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Need Recommendation(s) for Simple Email Client
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Author:  bbarry [ Wed Mar 06, 2019 3:31 pm ]
Post subject:  Need Recommendation(s) for Simple Email Client
I am looking for a new desktop email client for my Win 10 computer. I would apreciate recommendations for a simple program meeting my basic set of requirements. I have been using (and liking) Windows Live Mail (WLM) for several years, but I’m thinking about switching since WLM is no longer supported my Microsoft.

My requirements are as follows:
- I want an email client, not a webmail program
- I want local email storage with message folders
- I want to migrate my current email accounts, contacts list and all the messages I have saved
- I do not really need additional features like calendars, tasks, notes, syncing of accounts or devices, etc.
- I would like for it to resemble WLM as much as possible
- Free is good but not necessary (but no subscriptions)

Microsoft’s Outlook may be an overkill for what I need. I read good reviews about eM Client and Thunderbird. I don’t read good reviews about the Win 10 Mail program.

Thanks in advance for any recommendations, including your good/bad experiences. :bow7:
Author:  jaylach [ Wed Mar 06, 2019 6:57 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Need Recommendation(s) for Simple Email Client
I looked at the Win 10 Mail App when Windows 10 first came out but not since. I didn't like it when I looked but it may have changed. I just took a look and still don't like.

As you said Thunderbird does have a good reputation but I haven't used. I have really not heard anything bad about it. I installed Thunderbird before but like Outlook better. I have Outlook through Office 365 which is subscription. You can buy Outlook 2019 as a stand-alone for $129.99 which seems high to me as you can get Office 365 for as low as ~$70.00 a year. I pay ~$100.00 a year but that gives me 3 PC installs and 5 mobile installs. I've been using Outlook for years so can't remember for sure but I THINK that I had problems migrating stuff from Live Mail but managed to do it with third party free software. You may want to look at the following article.
http://livemail.tooutlook.com/

I'm pretty sure that this is the program that I used to convert and import.
https://www.mailstore.com/en/products/mailstore-home/
Unfortunately, believe it or not, Outlook does not look to have a direct option to import emails from Live Mail but you can directly import Live Mail contacts.
Author:  bbarry [ Wed Mar 06, 2019 7:42 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Need Recommendation(s) for Simple Email Client
Thanks, Jay. I will read the article.

Have you ever used eM Client or know anything about it? I actually never heard of it until I started looking into WLM alternatives.
Author:  jaylach [ Wed Mar 06, 2019 8:42 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Need Recommendation(s) for Simple Email Client
bbarry wrote:
Have you ever used eM Client or know anything about it? I actually never heard of it until I started looking into WLM alternatives.

Nope, never heard of it but went to their site and may give it a look. I basically use Office for Outlook, Word, Publisher and Excel. If I like eM Client I may drop Office and save some money by going to Libre Office which is free but does not include an email client or Publisher clone. Since I closed my business ages ago I really don't use Publisher anymore so all I really need is an email client.
Author:  jaylach [ Wed Mar 06, 2019 9:44 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Need Recommendation(s) for Simple Email Client
OK, I installed eM Client and it looks interesting. The only issue that I see is that the free version only allows for two email accounts while I monitor 4. To buy the Pro version to allow more email accounts is $49.95.

I'm going to seriously look at this as the $49.95 is a one time payment and not a subscription. Since my main is the only system that I normally check emails I could do web based on other systems if needed. It does include a 30 day free trial of the Pro version. BB, you may want to try this. I don't know about Live Mail but the import from Outlook was quick and simple. Since I still have Live Mail it DID offer that as a choice for import.

I am pretty impressed although it would take some getting used to as the interface is VERY simplistic and basic although it has a Calendar and you can setup tasks. It looks REALLY interesting. This just may make me drop Office 365 and go with this and Libre Office.
Author:  sboots [ Wed Mar 06, 2019 9:55 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Need Recommendation(s) for Simple Email Client
The only email client I currently use is Outlook from Office365, too. I have Mail on Windows 10 set up and occasionally look at it, but I don't use it.
I can't recommend anything based on personal experience, but I've read good things about the Thunderbird client.
I can second Jay's recommendation for Mailstore as a solution for archiving mail locally from multiple programs -- I used it extensively at the office before I retired to archive my Exchange work emails as the Exchange rules would purge everything over 12 months and no local archiving was allowed.
-steve
Author:  bbarry [ Wed Mar 06, 2019 10:59 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Need Recommendation(s) for Simple Email Client
Jay, when you say 'import' to eM Client....does this include the import of email accounts, contacts list, folders, and stored messages? Everything?

I installed Libre for a friend last year on her Win 10 computer and she likes it. I also installed it on my old computer running Win 10 (in dual boot mode with Win 7) just to play around with it. But I had already purchased Office for Home & Students 2016 for my newer Win 10 computer.

