1w ago

A good e-mail client for linux?

I have been using KDE for a while, while I like many features I am looking for suggestions to the default email client:

Kmail - completely unusable for me and the only one which could maybe be integrated with kontacts, it could not receive mails from IMAP or pop or would receive only sometimes

Geary - good but too minimal, I need at least some kind of contact list and mailing lists feature, maybe this integrates with gnome contacts? I couldn't find anything in settings

59 comments

Try Betterbird.
- Damn these guys are very passionate about how shitty thunderbird is
- That is the correct answer

There is always good old Thunderbird.
According to the official fediverse account of Thunderbird, they are not going to adopt the new Firefox EULA.

I've used Thunderbird since forever as my go-to client, I used mutt as well for a while and that met my needs pretty well.

Thunderbird
It is bot the most feature rich and the most annoying thing, but it works

If your into Linux and a decent admin. Nothing is better than neomutt. Add not much.
Filtering and searching is faster than Google on gigs of mail.
It will take a long time to configure it well. But it's worth it. I rarely change the config.
I have been using Linux since 1992.
- I can't wait to poke around neomutt when I set up my computer

Kmail, Thunderbird, Evolution. That's pretty much it.
There's always some weird niche client somewhere but it won't be a hidden gem. Although I guess you can always use Pine (or rather Alpine nowadays) if you want to appear ubergeeky.

Every time I look around for a new mail client I come back to thunderbird. Nothing else ticks all the boxes

Mailspring

I use alpine when I want a text client, Thunderbird when I want graphical.

No one has mentioned the command line: aerc
I use it and it’s very minimal and clean.

I use aerc thru home-manager accounts on NixOS

I use evolution and it's great even on kde

with every reinstall, i go hunting for decent calendar- and email-apps. always go back to Evolution eventually

Has anyone got gmail or outlook working via SMTP in the past couple years? I was using the former with emacs gnus and then it started demanding additional auth that I couldn't provide via a simple file, then in the past 6 months the latter stopped letting me log in.
My ~/.gnus file was like this -

setq user-mail-address "my.name@hotmail.co.uk" user-full-name "My Name") (setq gnus-select-method '(nnimap "outlook" (nnimap-address "imap-mail.outlook.com") (nnimap-server-port 993) (nnimap-stream ssl))) (setq smtpmail-smtp-server "smtp-mail.outlook.com" smtpmail-smtp-service 587 gnus-ignored-newsgroups "^to\\.\\|^[0-9. ]+\$ \\|$\$\\|^[\"]\"[#'()]")
~/.authinfo (encrypted with gpg) -

machine imap-mail.outlook.com login my.name@hotmail.co.uk password **** port 993 machine smtp-mail.outlook.com login my.name@hotmail.co.uk password **** port 587
I think I might need to start hosting my own email server because every authentication option on these services requires some extra step or fingerprinting that gnus can't provide. Maybe I should give up and try Thunderbird to see if that would work.
- I spun up a mailcow instance relatively simply through elestio (new to me devops as a service). Takes a few clicks, let's you pick your cloud provider and has pretty slick admin UI to manage firewalls and dockerfiles etc.
  I've never setup an SMTP server before, but I've decided to with my "buy Canadian" initiative to eschew the tech-oligarchy at every turn I can. Not for Canadians sovereignty alone, but to help get rid the planet of billionaires by starving them of their capital.
  But I digress, mailcow makes setting up DNS a breeze and elestio makes mailcow a breeze. I've actually spun up this Lemmy instance on elestio too, just so nice its a game changer. Here's info about mailcow https://elest.io/open-source/mailcow and no I'm not affiliated with elestio, just seems solid thus far (only been using it for a month, but support is on point too).
- Ok going to try Thunderbird tomorrow and if it works then I'll see if I can reverse engineer whatever it does into gnus

Evolution is really great. I was able to make Kmail work, so because it integrates best into Plasma, I am using that. But setting it up was not a fun experience.

