WiFi or cell access is not accessible. Like on a cruise ship where you have to pay for internet access by the minute. Try that with your web-based email clients.
- This is gmail propaganda
- Oh just an after thought, I make a lot of money setting up private web based services for business. Even I have a vested interest in forwarding your opinions, My integrity will not allow me to lie.... I run all the email and hosting services for ozfire.com and avt.com.au if you want your own private web mail setup why go with email for dummys with GMail .. actually the lads there are very bright LOL a couple are almost geniuses, but I can still run rings around them.. age and cunning will over come youth and enthusiasm any day
- Very interesting I was just thinking of trying to create an email server just to see how it works.
- that is plain nonsensical, maybe you should upgrade you knowledge chip to understand desktop pop email... its a simple upgrade -- google and read... really I have taught 10 year olds how to do it... I am sure if you apply your self and call in a 10 year old you will be fineAs a professional I need to understand it all, hence for my own use and my recommendation for all power users if you dont use a desktop client you are an IDIOT the issue is security and all attachments are saved on your system and the server, something gos wrong you can almost always get it back.... unlike webmail - one stuff up and its gone forever
- Web interfaces are an order of magnitude slower than what is possible with 'native' applications. Web mail in general limits the number of messages in listings to 20-50 per page to maintain acceptable performance. This makes it difficult to sort through large amounts or e-mail, because we have to wait for each page to load, and remember what was on previous pages. An e-mail client (I use 'Opera M2') is perfectly capable of listing thousands of headings, sorting or filtering them near instantaneously, and processong move or deletion on large portions of that list at once. This situation occurs when an account hasn't been checked in a longer time, and bulk correspondence, such as forum subscriptions, has accumulated in it (not necessarily spam).I also use Yahoo mail as an alternative. I've set it up years ago as an emergency alternative, for situations when an email client is not available, or when I suspect that my main account might be rejecting incoming mail. I have completely given up on tidying up my inbox over at Yahoo with 25 letters per page.Gmail is also getting slower with every update. It is made for modern PCs running Chrome.I do not see how multiple accounts are a webmail feature. Those services may offer to list correspondence from multiple usernames at once, but, unless I'm missing something, those users have to reside on that particular webmail service. An e-mail client like 'Opera M2' can fetch mail from multiple servers, and display it in one inbox, or separate inboxes defined by filters. Furthermore, it is possible to associate any outgoing SMTP server with any account. For example, use the local ISP's server with a @gmail.com From or Reply-To headers (as long as this is permitted in that server's policy): to work around restriction on filetypes in Gmail or to take advantage of higher upload speed.I do not use any mobile devices. Webmail probably does have an advantage if the user switches computers frequently. If I have 2 computers, say one at work and one at home, I still can use old fashioned POP3 access. I simply configure the client on the work computer to leave messages on server when it accesses my personal home account. Later when I get home, I fetch those emails again for archival, and permanently delete them from the server.In my version of M2, all email from one month is stored in a physical database file, per account. Those files can be copied to another computer or backed up using any file manager.I completely agree with Jan's comment. Webmail is a dumbed down version of the real thing.
- You're so right on that point: Gmail is just getting slower with every version. I hate it when I have to read my email fast and it takes about a minute for Gmail to load and after that the interface is unresponsive for about half a minute you can just see it and do nothing else. And, for people who think I may be on a slow computer or internet, I will save you a comment, both are fast.While it's true that webmail does offer some very good features (like syncing on all devices almost instantaneously), all the hype around it is not so much worth itself. Webmail is basically just email with an ever changing interface with lots of decoration in it. I think it has become so much popular only because it is so easy to understand and use.
- What an absolute load of crap. Really? You know who Im talking about. Seems like your suckered into the world of updating everything even if its not needed. Even if it works properly. Sucks to be you. Good luck with that. Welcome to Fail and the population is 'You'
- *My* desktop email client speaks IMAP and synchronizes contacts just fine across internet identities. The only thing accessing my mail through the web would give me is a sub-par graphical interface.
- Surprised by most of the comments. I use Thunderbird and it's only, because I can't find anything better. My colleague already moved away from it. And I am looking for a web-based option, hosted on my server or elsewhere. I've used Gmail for a decade now and it's flawless. I've never had any issues with spam. Searching and tagging is a breeze.
- Yeah, folks need to be aware this is an OLD article, written (in terms of internet and computer terms) back in the dark ages. There are so many things wrong about it it's not really worth pointing them out, except to note that almost no tech person I know worth their salt would ever trust Gmail (or even Google, anymore).Thunderbird can be configured quite nicely to sync with as many computers and devices as you want.
- Spot on Mike. I use Tbird too to suck in my mail from th likes of Gmail, outlook.com, Yahoo. Tbird does a good job & I find the arguments in the article above unconvincing.
- Gmail is not the best spam filtering. Within a couple of days of getting the gmail account, I was slammed with spam and hadn't even given the email out, let alone have it published anywhere for spambots to find.So that tells me that Google/gmail is giving out or selling the email addresses. Google can't be trusted.
- Never had issues with spam in the many years using Gmail.
- I use a web based email account [gmx] and haven't been able to log in to it for 2 hrs. Any other brilliant advice?
- ONE big reason to NOT use webmail... security. Gmail is not secure and cooperates with warrentless searches based on BS. The argument that 'if you are not doign anything wrong you have nothing to worry' about is worn so thin it insults the intelligence of anyone reading the revelations of Edward Snowden.
- What a stupid article. If you use Thunderbird, you can never go back to a webmail. Webmail is just a weak workaround when your real client is not available.
- I've used Thunderbird for work for 2+ years now, and I have few positive things to say about it. Very limited or clunky for me. Trying to find webmail alternative. The only reason I'm not using Gmail for work is it doesn't support third party IMAP accounts yet, otherwise I'd be using Gmail. So, to each his own.
- Sounds like you don't know how to use Tbird.
- Sounds like you expect everyone to like what you like. Two software designers who've used an application for 2+ years don't 'know how to use it'... Right.
