The ideal email client for the desktop - is there such a thing? Mail clients for macOS The best mail program for mac os.

• Category: Productivity, Internet
• Developer/Publisher: dropbox
• Version: 0.7.5
• Russian language: No
• Mac: free [Download from official website]

Apple makes great apps, that's for sure, but Mail for OS X has a lot of room to grow. The issue of quality mail for Mac has always been acute. Yes, there are powerful email apps, but none of them are truly user-friendly. In today's review, I will tell you about mail so simple that even a child can handle it.

The first thing that shows this simplicity is the setup process. You just need to enter your login and password, after which all your mail will be synchronized in the shortest possible time (thanks to the unusual algorithm for working with letters). No more ports, protocols, and other geeky perks. True, you can only connect Gmail and . The rest will have to be abandoned. For me, this is not a problem, since I have forwarded all my mailboxes to Gmail a long time ago.

The design of the application is minimalistic. There are almost no buttons and icons, and what is there looks simple and tasteful. Management in Mailbox is mainly done with gestures: a short swipe to the left will postpone the letter for later, a long swipe will add it to the desired folder, a short swipe to the right marks the letter as read, and a long swipe will delete it. That's all management. There is, of course, a menu in which three more buttons are hidden: add to spam, mark as unread and mark.

As expected, Mailbox knows how to work with drafts, but here it is worth making a reservation: all drafts are stored on Dropbox servers. This means you won't be able to access them from any email client other than Mailbox. Yes, it looks like a drawback, but it allows drafts to sync between your devices almost instantly.

Results

Of course, there are not many advanced features, working with calendars and scheduling, but there are amazing gestures and a great read-ahead mode that allows you to unload an entire mailbox in a couple of minutes. In my opinion, Mailbox is clearly not suitable for corporate purposes, but it is perfect for every ordinary user who just needs fast and convenient access to mail without unnecessary problems, so all that's left is to enjoy.

The macOS High Sierra operating system has a proprietary mail client, but not everyone likes the program and it is a little outdated. Wandering through the App Store, you can see a huge number of alternatives to the standard program, but one product stands out among all, the Spark client is rightfully the best, and here's why.

Simple and stylish design

There are 3 areas in the window: a menu for selecting the desired mailbox, a list of messages and a place for the letter itself. The white and gray theme looks great, does not hurt the eyes and harmonizes well with the style of macOS. When you open Spark, only a few elements are visible: the status of the update, the search, and the button for creating an email. The side menu allows you to open the desired category, such as "Inbox" or "Sent".

At the very bottom, two more actions are available: reply and forward.

smart box

Moreover, unnecessary letters do not even notify about themselves. This approach is user-friendly and has become a competitive advantage over both the standard client and other third-party clients. But it is not at all necessary to trust the algorithms, everything is also configured in the parameters.

Full customization for yourself

For faster work, Spark provides swipes. With their help, you can quickly, without going into the letter itself, perform an action on it. And yes, they are customizable to everyone's needs.

In addition, for greater user productivity, the developers have added "hot keys" or "Shortcuts". They allow you to quickly work with letters without the need for unnecessary actions. To perform any operation, you just need to press a certain key combination.

Plus to the convenience of everything else was the option to transfer letters. You can postpone it to a later time or even to the next week. A huge number of settings that allow you to choose the exact time of the notification when the user is ready to respond to the letter.

conclusions

But it was not without drawbacks. The application does not have Russian language support and it is not known whether it will receive it in the future. However, it is worth noting that even a high school graduate can easily understand most of the inscriptions.

The site's editor-in-chief, Mikk Seed, asked me to recommend a decent email client for him. He was tired of the standard "Mail" for a long time, but he really does not want to trust the working correspondence to the application assembled on his knee. Does it make sense to change something?

To answer his question, I took Apple, Google and Microsoft branded email clients, as well as a couple of third-party applications from top developers. I pushed their foreheads together and found a favorite, which is separately noted at the end of the article.

Each of these email clients turns emails into tasks, guarantees the security of correspondence and opens up access to a number of useful features. But which one to choose?

"Mail" - Apple's standard email client

Advantages: is in the device out of the box, copes with most tasks.

Flaws: no extra features, suffers from notification issues.

Sorry, but I don't have official statistics on the popularity of email clients for iPhone and Mac. However, experience suggests that it is the standard application that is used most often.

