I rely heavily on email, but the state of Mac email clients is sad.

I’d been an Apple Mail user for years. But it was somewhat buggy and unreliable, so I switched to Airmail.

Airmail was working well for me, until recently. I like being able to see if an email has been read, and I love the global delayed send feature (delays emails for xx seconds after you press the send button). But now, the “search” feature has gone wonky and is barely functional (it misses most searched for terms). And there is no customer service available (maybe if I moved to the subscription model someone would be available). Lame/broken search is a deal-breaker for me.

Spark works well, but it’s missing my two favorite features from Airmail, plus, it's not compatible with SpamSieve.

Postbox is also missing the Airmail features, and when setting up new accounts, Postbox can’t even “find” my previously sent mail. Devs suggested that I go through an arduous "mapping" process. Postbox does not work with SpamSieve. Also, very hard to get support for Postbox.

I’m pretty sure I’ve seen/tried all of the options and none really suffice. I despise "webmail" and just won't go there.

I’m curious about the forum experiences with and thoughts on the state of Mac email clients.

SR



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/27/2020 06:24AM by steveroberts.

I miss Eudora ...

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!#$@@$#!

proofraed by OwEn the c@t.



Nobody remembers their first download, but everyone remembers their 1st LP.

Steve,

IMAP4 offers a feature to recognize the flags that determine if an email has been read. This will only work on those systems that have implemented the feature and for those email clients that support it.

Meaning, you can't count on it until it's implemented and supported by everyone. Unfortunately, although IMAP4 has been around for quite some time, some email systems and many email clients still don't support all of its features. Think of it as a great feature but not one you can count on due to inconsistent implementation and support for it.

FWIW, Postbox is an excellent alternative to Apple Mail. One of the complaints you have with it - mapping mailboxes/folders - is something you might have to do with any email client. I even had to do this with Apple Mail.

Robert

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Fritz
I miss Eudora ...

I've tried pretty much every email app that comes down the pike; I always come back to macOS Mail. Nothing ever works in all the ways I'd like. Still and all, Mail does what's needed, Smart Mailboxes are my killer feature, and I really like the ability to use a contact's photo/icon in the mailbox view (ease of viewing).

I can add a few features -- very very specifically the Send Later option for my @mac account, and the easy filing commands -- via SmallCubed's MailSuite. I also like being able to turn off the preview pane (keeps me from letting my mailbox fill up too much).

I'm hoping for an overhaul in Big Sur, but I've said that with each x.0 release. It nearly still feels/looks like first versions of Mail that came with the Public Beta back in 2000. I mean; it's a mail program, and that's what it is. Still.

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Like Zoid, Ive tried them all. Even used PBox for a good 5 months to make sure I was comfy with it.

Came back to mail, again. Dont love Catalinas column screw up, but dealing with it.

I also use smart mailboxes and dozens of rules. Rules for everything. Even with a dozen clients an thousands of emails (I have one that has sent me near 3500 emails in the last 6 months) I can find anything quickly and easily. Folders inside folders, just like organizing files in OS X.

Airmail looked promising, and didnt give it a long trial, so cant rate it. But not being able to search all the sudden seems like something thats not the norm. If email is important as you say it is... maybe ponying up the $10 a year (cheap!) subscription to get some additional help is worth it?

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Edited 999 time(s). Last edit at 12:08PM by jdc.

I hear good things about this new Hey app, from the makers of Basecamp

Steve,

Did the issue with search appear after an update or just kinda sorta happened under normal usage? If it went wonky after an update, it sounds like the simple solution is to report the bug and hope the developer fixes it quickly. If it just kinda sorta started happening, then something else is going on and you need to do some troubleshooting. More details about when the issue began to occur would help us help you with it.

Robert

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Robert M
Steve,

IMAP4 offers a feature to recognize the flags that determine if an email has been read. This will only work on those systems that have implemented the feature and for those email clients that support it.

Meaning, you can't count on it until it's implemented and supported by everyone. Unfortunately, although IMAP4 has been around for quite some time, some email systems and many email clients still don't support all of its features. Think of it as a great feature but not one you can count on due to inconsistent implementation and support for it.

FWIW, Postbox is an excellent alternative to Apple Mail. One of the complaints you have with it - mapping mailboxes/folders - is something you might have to do with any email client. I even had to do this with Apple Mail.

Robert

IMAP4 is supported in a lot of email clients, and often is turned off either by default or by the end user. If you really want people to use it for your purposes, well good luck with that.

Joe,

Exactly. And, that's assuming the feature is supported by both the email client and the email system with which you're using said email client.

The reality is that the state of Mac email clienst isn't too shabby. There are a slew of pretty good apps out there. Sounds like Steve has some specific issues, which makes switching problematic. That doesn't mean the alternatives are bad apps. Far from. It just means he has to either fix the issues with his existing app or be willing to adapt to an alternative.

It reminds me of the time I wanted an email client with a "copy" filter. I wanted the filter to make a copy of each inbound and outbound email in a special backup folder. At one point, the only apps that had the filter was Eudora and Outlook Express. Eudora suffered compatibility issues and was discontinued. Outlook Express had its own set of problems.

Eventually, Apple Mail supported the filter. I jumped ship immediately.

Robert