I didn't subscribe to Office 365 because I personally don't like subscription application software, as I typically don't need updates that frequently. As another example, I have used Quicken for my budgeting and planning software for many years. I typically purchased their newest release every 3 or 4 years, but last year Quicken went to a subscription service. So I will just keep using my purchased 2013 version.
Author:  jaylach [ Wed Mar 06, 2019 11:02 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Need Recommendation(s) for Simple Email Client
Yes, eM Client imported everything. I'm in the middle of composing another email on the subject so look for it. It will include a screen shot of the thing in action.
Author:  bbarry [ Wed Mar 06, 2019 11:04 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Need Recommendation(s) for Simple Email Client
Jay, one more question. When you imported from Outlook to eM Client, were you able to also continue using Outlook, just in the event that you decided not to go with eM Client?
Author:  bbarry [ Wed Mar 06, 2019 11:07 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Need Recommendation(s) for Simple Email Client
OK, I will look for your email on the subject with screen shot...….first thing in the morning. Now it's my bedtime, lol.

I appreciate your investigative efforts...………..
Author:  jaylach [ Wed Mar 06, 2019 11:15 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Need Recommendation(s) for Simple Email Client
I REALLY like this eM Client! In fact I like it enough already that I installed Libre Office and cancelled my recurring payment for Office 365. I have until 4/4/2019 to change my mind on the Office part.

Here is what I saw with eM Client:
1) Install was straight forward and simple.

2) The import from Outlook was automatic just having to decide what program to import from. I had the choices of Outlook, Live Mail and the Win 10 Mail App. The import even pulled in the passwords for the three email accounts through my hosting. The only account that I had to enter a password was Hotmail.

3) I didn't understand at first an email to each account that was an obscure name but figured out that they were probably just test emails sent and received by each account. I determined what these emails were by seeing the same in the sent folders for each account.

4) As expected Outlook is still fully functional as is the rest of Office 365 after the installs of eM Client and Libre Office.

Here is what it looks like. There are other styles but I happen to like dark. The blanked out areas are email addresses. I think I got them all...

Attachment:
emclient1.png
emclient1.png [ 263.36 KiB | Viewed 8335 times ]


<edit>
This is off topic but I already see an advantate with Libre Office over Microsoft Office. With my Excel spreadsheet for my movie library I always had to click the movie I wanted and then OK an alert that Excel did not recognize the file to actually play the movie. With Libre Calc (clone of Excel) it was similar to Excel except that I had to hold the CTRL key and click the movie to play. I did a quick search and there was a simple to reach security setting for the spreadsheet to turn this off. Now, through Calc, I just click the movie and it plays.
Author:  JoanA [ Thu Mar 07, 2019 11:38 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Need Recommendation(s) for Simple Email Client
I use Thunderbird and really like it. Before getting it I used Windows Live Mail, especially because I could get my RSS Feeds in their own section.

I tried the 10 Mail but didn't like it and haven't been back to it, the same as Outlook included with my Office subscription, that was OK but not having a separate section for RSS Feeds put me off. It put them under my Hotmail account so got overlooked most of the time.

Thunderbird does all I need, I've got my 6 email accounts and there is a Blog and News Feed folder where all my RSS Feeds are. Of course there are other features that I don't really use. It is free to use but they take donations, I've not had any problems with it so far and I've been using it for quite some time through several of the upgrades to 10 without trouble.
Author:  bbarry [ Thu Mar 07, 2019 11:41 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Need Recommendation(s) for Simple Email Client
Jay, I installed eM Client Free on my old computer running Win 10 in dual mode with Win 7. The install was easy, as was the importing of data from WLM with the exception of Contacts. There I got the error message "Contacts database file already opened by another program". I did have WLM open at the time, so I thought that was the problem.....I closed WLM and tried again. But still no Contacts. Come to find out, I didn't even have any Contacts when using WLM on this Win 10 computer (duh).

So even though I couldn't check out the importing of Contacts, I was pleased enough with eM Client to now install it on the Win 10 computer that I use daily. But I guess to do this, I must completely uninstall the program from my old computer.

Did you ever do an uninstall of eM Client; if so, did you encounter any problems?
Author:  sboots [ Thu Mar 07, 2019 12:20 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Need Recommendation(s) for Simple Email Client
I don't think you'd need to uninstall the client from your old PC since it's the free version. I would presume that the purchase would specify if it is for one or more computers, but free should have no such limitations. Of course, I'm just speculating. :-)
Author:  jaylach [ Thu Mar 07, 2019 1:20 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Need Recommendation(s) for Simple Email Client
You do need to register the free version and get a code. Since it is free I'd probably just use the same code or register the second copy under a different email.

No, I have not uninstalled.