After a short setup, you can use it to create and send an email with text, photos and other files as soon as you take the device out of the box.

"Mail" is an excellent email client that really deserves your attention. But he has there are not a lot of really useful features, which will be useful to all those who need electronic to solve work problems.

In "Mail" I have the most lacks smart filter for incoming mail. I want all the useless spam that comes to me very often not to end up in the main directory.

Other users complain about the inability to snooze and schedule an incoming email. This useful feature allows you to be reminded of the presence of a received message at an appropriate time - for example, on weekdays.

And in the standard mail client there have always been problems with push notifications. I don’t know what this is connected with, but letters most often arrive with a long delay, and this is inconvenient.

• Download from App Store (is free)
• Built into macOS(is free)

Inbox - Google's proprietary mail service

Advantages: visual message preview and cool smart filter.

Flaws: not suitable for third party email services, no normal Mac app.

If you actively use Gmail mail, a Google-branded service called Inbox may be a good choice for you.

For some reason, only this company thought of doing normal email preview: Show text, photos, and other files immediately in the feed. All other solutions are extremely bad with this - usually a simple uninformative strip with a letter.

Inbox coolly filters incoming emails and separates important messages from useless junk in an intelligent way.

However, Inbox also has a number of disadvantages that Google has made specifically. For me the biggest no Mac app. On a computer, you have to use the web version, and this is inconvenient.

Personally, I use Gmail, so Inbox would be enough for me on a mobile device. But all other mail services remain practically in the span, and their fans need to look for an alternative.

And Google is too reluctant to optimize its programs for any new features of iOS and iPhone in principle, and this is also a big minus of this application.

• Download from App Store (is free)
• Web version for Mac (is free)

Outlook is an all-in-one app for Microsoft

Advantages: in the same style with other Microsoft products, additional organizer features.

Flaws: in the same style as other Microsoft products, overloaded with organizer features.

Among my acquaintances are dozens of users who prefer Microsoft Outlook to all other applications. All of them are united love for the company's software ecosystem, and active use of Office on Mac.

Outlook has a familiar interface for such users and a complete set of all necessary features, so I see no reason not to use it in this case.

However, I do not know a single person who would use this email client separately from Office - such a few.

Microsoft has tried to turn Outlook from a simple email client into a real one. business tool with organizer capabilities and built a calendar, tasks and notes into it.

On the one hand, it's convenient. If you really use email a lot for business purposes, this all-in-one tool will definitely come in handy.

But on the other hand, Outlook is too functional and clumsy. I have long been accustomed to the fact that such combines are slow, and separate programs for each task are much more efficient.

• Download from App Store (is free)
• Download from Mac App Store (Office 365 subscription)

AirMail wins Apple Design Awards

Advantages: stylish minimalist design, plenty of additional features.

Flaws: frequent failures in work that appear at the most inopportune moment.

In 2017, the AirMail app became Apple Design Award Winner. And this is not surprising, because the developers managed to make a truly functional email client for all occasions.

On the one hand, it has the most simple minimalistic interface without unnecessary controls, which most often only distract from regular work tasks.

On the other hand, the developer managed to fit in this interface a complete set of features necessary for even the most advanced users.

It was this application that I have been using for the past months, and I have never been embarrassed by its cost, even with a whole set of free analogues.

However, for some unknown reason, AirMail fails me at the most inopportune moment. Application at times just refuses to work properly, and this is solved only by a complete reboot of the computer.

For example, the last time the program simply did not want to attach to the letter several documents in PDF format, which I urgently needed to send to my colleagues. So I had to say goodbye to him.

• Download from App Store (379 rubles)
• Download from Mac App Store (749 rubles)

Spark is a free mailer that I use now

Advantages: advanced message filter, simple interface, separate menu for attachments.

Flaws: an obvious overload of possibilities, which is sometimes distracting.

A Ukrainian developer company called Readdle is responsible for creating the Spark email client. Although it can be called Ukrainian only with a big stretch, because the head office of the studio has long been located in San Jose, USA.

You may know her for a range of useful everyday office applications, including the versatile Documents mobile file manager, the advanced Calendars 5 calendar, and the cool Scanner Pro pocket scanner.

Spark really makes it possible look at mail in a new way and he hasn't let me down yet.

How often do you receive and send mail? In this article, we decided to collect the best mail clients for the OS X operating system, which will make it easier to work with mail. We present the most functional and high-quality mail clients.

