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Mac Desktop Client For Gmail Average ratng: 5,2/10 1636 votes
Wmail is a free, open source desktop client for Gmail and Google Inbox, available for Linux, Windows and Mac. The application is built using Electron and is basically just a wrapper for the original Gmail / Google Inbox interface, on top of which it adds features like native desktop notifications, an unread email list in the tray / appindicator. Sparrow is a lightweight email client for Mac users with a twist – it only works with Gmail and Google Apps accounts. Sparrow is ideal for Gmail fans as well as for people who don’t want to mess with POP or IMAP settings as everything is done automatically for you. Simply put in your email. It's easy to configure, handles multiple accounts and was by far the quickest to push Gmail to the Mac. Testing from one account to another, MailPlane never once failed on a push operation. Mac owners who use Gmail know Apple's Mail app for OS X is less than perfect when it comes to pushing emails from Google's service. AppleInsider weeded through a forest of third party apps to find. Gmail for Mac organizes emails, makes it effortless to search through archives and keep tabs on everything all from within the Gmail client for Mac OS X. Gmail for Mac is a very popular and best email client for Mac. If you're a Gmail user, and especially if you use multiple Gmail/Google accounts, Kiwi is by far the best Mac app available. @KiwiforGmail is kind of changing my life. The Kiwi for Gmail app offers a pure Gmail experience from the comfort and convenience of your desktop. Finally, a Gmail Mac app that’s fast, reliable and a mirror image of Gmail on the web (plus a few new and amazing built-in features.) Those of you who have tried to use a desktop app but have found yourself back to using Gmail in your browser, you’ll appreciate the brilliant yet simplistic thinking that went into the creation of this app.
I’m still lamenting the death of SparrowSparrow - A New Gmail Desktop Client for Mac UsersSparrow - A New Gmail Desktop Client for Mac UsersRead More, a fantastic mail app that was acquired by Google and thrown into the recycle bin. I’m not over it yet. Since Sparrow’s untimely demise, I’ve tried a number of alternatives to find the best way to use Gmail on a Mac.
A few specific things are important in my search. My highest priorities are support for Gmail labels and stars, multiple-account support, sorting options, and, if possible, a pleasing interface. Of these, strong support for Gmail labelling is the most important, as I use it to manage an overwhelming amount of communication.
Here’s what I found.
Apps That Didn’t Make the Cut
First, let’s take a quick look at which desktop clients aren’t in this review. There are a few notable ones here, and I’ll address them quickly. I didn’t include Apple MailHow to Make Apple Mail a Better Desktop Email ClientHow to Make Apple Mail a Better Desktop Email ClientTake the time to set up Apple's boring email client just right, and make email processing as painless as possible.Read More, because it just doesn’t work all that well with Gmail. You can copy emails to folders to mimic the labelling functionality, but there’s no way to label an email and leave it in your inbox. It works, but it’s not great.
Inky, Thunderbird, and MailPilot weren’t included because they don’t have label support. To be fair, some of the apps below aren’t great with labels either. But they have some cool features that seem worth including. MailPlane and Kiwi are just the browser interface taken out of your browser. Boxy is the same, but for Inbox.
I’m sure there are others out there. If you’re foaming at the mouth because I missed something, let me know in the comments.
Airmail ($10)
Although all of the apps listed here are purported to work well with Gmail, AirmailAirmail for Mac OS X Is Making Email Beautiful AgainAirmail for Mac OS X Is Making Email Beautiful AgainWhen I first heard of Airmail, I must admit I questioned if I really needed a new way to check my email. Like many people, Mail.app satisfied all of my email requirements, and I struggled..Read More was clearly designed from the ground up with it in mind. For example, it’s easy to label and archive messages. And it’s possible to label messages without archiving them. This is a rare feature outside of the browser interface, and can be extremely useful.
It’s easy to switch from a unified inbox to a label view from a single account, making this a good option for people with multiple accounts. It also works well with non-Gmail accounts, making it very flexible. Stars work the same way they do in Gmail, so you don’t have to worry about them getting messed up during a sync. And Gmail shortcutsEssential Shortcuts to Browse through Gmail FasterEssential Shortcuts to Browse through Gmail FasterRead More mean you can continue flying through email with your keyboard.
Because this app integrates so well with Gmail, you can use the Gmail or Inbox mobile apps without messing up labels, stars, or archiving. Airmail also has an iOS app, available for $5, but the desktop app’s perfect sync capabilities mean you don’t need to buy it if you’re happy with one of Gmail’s native options. I’m currently using Airmail on my Mac and Inbox on my phone, and it works very well.
Unibox ($16)
This “people-centric” app places a strong emphasis on the idea of natural conversation in email. In order to do this, your emails are grouped by person instead of by conversation. You can still view your email conversations if you need to, though. While I found this method of organization difficult to get used to, some will find it natural.