- No, I don't expect that. It is just that opinion is generally in agreement about the user-friendliness & usefulness of Tbird, Besides, web designers don't necessarily know everything, they just human too. Sorry to have upset you, did not mean to.
- What a stupid article. Try use Thunderbird once, you can never go back to a web client which can handle only the basics.
- The author of this is clueless and feeding false information. Almost all email clients today use IMAP, which means all clients are synced to the IMAP account, and mail to stored and archived in the cloud in the IMAP account. Maybe what you say was true about syncing was true with POP the 90's, but no today, so please update yourself before writing articles. I use gmail, but never use their webmail interface except when on a computer that is not mine. Why, it's not up to the speed and convenience of my email client on my laptop, not even close. This article so so completely wrong I wouldn't let Angela write for me again about technological subjects.
- Mailbird is the best email client ever for Windows users.
- Plus, for those who have ceased using a desktop client years ago, maybe you would not be aware of this. Webmail is agonizingly slow compared to my desktop email client. When I have a bunch of emails to compose, or complex addressing options, desktop wins hands down for efficiency and speed. In my experience.
- Seems that my experience is reversed from many here. For what its worth, all my non-tech relatives use webmail. Have for years. Webmail seems the choice for those who are NOT geeks, technos, etc. Don't know why some think otherwise. Its been years since Microsoft did away with Outlook Express, so every new computer user since then has been forced to use webmail, unless they are techie enough to know of and set up Windows Live Mail, Thunderbird, et al. Or unless they get one of their geek friends to set it up for them.I don't like being beholden to the net to search and read my emails, and to even compose new email.
- You would probably call me somewhat of a power user as I design and host websites, and I have 20 accounts in my Thunderbird & RSS feeds. Does Gmail support RSS?One thing no-one seems to have mentioned in this thread is that with a desktop client you avoid the bloody ads. Who likes seeing ads while they read their email?Desktop clients give you choice. If you like threading you can use it. If you don't you can turn it off. Google DO NOT let you choose. Same with folders and labels. You can choose what you want to do. Google dictates to you. This is not empowering to users. Just earlier today I was talking to a company owner who was proposing to dictate which email client his company employees should use. I told him he should allow them to choose. Some might like clients, some might like webmail, they should be able to choose the solution that lets them work best.The Gmail interface is horrible. But different people like different things. Personally it's huge, garish and bland.Yes, you can have different signatures per email account in Gmail but you can't attach. You can't embed images - this is a huge no no. Embedding images is great for getting across what you need to communicate. Apple Mail even now lets you annotate embedded images.Backup? How do you backup your Gmail? In a form you can actually use? With Thunderbird, every folder is a file itself (inbox, sent etc). I clone my drive and I have an instant backup that I can quickly switch to if the worst happens.Gmail - sent items all go into the same place whereas a client allows you the choice of putting them in a seperate folder if you wish. Again the client gives you choice; Google tells you what to do.Problem for me with webmail, like smartphones compared to desktop, is that it's a dumbed down version of the real thing. It's useful for checking things, testing etc, but in a day to day situation you want the full package.You mentioned that you look down on people who are set in their ways and still using desktop email clients. Personally, the people I see using Gmail for their business as slightly amateur. Additionally any business that advertises a gmail address as their official email just looks really unprofessional (although I know you can use your own email address in Gmail).Why Gmail doesn't try to sell users their own domain name and set it up really really easily through Gmail is beyond me. Every time someone wants this done I have to do it for them as it's a bit complicated for the non tech savvy user. Then again, Google has never been about ease of use. They were mentioning on the SpeakingInTech podcast about how hard it was to set up video conferencing using Google Plus and all of them are 20+ years each in the industry. Go figure!
- Web based email such as Gmail is fine for personal use who do not mind Google collecting information about them. But for any serious individual or business, this is not a good solution.There is nothing special about web based email, it has existed for years yet the younger generation haven't a clue. Domain names and hosting is cheap now. You will have IMAP email, and even web based email applications if you prefer not to use a desktop client. And you can keep your email address for life as long as renew your domain name. Who knows what will happen to Gmail in the future, nothing lasts forever.As a side note, accessing IMAP with Outlook sucks, and by sucks I mean it constantly hangs and freezes while you are pulling your hair out. Outlook is only good for Exchange email accounts, not IMAP, and POP is dead/dying anyway so that is irrelevant. Thunderbird with IMAP works flawlessly.For those who are Gmail addicts and can't let go of it like the junkie and his heroine, I suggest using a IMAP client and only using the web interface when you don't have access to your regular PC/Laptop/Mobile device, since that way, at least Google will not track your browsing habits at all times.
- Outlook is simply far far easier to use than GMail, as much as I'd prefer to use a web based system, for all the reasons you describe. Here's some reasons.I find recently sent mail by date. I don't always know a keyword. I can sort mail by date. GMail simply stinks at this.Tags are better than nothing, but they don't compare to actually foldering your e-mails where they belong.Having a real composer, signatures by e-mail address, a robust contact capability and much much better multitasking capability (for when you're working fast and don't need mistakes) is irreplaceable.I can see a casual e-mailer getting by better with GMail, but a business user - fuggetaboutit. Try as I might, I can't get a fraction of the productivity out of GMail as I can Outlook.
- I've used both, and prefer to use an email client. Why? For one thing, as one example, Google loves to fish in email, and I don't particularly like people fishing out details to aggregate about me. While I've a gmail account, I refuse to use it for anything but a login on Google.Everything we put online needs to be weighed, convenience vs revelation.For this same reason, as a I writer I could put docs on Google docs or on Skydrive, but... this is proprietary stuff.
- this piece written by You (on this very website) left me confused:
tag/postbox-express-email-client-challenge-thunderbird/
What made you change?If novices can setup email forwarding then I guess they can set up a desktop client (using the wizard) as well. - The main reason why desktop email clients exist is their ease of use. Just click an app and you have all your emails on your window in a few seconds.
