• 0

Best desktop e-mail client for Windows 7?

Asked by xKratosx,

 Share

Question

Rising Star

xKratosx

Posted
Posted

Hi all,

After using iMail and Sparrow on my girlfriend's Macbook, and even iCloud's online web interface, I'm after something a little nicer to view my Gmail messages in!

I've got absolutely loads of emails to sort through, so need something really simple to use, with an intuitive and simple interface... I've tried Windows Live Mail and it isn't brilliant (find it clunky/slow, considering it's a desktop app) and Thunderbird just feels really quite out-dated with a kinda ugly interface.

Any recommendations would be very much appreciated, thank you!

39 answers to this question

Recommended Posts

  • 0
Grand Master

rajputwarrior

Posted
Posted

^ outlook is terrible with gmail IMAP. gmail IMAP doesn't fully conform to standards so a lot of email programs have problems with it. Outlook for whatever reason, had to download EVERY message on gmail, headers and the mssages itself, including the attachments, whenever i try to set it up. Plus it hangs sometimes on me when it's trying to receive a message. so annoying. I wish outlook and gmail played together better.

Hi all,

After using iMail and Sparrow on my girlfriend's Macbook, and even iCloud's online web interface, I'm after something a little nicer to view my Gmail messages in!

I've got absolutely loads of emails to sort through, so need something really simple to use, with an intuitive and simple interface... I've tried Windows Live Mail and it isn't brilliant (find it clunky/slow, considering it's a desktop app) and Thunderbird just feels really quite out-dated with a kinda ugly interface.

Any recommendations would be very much appreciated, thank you!

there's nothing like Mail and Sparrow for windows :( i stick with gmail online UI. best i've used so far on windows.

  • 0
Grand Master

Max Norris

Posted
Posted

There was another thread asking the same thing just the other day -- http://www.neowin.ne...nt-for-windows/

Most seemed to be favoring Outlook 2010, myself included. I hear you on T-Bird, they really need to get their act together on the interface. For me, not so much that it's fugly (which it is, but can be skinned) but the interface itself.. tabs or popups, jeez pick one and stick with it. It's horribly inconsistent across the board and not terribly intuitive, took a nosedive after v2.

  • 0
Rising Star

xKratosx

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Yup after reading the site I had big hopes for the latest Thunderbird, but was very let down after a little while of using it.

Outlook 2010... meh, I use that every day at work and sadly find it quite horrific, it's such a shame there's no good e-mail client on Windows!

I have never actually tried Windows Live Mail with Gmail, but will do so now, I don't have very high hopes though sadly!

Thanks again

  • 0
Grand Master

Reacon

Posted
Posted

+1 more for Windows Live Mail.

You just need to give it a proper chance to explore all the corners of the software. It's really quite elegant and un-clunky as you get used to it. Outlook 2010 might give you a better experience, but it's not exactly free in legal circumstances.

I use WLM currently for all of my RSS feeds and two email accounts (hotmail and custom domain gmail). Gmail was a little odd to set up, so I'll give you the information:

Incoming: pop.gmail.com

Outgoing: smtp.gmail.com

Incoming port: 995 (check use SSL)

Outgoing port: 465 (check use SSL)

Check the box that says "Outgoing mail server requires authentication" in properties.

Hope it works for you.

Only quirk that I've had in using it daily is that Windows for some awful reason does not remember the window size and position when I set it by dragging it around. However, when you right click it on the title bar (top of the window), and click resize, it remembers the next time I start it up.

  • 0
Grand Master

Fraud OS 11

Posted
Posted

Duplicate thread of: https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1033513-best-email-client-for-windows/? Anyways Outlook's HTML rendering engine is based on Word 2010 whereas Live Mail/Windows Mail's engine is the one IE9/IE10 installs.

  • 0
Grand Master

PGHammer

Posted
Posted

^ outlook is terrible with gmail IMAP. gmail IMAP doesn't fully conform to standards so a lot of email programs have problems with it. Outlook for whatever reason, had to download EVERY message on gmail, headers and the mssages itself, including the attachments, whenever i try to set it up. Plus it hangs sometimes on me when it's trying to receive a message. so annoying. I wish outlook and gmail played together better.

there's nothing like Mail and Sparrow for windows :( i stick with gmail online UI. best i've used so far on windows.

