Email client recommendation?
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From: unopened on 23 Oct 2007 11:33 I'm looking to migrate my main working environment from Windows to Linux (in this case Ubuntu, although I have dabbled with Debian) and I am seeking recommendations for an email client (or a least a view of the worst gotchas to avoid). I wish to migrate several gigabytes of email archive from Outlook (not Outlook Express). It's currently spread across twenty or so .pst files (each small enough to fit on a CD). Are there GNU/Linux utilities for migrating - or even inexpensive commercial applications? I believe I have the choice of using mbox, maildir or MH formats as my new email repository, with varying client support. I used to use a *very* old Eudora implementation on 68000 Macintosh which stored mail messages and attachments as separate individual files in folders - which made searching using operating system tools possible. If there's a way of searching inside attachments, that would be good (legacy Word, mostly, with some PDF, Powerpoint, Excel and Visio). Does anyone have any views on whether I should go for mbox, maildir or MH? I particularly like Outlook's find feature, that allows me to search on any field, and to search the full text of emails, and anything that is as good as or better than that functionality would be good. I think the main options are Thunderbird, Sylpheed, Claws and Evolution, but other suggestions are welcome as I'm pretty ignorant of the issues. Is Zimbra an option? If I've missed a site or discussion where this has already been covered, please accept my apologies, hit me with a link-shaped cluebat, and I'll go and read that instead. As a data point, this link <URL:http://www1.umn.edu/adcs/guides/email/reviews/ email_client_recommendations.pdf> recommends Thunderbird on Linux, but I'm not sure how up to date it is.. Thanks, Sid
From: Chris on 23 Oct 2007 12:16 unopened(a)mail.com wrote: > I'm looking to migrate my main working environment from Windows to > Linux (in this case Ubuntu, although I have dabbled with Debian) and I > am seeking recommendations for an email client (or a least a view of > the worst gotchas to avoid). Good on ya! > I wish to migrate several gigabytes of email archive from Outlook (not > Outlook Express). It's currently spread across twenty or so .pst > files (each small enough to fit on a CD). Are there GNU/Linux > utilities for migrating - or even inexpensive commercial applications? I would recommend you install Thunderbird on windows. The first time it runs it offers to import all you Outlook e-mails and when you've done that it's simple to transfer to Linux. > If there's > a way of searching inside attachments, that would be good (legacy > Word, mostly, with some PDF, Powerpoint, Excel and Visio). I'd try beagle, maybe? > I particularly like Outlook's find feature, that allows me to search > on any field, and to search the full text of emails, and anything that > is as good as or better than that functionality would be good. Thunderbird's find feature does all that too.
From: Gordon on 23 Oct 2007 12:55 unopened(a)mail.com wrote: > I'm looking to migrate my main working environment from Windows to > Linux (in this case Ubuntu, although I have dabbled with Debian) and I > am seeking recommendations for an email client (or a least a view of > the worst gotchas to avoid). > > I wish to migrate several gigabytes of email archive from Outlook (not > Outlook Express). It's currently spread across twenty or so .pst > files (each small enough to fit on a CD). Are there GNU/Linux > utilities for migrating - or even inexpensive commercial applications? > > I believe I have the choice of using mbox, To add to what Chris said, if you choose MBox format (which you can also use with KMail BTW) you can if all else fails, view your mail in a text editor.....
From: Patter on 23 Oct 2007 13:16 On Tue, 23 Oct 2007 17:55:50 +0100, Gordon wrote: > To add to what Chris said, if you choose MBox format (which you can also > use with KMail BTW) you can if all else fails, view your mail in a text > editor..... but mbox really slows down if removing messages from within a large mailbox, so Maildir & MH would be better for large email collections. Can't remember what thunderbird uses internally though you should be able to copy thunderbird files from windows to linux. -- Stephen Patterson :: steve(a)patter.mine.nu :: http://patter.mine.nu/ GPG: B416F0DE :: Jabber: patter(a)jabber.earth.li "Don't be silly, Minnie. Who'd be walking round these cliffs with a gas oven?"
From: Nick Leverton on 23 Oct 2007 14:12
In article <ffl92v$s5n$3(a)aioe.org>, Gordon <gbplinux(a)gmail.com.invalid> wrote: >unopened(a)mail.com wrote: > >> I wish to migrate several gigabytes of email archive from Outlook (not >> Outlook Express). It's currently spread across twenty or so .pst >> files (each small enough to fit on a CD). Are there GNU/Linux >> utilities for migrating - or even inexpensive commercial applications? >> >> I believe I have the choice of using mbox, > >To add to what Chris said, if you choose MBox format (which you can also >use with KMail BTW) you can if all else fails, view your mail in a text >editor..... .... although with gigabytes of email, you may have to wait a few minutes/hours/weeks for your preferred client to rewrite the single large file, each time you want to do anything that alters a mailbox (such as setting or unsetting the New/Old/Replied/Important etc flags on individual emails). I converted my archives from mbox to maildir recently, and opening a large folder in Mutt (with directory caching of course) changed from taking about a minute to taking seconds - not to mention that all the locking delays during mail delivery just went away. I also find that maildir is easier to grep, because you don't have to mess around to find which mail within the mailbox was matched. And maildir too is text-editor compatible :) Nick -- Serendipity: http://www.leverton.org/blosxom (last update 28th Sep 2007) "The Internet, an ersatz counterfeit of real life" -- Janet Street-Porter, BBC2, 19th March 1996 |