1. You don't have to login to multiple accounts.
2. People can keep their accounts separate and not forward. (Remember there's a reason for creating a second account. That way they don't mess up stuff.)
3. We can get desktop alerts whenever we receive a new email. They are handy when you are in a hurry viz., registering at a website to download stuff/post something, nervously waiting for that admit offer from a school that's supposed to come today.
4. They add an additional layer of security. the plugins like spamAssasin and the desktop antivirus blocks the spams/viruses out. You can configure to have either of them off.
5. By email threading, i guess you mean 'conversational view'. It's present in most email clients. At least, it's in Mozilla Thunderbird, that I'm using now.
6 Unlike in email clients, you can not write an embedded email in a webmail. I mean, you can not embed pictures/media-clips/documents between your sentences. This feature is important when you are sending multiple docs with explanations.
7. IMAP has eased things a lot for people using multiple devices like computers, tablets and phones and IMHO, it's the best feature Gmail has. Loading new mails is not time-taking since the new emails are synced fast.
8. Its great that emails have online storage and backup. We are making-use-of it with IMAP.
I hate contradicting you, but I wanted to put a different perspective as to why people are still using email clients. Good day. - I am not a geek. I am not a novice. I lie somewhere inbetween. I know enough to have some call me tech savvy and enough to have others see how little I know. My oldest son is most definitely a geek and so is my brother. I know enough to hold my own with them and know when I have crossed my knowledge base.What I am seeing, and I stopped reading comments about 3/4 the way down, is that every one commenting is either like me or a geek. My mother would be considered a novice. She learned some programming stuff in college but graduated in 89 and hasn't kept up since the internet boom. On today's computers she seems clueless.She is like many 'novice' email users. She has two email accounts tops. She opened her gmail account to use for business and then got locked out of her yahoo account when they changed the password requirements and made her add the number that slows the hackers only a slight fraction.She doesn't use a desktop but her thinking patterns cause me to understand a lot about who you say you address the article to. Most novice email users only have 1 maybe 2 accounts. My mom would be happier with a desktop client. She gets so lost when they change things. We all know that they change things often and I've heard her complain every time. The more consistent interface would be helpful to a novice.I have a lot of gmail accounts. With the newer changes I've logged into them more than once. I use a desktop client. I use zimbra because I'm broke and I use the email on my kindle fire. I have to log in every once in a while to check my spam boxes because I lose a lot of 'not spam' in there. I also have access when I'm away from my computer/fire.I didn't mind not having a desktop when I only had 2 accounts. I'd log in to each one and I managed all the filters. By the way the true novice has no clue how to figure out the filters. I won't integrate my gmail accounts. I don't care if I can have one gmail account that supposedly can work like my desktop. I got more than one account so I can KEEP them separate.I also agree with the ones that mentioned access when offline. This has been especially useful since I have started my own business. I don't have to go through the effort of logging on when I just want to re-read an email I already have downloaded.So I guess what I'm saying is that I use my desktop client for offline access and to keep my accounts separate. My novice mom would benefit from a desktop client because of the consistency. Other novices probably just log into their one account or have it to their desktop clients for the same reasons. They are familiar.
- I also have to disagree that clients are outdated. There are numerous reasons to have them, particularly for business people. Federal and State laws require some professions to keep and store email for several years. Nearly all of the free webmail hosts have limits as to the amount of email that can be stored. Additionally, most of them also limit the size of an email. In my profession, large numbers of photos are often sent via email in the form of a very large zip file, sometimes exceeding 40 MB in size. In fact, paying for hosting was the only way I could accomplish this task, as at the time when I began to do so, gmail, yahoo, and the others limited attachment sizes to 2 MB.Here are some very compelling reasons for using an email client, other than what's already been mentioned.- Size limits. All the free providers limit the amount of email you can store. My email file is over 6 gb. My superior's exceeds 20 gb. Nuff said.- For those of us who do most of our business by email, we often get a massive number of emails per day. It is not uncommon for me to receive more than 200 per day, and quick scanning and deleting are essential. Every webmail front-end I've ever used limits the number of subject headers you can see on the screen at once. Furthermore, selecting and deleting is often cumbersome.- Message preview pane. It's very nice to click the header and have the message show up in a preview pane. I rarely, if ever, actually open the email. To date, every webmail product I've used requires opening the mail, and either clicking the back button or the Inbox link again in order to return to the headers.- Drag and drop into a task or onto the calendar. Attaching emails to calendar items and tasks is an extraordinarily fantastic feature of Outlook, and I'm not certain why many people don't do it. The ability to read the details of an email just before you walk into that scheduled appointment is very nifty.- Sensitive data. Many professions send sensitive customer data via email. Albeit, email transmission is not secure, but the less time an email floats around the cloud, the less likely the information risks theft. Leave it out on a server with that 'easy to remember' password you use, and it's like leaving 10 one hundred dollar bills on the dash of your car. Your car may be locked, but the thief knows the money is there and he will break in.- Integration with a smart phone. Until Google released Android, this was nearly impossible without Outlook. And I'm not about email. I'm talking syncing the calendar, notes, tasks, and other things with a smart phone.- Speed. Clicking a header in a client is much speedier than waiting on a browser load/refresh. I can scan through 250 emails in less than 15 minutes by using the preview pane I mentioned above. I've been unable to accomplish that with webmail.There are many more great reasons to use mail clients. And most people don't use them because they are 'geeks' or 'old-fashioned'. Most of the other business owners I know use clients, and several of them have in-house Exchange Servers. I suppose if I only used my email to forward funny emails my friends send me, or read the latest newsletter, or communicate with my social network, then webmail would be acceptable. But, for a business that relies on email, a client is, by far, still the best option.
- It's simple. If I am relying on having an Internet connection in order to access my data, then I'm in a very bad place.I have had a few situations where there's been no internet access, and I've had to fish stuff out of an email. Phone numbers, addresses, etc. Even chunks of map that I've emailed to myself as screenshots. Usually it happens when I get off a plane in a foreign country, that sort of thing.I'm suspicious of IMAP's sync. It means that emails can go missing. TBH I'd rather run my own servers & everything.