Then you have obviously not tried Outlook 2010 with GMail.

While Outlook 2007 did have issues dealing with GMail's odd IMAP settings, Outlook 2010 (even x64) does not - in fact, it configured itself automatically to use IMAP with GMail (which Outlook 2007 could not do).

  • 0
Mentor

jesseinsf

Posted
Posted

+1 more for Windows Live Mail.

You just need to give it a proper chance to explore all the corners of the software. It's really quite elegant and un-clunky as you get used to it. Outlook 2010 might give you a better experience, but it's not exactly free in legal circumstances.

I use WLM currently for all of my RSS feeds and two email accounts (hotmail and custom domain gmail). Gmail was a little odd to set up, so I'll give you the information:

Incoming: pop.gmail.com

Outgoing: smtp.gmail.com

Incoming port: 995 (check use SSL)

Outgoing port: 465 (check use SSL)

Check the box that says "Outgoing mail server requires authentication" in properties.

Hope it works for you.

Only quirk that I've had in using it daily is that Windows for some awful reason does not remember the window size and position when I set it by dragging it around. However, when you right click it on the title bar (top of the window), and click resize, it remembers the next time I start it up.

Windows Live mail Auto sets up gmail.

  • 0
Grand Master

rajputwarrior

Posted
Posted

Then you have obviously not tried Outlook 2010 with GMail.

While Outlook 2007 did have issues dealing with GMail's odd IMAP settings, Outlook 2010 (even x64) does not - in fact, it configured itself automatically to use IMAP with GMail (which Outlook 2007 could not do).

i have. it doesn't sync your contacts either like sparrow and mac mail.

  • 0
Rising Star

xKratosx

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Huge thanks for the replies guys, some great suggestions! Like eM client since it syncs contacts and calendar too, and has chat, but the interface of WLM is maybe a little nicer, decisions decisions...!

Outlook 2010 using the Word 2010 rendering engine is a deal breaker for me too, have sent mailouts at work and it's a nightmare!

(edit) Inbox2 seems to be iPad only, unless I'm missing something...?

  • 0
Grand Master

articuno1au

Posted
Posted

The 2010 renderer isn't an issue.

I get thousands of emails in HTML and they all load and look fine. Performance is good as well :)

Outlook is one of Microsoft's "**** all you other guys" products. They know they own this market and they don't plan on letting go >.<

  • 0
Veteran

~Johnny

Posted
Posted

(edit) Inbox2 seems to be iPad only, unless I'm missing something...?

They never quite finished the desktop version (I remember using it a few years back...) but here's a link to it - https://github.com/waseems/inbox2_desktop

  • 0
Collaborator

Innuendo

Posted
Posted

If you don't mind laying out a little coin, two programs I have found to be highly regarded by some are PocoMail at http://www.pocomail.com and The Bat! at http://www.ritlabs.com.

Outlook is like using a cannon to kill a flea if you don't need its non-email capabilities.

  • 0
Veteran

migo

Posted
Posted

They never quite finished the desktop version (I remember using it a few years back...) but here's a link to it - https://github.com/w.../inbox2_desktop

Thanks, gonna try it out. I suppose since the source is there it's possible that someone else could finish it.
  • 0
Rising Star

xKratosx

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Huge thanks again, not keen on laying out any cash right now when the programs don't seem an awful lot better than the free ones, but thank you :)

Trying inbox2 now, thanks for the download link! It really looks stunning, love it.

(if not, then it's back to eM Client / Windows Live Mail for me!)

  • 0
Rising Star

xKratosx

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Inbox2 is absolutely useless for my needs unfortunately, if you delete something from there for example, it doesn't instantly push to Gmail's server, or indeed push to their server at all anyway that I could see...

So for example I can delete something from Windows Live Mail, and check eM client and see it dissapear just a couple of seconds later. No such luck in Inbox2... it seems to download all of the messages as if it was like POP only

  • 0
Proficient

Sarm

Posted
Posted

Outlook 2010 with Gmail Apps (pro version, not the free Gmail) = BEST email solution ever, and I own a fleet of my own servers but still prefer the Gmail system.

It uses MAPI, not IMAP.

For commercial mailings, I do it in HTML and import it into Outlook, thus bypassing WORD rendering, and sending out compatible HTML/CSS emails.

This topic is now closed to further replies.
 Share
Go to question listing

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.