# Pick a new mail client for me **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 13, 2008, 8:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pick-a-new-mail-client-for-me/452787 "2008-06-13T08:49:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![essell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/34f0e0/32.png) [@essell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/essell)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2008, 8:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pick-a-new-mail-client-for-me/452787/1 "2008-06-13T08:49:15Z")
I’ve just moved from XP to Vista and I have eight years of emails from Outlook express backed up which “Windows Mail” won’t import. Given how much I prefer Firefox to IE I wondered if it might be time to get a 3rd party mail program too. (Anyone suggesting to uninstall Vista will get one of these: :rolleyes: . I’m giving Vista a fair trial) Thunderbird is the obvious choice, but I know nothing about what’s out there. So I thought 'd ask y’all for recommendations. Being able to import the old Outlook express data would be a major plus. Also I run three different email accounts so any features which help me organise them would be great too. thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2008, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pick-a-new-mail-client-for-me/452787/2 "2008-06-13T08:53:03Z")
I use Pocomail. It works for me. I have a mailbase of over 300K messages. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2008, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pick-a-new-mail-client-for-me/452787/3 "2008-06-13T08:54:32Z")
Given how you prefer Firefox, Thunderbird is even more of a natural choice (the extension managment, update methodology, design and layout philosphy, etc. is similar) - I switched from Outlook a couple of years ago and have never looked back. ---
**Author:** ![Pithy\_Moniker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8dc957/32.png) [@Pithy\_Moniker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pithy_Moniker)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2008, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pick-a-new-mail-client-for-me/452787/4 "2008-06-13T14:53:57Z")
I use Thunderbird at home and it does the job. It will do a lot more than I use it for but it’s good as a basic Email client too. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Ed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Just\_Ed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Ed)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2008, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pick-a-new-mail-client-for-me/452787/5 "2008-06-14T02:18:40Z")
Another vote for Thunderbird - with the [Lightning](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/addon/2313) add-on for calendar functions. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Love](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Dr.Love](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Love)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2008, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pick-a-new-mail-client-for-me/452787/6 "2008-06-14T03:05:35Z")
I like Opera’s mail client, but that comes attached to the Opera browser (which is also great), so it might not work for you. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2008, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pick-a-new-mail-client-for-me/452787/7 "2008-06-14T13:53:15Z")
[QUOTE=essell] I’ve just moved from XP to Vista and I have eight years of emails from Outlook express backed up which “Windows Mail” won’t import. Given how much I prefer Firefox to IE I wondered if it might be time to get a 3rd party mail program too. (Anyone suggesting to uninstall Vista will get one of these: :rolleyes: . I’m giving Vista a fair trial) [/QUOTE] I’ve given Vista a trial, but not by choice. I’m forced to use it because I can’t get XP drivers for my hardware. It’s a piece of shit. Having said that, I highly recommend [Seamonkey](http://www.seamonkey-project.org/) . It’s an integrated browser and mail client. In effect, it’s what Netscape should have grown up to be. ---
**Author:** ![CC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CC)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2008, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pick-a-new-mail-client-for-me/452787/8 "2008-06-14T18:52:32Z")
Maybe future posters can describe in a little more detail the advantages of these clients. I still use AOL because the mail is so easy to use, search, store, edit, etc. At the university that I work at there’s a mail system called Novel that is absolutely crap. I don’t know if that is an actual mail client or a program that the university uses, but stand clear of that one if you have a choice. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2008, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pick-a-new-mail-client-for-me/452787/9 "2008-06-14T23:53:06Z")
Some advantages of Pocomail: [ul][li]uses standard MBX format, [/li][li]support for multiple mail accounts, [/li][li]allows change the sending field (important when you own your own domain), [/li][li]can handle mailbases with hundreds of thousands of files, [/li][li]it’s not Outlook, [/li][li]very easy to use, [/li][li]inbuilt backup feature, [/li][li]intelligent spam filter, [/li]good filtering (critically important for me. Not quite as good as PMMail, though)[/ul] ---
**Author:** ![Dragwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dragwyr/32/2855_2.png) [@Dragwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragwyr)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2008, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pick-a-new-mail-client-for-me/452787/10 "2008-06-15T03:02:07Z")
[QUOTE=CC] Maybe future posters can describe in a little more detail the advantages of these clients. [/QUOTE] There are some great reviews of these and other mail clients here: [http://www.techsupportalert.com/best-free-email-client.htm](http://www.techsupportalert.com/best-free-email-client.htm) (FYI, Yes, I am the editor for that category at [techsupportalert.com](http://techsupportalert.com). 🙂 )