Mailspring is a pretty decent email client (and actively developed)
Posted by tornado99_@reddit | linux | View on Reddit | 57 comments
After periods of using Thunderbird, and then Geary, I was getting annoyed with their various shortcomings.
At a minimum I need a one line preview of each email in the message list (which isn't even on the Thunderbird roadmap). Also Thunderbird is memory heavy and still feels clunky despite the partial UI makeover. Geary is fine, but uses old toolkits and is showing its age (also no longer developed).
Mailspring went through a period of hardly being developed. But I think the main Dev switched to Linux last year, and now there's very frequent updates. Also they abandoned needing an account to use it. Developer is responsive to bug reports on Discourse.
Default theme is ok but dated. Switching to the inbuilt Darkside Theme (created by a graphic designer), and it looks great and modern.
so_back@reddit
I've tried to use it but it just refuses to cooperate with proton mail.
KindTax7513@reddit
Have you installed the Proton Mail Bridge? If no, get it. If yes, make sure it’s open and running before you open Mailspring. 🙂
so_back@reddit
Yes. I've been with Proton since nearly the beginning. I've been using Bridge, since it came out, with Thunderbird.
It was briefly fixed a couple years ago or so, but issues keep coming back. Particularly the constant syncing of mail. There's even two issues posted just on March 25 and 29 of this year.
duongdominhchau@reddit
That's also my first choice when I switched to Linux. It has built-in tracker by attaching a 1px image into your email so when the recipient open your email their email client will call Mailspring server so Mailspring can notify you the email is opened. After a while I stopped using Mailspring though because it drains my battery so fast, maybe because it's an Electron app. Thunderbird seems to be better at battery usage, that's what I care more.
Besides, Mailspring is also not fully open source at the time I tried, not sure if anything changes after these years.
iTechnicWP@reddit
I'm using YouniqMail now, still in beta but pretty happy so far.
PersonFromPlace@reddit
Is the Gnome Project going to make a modern Mail app since they’ve been making modern versions of their apps?
MelioraXI@reddit
There is evolution, could use a facelift and gtk4.
zlice0@reddit
web based, no thanks .-.
0riginal-Syn@reddit
I feel you. I prefer anything but electron. I do use Mailspring because it has been the most painless for managing my multiple accounts, including my forced use of Office365 for work. I have hope for Aerion mail, which is not an electron and is much lighter weight due to just that fact alone, but it is very young.
tornado99_@reddit (OP)
same but I also need something right now, and Aerion's some way off what Mailspring does. a promising start though.
tornado99_@reddit (OP)
Assuming you meant electron based. Yes. And it works fine. If you want actively developed decent email client plus native toolkit....good luck.
zlice0@reddit
ya ive been salty about it for years. feels like we'll never get a slim gui with multi email and certainly not good search v-v
nullsetnil@reddit
Don’t care for mailspring, but electron for email clients isn’t the worst thing, they need the rendering engine anyway.
tornado99_@reddit (OP)
there was Envelope but seems to be abandoned https://gitlab.gnome.org/felinira/envelope/
personally i'm not a purist. I'll use whatever works. I also use VS Codium daily.
BackseaterP@reddit
Some other options I have stumbled across:
Talanoa
YouniqMail
I’m still using thunderbird though…
ConfusedIlluminati@reddit
Electron? Meeeeh
tornado99_@reddit (OP)
Same as vs code
ConfusedIlluminati@reddit
That is why I use JetBrains products, and now also Zed.
Ashamed-Summer2262@reddit
Using jvm and shifting on electron 💀
YoMamasTesticles@reddit
I use Aerion, as it's the only modern e-mail client that actually can run in the background unattended without a window, notifying me of any important incoming e-mail (reliably, without weird hacks). It's not tied to any DE-locked accounts provider and looks like software from 2026. Also cross-platform.
tornado99_@reddit (OP)
Wow I really like this. Definitely looks modern as you say. But there is no CSD, and toolbars are quite large. Overall a bit space inefficient compared to Mailspring. Will watch as it develops though.
YoMamasTesticles@reddit
It uses CSD by default, you can see it in the screenshot
In the settings you can choose between CSD, SSD, or turn off the title bar completely
tornado99_@reddit (OP)
If you turn off the title bar completely there are no window controls. That's not CSD. I mean where the window controls and toolbar are on the same level. Mailspring is more space efficient. I've got them side by side on my laptop.
YoMamasTesticles@reddit
Yeah I thought you meant that. What you see on the screenshot is CSD and it is enabled by default. It's just not utilized for any controls within the app
Talcacraft2@reddit
Small question but why do you use a mailing app instead of the webmail ? What features make them worth it ?
0riginal-Syn@reddit
If I have one or two accounts, sure. I have 8 including a mix of work and personal. Using something like this allows for universal inbox as well, which makes things much easier to manage.
Pentasis@reddit
I don't want anything in the cloud anymore.
LesStrater@reddit
OK, let's all use webmail -- so they can read our emails and tailor their ad spam to what will have the most effect!
Talcacraft2@reddit
I mean maybe I am bit too cynical but I have always assumed google read my emails.
vmcrash@reddit
IMHO Webmail only scales well for a very small amount of (private) emails.