I ran into a couple small snags while testing Unibox. For example, some emails that I had previously archived were showing up in my unified inbox. I also found that the app uses folders instead of labels. When you select “Move To,” the message is archived with a specific label. So my system of labeling items in the inbox isn’t supported.
That being said, anyone looking for a client that organizes mail by contacts should check out Unibox. The interface is very minimal and stays out of your way, it’s easy to set up, and does its job.
Postbox ($40)
Postbox provides solutions to most of the problems Gmail users will be looking for. The interface is fairly minimal, and provides a lot of shortcuts for getting to specific sets of emails. The focus pane lets you get to specific tags (not labels) quickly, as well as filters by things like “has attachment” and “subscription.”
Unfortunately, there’s no support for labels. As with most desktop clients, they’re simply treated as folders, and when you assign a folder, the email is archived. You can add Topics, which function sort of like labels, but you’ll need to customize the list; it’s not imported from your labels in Gmail. And they aren’t displayed especially well.
Beyond the lack of good label support, this is a good option that will let you work through your email quickly. You can also use Gmail keyboard shortcuts, which will help longtime Gmail users adjust. Is it worth $40? Unless you really love the tagging and focus pane, probably not.
MailMate ($50)
This is billed as an email client for power users; customizable keyboard shortcuts, Markdown capabilityLearning Markdown: Write For The Web, FasterLearning Markdown: Write For The Web, FasterMarkdown is the best way to write in plain text but still create complex documents. Unlike HTML or LaTex, for example, Markdown is simple to learn.Read More, advanced search and smart mailboxes, encryption, and a host of other features make this one of the most capable email clients out there. It’s not especially intuitive, but once you learn it, it can be a very powerful way to manage your communications.
Unfortunately, despite my best efforts, I couldn’t get it to connect to my Gmail account, so I can’t tell you a whole lot about it. Many of our readers recommend MailMate, and say that it’s worth the hefty price tag. Like Postbox, you can’t directly use your Gmail labels, but you can tag your messages and deal with them that way.
Free FTP Clients for Mac Filezilla When it comes to file transfer protocol (FTP), Filezilla is the ubiquitous option, being free and open-source it’s a popular choice as Firefox is as a browser and Thunderbird a mail client. Classic FTP –> is a fully featured, free FTP client available for Mac OS X and Windows. It has a “Mirror and Upload” tool which will scan a selected local folder. FileZilla is a free FTP solution offered as an FTP client for multiple platforms and as an FTP servers for Windows OS. Remote file editing is available for FTP, FTPS and SFTP, also you can move them around effortlessly with the help of the drag-and-drop feature. Swift-based file manager and FTP, SFTP, FTPS, Amazon S3 client for Mac OS X with built-in Terminal Emulator and RegEx search. Commander One is an advanced FTP client for macOS. This fast and reliable Mac FTP manager offers all convenient options that one may need to work with files. Ftp mac os. Download FileZilla Client 3.38.1 for Mac OS X. The latest stable version of FileZilla Client is 3.38.1. Please select the file appropriate for your platform below.
If you’re comfortable with the more technical side of importing accounts (like IMAP and SMTPIMAP vs. POP3: What Is It and Which One Should You Use?IMAP vs. POP3: What Is It and Which One Should You Use?If you have ever set up an email client or app, you will have certainly come across the terms POP and IMAP. Do you remember which one you chose and why? If you are not..Read More) and you’re not afraid of a steep learning curve, this may be a great option.
Conclusion
After this search and a lot of testing, Airmail is the app I’ll be using on my own desktop. The fact that it works so seamlessly with Gmail sets it clearly above the other options. If you want a desktop client for Gmail, it’s absolutely worth $10.
Do you use a desktop client for Gmail, or do you prefer webmail? Which clients have you tried? Share your experiences in the comments below!
Explore more about: Desktop Email Client, Gmail.
Just discovered another GMail client named Nylas-Mail https://nylas.com/nylas-mail/
It is free and opensource https://github.com/nylas/nylas-mail
BUT, and for me is a bit concerning because there are quite a few issues regarding privacy and security.
The team of Nylas seems to calm everyone by saying that data is not shared as long as you're a free user yet people dont trust that completely and provide other proofs.
Basically you have to sign up to their service in order to use the mail client hence the concerns.Whoa. These comments go back pretty far. I'm impressed that Mr. Albright is still providing feedback.
I checked out the reviews of Airmail in the app store. They're bad enough that I wouldn't have even considered downloading it had I not read this review first. I can't tell if reviewers are focusing on minutiae that's irrelevant for the average user, if they're frustrated with the learning curve required for a new program, if these issues apply to every email client and this is just the best we can hope for right now, or if their concerns are indeed legitimate and they're right to complain.