Nothing has beat mutt so far. But that's not for everyone, naturally.

Depends on what you want. Email client or groupware client?

Is anybody still using mailspring? I remember trying it back in '16 or '17 or so, liked it, but didn't really feel the need for a standalone client at the time.
Now I'm looking forward to creating more email addresses, and multiple tabs of webmail are getting gradually less appealing. Sure, Thunderbird works...

Seamonkey

I honestly just use webmail.

Thunderbird is the usual recommendation for an email client. So try that
- I have no idea if Betterbird is actually better than regular Thunderbird, but I use that cause people said so and I read about it a bit. If it does die I guess I'll switch to Thunderbird, just a little cautious about Mozilla after the privacy policy fiasco.
  Betterbird is in flathub too which is great for newbies like me.
  
  I'd be wary of that fork. It's run by a former Thunderbird dev that got banned for his toxic attitude and hasn't really improved since. Just take a look at the projects website. Being so unrespectful towards your upstream project should have no place in open-source.
  
  Operated by MZLA Technologies Corporation, a subsidiary of the Mozilla Foundation, Thunderbird is an independent, community-driven project that is managed and overseen by the Thunderbird Council, which is elected by the Thunderbird community.
  Source: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mozilla_Thunderbird

Thunderbird

I've been using Betterbird for a while and I like it. It's based on Thunderbird.
- I second this! It seems to have more features than Thunderbird while being just a fifth of the file size.
  I can‘t confirm this, but I have read elsewhere that Thunderbird is a bit bloated.
  
  Aren't you concerned that the development is in the hands of just one guy?

I used Claws Mail at some point in the past. Now notmuch+Emacs.

Claws mail

I landed on Claws Mail myself. It does look a bit dated, but the UI is functional and the client works. I'm content with it.
- At first i thought, wow, cool they're still developing that? Doing a release or two a year, i see.
  I used to use it long ago, and was pretty happy with it.

IMHO, you should consider doing more troubleshooting on Kmail. I've never used it personally, but from my understanding, it's a stable program and shouldn't have problems doing the basics of email, like you're reporting.
- The problem of kmail is the underlying subsystem that is evertything other than stable.

I have used Evolution in the past. It was very Outlook like and did a decent job talking to Exchange. Now days i just use the web interface.

This recent post may be of interest to you: https://lemmy.ml/post/27474047
You may also find some ideas here or there.
I personaly use the power of neomutt and notmuch, but it's not a GUI option if that's what you're looking for.

evolution

90% of the time I use web interfaces, but I often have spotty connectivity while boondocking. So I need a client that can get/send gmail POP3 in narrow windows of connectivity.
I started with thunderbird but something (can't remember what) wasn't working well. Ended up with Evolution. It also syncs well to google calendar and google tasks.

What mailing list features do you need?

I'm no Betterbird. For mail it's just fine. OTOH, I find the calendar a bit annoying, as doesn't allow to set email reminders when creating new event in a caldav calendary.

If you arena opposed to GNOME, you add your online accounts and it integrates them into evolution mail, calendar and contacts. And also Gdrive becomes a mounted folder if you add Google account.
- No I actually prefer GNOME, but have to use KDE because I need specific features (kiosk mode), but yes I feel like Gnome is so much better integrated with its defaults apps!
  
  Would this help https://help.gnome.org/admin/system-admin-guide/stable/lockdown-single-app-mode.html.en
  Or https://github.com/GNOME/gnome-kiosk

I am A big fan of Vivaldi and its built-in email client ^^ Works like a charm for me.

So what is the point of an email client? I've only ever really used web pages because it did everything I need.
- For me it's handy because I have multiple email accounts so I can just open Betterbird and check them all at once without having to log into several different pages.
  
  @dukeofdummies @CrabAndBroom +1 for Betterbird, it's Thunderbird that works
- Multiple accounts, offline backup, better UI, don't need to log in, etc.

59 comments