- Nope - not swayed - though I do use web mail, but at home I use outlook with multiple gmail accounts. It just keeps things organized.
- Maybe the best solution is a cross between the two? I have Gmail and I have all of my email accounts redirecting to it, everything is there and backed up and I can easily access all of my emails from anywhere. BUT I also have a desktop email client, which I can't live without.I sincerely hate sending emails from Gmail, don't ask me why, but it's just not my style. So I do all my email writing activities from the desktop client. I also prefer to manage contacts with it, and back them up to csv files easily. My desktop client also offers templates, which is essential for me. I don't think Gmail offers that.I agree people should be able to view all their email accounts from anywhere and have them backed up online with Gmail or other web based options, but they should also be able to choose if they want to manage their emails online or with a desktop client. I choose both.
- Some of the points raised in this discussion are senseless. Synchronizing using pop is as simple as telling your pop client to leave messages on your mail server. IF this causes you to pull your hair out, I'd hate to offer you a sticky ketchup bottle.IMAP was originally intended for the dial up days where it would take eons to download a 3 mb attachment. POP was an improvement over IMAP because it allowed for better management for the mail boxes, over leaving everything online.'Most of us use Gmail, our own mail servers'This infers that the users have their own mail servers. Why would anyone use gmail if they had their own mail servers? If you did have your own mail servers, the overhead generated by IMAP would make you appreciate POP a whole lot more.Has anyone here heard of the adage 'If you got something for free, you paid too much'? This mean that when someone doesn't want money from you, they want something of far more value.Having 19,000 emails left on gmail might seem like a great idea, until your account gets hacked. Then every aspect of your life within those 19,000 emails becomes public property. Yes, that picture of you heaving at the xmas party, or that 'special' one only meant for him/her becomes the next meme on the internet.Personally, if I hadn't added all of Google mail servers to exemption lists, we would never receive any mail from them because they are constantly in SORBS, Spamcop and other blacklists. Free email services should be use for just that.. free email. Business email should be handled by business class email servers that aren't ready to sell your information for the next 5$
- gmail only allows 5 email accounts to be pop'd through gmail. and you're popping it just the same as pop access through a client. thus, an email client that allows more than 5 would win in that simple apples to apples comparison. I think this article is for the non-power user.gmails search is amazingly fast but not much faster than xobni plugin in outlook. xobni now plugs into gmail so that is nice. but not many web clients have robust sorting. and, yes, threading sucks because people don't always change the subject, they just reply. and, until gmail adds a 'reply with new subject' button next to the reply button, it will always be like that. or, at least, gmail should not have closed the subject line on replies. they make the sender click the 'edit subject' which no one (except me) does (you're welcome).
- Stupid question for the group. If I use an email client and leave it up and running all day usually the client will check and download new emails at regular intervals. Next if I check my email on my phone will the emails appear as 'new'? Or will they appear as read because my client downloaded it?
- If you use IMAP on all clients, they will report that new emails are unread until the first client opens it and the status is marked as read. When the IMAP server syncs from this client with the new status, then all other clients that sync will see this updated status. If you have mail rules set up to perform tasks on new mail and this machine is left on, then it will do whatever your mail rules state and all new statuses, such as marked as read, move to a folder, delete , etc, will be seen by all clients that also connect with IMAP to this account.
- #1 - Syncing Between Multiple Computers Can Be A Headache With Desktop Email Clients
Why so? That might have been issue few years ago but not today. I can't think of anyone around me who's still using POP3 instead of IMAP, so syncing only means setting up the account in the desktop client and you're good to go.#2 - Email Threading Rocks
And most of the good desktop clients do it well. I'm using Postbox and never had any issues with threading.#3 - Using Webmail Means You Don’t Need To Change Email Addresses
This actually doesn't have anything to do with webmail or desktop client. If you choose wrong provider, there's nothing webmail can do about it. You're mixing webmail apps with webmail providers here.#4 - Online Backup & Search
The same as #1. IMAP solves this. Everything is stored on the server and desktop client only store a copy for faster work.#5 - Spam Filtering
Again, mixing webmail app and provider together. Webmail app mostly don't have any spam protection. It's up to each provider how good (if any) protection they have.#6 - One-Click Translation
What is that actually good for? People who work with international partners mostly use English or know the language they're using for communication. Google Translator is not really good and might even do some damage if you rely on it (means if you don't know the source language).To be honest, I had the feeling that you actually don't have a clear idea of what you actually want to talk about. In fact, desktop clients beats the s**t out of any webmail around. There's no real reason to use webmails unless you really have to. I'm using email by Google (both GMail and Google Apps on my own domains) and after dealing with their webmail, I'm really happy that I have Postbox. Still have to say that Google webmail is probably the best application around, as it's nice, clean and fast. Most of the other webmails are just horrible.- This is a reply to both Daniel and Angela.My friend, who is not a geek, use a desktop client because she's had her mails SUDDENLY REMOVED by webmail providers - not once but twice.The first was some free service, whose webmail interface she really liked. But one day, it decided to lock everyone out who used the free service, and charge a hefty fee to access their mails. The company had been sold, and the new one didn't want to run a free service. After weighing it up, she decided not to pay the fee (it wasn't small), and just lose the few years of mails.Losing all the mail scared her, so she switched to a desktop client to make sure 'it never happens again', and a new provider (who do webmail and desktop), and she thought, at least she won't lose anything now if the provider pulls the plug. I thought so to.That new provider was vfemail.net, who had an outage this week. This is a paid service (well my friend paid anyway, for the higher grade). They were temporarily down, and when they came back up -- get this -- MOST OF THE MAILS WERE GONE.Now this addresses Daniel's #1 and #4. #1: My friend uses IMAP because it's better. All that lovely synchronisation. #4: And she uses a desktop client because, from bitter experience, it's the only way to have a backup, right?Except, because the provider deleted most of the mails but brought it's service up, my friend got to watch in horror as her mails were deleted from the desktop client when it synchronised over IMAP...Very bad. It seems the only safe way to protect mails from random deletion by a provider is to use POP, which seems very old fashioned!!But what else is there? Simply copying all received mails to a backup folder, or using one of those mail backup programs, is both tedious and not very helpful as it doesn't remember what you had current, it's got all the things you did want to delete as well, unless you like doing twice the work.