FiveInACircle@reddit
Different mailboxes all in one place, all open at once. I have two outlook accounts for myself. One old one I use for things I might get spam from or that might leak my address, and one for official things such as administration, work communication, doctors appointments, anything with my actual identity attached to it. Then I also have my work email, which is also outlook. If I do this in the web client, I have to switch mailboxes or open multiple tabs with my mailboxes. My desktop app can open and maintain all three and notifies me when something comes in.
BigHeadTonyT@reddit
I check 2 e-mail accounts. I use 2 different e-mail clients for that. I have an easy time to mix up stuff, I have to keep things separate. In total, 4 accounts on those 2 mail servers. I can see them all at the same time, with 2 clicks. I do have some spam-accounts, which I rarely check or use. Spam meaning some website asks me to signup via e-mail, I enter spam-account details.
And no session saved in the webbrowser, that can probably be extracted by hackers. I don't want anything saved in my browser. Wasn't this the way Linus from LTT got hacked? It was some tokens, sessions, something like that. I don't know. I just see webbrowser as the leakiest, most insecure app on anyones computer. And it seems to have a lot of privileges on our systems (add plugins etc to that). Not a great mix IMHO.
zlice0@reddit
for me the main reason is to have it running w/o a browser needing to be going and having a taskbar/tray icon with notifications
BigHeadTonyT@reddit
Not OP but to me it is NOT having to type anything. No website address, not my login or password. I just open an app.
Aegthir@reddit
I use bookmark for this. New tab -> bookmark link (i prefer to have bookmark visible on new tab only).
vmcrash@reddit
What I don't like with Thunderbird: - it often feels sluggish (sometimes the UI is blocked for multiple seconds while fetching mails) - the data structure is somewhat confusing for me - it is not clear to me which files are real data, which is cache, which needs to be backed up for which account (note, I'm using good old POP3)
What about the last point with Mailspring? For multiple email accounts, is the data structure clear for every mail account? Is it easily possible to backup the data from one account separately from another account? What file format is used? Are caches clearly separated from the real email data?
tornado99_@reddit (OP)
This was added in April
Added EML export functionality for messages and folders. You can save selected messages as EML by right-clicking or from the app's menu, and export entire folders by right clicking in the left navigation. (#2652)
vmcrash@reddit
A backup should be running without user interaction. Hence, I don't want to know what the user can do, but how the email data is structured.
tornado99_@reddit (OP)
apparently in an SQlite file at snap/mailspring/common/edgehill.db. so mailspring is probably not for you.
vmcrash@reddit
I had the fear it would be something like that. I would consider such a database rather as a kind of cache, but the real emails stored somewhere else. I don't mind having a clean-up phase from time to time (to remove deleted messages) - Git is very successful with the approach of creating new "objects" quickly and collect the garbage later.
leaflock7@reddit
not a good choice for storing mail.
the best format for an app to store its mail "database" is in eml files. it provides the best chances for you to not get affected by corruption .
tornado99_@reddit (OP)
You could always propose to the developer "option to periodically export a mailbox as .eml". he seems keen on making the app better.
Crazy-Tangelo-1673@reddit
I've tried all 3 and if it's on a windows machine I've been using Mailspring and on linux I prefer Geary.
Geary has it's quirks that I don't care for...some of the icons for instance are not overly intuitive so it takes a while to figure out what's what. But otherwise it's pretty fast and doesn't get in it's own way.
For me Thunderbird actually works really decent on my Android phone but I've just never been too impressed with it as a desktop app.
itastesok@reddit
Can you make a darned folder with Geary yet?
tornado99_@reddit (OP)
Weirdly thunderbird is great on android
KnowZeroX@reddit
Thunderbird on Android is a rebranded K9 Mail just an fyi. So it is a completely different codebase.
proton_badger@reddit
Not so weird, K-9 Mail was already solid before Mozilla got the rights to it.
cjdubais@reddit
Mailspring doesn't allow for horizontal previews, making it a complete non-starter for me.
I'm quite happy with Evolution on my Pop!_OS COSMIC box.
LesStrater@reddit
For decades I used Pegasus. It's absolutely the best email client for Windows. Unfortunately the creator never felt the need to do a Linux version. A few people tried to run it under wine, but it never worked well. So now I use Claws-Email which is the closest thing to Pegasus i could find.
spikbebis@reddit
Pegasus worked really well, a flash from the netware-past.
Artichoke808@reddit
It's a long while since I tried it, but I think there was something like all your emails going through mailspring servers? That's a dealbreaker for me. Is that still a thing?
Exernuth@reddit
IIRC account is not mandatory.
elmagio@reddit
This looks like it has proper CSDs on Linux and fits in relatively well on a GNOME system. Will give it a look.
tornado99_@reddit (OP)
There is strange bug the first time you install it the csd isn't working. But toggle it off in settings restart then toggle on and it works.
elmagio@reddit
Yeah I noticed that. I didn't see how to get the rounded corners tho?
tornado99_@reddit (OP)
Rounded window corners reborn extension or the new rounded window corners gnome 50 extension
Unusual_Pride_6480@reddit
Yeah I used to use it before switching to proton, I think I even donated its that good