My needs seem to differ a bit: I actually prefer 'filing' my messages into folders rather than labeling, and just need something that is fast and doesn't 'break' gmail. Interface-wise, I actually prefer Apple Mail over most clients, but it can be randomly slow with Gmail and is a real pain to deal with if you take a long time composing a message -- mainly because you end up with multiple draft copies sitting in your drafts folder. You can get around that issue by setting your Drafts to be use a local folder instead of syncing with Gmail, but that becomes an issue if you use multiple computers (since that draft you were working on at your desktop will not be synced to your laptop or mobile device).
I've tried a handful of alternative apps, but seem to keep running into one of two main issues:
1. Many older apps that tout themselves as made-for-Gmail are just browser wrappers for the web client. There was one specifically that was literally running an instance of Chrome behind the interface, and killed my laptop battery as a result. While I actually prefer Chrome for some uses, I try to avoid using it on my laptop because it is so resource heavy; I get MUCH better battery life if I use Safari for most of my web browsing.
2. I hate preview panes, but many of these apps give no option to avoid using them. I know I'm old-school in this, but I prefer to just see my folder on the left and a list of messages on the right -- with mail messages opening in a separate window. I really like the functionality and interface of Spark (which is my default mail client on iOS), but the macOS client refuses to let you work without the preview pane.For now, I keep waffling back and forth between Apple Mail and Gmail's web interface (Outlook 2016 is decent, but I reserve that for my work's Exchange account as I accidentally emailed my boss from my Gmail too many times with them integrated haha). If Apple Mail would just fix the Drafts folder issue, or if Spark let me get rid of the preview pane, I'd probably settle on one of those. Until then, I'm still searching..
I've been trying to find a decent Gmail desktop app for over 18 months now. I wanted to change the way I organise my email and foud Postbox, then I discovered the fact it didn't support labels and I had big problems with it crashing, so was pretty annoyed at the fact I had set up all my topics and then wasted a lot of time. Having recently subscribed to Office 365, I decided to give Outlook a try.. after 3 months I'm not liking it much as no label support and now I'm moving to another Mac, so its time to try something better.
So thanks for the article and I will give Airmail a try.
You forgot about Spark. In my opinion the best one at 0€.
Does Spark really support gmail labels? I've read reports that it will import labels from gmail but doesn't allow the creation of new labels. ..and how does it maintain *both* labels and folders?
Does Spark really support gmail labels? I've read reports that it imports labels from gmail but doesn't allow the creation of new labels. ..and how does it handle folders and labels simultaneously? (I.e. how would it know which gmail labels should behave as folders and which should behave as labels?)
Airmail doesn't support a second factor authentication as implemented by Okta or others.
I'm concerned about security with Airmail, I'm using the Airmail beta version for testing v 2.6. It automatically configured my gmail, iCloud and another IMAP account and I'm not sure the security configuration for my accounts is sending out my password in clear text or encrypted: incoming server security set to 'NONE' for iCloud, “PLAIN' for my imap account and “LOGIN” for gmail account. Anyone know if this app is sending out credentials securely?
Thanks!
No Airmail 2.6 for Mac do not have push notification and does not store your credentials or messages on our servers. Gmail tabs support is planned.
No mention of the fact that Airmail still doesn't support Google's mail tabs (Primary, Social, Promotions, Updates), which makes Airmail pretty useless if you've been using Gmail web interface or something like Mailplane.
Maybe upvoting that a bit might help?
Nice review. Just a quick question, is it possible to move mails from one account to another in Airmail?
Thunderbird worked fine for both POP Earthlink AND IMAP Google for a few days .. then it won't download gMail.
GOOGLE BULLY !
I have not used Thunderbird before and I find I can have mailBox for both POP and IMAP. I am in the process of setting up multiple accounts.
I don't know how easy it is to set up mail boxes yet. MacMail compared to Eudora is a pain, but at least I can retrieve both POP and IMAP on MacMail.
Because of my experience with mail clients failing at some point, or the server won't deliver to some mail clients, and not to others for a period of time, I need to have my mail backed up in various places to be bullet proof.
I'll see how this goes .. Unfortunately Thunderbird does not work on iPhone ..
I was hoping to find a mail client to use on both iPhone and the MacBook Pros that i have. I'm still waiting for someone to design a mail client as robust and flexible as Eudora. If you did not use it to it's full capacity over a period of years, it is hard to understand the robust capabilities .. I have Eudora on another computer running Snow Leopard just so that I can find the mail I need, but I can't trust that old computer to do run the art applications because it is too small HD.
Funny to see someone mention good ol' Eudora. Love of my email life. People have absolutely -no- idea of what they are missing with this mail client. Of course - if you don't live, breath, eat, and die by information, then it doesn't matter. But for those of us that do/did, Eudora is sort of like the Moon space program. Cost enormous amounts of money to make, was built insanely well, and had capabilities that are no longer existent or even understood.
