Outlook Express alternative

[Aurora Baltika]

Gentleman, what software would you recommend as alternative to Outlook Express?

 

[Xelp]

If you're looking for a software alternative, Mozilla Thunderbird. Otherwise it's hard to beat Gmail for online hosted.

 

[mit74]

thunderbird is good but it doesn't have an unread mail folder which is criminal!! Especailly when you have 10 email accounts. I made my own unread folder using search rules but it isn't ideal and there doesn't seem to be a decent addon. Also if you have hotmail accounts it doesn't imap to them which is frustrating.

If you're using Win XP I recommend Windows Live Mail, it's actually not bad on that OS. On Win7/Vista it's terrible. If you're looking for something a little more professional then office outlook is good.

 

[Aurora Baltika]

Now I'm using Outlook Express on XP.
The reason I don't like it is because at certain point it reaches certain amount of sent messages and won't let you send more (unless you reset some numbers in settings or something)...

 

[Paul Kelly ICHYB]

Thunderbird!!

Re unread:
To see only unread mail in Mozilla Thunderbird:

• Make sure the View item is in your toolbar.
  • Select View | Toolbars | Customize... from the menu.
  • Drag and drop View to the toolbar.
• Select Unread from the View: toolbar item.

As an alternative, you can use the Quick View toolbar:

• Press Ctrl-F (Windows, Linux) or Command-F (Mac).
• Make sure only Show only unread messages is selected under Quick Filter:.
  • You can combine focussing on unread messages with other search criteria and terms, of course.

Display Only Unread Messages in Mozilla, Netscape Messenger and Mozilla Thunderbird 0.9

To display only the unread messages in a folder with Mozilla Thunderbird, Netscape or Mozilla:

• Select View | Messages | Unread from the menu.

To bring back all the read mail, choose View | Messages | All.

 

[Aurora Baltika]

What if I install Thunderbird and will use it along with Outlook Express simultaneously for the same e-mail address?
Will these two run without conflicts?

 

[RBS]

Won`t be a problem, but depending if its set-up as POP3 or IMAP, you will be able to download your emails just once.

POP3 - once
IMAP - as many times as you want on any number of devices

 

[ServWise]

What if I install Thunderbird and will use it along with Outlook Express simultaneously for the same e-mail address?
Will these two run without conflicts?

If using IMAP yes, they should both sync with the same mail.

 

[RemoteTechs]

Outlook proper, outlook express always seems to have issues as does Thunderbird, those are the 2 programs that we have the most calls about for e-mail recovery and application issues.
If you have a Microsoft Office Suite then you'll already have a version of Outlook, if not look at hosted exchange / or maybe office 365.
Better than Google and pretty much instant, plus you'll avoid a load of software issues, if you use a newer version 2007 /2010.

 

[mit74]

Thunderbird!!

Re unread:
To see only unread mail in Mozilla Thunderbird:

• Make sure the View item is in your toolbar.
  • Select View | Toolbars | Customize... from the menu.
  • Drag and drop View to the toolbar.
• Select Unread from the View: toolbar item.

As an alternative, you can use the Quick View toolbar:

• Press Ctrl-F (Windows, Linux) or Command-F (Mac).
• Make sure only Show only unread messages is selected under Quick Filter:.
  • You can combine focussing on unread messages with other search criteria and terms, of course.

Display Only Unread Messages in Mozilla, Netscape Messenger and Mozilla Thunderbird 0.9

To display only the unread messages in a folder with Mozilla Thunderbird, Netscape or Mozilla:

• Select View | Messages | Unread from the menu.

To bring back all the read mail, choose View | Messages | All.

This doesn't work in the same way other unread folder work in office and live. This shows the unread from each account but not in a special 'unread' folder. There are ways to do it as I mentioned using search & folder options but it's buggy and doesn't remove the emails when you delete them along with other issues. It just doesn't work efficiently. Trust me I've tried every possible way to get the unread folder to work correctly but it just doesn't. It's a shame really.

 

[Aurora Baltika]

What about this Windows Live Mail 2011? Is it any better?

 

[mit74]

What about this Windows Live Mail 2011? Is it any better?

I use it on one of my Win7 machines and I don't like it but it's simple to use and an 'okay' GUI. There are a few bugs in the saerch function and you can't get it to minimize to icon tray unless you do a hack and run it with vista compatibility.

What is it with MS products and Win7 and not being able to minimize stuff to icon tray?? Microsoft make some odd decisions sometimes

 

[Aurora Baltika]

Just realized it won't run on my XP...

 

[mit74]

Just realized it won't run on my XP...

you can run windows live mail on XP it's fine. The XP version is better than Win7. Just download it and it will automatically download the correct version for you.

 

[Aurora Baltika]

Yeah, I'll just get right version and see how it goes. Thanks.
For me is important to have full history of sent messages.

 

[BoxLimited]

Used Thunderbird for years and it is a very good alternative to Outlook Express.

I personally use Gmail now though for my personal email so not sure how good the latest version of Thunderbird is. Definitely worth looking at though if you dont want to try Gmail.

 

[Aurora Baltika]

I personally use Gmail now though for my personal email so not sure how good the latest version of Thunderbird is. Definitely worth looking at though if you dont want to try Gmail.

Surely Gmail is very good, I use it as personal e-mail too. But not for business.

 

[andygambles]

Surely Gmail is very good, I use it as personal e-mail too. But not for business.

Set up many business on Google Apps For Business. I feel Gmail is by far one of the best "mail clients" available.

*Disclaimer I am a Google reseller.

 

[BoxLimited]

Surely Gmail is very good, I use it as personal e-mail too. But not for business.

Its not too bad. Have setup several businesses on gmail. Its not for everyone though.

For very reliable business use Microsoft Outlook and Exchange Server fully supported by an IT department or IT company may be a better bet.

 

[andygambles]

For very reliable business use Microsoft Outlook and Exchange Server fully supported by an IT department or IT company may be a better bet.

In my experience Gmail has much higher availability than any exchange set-up and can be £xxx rather than £xxxx for supported Exchange.

 

[BoxLimited]

In my experience Gmail has much higher availability than any exchange set-up and can be £xxx rather than £xxxx for supported Exchange.

You may be right but a lot of businesses will not feel that good about having all their email in the cloud on Googles servers.

If they don't have a problem with that then go for Gmail, otherwise go for something like Outlook. Depends on the size of the business too. A small one or two man business would be wasting money on an exchange server and Gmail or Thunderbird would be a better option.

 

[DotNetWebs]

Thunderbird!!

Re unread:
To see only unread mail in Mozilla Thunderbird:

• Make sure the View item is in your toolbar.
  • Select View | Toolbars | Customize... from the menu.
  • Drag and drop View to the toolbar.
• Select Unread from the View: toolbar item.

Thanks for that. It's obvious when you think about it - but I didn't!

Regards

Dotty