To all the people interested in color coding messages, I’ve just figured out that MailMate will let you add color to the message listing lines. I may have found my replacement for Postbox!
It’s not simple and takes a little technical know-how. But you can find more details here:
https://manual.mailmate-app.com/hidden_preferences
There’s a long discussion on the website here, stretching back over a decade.
https://freron.lighthouseapp.com/projects/58672-mailmate/tickets/204
You’re doing too much work. When you initially search, it will show the results for the mailbox you are currently in, but also have an ‘All Mailboxes’ at the top of the sidebar and at the beginning of the Favorites Bar (if you show that). You can now select All or any mailbox in the sidebar to see the results for that mailbox.
eM Client is Mono-based (read: .Net Framework ported to other operating systems), so it isn’t a first-class Mac Citizen. Their new mobile app won’t fetch email in the background, only when you open it up.
I’ve got a lifetime Pro license since 2015, but a 13" screen is too small to use it.
@Shamino you’d have to find an add-on that removes calendar, tasks, chat. If you find that, let me know!
I also used Eudora!!!.. and Postbox mainly for my Gmail email address, one of the advantages for me was its integration with Spamsieve… plan to stop using it. I also use Airmail that is subscription based and do have Mac and iOS clients plus Spamsieve integration. I tried Thunderbird, is free, similar to Postbox but no Spamsieve integration. I tried Mimestream and liked it, but for the annual price I also expect an iOS client, they were working on it, maybe when they have it ready I will check again and ask for the Spamsieve integration too. I will keep using just Airmail and Apple Mail for now. Just my 0.02.
When Eudora finally started crashing, I decided to bail to AppleMail because I didn’t want to go through that again, don’t like to rely on a webmail interface, and don’t want to share all my email with Google. I have a handful of Gmail accounts for various purposes, and have them problematic at times. Their default of sorting incoming into categories that are separate from the InBox burned me a couple of times badly when I inherited the Gmail account of a group I belong to and missed overdue bills because Gmail put bills into Promotions.
Well, Gmail is both. When you read email in Gmail on the Web, you’re using the Gmail Web client. Gmail also has an iOS client, and there are Gmail-specific clients like Mimestream available for the Mac as well.
Google hasn’t served targeted ads based on content in Gmail since 2017.
Google does use Gmail content to power things like smart inbox categories, Smart Compose, and spam detection.
VERY sad news, indeed. I’ve always preferred an email client with a simplified and easy to use interface – Eudora, then Powermail, now Postbox. I suppose I’ll look at Spark since that’s what I used on the iPhone and iPad, but I fear going down another road that will trip me up.
I suppose I should take another look at Apple Mail, which I’ve never liked. Thunderbird just seems to flashy and clunky to me. Add this to the graveyard of my favorite browser of all time (Chimera/Camino) and any of the numerous other programs that have gone by the wayside – or demanded monthly payments to use.
I’ve gotten used to Thunderbird over time, but I can understand not liking its interface. On the other hand, with FLOSS software you don’t have to worry about it “go[ing] by the wayside – or demand[ing] monthly payments to use.” I’ve had the rug pulled out by too many proprietary products. With open source, if a program is popular somebody will maintain it. If the dev team decides to start charging for it, someone will fork it and maintain its free+open source status. To me, that’s an essential feature in any mission-critical software such as my email client.
And thus part of the problem – it has to be popular first. I was willing to pay for Postbox (and Powermail before it) because it suited me. It was worth the investment.
I suppose before the discount period ends I should look at EM Client and some of the others, but the good news is it’s a “lifetime” license so it’s not like it will quit working. And I don’t care if it’s Silicon native; if it runs it works – besides, I’m still using an Intel iMac and Macbook Pro …
I’ve used Postbox since 2011. Frustrating to see it go. Tried EM Client, but it’s a no-go - I couldn’t do something as basic as configure the columns in the main window to be the same as Postbox, because some fields I find helpful (size, recipient, account) aren’t available. Also, EM Client lacks what Thunderbird calls “table” view (as opposed to “card” view), which shows more messages.
I’m trying Thunderbird, but having some odd issues.
I can probably make Apple Mail work, but the bold vs regular text is too contrast-y, and I’ll miss Postbox’s attachments view (Mail for mac includes a Smart Mailbox “with attachments”, but that’s not as good).
Also: I have years of POP mail in Postbox that I’d like to be able to access going forward. When I looked into that in the past, the archiving solutions I found were complex and seemed geared towards IT pros. Can anyone recommend resources for beginners?
