email client Thunderbird alternatives?

[all41]

imho seems Thunderbird is very bloated nowdays--agree, disagree?
Just asking what other members are using as email client.

[ajgringo619]

I've been using Evolution for awhile now and really like it. It syncs with my (2) hotmail.com accounts without a hitch.

[jglen490]

There's not an application that doesn't grown in reaction to changes in the computing environment/world. Thunderbird is no exception. I like it - a lot - and its calendar plugin Lightning. I don't hate any of the others, some are kinda simple and also blah, but that's O.K. It's Linux and Linux is all about choices.

[Schultz]

Be on the lookout for "Interlink Mail & Newsgroups," an XUL platform application (adapted from Thunderbird).

http://thereisonlyxul.org/#

[all41]

@ajgringo619 thank you for you suggestion of Evolution. I will certainly explore that.
Also thanks to @tojglen490 for your input
I am thinking a simple client to just retrieve my emails with no bells or whistles.
@Shultz Thanks for the link. btw you know I use PM browser also

[kyphi]

Following a recent malfunction (yet again) after a Thunderbird upgrade I wanted a change.
After investigating several email clients I settled on Claws Mail.
It is fast, lean, infinitely configurable (perhaps too much so) and does the job admirably. Importing Thunderbird's emails was a breeze. Very efficient.
It will do for me.

Claws Mail has calendar facilities but I prefer to use the gnome-calendar application from the main menu of Linux Mint. It does not follow the user preference for first day of the week but that is easily changed by adding a line to that effect in the user locale setting.

Thunderbird is no longer being financially supported by Mozilla as stated on their advertising. They are calling for support through donations.

e-mail clients trialed: Mailspring (cannot import existing emails; costs money), Evolution - a favourite many years ago, more bloated than Thunderbird, Sylpheed - birth place of Claws Mail.

The one with the least bells and whistles would have to be Mutt - command line only.

[edkirin]

I've been using TB for 15 years now and I finally ditched it because with latest version which came with Mint 19, minimize to tray addon was broken, and no other addons with this functionality exists. It's really shame for TB devs that they never implemented that feature into TB, but left it to 3rd party devs to support it.

Anyway, I'm with Claws Mail right now and I'm quite happy with it, even it's not perfect. As it looks at this moment, I will stick to it until some other decent free/opensource mail application appears.

[AndyMH]

Used Tbird for years, long before I came to mint. Switched about 18 months ago to evolution. I like the look & feel. If you are running LM18.x I wouldn't recommend it, I found it buggy (this was v3.18, you can install a later version with flatpak, but that brings other problems). If LM19, no problems, the version in the repos is 3.28 and is fine. Has the advantage of a built in calendar and integrates well with google.

An alternative, if you don't need a calendar is mailspring - very pretty.

[kyphi]

If you need a calendar (and who doesn't), why not use the one already installed in Linux Mint 19?
Add its shortcut to the panel to activate it rather than opening an email client first. It has the same functionality as Lightning with a weather forecast included.

Mailspring cannot import your past emails. You have to start from scratch.

[all41]

If you need a calendar (and who doesn't), why not use the one already installed in Linux Mint 19?
Add its shortcut to the panel to activate it rather than opening an email client first. It has the same functionality as Lightning with a weather forecast included.

Mailspring cannot import your past emails. You have to start from scratch.

For calendar I have been using rainlendar2 which I display alongside conky. I'm ok with this.
I think will experiment with claws as time permits--can I run it parallell with TB temporarily?

[AndyMH]

Mailspring cannot import your past emails. You have to start from scratch.

Not a problem if you are using IMAP and ways round it with POP3.

[greerd]

I've been using TB for 15 years now and I finally ditched it because with latest version which came with Mint 19, minimize to tray addon was broken, and no other addons with this functionality exists. It's really shame for TB devs that they never implemented that feature into TB, but left it to 3rd party devs to support it.

See viewtopic.php?f=47&t=279655 for a fix. (mint-me's second post)

[kyphi]

I think will experiment with claws as time permits--can I run it parallel with TB temporarily?

Yes you can. Mail is generally available for download from the server for a short period of time so you can download received emails to both Thunderbird and Claws Mail. I did this while troubleshooting Thunderbird (including version 64 beta) before deciding to abandon Thunderbird entirely.
viewtopic.php?f=47&t=281381&p=1551660#p1551660

Regarding Mailspring - it uses a subscription model (monthly fee). It is supposedly "open source" but is not available in the Software Manager, however, Ubuntu 18.04 shows it in its Ubuntu Software program.

[Coq Rouge]

After several years with TB I decided to leave since it felt outdated. I tried most already mentioned but went for Evolution and I am so far very pleased. Easy to set up and configure and contains what I need Mail, Calendar, Tasks and Memos however I will probably not use Task so often since I have other alternatives for that in my mobile.

The only things I so far has noticed that is not sufficient is the fact that it seems that it is only one-way for calendar sync. If I set up a meeting in Evolution it won't be visible in Google Calendar however the other way around works... Well I can live with that, at least for now.
The other is cosmetic, it's not possible to have another color scheme than delivered - ugly light gray, I always uses dark themes if available.

God luck with familiarizing with Evolution

Rgrds //Coq Rouge

[Joss]

Can anyone tell me if Evolution can use Mozilla's .xpi files language packs?

Thanks.

[Neil Darlow]

Evolution is a localised application if you're talking about UI language support. It also supports many spellcheck languages if you have the dictionaries installed.

For a simple, no frills, email client there is Geary.

Regards,
Neil Darlow

[AndyMH]

The only things I so far has noticed that is not sufficient is the fact that it seems that it is only one-way for calendar sync. If I set up a meeting in Evolution it won't be visible in Google Calendar however the other way around works..

I assume that is because you are adding an appointment to your personal calendar (on this computer) and expecting it to appear in google. If you want your calendar synced with google uncheck your 'personal' calendar and put all appointment in the synced google account. You can then add/delete appointments within evolution and they will appear on all your synced devices.

Mail is generally available for download from the server for a short period of time

This is only true if you are using POP3 as your protocol, if using IMAP, all your emails are held on the server and evolution/Tbird or whatever are only holding a local copy.

[phd21]

Hi all41,

I do not think that Thunderbird is any more "bloated" than some other email clients and it works well with some great add-ons like the "Lightning" calendar, Enigmil (encrypted email), sync gmail contacts, etc... There are also 2 good email system tray panel indicators available "FireTray" and "BirdTray".

I use the superb "Kmail" in my KDE desktops but that is not recommended for non-KDE desktops like "Cinnamon", "Mate", or "Xfce", although it can be installed in any desktop.

See these posts and the links in those posts.
[SOLVED] Wine - Pegasus Mail - Linux Mint Forums
viewtopic.php?f=47&t=281278&hilit=Thunderbird

[SOLVED] Requesting package from Bionic & Cosmic PPA be added to Xenial repo - Linux Mint Forums
viewtopic.php?f=47&t=280631&hilit=Thunderbird

Hope this helps ...