All of these current clients are missing robust search functions that let you sort and search years and tens of thousands of emails in an intelligent and refined way. This is critical when you need to pull out old information with just a single possible keyword.
So critical, I run a VMWare Snow Leopard 10.6 session on my Yosemite OS mac. It's a crazy thing to do, but for some of us, our email boxes are like mind maps - like cybernetic memories. And Eudora dying is like a burnt out chip implant in our brains - unupgradable, unfixable, debilitating and painful - since no one was -capable- of building anything like it with a cheap 'freemium' biz model.
How the hell did email become so depreciated that nobody knows what a real email client could actually be capable of? Apple mail is almost worthless. I understand this, as Apple leaves real client software efforts to real developers. But it seems building something the magnitude of Eudora is not something a few 20 something devs using github, grubhub, Soylent, and caffeine can pound out in a few sweaty equity months, so we have toys that are bought and killed by Acme MegaCorp if they remotely start to function. Craaaazy man..
I would not have discovered MailMate without this article. I just downloaded the 30-day full trial.
I gotta say I really like it. It automatically set up and downloaded 8 mailboxes based upon what I had in Mac Mail.
I'm reading the 'instructions' my only questions is can I download earthlink mail as well like I can in Mac Mail.
This is a really really fine mail client. If I can't find something that functions with gMail as well as this, I might spring for the $49 ..which is something we really cannot afford at this time, but I can't be using a web server browser screen for mail at this point during my life, LOL.
Thanks again for the article ! In the meanwhile I'll check out some of the others.
Apologies, I'm so annoyed with my lack of downloading gMail that I completely forgot to THANK YOU for the wonderful research .. I'll give a few a try .. but please peeps, forget PostBox. Very unreliable.
PostBox *used* to work with gMail .. I have spent months trying to get it to work and it will not.
I use MacMail as it will download both Earthlink and gMail .. however now THAT will now download gMail either!
So I'm looking for a mail client to use as a backup for my gMail mail. It goes to the iPhone but not Mavericks desktop. This is very frustrating as I backup my Hubby's mail on my Mac and now his Google mail has been lost several times and I have no backup.
I want a mail client that LOOKS and WORKS like Eudora .. that I can write scripts for and have a ROBUST mail client like that. One that never fails and for me -- I hate stars, personalities, and all that garbage.
I want a regular dependable mail client that will down load for IMAP and POP and will do stuff in folders like Mac Mail and Eudora but will ALWAYS work with gMail.
DropBox is owned by relation to Bush .. no wonder peeps were saying that DropBox is not secure !
I guess I'll have to wait for the reincarnation of Eudora or a different MacMail ..
Thank goodness I never gave up my Earthlink emails (almost 20 years) for that stupid free gMail as they keep blocking my downloads when I have never asked for that and it seems almost impossible to get them running again. It worked for a year and then nothing. No matter how many times I delete an account, change the password, etc. etc.
We need some creative programs who will do a labor of love and create an AWESOME mail client.
Geez, I guess desktop email apps are just out of style on Windows and Mac. I'm not crazy about any of these.
Postbox looks good, but it has gone up to $15. That seems like a lot considering probably 80% of the code came to them at no charge.
I was entertained by the Condoleezza Rice comment considering the context of this article: GOOGLE mail clients. Worrying about privacy in Mailbox is like going back into a burning house to see if you left the oven on.
Why not just simply use Apple Mail app?? It has a nice interface and handles multiple email accounts nicely and does all the cool things you seem to like works flawlessly in the Mail app.
thanks for the comparison
Airmail has an iOS version coming soon as well. Can't wait!
Check out kiwi for gmail (gmail for mac on kickstarter)
Thanks for your review. I am going to buy Airmail because you mentioned the one feature that I really want and have not been able to find: the ability to label a message without archiving it. I have tried Mailbox, Outlook, and Postbox.
Thanks!
I've been using the Gmail web app for about 6-7 years now, but since became a freelancer I travel so much, I felt I needed a desktop client so I could work offline at airports, on trains, etc.
I've tried out a few options above but none was perfect:
Mailbox: really like the simplicity and the interface, but for some weird reason, it didn't mirror the current state of my (empty) Gmail inbox, hence I had 4200 unread messages, which isn't very helpful.
Airmail: like the interface, but when I tried to work offline, annoying messages popped up that it couldn't send the messages. More annoyingly, it doesn't offer the not very complicated outbox feature, so all the unsent messages were categorised as 'Drafts' and I had to send them manually, once I had connection again.
Postbox: ruled it out as you have to decrease the security of your gmail account, which I was not willing to do.
Now that it has been a few months, how has Mailbox worked out for you? Being able to get things accomplished while offline is one of the main reasons why I don't use Webmail. That can really boost productivity while you're on the road.