- I've been using Gmail almost exclusively, and doing it without a desktop client, for about two years. I actually have three Gmail addresses that I use for various purposes
- I'd be interested to know if any people who have offered comments here have ever had their Gmail account compromised, not only the cases where the 'intruder' only used your account to send spam to your contacts (without locking you out of your account), but also -- perhaps especially -- where he/she actually DID lock you out of your account, thereby forcing you to go through the automated account recovery process.And if any of you have experienced this (esp. being locked out), how would you evaluate the recovery process ? Simple and efficient ? A long, tedious process that finally succeeded in restoring your account to you ? A long, infuriating nightmare after which you still didn't have your account ?I only ask because, going with some of the smaller providers with more responsive, human support (Hushmail, FastMail), even though they don't have all the bells and whistles, is more attractive to me (with my admittedly simple email needs) than entrusting my email & contacts to a huge company (Google) that, while it has excellent products and resources, also has a reputation for having many accounts that have been hacked, which in turn has lead to many users experiencing the worst kind of nightmare in trying to reclaim them. At this point in my own internet life, entrusting my mail to Gmail would feel like living in a city with a million people and no police.... I have to hope and pray that the odds are in my favor that my house wouldn't get broken into, because if it does, there's no (human) person to help, and I'm up the creek !Anyway, does anyone want to offer an evaluation of your account reclamation experience ?
- I use gMail and I use a desktop too.gMail allows me access to my emails when on the road and provides a means to backup. One day I'll organise myself such that my eMail will go to gMail first and I collect it from there for my desktop.Trouble is I will never fully switch until the day:a. I can totally trust that gmail won't up and walkaway!
b. they start to provide me with the functionality of my desktop - where's 'read or delivery requests - where's the ability to mark a message as important or to expire or to set easy reminders or ...
c. they stop messing with the interfaceI have no problems with either - why is that a problem? - I need some opinions here. Am I the only one who finds the gmail web interface incredibly confusing? That's the only reason I still use this lame Windows Live Mail. Whenever I pull up a gmail message with several replies, I never can find the latest. It seems that sometimes it's at the top (shouldn't it ALWAYS be there?) but at other times it's in what appears to be random places like in the middle of the thread. I just don't get it. Maybe I'm just dumb.
- Although I'm constantly going back-and-forth between different email clients (both online and off), right now, as a coincidence, I'm on an offline client kick. So, I tend to agree mostly with
Kara Ben Nemsi's points. (You may want to ask me again next week !) ;-)I only have one computer with which I check my email, so no problem there with multiple login locations.Conversations *are* helpful for some, but others don't like them. It's a 'love 'em or hate 'em' kind of response, I guess. MANY, MANY people were complaining about them, which, of course, is why Google finally added the ability to turn them off ! I'd be curious to see just what percentage of Gmail users did turn them off when that functionality became available, and I'd be curious how many new Gmail users signed up when they found out this option was finally implemented. :-Re: #3: You have to admit, your article's title did not really reflect your clarification (found in the comments section) that you were comparing Gmail to ISP-email via offline clients. In my case, I use FastMail, Hotmail and myOpera mail predominantly (sometimes Gmail) and they all work well in both their respective webmail interfaces and offlline clients. (For the latter, I use Outlook 2007 and Opera browser's built-in email client.)In any event, my main concern recently is hacking. I'd rather trust my email to an offline client at this point. Now, I know things can go wrong with one's offline email software as well, not to metion one's computer as a whole. So, if one doesn't have a back-up of some sort for offline mail, there goes the mail store ! But in the past week or so I've read lots of horror stories about hacked webmail accounts, and, like Kara Ben Nemsi above, I really don't want anyone breaking in and viewing personal (albeit relatively harmless) email information. Or deleting all my mail just for fun !And I *certainly* don't want them getting a hold of my friends' and other contacts' addresses ! The damage that can be done in that case just isn't worth it (spam, viruses, porn, etc.). And the veritable nightmare that users of hacked account (from the big providers: Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo) have to go through to (try to) get them back just to regain access to their mail, etc. scares me more than me having an issue with my computer. (Besides, I do have my mail backed up on external media, just in case.)So, for now, I've gotten rid of my online message store and downloaded it all to offline clients (Outlook and Opera) and created back-ups. Then I deleted all mail and contact info from the webmail locations. So, if someone hacks in, all they'll find is my personal information (limited at best) and my alt. email (of no use to them).Lastly, you make good points for using webmail. And Gmail certainly can do a lot of things to make one feel less dependent on offline clients. But for some (like me) at this time I'd rather trust ME and my computer with the information and give potential hackers less to work with and give me something less to worry about ! - Very onesided article. Replying one by one:
1. Syncing Between Multiple Computers Can Be A Headache With Desktop Email Clients - not a problem for me. Using three computers: desktop at home, desktop at work, and notebook on trips. Never had a problem with e-mail sync. Using The Bat! e-mail client and IMAP, and works like a charm.2. Email Threading Rocks - it depends on one's taste. Never liked threading. But if I wish to turn it on, my e-mail client allows it.3. Using Webmail Means You Don’t Need To Change Email Addresses - that is the weakest point! Any e-mail client will work with most (if not all) web based e-mail providers (hotmail, gmail, etc.). I know that in some cases you need to pay for pop access (such as Yahoo), but I use gmail with my e-mail client, and never have to change my address.4. Online Backup & Search. Since I do use my e-mail client with gmail, well, I have two copies of my e-mail database: on my computer(s) and on gmail.5. Spam Filtering - it still works when I use e-mail client. Gmail filters spam and I download only valid email.6. One-Click Translation - never works well. I know three different languages (and wish I knew more), and my work spans across 12 time zones, on three different continents. And you know, I can tell you that most misunderstanding will come out of the online translation. It is the most misleading translation EVER.So, these pros, are not truly pros. I do not lose anything by working with an e-mail client, and added benefit of having my e-mail database offline is huge (especially, when I go to Africa or Siberia... well, internet access there is not the best). - I'm a email desktop client fan as well. The reason being is for easy email management.I use Thunderbird, and have 5 emails address I currently check, each for a total different reason.*Personal = Gmail
*Website = Cpanel
*Google Apps = Uni Email
*Google Apps = Uni Project
*ISP = ISP Emails, bills and VOIP voicemailsThe usages of each of these accounts are quite different, so keeping them separate is easy for me to manage. Some I need to check more frequently, others I don't care so much for.The downside for online is that I have to log into 5 separate webmail accounts, but with a desktop client, I just have to log onto one. I could forward everything and sort them into folders, but it is just a pain to do.When I am occasionally on the move, I log into each one, and only read the important emails.As for my mobile, I forward particular emails to other account which I check on my phone, so I am not overloaded with emails.Been using this system for 5+ years, and it works just fine for me.In regards to your email:
-Syncing: Is a pain, but still doable. If you use Gmail, archive, or just use IMAP
-Threading: Good, but most clients send a copy of past emails, so in a way, it's no different.