I’m using EagleFiler for just that purpose. Instructions for importing from PostBox are here:
I’m going to give a +1 vote for MailMate as a replacement for Postbox. I’ve been playing with it for the past week, and find a lot to like. It can be configured to function and look very similar to Postbox.
Admittedly its user interface is a bit more fiddly and you have to be willing to get under the hood a bit. But if you do that, it has a great deal of power and customizability. Be aware, there are a number of hidden preferences that allow for the increased control. You will probably need to do a least a little bit of work in Terminal, and be prepared for some searching in the MailMate website service tickets area.
Documentation is generally good, though sometimes it assumes you know things you may or may not actually know. Reportedly the developer responds to queries though.
Probably good for the very casual user who’s happy with it as is and the power user who’s willing to delve into the depths of the settings. For those with very specific needs but who aren’t comfortable digging around in the innards, it may not be as ideal. But everyone’s use case is different so your mileage will vary of course. So far everything I’ve wanted it to do has been possible.
Still running both in parallel for a while longer but I anticipate buying Mailmate and making the switch in the coming month.
Oh, and I wrote a grumpy email to eM Client complaining about them taking over a working product and shutting it down and then trying to foist their own completely different email client on the user base. And that just on principal I wasn’t going to use their client.
I actually got an equivocating response from someone who apologized and said it wasn’t their idea to buy Postbox, but rather Postbox approached them about selling. Presumably some exec at eM Client made the decision to shut it down however. Then they asked for suggestion on how to improve eM Client. Not sure what they got out of the deal besides access to a cranky user-base, most of whom won’t become customers.
YES! Color is underused as a signifier in Mac design. Lingering effects of Jobs/Ivey aesthetic, I suppose.
I checked the MailMate web site, and they’re recommending using the latest beta. But the date on the latest beta is January 2023. This makes me wonder: Is this software still under active development or is it stuck where it is?
My understanding is that it’s a single developer who works fairly slowly being a one-man shop, so updates don’t come super regularly.
If you go to the Issue-Tracker section of the MailMate website, you can see regular postings with responses from the developer as recently as the past few days stretching back regularly into the past, so there’s definitely recent activity.
A one-man shop has obvious risks but there are plenty of examples of single-developers continuing to work steadily on their software for years or decades, so who knows?
I’m able to configure MailMate to a close enough approximation of how I used Postbox that I’m willing to take the risk. Worst case, MailMate shuts down at some point and I’m not worse off than I was when Postbox closed down.
Eudora was my first and only love! Sigh. Postbox was a second-class substitute. (Sounds like a 50’s love song…) So I thought what the heck, I’ll give eMClient a try whilst running it in parallel with Postbox.
After some tinkering to clean up the inevitable little troubles with importing folders, etc., and some more tinkering to get things to mimic Postbox/Eudora, I’ve been pleasantly surprised. I’m liking eMClient – it can be made to work like Postbox, minus many of the quibbles I had with it. The one question I had with a default setting I could not get rid of in eMClient was immediately answered by a forum moderator. Cool, so far. Fingers crossed…
Em Client user here by only on the mac. Still use mail on ios.
I jumped from mail on the mac at the last second after the rules went. I needed my own folders , rules and search functions. Not going to gmail. Couldnt get on with thunderbird.
In the whole i have been very happy with it. The updates are not that often but the latest gap has been because of the conversion to a new ai like option v10 and now ai integration ( i think ).
Only issue i had was answered in the forums and the people there seem very helpful.
Only crashes I have had have been very occasional ( but obviously annoying ) . It does a recovery and check which is nice but I burst out laughing when I saw it as I felt it was just short of a blue screen of death background.
As an app I would give it 8.5 / 10 and say it’s well worth a try but as a Mac app only 7/10 as it’s very much written like a windows controlled app missing nice arty features
However I am of to look at mail mate and keep an eye on other answers on here
I have used Postbox for years. But its not a big issue. Thunderbird is the same like Postbox with more Functions. Calendar.
eM Client is a European Product available in 20 Languages. Calendar, Notes, Chat included. Way better then Apple mail for sure. Business version available too.
Em Client is not that bad. There are way more Function as in Postbox. The Company is solid. 20 Employees. HQ in Prag and now an office in SF. The software is available in 20 Languages.
I never used Apple Scribed in email for at least 30 years.
Eudora, Thunderbird, Postbox, em Client and a few other. No Apple Mail not professional enough for Business.
I let run Postoffice for a while. Thunderbird is Backup 1
There is a comprehensive list of e-mail clients for the Macintosh here: