I’m currently looking for a replacement for Thunderbird. EM Client looks great, but I’m missing a couple of functions that I’m used to from various Thunderbird plugins. Maybe someone can let me know if they do exist (as a newbie, possibly I’ve overlooked something, or if there’s a way to add these functions through extensions?
A button to “follow-up” (along with “reply” and “forward”). So if you didn’t get a reply you can, well, follow-up on the previous message you sent.
A way to specify the “Archive” and “Sent Mail” folders as offline folders on my local hard drive, rather than my IMAPs “Archive” and “Sent Mail” folders on the remote account.
A way to visualize the X-Spam-Score already present in my email headers (there’s spam checking on the server)
Advanced filtering (auto-archive), that can automatically move mail from specified IMAP folders to folders located on my local hard drive
I’m also looking into Mailbird and love their “Snooze” function where you can set individual mail to disappear and arrive later. There’s no such function in EM Client - or is there?
eM Client does not support extensions. I am completely hung on that one because on the one hand I think is a good thing. The disaster of Thunderbird in the 60 versions where thousands of add-on no longer worked is not something to be experienced ever again. Even now testing on 72, most add-ons do not work and makes for so much extra work by the volunteers who write the extensions to keep up with Mozilla’s changing code. On the other hand, the modular design to install only what you want, and more importantly to be able to write your own add-on to do what you want, is fantastic.
Follow-up is an excellent function, but does not exist in eM Client.
Archive and Sent folders are static and cannot be moved. One option is to use eM Client’s Rules to affect where messages end up. If you don’t want your Sent folder on the server, you can have it in Local Folders.
eM Client uses the X-Spam header to process it’s Spam filter Rule, but other than that it is not possible to use those header values in any other way.
Filtering (called Rules in eM Client) is actually quite advanced. Nothing like you get in Thunderbird with FiltaQuilla, or in Evolution’s native filters, but there is a lot you can do with it anyway.
Snooze is an amazing feature of Mailbird, but you do have to pay for that feature. eM Client’s Free License is not so restrictive; you can use it for personal use only, and have a maximum of 2 email accounts, but otherwise it is fully functional. Not so with Mailbird.
The Thunderbird extensions problem is actually why I am setting sail to find a new client now. It’s happened again (new version leap and numerous extensions deactivated behind my back), and I’m fed up with it. Subjectively, it feels like a virus - you wake up to a crippled system or crippled software, and instead of doing what you originally wanted to do, you end up wasting hours searching for solutions and cleaning up the mess. If I can avoid it, I don’t want that on my computer anymore.
I like the modular architecture in Wordpress (proof that it is possible to have plugins without having to deal with random mess). There’s a clear line between automated updates that will keep your stuff safe and not break anything, and then there are version leaps which can break stuff, but which you can handle manually when you are ready for it. Then you can also test your plugins and decide what you want to keep. Like a grown-up, basically.
Unfortunately, if I can’t archive to my local drive, that’s probably a deal breaker. I have several computers, and the main computer needs to be able to eventually collect sent mail and archived mail from the IMAP server and move it to local. Since EM Client only seems to trigger rules when mail is sent or received, I don’t see how I could accomplish that.
Wasn’t aware that Snooze is a pay feature, but you’re right, of course. Having said that, I wouldn’t mind paying (if that means the client does what I want), unfortunately, as far as Mailbird is concerned, my wishlist (at least more powerful filtering an visual spam score) is more or less the same. Oh, and I would also miss the Thunderbird’s search folders. Bummer.
Any idea how open the EM Client makers are for suggestions? Snooze could probably be handled server side as well (I’ll look into that), but for features like displaying the spam score, I’m 100% at mercy of the client’s programmers.
The Rules implementation in eM Client has some limitations. ;-(
One is that it doesn’t have the age criteria. This is a big issue for me so I have to occasionally use another email client to have those messages processed. Fortunately I switch all the time between Linux and Windows, so it is not such an issue.
The other is as you say, it only applies automatically to new messages. Thunderbird now has a built-in feature where Filters can run at specified intervals. Something like that in eM Client would be awesome!
eM Client Inc. are very open to suggestions and requests. Start a new thread on this forum, but instead of a Question or Problem , select Idea.
The concept is that if the proposal gets enough interest (through votes and/or comments) it will be considered.
eM Client’s Automatic Archiving could still work for you, if your requirements fall within it’s capabilities. It can move messages from an IMAP folder to a local folder Archive on a specified schedule and based on the age of the message. It does not have a per-folder setting though there are a few options.
I’m afraid the Automatic Archiving won’t work for me as I also need to move all messages from the IMAP Sentmail to the local sentmail folder and AA isn’t flexible enough for this.
But I realize now that all I would really need is a more powerful rules implementation.
Visualizing the Spam Score can be done by checking the headers and putting the mail into custom categories depending on the result. Works for me.
WHAT I AM MISSING:
Apply more than one condition.
Choose between AND/OR. (At this point, if you specify two search terms, only one must be present, not both.)
Run at intervals and choose the folder(s) the rule is applied to.
Allow partial matches for the “from” field (e.g. all mail from a domain, or all senders with a “noreply” address).
Age criteria for both filters and search folders (e.g. all mail older than 365 days)
With those extras, it should be possible to “build” a lot of features that aren’t officially part of EM client (like the visual spam score). Any additions to the list?
Automatic Archiving will move messages from the Sent folder as well, as long as all mail folders is specified.
You can apply more than one condition, just not more than one condition per field (unless you want to add a NOT). You can do that with searches or search folders though.
So, within a field the Rule condition is an OR function. Across fields it is AND. You can also have a combination, so x OR y but NOT z.
Partial matches can be done using the with words found in the header option. If you specify From: outlook.com , all message from that domain will be affected.
Nice - thanks for the clarifications. Partial matches is off the list now. For fine-tuning, it would still be great to do “find apple AND oranges” in the message body, but I admit I currently have no use for that, so it’s off the list as well.
Automatic Archiving: I’m afraid I need to move mail from the IMAP Archive folder to the local Archive folder, and IMAP Sent mail to the local Sent Mail (not an archiving folder). The IMAP inbox needs to stay untouched. I don’t think the inbuilt function can do that.
Either way that leaves only two wishes on the list:
Run at intervals and choose the folder(s) the rule is applied to. (That way, I could regularly move mail from select IMAP folders to local.)
Age criteria for both filters and search folders. (That would allow me to have a folder with ALL mail from the past 365 days, regardless if they are archived or in any other folder.)
To self: Archiving (as opposed to Automatic Archiving) is a server dependant feature. It works with some like Gmail, Outlook.com, etc. but usually not with vanilla IMAP servers.
Actually virtually every mail client I ever came accross (including android) can do archiving with IMAP servers - so I’m a bit surprised that eM Client can’t.
But anyway, that makes the wish list complete. Once more, many thanks for your replies, it’s been immensely helpful.