-Using webmail means you don't have to change email address: This is false. Using your ISP's webmail means you have to change email accounts. And I assume you are referring to Telstra/Bigpond here? My dad faced the same issue.
-Online Backup: Gmail Archive and ensure the box is ticked on your email account 'don't click of server'
-Search: Desktop clients do this as well
-Spam: Gmail does it, so it doesn't filter down to my desktop client.
-Translation:Yes, not done well on desktops - I know it's not cool but I have been using Hotmail since 1998 and still like it the best. I have a Gmail account that I use occasionally but I really do like Hotmail better. I have been using their desktop client for a while now, (I had to look because I don't know what they call it, it's Windows Live Mail) on three different computers and never have any problem with syncing. They are always lined up.
The only thing I don't like is that the rules for sorting your mail are hard, if not impossible to set up, so I have to go the online Hotmail account to set that up. That is the only reason, other than I am on a different computer, that I use the online version. Tell me where I'm wrong but I plan to continue using this. - I have 2 gmail addresses, seven google apps email addresses, 2 hotmail/live addresses, an AOL address, an ISP address, and a squirrelmail-powered address. I access all of these with my portable email client (DreamMail) via POP or IMAP. The cloud is great, but I prefer to do email using a dedicated client.
- I don't get it. I'm supposed to justify using a desktop email client because the author is upset that someone in her life is 'ruining coherent conversation threads for the rest of us?'
- Gmail user since 3-4 mos. of it's inception(invite only) and have never had any major problems with it. In my case it was always a problem of HDD space locally, ergo online storage. Makes sense to me, never liked onboard email programs anyway
- I have control of my email when on my desktop, instead of someone else having control of it...To access when you are away, don't have your desktop program running.. You can check online and download it for real when you get home.I don't want spam filtering... They reject too many GOOD emails simply based on where they are sent from. I even have my gmail come in to Thunderbird...
- I use Linux, Windows and
AmigaOS4, I only have two e-mail, so its perfect for me to use gmail,
when I go to my friends I can check my mail easily, I also forward my
ISP mail to gmail, so I don't need to check 2 e-mail accounts. - I have several webmail accounts, as well as some attached to various domains. I manage them all through Thunderbird because it lets me keep all of the accounts separate but in one place.With webmail, if I wanted to check all of my accounts I'd have to sign in / out 9 times, and if I wanted to be notified of new emails I'd need 9 tabs open in whatever window I was using most.
- As an IT System Support Engineer, and still using my Outlook to keep multiple accounts together. It saves me the time of opening up a browser ans signing in on every account.And if you have an multiple account on the same hosting provider, then you can only sign in on one account.Also some web-mails don't automatically refresh. With an e-mail client you can get notified of new mail any minute you choose.Yes, by syncing on two computers are difficult, but you don't keep your inbox from running out of space. Some hosting providers don't give you a lot of MB online.Werbmail isn't that cool, you can't do that much, because they limited it.
- I'm amazed that nobody here talks about data privacy.The older you get, the more you forget. So I keep virtually every email, because maybe one day I'll need it. I think many of you do so. So in your e-mail you document virtually your whole life with many private details, maybe love letters to your secret mistress, letters to your doctor or lawyer or bank, letters with account details and passwords, letters containing embarrassing things, your religous or political or sexual orientation that you want to keep secret, maybe even content that can make you open to blackmail.Do you really want to store all that somewhere in the cloud where your provider and maybe hackers can read it? Do you really have no private life? Do you trust Google so much? They already read and analyze your emails electronically in order to send you custom advertising. Now they start to analyze your mail contacts because they want to be a social networking company too. Who can guarantee that nobody else sees or archives your mail, and then one day maybe you become famous and then 'The Sun' publishes about your private life from the past because someone got access to your mail.You can't even control whether your account is deleted when you want that (maybe it's only deactivated, but your data is kept somewhere) or whether it's deleted when you don't want that (like it happened with Yahoo). I just feel much better when I know my private data is not hanging out somewhere in the Internet, but stays in my private home where it belongs.Or, if you're running or working in a company, similar reasons hold true for your company email holding all your know-how and company secrets.Why does nobody see this as one of the major reasons to use a desktop email client?
