So after 5 days I must say the support community is outstanding. The product is well thought out and coming along well. I may pay for it after my trial is over and right now I am using it as my email client. I have Outlook turned off to give emClient a fair look as opposed to “gee does it do this too?” Here are my issues:
- No summary view - Outlook’s top page is pretty useful
- Limited functionality with Smart Folders. They should at least provide “empty folder_”_ on Trash and Junk. - This is a distinct limit on the usefulness of smart folders.
- As a result of “2” above I use Ctrl-A/Shift-Del instead of empty folder. I have confirmation turned off on deletes since deletes go to trash and can be easily recovered. Shift-Del does not confirm. It is equivalent of emptying the deleted items folder so it should confirm even when delete does not. - This can actually be kind of scary. Fixing the Smart Folder functionality is the best answer but this should confirm especially as it is the workaround right now. Just attach it to the Empty Folder flag instead of the Delete flag.
- Cannot force selection of outgoing account (must have a default) - This is a problem. I have a couple of companies I do work for and email from the wrong account with the wrong signature is a nono. Replies are fine but new emails must go through the proper account. If I quickly compose and send I can forget to pick the right account. Discipline issue? Maybe. But I’m not the only person in the world who sees it this way.
- Mail folders don’t have option to show “total count” as opposed to “unread count” - Annoying but not a deal breaker. It’s been on your forum for quite awhile.
- Auto-correct - This seems odd in 2014. Everyone does this at some level.
- Thesaurus - OTC products can fix this for you. Just hand them the selected word.
- Add to contacts from email does not fill in the “file as” field - bug reported
- Can’t customize tool bar - Annoying and also seems out of date today.
This may seem like a limited and personal perspective but this is how we make decisions. The upside is very high. The downside could be too low. 3 and 4 above may be the deal breakers.
I have noticed that items getting a lot of discussion on the forum often don’t get a result for a long time. Software people can have a hard time getting off of their vision and on to the needs of the user community or the “hopefully to be user” community. But items that have fatal impact (3) or serious business implications (4) need to be addressed.
Also, the convenience items that people have come to expect whether difficult (auto-correct/tool bar customization) or simple (total item count instead of unread) are killers.
None of can know how may sales were lost by people doing a trial, finding these things, and just quitting. But we know that it happens. Not everyone will go to the trouble of interacting with the support community. I looked at many of email/office management apps before I decided to give (this) one a real shot. It’s easy to say “I can’t help someone who doesn’t ask for it” but in fact
we lose customers all the time to to things we haven’t done.
I will continue to use this for the rest of the month and see how many times I fall into a trap. But I would really like some signs that these issues will be addressed. What you get from the user community is invaluable. What you don’t get can’t be ignored. Missing features can be lethal. You have to understand that your community consists of those you get and can live with what you do and how you do it. Lost business comes from what you didn’t do.
I hope this helps.
Thanks.
Dan