I've been using Apple Mail for everything (including Gmail) over the years, but now that I'm collecting emails from 10+ mailboxes, the volume has really bogged down the app. I keep deleting, but it's problematic to have tens of thousands of emails.
I want to separate my Gmails from my domain emails, which I've already done on iOS devices w/ the Gmail app. Now I'm looking for the best email client for Gmail on the desktop!
I am looking for another email program to use. I have been using Thunderbird for nearly 10 years, on a PC and now on a Mac Book Air, for the last 3 years. I have been very happy with Thunderbird and would still use it, if it would operate correctly with the new apple update OS X Yosemite. Since I downloaded OS X, Sending a photo with Thunderbird can no longer happen. Apple have made the files where your photo are kept, very hard to find for Thunderbird. In fact the photo file that TB tries to find isn't there. As TB is so old and OS X so new the, it seems they have different ways of finding things. I'm not very happy with the way Photos in OS X has sorted out my files a lot more work and harder to move photos around. In time we will all get use to using Photos but in the mean time there will be a lot of unhappy people. Has any body else had trouble with OS X trying to email photos?
Looking at some of the other email programs no one has mentioned emailing photos?
Look forward to any comments Gary
First off, thanks for the post. I am not a experienced user per say, and i think my needs are fairly simple. I have only one gmail account that i want to link to my mail app, so labelling may not be a priority. I need it to be very user friendly and stable, and easy to archive messages.
I tried Outlook for Mac, but I kept receiving the same e-mails two to three times, and couldn't find a way to eliminate that. Sometimes I received e-mails on the web, and not in outlook..
I tried the original Mail app for Mac, but i never could figure out a proper way to install the account and synchronize everything.
I am now using Thunderbird, but it is a bit problematic not to be able to see event invitations. And it now seems to be a bit unstable (a lot of application memory problems..)
I am starting to think the only stable option is the web based gmail, but as others were saying: it is not fantastic..
Any hints?
Check out Airmail! I think it's the best option available right now.
Gmail Offline is a reasonable suggestion, but I have not tried it. If it's anything like normal Gmail web client, it would not meet my wishes, which are:
* Integrated work and home email accounts
* Introspect dates, addresses in mail body to auto-create events and contacts when you rollover (I think only Air Mail and Apple Mail do this).
* Archive messages to local storage where they are still searchable
* Sort mail lists by to, from, status, attachment, etc.
* Include mail in OS X Spotlight searches (often finds things I wasn't expecting to find in email)
* Its hard to copy text (like subjects) when everything is a link.
* I reserve Chrome for Flash content browsing only. Flash is not installed in OS X, for efficiency and extra security. http://daringfireball.net/2010/11/flash_free_and_cheating_with_google_chrome (or Google 'gruber flash chrome')To resolve slowness, I'm paring down my gmail archive, and upgraded to Yosemite last night.
Because we use email so much, the user interface and UX is critical and personal. Everybody can find something that works for them, and choice is great! Which is why this comment thread could go on forever :-)
I used Airmail for about half a year, with an Exchange account and two Gmail accounts. It did a good job with Exchange as well. In the end, though, the way it would file my sent mail item in a conversation along with a reply, when I only wanted to file the reply, was a deal-breaker. Did you notice this or find a workaround?
I'm back on Apple Mail, although having severe performance problems due to Gmail's seem tendency to archive everything, even though I've set Mail to trash-not-archive mode. At about 50,000 items, Mail can't keep up.
(I love how the conversation here has continued over time. I'm always finding pieces like this via Google search, and extended commenting is increasingly rare. Nice job on the replies.)
I was not a fan of the Bush administration but your assertion that Condoleezza Rice's being on the board of DropBox makes people nervous about using Mailbox is just plain stupid. You're either a bald-faced liar or an utter idiot. Seriously, do you think she's sitting in board meetings saying stuff like, 'Let's loosen up security controls in Mailbox to make it easier for us and the government to snoop on people.'? No, I don't work for those companies. I have no vested interest in the product. I don't even like Rice.
I love Reading these posts but I think we all miss sparrow right? There is simply no alternative and that sucks :-)
Exactly. Sparrow was the best client. I would still continue to use it but Sparrow started to act weird. When I send an e-mail to my domain's email from my Gmail's address it is rejected by secureserver.net (GoDaddy server). And if I send the same email from Google web interface or Apple Mail it works fine.
I have no idea why Sparrow started to use GoDaddy smtp server or what other reason for this behaviour. It seems I just have to withdraw Sparrow and it's really pity.
It was a bad choice for Sparrow team to cancel Sparrow support the next day the got money from Google. Funny thing I have bought Sparrow for Mac and just next day they announced it's over ;)
Hello,
thanks a lot for your benchmark about these mail software.
Can you tell me how did you show the name of your labels in AirMail in your thumbnail ?Thanks
What about foxmail ?