- I absolutely agree with Kara Ben Nemsi - privacy is vital, and so is knowing that all your e-mails are constantly available to you and you can find exactly what you need at the touch of a few keys.I have used The Bat! (Pro version) for many years and have absolutely no reason to change it. Backups take just a few minutes (full or incremental) and can be automated; there is a full spellcheck facility, including making additions to the dictionary (my dictionary must be vast by now); I can import, export, do mailouts, thread, tab, search globally or within boxes, customise the folder tree to the nth degree, have templates for everything, automate everything - in fact I've never come across anything I want to do and can't. Help, even with some quite esoteric functions I have wanted to perform, is only an e-mail away - and there is a large, rather geeky and very creative and committed user base who can also answer questions and discuss various ways of doing things.If I'm out and about I just check in via webmail (I have my e-mail facility with a business/professional ISP). I have had the same (main) e-mail address related to my (main) domain name since before Nominet and the continuity is vital because I'm a self-employed portfolio worker and writer; if I change e-mail service provider I simply redirect using the dashboard for the domain name. Catchalls on all my e-mail addresses ensure that everything comes neatly into my one mailbox - from which everything is automatically sorted into folder courtesy of the completely customisable sorting function in The Bat!Having lost an entire backup courtesy of a (reputable) Cloud backup facility and some very vital database entries courtesy of an unstable upgrade to Evernote, it will be a cold day in hell before I trust my e-mails to the ether.
- I am in favor of web based mail. you can check them anywhere without bothering about sync etc options.
Apps are available which inform you abt new mails and you dont have to waste your storage space too. - I have to disagree as well, I wouldn't stop using Outlook for a web based client, that's just plain madness when I have so many email accounts to check.
- Just by-the-by, GMX mail has an awesome Collector which can collect email from any email provider be it gmail, yahoo,aol etc etc. Once again, these collected emails can either be placed in a single GMX inbox or split into individual inboxes. All the Inboxes can be accessed via POP or IMAP.
Just Saying :) - As we can see, maybe a better article about this matter should have a title like: '26 Reasons Why You Should KEEP ON USING Desktop Email Clients INSTEAD OF Web-Based Options
- I've been using Gmail almost exclusively, and doing it without a desktop client, for about two years. I actually have four Gmail addresses that I use for various purposes -- and I can funnel all of them into my main email address, reply from that one or whichever of the four I need. And the Gmail 'labels' let me set up the virtual equivalent of separate mailboxes. Plus, Gmail's spam control is worlds better than any spam filters I've ever found on a desktop client.
- Like many others, I have multiple accounts. Gmail? I download multiple instances to Outlook. I like filters, I like multiple signatures, I like complex formatting, I like the visual presentation on a wide screen and I definitely like everything integrated into a single package. Outlook simply is more powerful and more customizable than the online offerings. There is, however, one area where gmail and yahoo excel- it's easier to set up a 'gone on vacation' autoresponder. But I'll manage that and gee whizzers ... I'm not doing foreign languages in my emails.
- the problem with all of the web based solutions is they are vastly, vastly inferior to Microsoft spelling and grammar solutions, even the mighty Google requires repetitive correction of a word and its grammar is just none existent.
- Let me give you the most important reason of all to not use them..THEY CAN CANCEL YOUR ACCOUNT AT ANY TIME AND YOU WILL LOOSE YEARS OF EMAIL HISTORY.YAHOO did this to me, apparently because someone hacked me. I lost about 7 years of email and they would not reestablish my account so that I could even save the history emails somewhere..
- I only use a desktop client because my school's web censor blocks the email host. They also block based off of IP, not web url, so I can't get around it without a proxy, but the tech department heads have blocks set up against proxies, too. I use Thunderbird merely for access to my main email, but sadly, it only has POP access. Therefore I have 3 separate emails for that account: web-based, my iPhone, and Thunderbird.Quite annoying.
- I use Gmail, GMX and Yahoo. I bring them all down to Apple Mail and they all end up in a single Inbox.Likewise with my iPhone - all mails in one inbox.I don't know why I would want to have to check 3 different webmail inboxes?Am I failing to understand what this article is trying to say??:)
- I'm still using a desktop client (Thunderbird) the same reason as the others: I have multiple emails. I leave it open all the time so I don't need to log-in/out to check my mails. One more reason, as you pointed out is because I want to have an access to my email offline especially if I need a file that I know someone sent me as an attachment.
- I'm using multiple servers with multiple email addresses on multiple platforms that are in sync. E-mail is stored locally and online, so I don't have to worry about losing it or loading it up, which might take up forever at 2G areas. It's much faster and more comfortable.The only thing i'm missing is a quick translation tool, which I really don't need.
- I can check the mail in six accounts simultaneously and have all the mail in one inbox, and replying to a message puts the proper email address on it automatically. I can filter things in more ways than any of the web based emails allow. Best of all, I set up Gmail so that mail downloaded by POP is deleted from the inbox and archived automatically, so I have an empty inbox after my email client makes a run, but the messages that were there aren't trashed, they're archived, so on the extremely rare occasions when I need to get one of those messages back, they're still available.Using anything BUT an email client is inefficient, time-wasting and way too conducive to email hoarding.
- Hey! Nice to see a familiar face. :) I agree with everything you said. I'm an avid Outlook user. It makes so much more sense and saves time. I work from home so I don't want to have to be signing in and out of email accounts all day long. Plus, as you said, the filtering is much better than anything I've seen on the web.
- Yay, someone I can agree with.
- The biggest reason I use an email desktop client is the same reason I like email on my phone too - I have TONS of email addresses to check and a desktop client (and my phone) allow me to see all that email in one place quickly without signing in and out of accounts.
- Gmail does this. Has done since the beginning.
- The problem is that I have tons of gmail addresses - i can import other emails but not multiple gmail accounts
- Don't let this article fool you. Gmail's spam filter don't really help that much.You still get a lot of junk mail.
- I agree. It is much better. What client do you use?
- And if you're happy for Google to be scanning your emails vacuuming up even more information about you, then go for it. Me - I get just a little spooked when I get an on-screen ad that is connected to an email I just sent or when Google places an itinerary entry in my calendar after I've made a flight booking. And this is just the tip of the iceberg.And I suspect you might think this a little naive but I can take it - I don't think we should be assisting behemoths like Google aggregate more power and influence than they already have.The advice here shouldn't be about encouraging people to use invasive, mega corporations to control and access their data. You touched on it but kind of dismissed it - you should be encouraging people to use IMAP accounts instead of POP. It's an elegant solution that has none of the disadvantages. The one downside at I don't, for one minute want to minimize for anyone, is that ISP's, for some reason, charge more for IMAP accounts.