Keep in mind that the free version only allows for two email accounts.
Author:  bbarry [ Thu Mar 07, 2019 1:39 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Need Recommendation(s) for Simple Email Client
Jay & Steve - There is only one download of eM Client. Then for 30 days you are using a free trial of the program, after which you must decide to continue with the Free version limited to two email accounts or to purchase the Pro version @ $49.95 per computer. They do offer a discount for multiple computers.

So since there was only one program download, that's why I was thinking I would need to uninstall one before I installed the other, even if both were free trials. But I may decide to try a 2nd install on a different computer.
Author:  jaylach [ Thu Mar 07, 2019 2:39 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Need Recommendation(s) for Simple Email Client
I like it enough already that I went ahead and bought. I only bought a single system license as I almost never check emails on my laptop or second system.
Author:  bbarry [ Thu Mar 07, 2019 11:27 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Need Recommendation(s) for Simple Email Client
My second install of eM Client Free on a different computer worked without me having to uninstall the previous one. And this time I was able to import all of my Contacts from WLM (this is important to me because I have many).

However, even though all the Contacts were imported, not so for all the Contact categories (or groups). In WLM I make use of eight different categories, and only three of these got imported. I'm not sure why this is because eM Client appears to allow many different categories of Contacts.

To illustrate what I mean, I have a category called 'Photos' which consist of 40 Contacts to whom I email my animal photos/videos. Unfortunately, this was one of the categories that didn't get imported (although all 40 Contacts did get imported).

Jay, did you have this problem of not all Contact categories being imported? If so, how did you resolve?
Author:  jaylach [ Thu Mar 07, 2019 11:43 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Need Recommendation(s) for Simple Email Client
Sorry BB but I don't use contact categories and, to be honest, I'm not even sure what it is. My guess is that it is a group of contacts assigned to a specific type of send but that is just a guess.
Author:  bbarry [ Fri Mar 08, 2019 9:59 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Need Recommendation(s) for Simple Email Client
Jay, you are correct....a group of Contacts assigned to a specific type of send. When I am ready to send an animal photo or video, I only have the click on my 'Photo' category (and then bcc:) in order to send the email to all 40 Contacts. This is much easier than clicking on the names of all 40 Contacts.

In my case, I also have categories for Neighbors, Political, Family, etc. It's just something I find useful, as emailing is a major activity on my computer. eM Client imported three of my eight categories, and I don't understand why not all. I am in the process of investigating their use of categories....if nothing else, I could redefine the missing categories.

Have you uninstalled WLM yet? I was thinking about leaving it on my computer until I was totally comfortable with eM Client. And even then, I might leave WLM installed for awhile but exclude the receipt of email to any/all accounts within WLM.
Author:  sboots [ Fri Mar 08, 2019 11:53 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Need Recommendation(s) for Simple Email Client
There's absolutely no harm in leaving Windows Live Mail installed while you are checking out a new email program. You could even change the server setting for you account in both program to leave messages on the server for x days (assuming you are using POP/SMTP accounts) so that you could use either program interchangeably until you decided it was time to retire WLM.
Author:  bbarry [ Fri Mar 08, 2019 12:26 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Need Recommendation(s) for Simple Email Client
Good idea, Steve....thanks. I hadn't really thought of that solution, but it is easy for me to do since I already leave my email on the server for 30 days.

I am getting use to eM Client while playing with it on my secondary/older computer, and I rather like it. But before I actually install it on my primary computer, I would like to find out why all my WLM Contact categories were not imported, and I have asked that question of their forum. Although doable, it would be a pain to redefine all my categories.
Author:  JoanA [ Fri Mar 08, 2019 3:13 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Need Recommendation(s) for Simple Email Client
Did you look at Thunderbird BB?
Author:  bbarry [ Fri Mar 08, 2019 4:59 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Need Recommendation(s) for Simple Email Client
Joan, I haven't tried Thunderbird yet, but I may take a look at it. When I started looking for an alternative to WLM, eM Client was rated a little higher than Thunderbird. Then Jay got all excited about eM Client, which got me all excited. You know how that goes...when Jay likes something, it is usually pretty good (and he can then help me with my problems, lol).

Do you know if Thunderbird imports accounts, contacts and messages from WLM?
Author:  sboots [ Fri Mar 08, 2019 7:16 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Need Recommendation(s) for Simple Email Client
It doesn't appear to import things from WLM easily.
Found this link to import messages -- https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1046033
Then I found this for mail and contacts -- it involves exporting them from WLM and then importing to Thunderbird.
https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/win ... f4b?auth=1
Nothing about importing account settings. I'll note that whoever wrote that answer made a bit of a mess/ Email in WLM is stored as .eml files already, so no need to export. Contacts says to export as .txt, but then advises to import the .csv file. I have no clue which file type would be correct!
And, with contacts, I don't know about your categories.
-steve
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