Note that Outlook for Mac works differently than the version under Office 365. Regular Outlook for Mac will sync calendar and contacts, where the 365 version requires Exchange to do so. I thought that might need to be clarified.
I saw the comment on Outlook for Mac. I wouldn't have gone to it but with my frustration with Mail and my wife getting a Office 365 subscription with her new Surface I decided to give it a go. Microsoft support tells me that gmail calendar and contacts will not sync without Google creating an Exchange account for my gmail to flow through. Ive never used Exchange, except when dealing with my employers email, so Im wondering if they will want to charge me for it. If so, I may abandon Outlook and come back to this article to choose another client. Good list here. Thanks
Hi Mike and Dann,
I just trialed and then started an install of Office 365, with Google Apps support on the phone, and just as I was ready to hit 'go', he found a major problem: Outlook for Mac 2011 AND Office 365 do not support aliases. That's it; game over for me!Really bummed.
Gmail for Mac (by Zive) is supposed to be released soon. It looks very promising, although I can't imagine they'll be allowed to keep that name. I'm currently a Postbox user, have been for many years, and is my preferred client. While not quite as visually appealing as others, it's customizability and functionality are above and beyond the competition. Works flawlessly with Gmail, labels, etc. and even allows Gmail shortcuts (to some extent).
I just installed MailMate and must admit I'm impressed. The scope of Smart Folder options makes it a very powerful tool for message grouping/processing. $50 is hardly expensive for a piece of software that is used daily and increases productivity through its feature set. 10 cups of Starbucks. 5 fast food meals. A tank of gas. I mean, seriously.
Unfortunately Postbox has been decreasing in usability for a while now. Over the last three months especially it's been crashing about 6 times a day, freezing a lot and just generally being really shitty. I've stopped using it - decrease in work output due to constant restarts, having to rewrite emails, etc was too much. Am on the lookout for a new client..
Shame too, as I really love to delegation of emails (important, etc) and also use of smart inboxes that can sit along the top tool bar..
Maybe if they fix all the bugs - instead of telling me to look at their FAQ all the time - I'll head back. It's a good app for sure and really did help a lot when I first started using them..
it's frustrating for sure, but it seems to be part an parcel with email clients these days. think i've tried about ten now, all which fail in some way or another. seems anyone building a client is more obsessed with the fairytale dream of 'zero box' versus creating something for people who need it for organisation.
again, if postbox pull their finger out i'll head back. right now i'm stuck in the browser with gmail. also very gross.
thanks for the heads up on airmail, was about to re download it again for another shot (search function, or lack there of it, has always killed it for me)
Good article, Dann, and very much appreciated but it was really spoiled by the interjection of politics into an email review.
Obama's NSA spying on ALL emails and cell calls of ALL of us doesn't scare you 1,000x more than Rice, an ex-Secretary of State and highly respected college professor and college President, on the Dropbox board?
Privacy concerns are fair but really?
I'm looking for an alternative to Mac mail, which I find drab and unreliable (some messages from inbox get trashed and no one seems to know how), and I'm seeing mostly conflicting opinions. Macworld likes Postbox, the Sweet Spot loves Mailbox, which this site doesn't (Bush administration and Condoleezza Rice, really???) and prefers Airmail which SS hates.
I think I'll give Postbox the chance; it looks robust and I think I live with some austerity. Anyway, thank you for the analysis; it helped me make the decision.
I tried the $2 version of Airmail for a while but I had all sorts of syncing problems with Gmail, such as not being able to find Sent mail (it wasn't getting labeled). I like Apple Mail's aesthetics except it doesn't always work reliably with Gmail. Sometimes mail sits for hours and hours on the Gmail server and never gets synced over into Mail. Also the lack of simple labeling (shortcut L) and label/archiving (shortcut V) is a big drawback.
I've been using Mailplane for a while now simple because it is reliable and because of the Gmail shortcut support. But its handling of embedded images is really awkward (it takes like 4 clicks before you can finally paste a PNG and get it sized right. That works much better in Mail. And, of course, it only works with Gmail.
One feature that Mail has which neither Gmail nor Mailplane has is 'Send Again' which is very useful in my work. In Mailplane the best you can do is forward and clean things up before sending. Airmail insists it has a 'Send Again' feature but at least the version I had did not and I got tired of arguing with their developers about it. The feature labeled Send Again didn't. I wonder if the new $10 version has that feature.
Also, the aesthetics of Airmail still didn't seem as nice to me as Apple Mail. The black left columns seemed gaudy to me. But again, I don't know if that has changed lately.
I read about all sorts of problems with Airmail and Gmail, but you seem to indicate that there are no problems anymore. No syncing or missed labeling issues remaining?
Thanks,
doug
Dann, the Mailbox (beta) app for Mac actually does support Gmail labels. But like its iOS sibling, you need to move all your labels (in Gmail web) under the [Mailbox] label. Then they all show up in the Mailbox app.