- @Daniel - People may hear 'information is power' but they don't really get it. Just like money, We the People will keep handing over information in small chunks until others have amassed huge amounts. That's What We Do in the pasture!In response to the main article...Slow loading is a headache. No functionality without internet is a headache. Forced layout change is a headache. Column sorting is practically the same as threaded view with speed, simplicity and more flexibility. You don't need to change your email address to use desktop email (unless you're webmail provider is evil, that is). Backing up only a person's email and leaving everything to be lost seems silly. Regardless of how you backup, back it all up. Your mail system, including webmail, may or may not have decent protection against spam. I suggest going with decent.. If your argument is 'Perform all the extra clicks using gmail so that you can translate with one click instead of two' then, well, I would suggest a macro. You wouldn't even need to click that way.
- If you have read through these comments you can see that your statement is misleading. What you are talking about throughout your article is managed email. The problem with calling it Web email is that it sounds like you need to use a Web client to use it and that is not true. Not only it is not true but Web mail clients are horrible just like all web based applications/interfaces. So the best of both worlds is the email nirvana of email is managed email with desktop client. By far and without exception Outlook 2013 is the best email client known to man. The ultimate configuration is to use Outlook 2013 with an IMAP connection to gmail. The setup cannot be simpler, Open Outlook 2013, when asked to add a new account, type in your name, email address and provider password, select IMAP and hit enter. In seconds your email and full folder structure form your managed email provider will start populating and when the sync is done you have the best of all worlds: a managed email account with all the spam filtering, backup, management and synchronization without the horror of trying to properly managed complex conversation threads using an page based application interface like a web browser.
This open-source email client from Mozilla is both swift and flexible. You can customize it to make it even more usable though plug-ins and add-ons. Thunderbird has a clean design and supports all the general protocols including POP, IMAP, and SMTP… read more
11 Mozilla Thunderbird Alternatives & Similar Software
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Pegasus Mail
Pegasus Mail has been in existence longer than any other PC email client. It’s a free product that users find an effective alternative to Outlook Express. It allows you to manage multiple POP and IMAP accounts, and multiple users as well.
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OE Classic
OE Classic is an email and Usenet reader intended to be an impeccable substitution for Outlook Express, Windows Mail, Windows Live Mail and even Mozilla Thunderbird. A definitive objective of OE Classic is to be a simple to utilize, quick, little and secure project with bunches of force elements but then, simple to use for a tenderfoot.
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Lotus Notes
Lotus Notes (also known as IBM Notes) is the email client solution that gives teams access to email, calendar and contact management and seamlessly integrates IBM collaboration tools and IBM domino business application.
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Opera Mail
Opera Mail for those using the Opera browser, Opera Mail is a good alternative to Outlook Express. Opera Mail is the email client built into the Opera browser, so no separate email client is needed.
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Windows Live Mail
Windows Live Mail helps you sort out your mail, date-book, and contacts all in one spot on your PC. You can utilize it to check various email accounts, similar to Windows Live Hotmail, Gmail, and Yahoo!
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Mailbird
Mailbird is profoundly respected email customer and gets extraordinary audits from both clients and industry specialists. It’s mainly intended to be as quick as could reasonably be expected, and its interface is straightforward and simple to utilize.
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Apple Mail
Apple Mail is one of the neatest email clients available and enables you to work with multiple different accounts at once. It has integrated Spotlight search, so it’s easy to find emails and is integrated with Mac OS X so you can send replies from the Notification Centre.
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Outlook Express
Computers sold with older Internet Explorer versions such as 4.0 and 6.0 included Outlook Express, an email application from Microsoft. When Windows 7 was released, Outlook Express was replaced by Windows Live Mail. Still, users of Outlook Express became accustomed to its set-up, interface, and features.
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eM Client
eM Client is a popular alternative to Outlook Express is an email client called eM Client. Free for home use, it supports the major email services such as Yahoo, Gmail, and AOL as well.
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Inky
Inky is a moderately new program, yet one that has been exceptionally generally welcomed in this way. It is not certain it’s workable for an email system to be excellent – yet Inky is by a wide margin the most attractive email program ever seen.
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Zimbra
A most wanted among users, Zimbra Desktop, is a collaboration suite that includes an easy-to-use email client. You’ll undoubtedly find Zimbra easy to use and visually attractive. It has an auto-configure feature for the most common email services like Yahoo, Gmail, and AOL.
More About Mozilla Thunderbird
This open-source email client from Mozilla is both swift and flexible. You can customize it to make it even more usable though plug-ins and add-ons. Thunderbird has a clean design and supports all the general protocols including POP, IMAP, and SMTP. Expediently, this email software is also available on all platforms, not just Windows. Mozilla Thunderbird makes messaging more secure, quicker, and less demanding with components, for example, savvy spam channels, an integrated RSS reader, and brisk inquiry. Thunderbird was intended to avert infections and to stop junk mail. Thunderbird incorporates selected email, new inquiry instruments and ordering, savvy organizers, support for Firefox, an improved setup wizard and reliable garbage insurances that include phishing and spam channels. Thunderbird can deal with numerous emails, newsgroup, and news encourages records and backings different characters inside records. Elements, for example, speedy pursuit, spared look organizers, propelled message separating, message gathering, and names oversee and discover messages. On Linux-based frameworks, framework mail records are bolstered. Thunderbird gives an undertaking and government-grade security elements, for example, TLS/SSL associations with IMAP and SMTP servers. It likewise offers local backing for S/MIME secure email. Any of these security components can exploit smartcards with the establishment of additional augmentations. Other security elements might be included through expansions. Case in point, Enigmail offers PGP marking, encryption, and unscrambling.