Best Mailsmith replacements

[cjones]

So now the end of the road is really upon us, and those of us hardcore enough to still be on Mailsmith are presumably bracing for replacing it with another client.  Presumably most of us like grep-style searching of mailboxes and are probably happier with a default text-only view of email that avoids certain image-based html email tricks.  So my question is, what are the best options out there, and what makes them attractive?  I've seen Thunderbird mentioned, but what in particular recommends it, and what are the alternatives?

[John Chennells]

On 7 Oct 2019, at 17:29, cjones wrote:

So now the end of the road is really upon us, and those of us hardcore enough to still be on Mailsmith are presumably bracing for replacing it with another client.  Presumably most of us like grep-style searching of mailboxes and are probably happier with a default text-only view of email that avoids certain image-based html email tricks.  So my question is, what are the best options out there, and what makes them attractive?  I've seen Thunderbird mentioned, but what in particular recommends it, and what are the alternatives?

With great sadness I had to move on from Mailsmith when IMAP email became the only realistic option for several reasons.

I looked no further than Mailmate. Benny Kjær Nielsen seems to have similar philosophy to Bare Bones and I like the cut of his jib.

I expect that this is outside of listmom regs, but only answering the Q - I'll slap my own wrist.

J.

[Steve Hodgson]

Another vote for MailMate here too.

I’ve been using it for years once forced to an IMAP-only lifestyle.

Steve

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[Rich Siegel]

On 10/7/19 at 12:36 PM, jl...@hitman.co.uk (John Chennells) wrote:

> With great sadness I had to move on from Mailsmith when IMAP email
> became the only realistic option for several reasons.
>

> I looked no further than [Mailmate](https://freron.com). Benny Kjær

> Nielsen seems to have similar philosophy to Bare Bones and I like the
> cut of his jib.
>
> I expect that this is outside of listmom regs, but only answering the
> Q - I'll slap my own wrist.

Under the circumstances it's OK. :-)

R.
--
Rich Siegel Mailsmith Maintainer
<sie...@mailsmith.org> <http://www.mailsmith.org/>

[Patrick Woolsey]

FWIW, I'm using Thunderbird; in my experience it's robust at
handling large mailstores and does a decent job of being a
primarily-text email client (when properly configured).


Regards,

Patrick Woolsey
==
Bare Bones Software, Inc. <http://www.barebones.com>

[Howard S Shubs]

On 10/7/19 at 10:36, jl...@hitman.co.uk (John Chennells) wrote:

>With great sadness I had to move on from Mailsmith when IMAP
>email became the only realistic option for several reasons.

What about those of us who still want POP?

[Roger Diggle]

Patrick -

Thanks for your opinion abot Thunderbird!
Thanks, too for help I received from you, over the years.

Anything you can easily pass along about "(when properly configured)"?

Roger

[Roger Diggle]

I've been checking out MailMate, too, for the same reasons.
I'm facing a deadline to convert to IMAP.

I'd appreciate it if anyone who has been through the conversion
process might be willing to share any wrinkles in the process,
if any.


Rich, I really appreciate the efforts you've put in to keep it
going. And to provide tech support when things inevitably go
awry. Many thanks for your years of diligent service!

Roger Diggle
Madison, Wisconsin

On 10/7/19 at 1:42 PM, st...@shodgson.org.uk (Steve Hodgson) wrote:

>Another vote for MailMate here too.
>
>I’ve been using it for years once forced to an IMAP-only lifestyle.
>
>Steve
>
>
>
>On 7 Oct 2019, at 17:36, John Chennells wrote:
>
>>On 7 Oct 2019, at 17:29, cjones wrote:
>>
>>>So now the end of the road is really upon us, and those of us
>>>hardcore enough to still be on Mailsmith are presumably

>>>bracing for replacing it with another client. ...

[Bruce Van Allen]

On 10/7/19 at 9:47 AM, how...@shubs.net (Howard S Shubs) wrote:

>What about those of us who still want POP?

I'm testing Thunderbird, and it seemed to do fine setting up my
old ISP's POP account.

(Then I saw that the ISP is now also offering IMAP, and I
switched Thunderbird to IMAP for the same account, using their
handy instructions.)

So you might want to check it out.

HTH
--

- Bruce

_bruce__van_allen__santa_cruz__ca_

[Jeroen Scheerder]

Quoth Roger Diggle ( 7 Oct 2019, 22:17):

> I've been checking out MailMate, too, for the same reasons.
> I'm facing a deadline to convert to IMAP.
>
> I'd appreciate it if anyone who has been through the conversion
> process might be willing to share any wrinkles in the process, if any.

My $.02 in the bucket for MailMate also.

I've shared my thoughts on the conversion process -- using simple tools
such as formail/procmail to write to mbox or maildir, and imapsync
should that come in handy -- before.

I did wonder whether someone more versed in AppleScript had taken the
trouble to write down a mailbox iterate/export script for MailSmith.

[Jeroen Scheerder]

Quoth Howard S Shubs ( 7 Oct 2019, 18:47):

What about those of us who still want POP?

• Set up dovecot on localhost.

• Use fetchmail (or some similar tools) to fetch your mail and deliver it to your local mailstore.

• Use imap://localhost for imap server

This way you'll fetch your mail using POP3(s), have it stored locally only, and still get to use an IMAP mailclient.

[Jan Erik Moström]

When I had to switch from Mailsmith I looked around and tried pretty
much every email client I could find. I ended up with two alternatives
Mail (it's not worse than the rest) and MailMate ... I played with both
and moved back and forth between them but I've been using MailMate now
for several years.

I would say that MailMate is the best mail client out there for someone
used to Mailsmith. Note: this doesn't mean that they are similar, not at
all, but I get a similar experience from using it.

= jem

[Jeff Wiegand]

Mailmate here, too.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/mailsmith-talk/50288A5E-86A6-4109-8237-13EF692C3EA0%40shodgson.org.uk.

[Erik Mueller-Harder]

2019-10-08 05:02 · Jan Erik Moström:

When I had to switch from Mailsmith I looked around and tried pretty much every email client I could find. I ended up with two alternatives Mail (it's not worse than the rest) and MailMate ... I played with both and moved back and forth between them but I've been using MailMate now for several years.

I would say that MailMate is the best mail client out there for someone used to Mailsmith. Note: this doesn't mean that they are similar, not at all, but I get a similar experience from using it.

---

My experience is essentially identical to Jan Erik’s.

MailMate is not perfect, and it has a very different approach than Mailsmith’s — but the developer’s values and aesthetics are similar to Bare Bones’s, as is his single-minded dedication to his product.

I’ve been using MailMate now since 2011, and my wife, my kids, my in-laws joined me five or six years ago.

— Erik

---

· Erik Mueller-Harder
  Media-terrestrial Mapmaker
  Vermont Softworks

[cjones]

Just a quick thank you to all who responded; it is quite helpful.  I'll have to play a bit to decide which way to go (I have other reasons to make the transition to Catalina later rather than sooner). Sounds like MailMate and Thunderbird (and maybe Mail) deserve the most scrutiny.

--Craig

[jack]

Patrick - Any chance you could share info on how to transfer Mailsmith mailboxes to Thunderbird. I have been using Mailsmith since approximately v 1.1. It is all I know. When I try to import it's mbox format to Thunderbird, Thunderbird doesn't recognize it. I have no idea where to go from here.

Thanks so much for any help. Talking with you seems like the "old days". Always appreciated the help provided by you and Rich.

Jack Stewart

[Neil Barstow]

Jack, all, I'd love to know how to do that too

neil