One of my frustrations with The default Mail app is that the font becomes messy when emails are viewed in Outlook on pcs (they'd often arrive in 2 different fonts). I tried add-ins but found they always seemed to lag Mac updates. Hence switched to Airmail and this has addressed the problem. Since many corporate users are not in the Mac environment isn't the presentation format of emails important in any assessment of desktop email client?
A useful roundup, but if you're truly searching for 'the perfect Mac desktop Gmail client' then I feel you should have reviewed MailMate for its features and THEN commented on its cost – not simply rejected it solely on that basis.
MailMate is a very powerful, effective email client, and I originally found it through a similar article that did exactly what I suggested above: reviewed it for its features and pointed out the cost. From that I made my shortlist of apps to try and decided that MailMate's price was worth it *for me*. It has turned out to be MY perfect email client, as far as such a thing is possible.You've left out Google's own offline Gmail client. It is by far the best.
You have successfully logged my monthly experience and evaluation of mail apps for quite some time! I found this post by doing my regular search for 'Mac Email Client.' I was too a fan of Sparrow and ditched it when support stopped. Since then I've been simply web-based Gmail.. but that is so.. I don't know.. 'non-fantastical.' The search continues for me — and may include giving Airmail another go. I am also excited (?) about the Gmail 'Inbox': the Google Kool-Aid has been good so far so I'm all for drinking more of it.
I'm sorry If It may sound out of sync but why was Outlook for MAC not a part of evaluation here?
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Oh yes; must say not a fan of Outlook or M$ but then been in professional environment and using exchange addresses, I've had to work with it. I've been using Outlook for mac for my personal gmail account for nearly 4 years now. Granted no supported for labels; it plays fairly nicely actually. I still use OSX's stock calendar which works pretty well(instantly) with Gmail's calendar. That's why I wondered why not Outlook for Mac.
I've used Apple's Mail but much as I like Apple's products(barring iPhones), Outlook for mac is what I'd prefer.
Mailmate has a 30 day trial option. Given that's the case, I'm amazed you can assert that it's 'way too expensive' without offering any supporting evidence.
For me at least, Mailmate had a unique combination of *working* label / tag support, multiple account / identity support, and a functional threaded conversation view that no other client offered.
Well worth the price od admission if you drive your workflow largely from email, and don't want to be locked into a particular web client / provider.
Here, here.
i worked thru all the listed apps in the list above and found that with my 5 mail email addresses (all on different services) Mailmate was well worth the money.
Frank
Before I made the change to Mac earlier this year, I was an undecided Thunderbird/Webmail user. Thuderbird, being free, was an excellent choice. The possibility of running a calendar extension made things even better. But, like discussed, the 'labels' feature made web(g)mail more interesting and, at times, easier to use. I created a million different filters to get my folders on Thunderbird to work similar to webmail, but I continued to use both intermittently. I later won a Postbox contest (courtesy of MakeUseOf) and didn't return to Thunderbird or Webmail. The interface and other little things were decisive.
Later, with the change to Mac, I figured I'd continue using the OSX version on my Mac. I set up both Postbox and the native Mail client.. but for some reason, the Mac's native client felt better.
Sure, I can't play around with labels (but for my day to day usage, they're not that necessary), and for integrating my work account, it seemed to perform better than Postbox. Mac Mail has what I need.. and whenever necessary, I'll jump to webmail to clean out my trash and spam and all that other junk Mail can't handle.
I tried all of desktops mail clients and still number one for me is Sparrow. I know that no updates but everything works fast and good :)
By Marty Edwards
Sunday, January 17, 2016, 04:09 pm PT (07:09 pm ET)
Google's Gmail is one of the most popular email products around, and with generous storage allotments, reliable service and easy web or client integration, it's not difficult to see why. There is one negative, however, in that push email support for iOS and Mac is lacking. If you depend on Gmail and need instant access to your messages, you'll want to look beyond Apple's first-party offerings.
In evaluating the following Mac applications, each was loaded one-by-one and tested by sending emails from a second Gmail account running in a Web browser on another computer.
MailPlane
MailPlane offers the best OS X experience of any third party mail application. It's easy to configure, handles multiple accounts and was by far the quickest to push Gmail to the Mac. Testing from one account to another, MailPlane never once failed on a push operation.
The interface is nearly identical to the Gmail Web interface, with the addition of some larger icons at the top for quick email composition, message management, access your contacts and more. Just above an integrated Google search bar are tabs for adding multiple Gmail accounts, as well as Gmail Calendar and Contacts.
If you don't like Gmail's Web interface, you probably won't like MailPlane as it's basically an OS X-coded wrapper. However, that same interface makes MailPlane a familiar work environment, while feature additions make it much more functional and easy to use compared to the regular Web client.
For example, I really liked the menu bar icon —a black M in the Mac menu bar that turns red when you have new mail. You can click on this M to get new mail, compose mail, or set do not disturb. When you select do not disturb, the M turns upside to look like a W.
MailPlane, according to the website has been around for 8.8 years and has had 156 updates. The app is available for a single user for $24.95 but can be installed on any Mac you personally use. There is a family license for up to five people in the same household for $39.95. MailPlane is not available on the Mac App Store but can be downloaded from the developer's website. There is a 15-day trial if you want to check it out first.
CloudMagic
CouldMagic has fielded apps for iOS and Android for some time, and this month the company launched a version for OS X. CouldMagic is much more than a simple email app. It combines all your emails accounts into one app and synchronizes them across all devices on which you have the app installed whether iOS, Android or OS X.
Setup with Gmail was quick and easy. After Gmail asked for the standard permissions, all my folders and gmail synced up automatically. You can also add Exchange, Yahoo, Outlook, iCloud and other IMAP email accounts. Google Apps are also supported.
One feature I really enjoyed with the CloudMagic iPhone app is that you can select the options to show when you swipe from the lock screen. With Gmail's native app, I'm limited to read or archive (I prefer delete or archive, as many emails don't need to be saved). The iPhone app also lets you assign different tone alerts to each account helping you know which account received an email before you even look. You can set many preferences for each account such as signature and color, all of which syncs across devices.
On the Mac —and iPhone —pushing of Gmails was practically instant most of the time. Any delays we experienced were a few seconds at most.
You do not need to set up a CloudMagic account, but if you do, you obtain additional benefits. You can log into multiple devices and all your email account credentials will sync. Your preferences like signatures and account colors also sync and CloudMagic gives you the ability to remotely wipe data if you lose your phone or tablet.
CloudMagic is a very powerful tool in simplifying email and making it 'one' across all devices, whether it be Mac, iPhone or even Android hardware. If you primarily use just one email account such as Gmail, CloudMagic might be more than you need, but the extras —syncing signatures, look-up, remote data wiping —make the program well worth the price. I set up an Outlook account on my iPhone and in moments it was synchronized to my Mac desktop via 'cloud magic.' If you have many email accounts with many devices, CloudMagic is certainly worth a look.
CloudMagic is not completely without issue, however. Because I run OS X in a slightly reduced resolution to better accommodate my eyes, the right side of the app always fell off the screen. Resizing the window was a no go, and enlarging it simply amplified the problem. I also use Windows machines quite often and CloudMagic is not yet available on Microsoft's platform.
Some might be concerned having another cloud service accessing their email. If that is a concern, you can use the app(s) without creating a CloudMagic account. The company says this makes notifications less reliable and you are not able to sync preferences.
CloudMagic is available on the Mac App Store for $19.99.
Unibox
Unibox is the cleanest looking of all the applications tested and certainly looked the most 'Apple-like' in appearance, but not so in function. Setup of a 2-step verification Gmail account was very quick and easy, but an interface so clean and minimalist did add somewhat to the learning curve. Unibox approaches viewing your email quite differently.
Even though the general look of Unibox was familiar, the way the application deals with email is quite different. On the left pane you have a list of contacts in the order you last communicated with them. The latest contact is always at the top and when you click on that contact, all their messages are on the right. It is a very interesting and fresh approach to viewing email, but after literally decades of viewing emails the 'traditional' way I found the Unibox approach somewhat cumbersome at first.
After a few hours, however, it became second nature to look for email by person and not by timeline. But, if you are switching from computer to computer or a device with a traditional email layout, coming back to Unibox will possibly be more confusing than helpful.
A nice feature was that Unibox placed the logo of each company (when available) or Google portrait in the left column, which made finding email threads visually easy and fast.
Unibox provides a view that shows all attachments exchanged with a particular contact. That was extremely useful for looking for an attachment from a client.
Replies were simple without the formatting options of the other applications. The pushing of new gmail was quick but not nearly and instant as some of the other applications, but should be fast enough for day to day usage.
Unibox is available on the Mac App store for $9.99, but you can download a 15-day trial from the the Unibox website.
Postbox
Postbox looks very much like the native OS X mail client. If you are used to Apple Mail on OS X, then Postbox will feel very familiar. Postbox offers many options such as vertical or horizontal layout with or without inline images.
Postbox offers cloud file sharing where you can simply drop a file from Dropbox, OneDrive, or other cloud services into the body of a message and a link to that file is created automatically.
You can streamline your replies by creating a set of pre-written responses such as for customer service or sales. The responses can include text, HTML, images, etc., which make it perfect to quickly respond with inquires for more information on products. When you reply you can choose from a drop menu and select the pre-written response you want or compose a new one at that time. This option, along with easy inclusion of cloud based files, make Postbox a very strong email client for businesses.