The structure of this mail client is very similar to the native Mail application, but Airmail 2 differs from the standard application in its appearance and the presence of numerous settings.

Let's add to all this a set of different design themes and a markdown email editor.

The mail client is primarily intended for users who like the standard mail client in OS X, but want more functionality and customization.

Mail Pilot 2

The main advantage of this alternative email client is the presence of a dashboard that displays all incoming mail, as well as active tasks and upcoming appointments.

The undoubted advantage of the application is the presence of a system that effectively organizes letters and work tasks. The creators of Mail Pilot 2, however, did not take care to add push notifications.

An email client is suitable for those users who often use mail for business purposes.

Post Box

This email client differs from most analogues in the presence of close integration with leading social networks. It is thanks to this feature that Post Box is called a socially oriented email client. There is a deep possibility of customization. So, any user familiar with JavaScript can independently create additions and new functions.

A large set of ready-made plugins is available. The mail client has its own RSS reader. Unfortunately, you won't be able to change the appearance, because the mail client does not support themes.

Post Box is the perfect email client for those who like to customize their applications with various plugins.

Inky

This is a client that is designed for the Inky cloud service, which allows you to combine all mailboxes. Users just need to go through a simple registration, link all email clients to an account in order to access them from any device. This feature of the service and the client is the main advantage of Inky. But there is a downside to the coin: you will have to pay a monthly fee of $5 to use the service.

The Inky service and client is suitable for users who want to have access to mail from many devices.

The creators of the Unibox mail client tried to create a high-quality and understandable user interface, which they undoubtedly succeeded in doing. The list of contacts is displayed on the left side, and the correspondence with a specific contact is displayed on the right side.

There are three modes for organizing letters, but there is no option to enable a standard mail view.

That is why Unibox is more suitable for people who use e-mail for personal correspondence.

Cloud Magic

This email client is simple, beautiful and has no unnecessary elements. Thanks to this, Cloud Magic has recently begun to gain popularity among users.

Add-ons are available to users that allow you to integrate third-party services. It is possible to organize team work.

If you want to try one of the most convenient and advanced email clients on your own, then Cloud Magic will be the perfect choice for you.

Which client to choose?

Of course, many prefer to work with a standard email client or Gmail, but we advise you to take a closer look at the clients listed above. If for some reason the email clients listed above are not to your liking, then we advise you to take a closer look at such applications as Outlook, Nylas N1, Mail Mate or Sparrow. They also boast a set of useful features and features and will make working with mail more efficient.

What email clients do you use? Share in the comments.

The standard Apple apps are enough for most. This applies not only to the mail client, but also to notes, reminders, calendar and music player. However, standard Mail is only good if it's not compared to third-party apps. The editors of the site took a look at several major alternatives to the macOS email client.

air mail

The developers position Airmail as "the fastest email client for Mac" and at least do not disappoint. The app is fast, smooth, and looks good on the outside, just like the other alternatives. But Airmail is also a feature-packed client that has features not found in the standard client.

In Airmail, you can write letters in Markdown and HTML, there is support for third-party applications (OmniFocus, Things, Wunderlist and others) and support for AppleScript scripts. Incoming emails can be sorted into To Do (current tasks), Done (completed) and Memo (notes) folders.

The app has recently been released for iOS. One of the minuses of the client is the price. The macOS version is $9.99 and the iOS version is $4.99.

Pros:

1. Support for third party applications.
2. Work speed.
3. Support for standard Gmail hotkeys.

Minuses:

1. Price.
2. Problems with IMAP folders.
3. Lack of some features available in other email clients.

post box

Postbox has been around almost since the launch of the Mac App Store. Externally, the client is similar to the standard Mail and Mozilla Thunderbird. However, in a recent update, the appearance of Postbox has changed significantly.

The advantage of Postbox is in its functionality. The client supports working with several mail accounts at the same time, search by attachments and response templates. The user can reply to emails by clicking on the button with templates and selecting one of the appropriate options.

Postbox costs $15 and can only be purchased from the developer's website. You can also download a trial version and use it for free for 30 days. In addition, there is a two-month money-back guarantee - in fact, the client can be used for free for three months.

Pros:

1. Functionality.
2. Ability to respond with pre-made templates.
3. Trial period.

Minuses:

1. There is no client for iOS.
2. overloaded interface.
3. Lack of Exchange support.

Polymail

Polymail just got out of testing a month ago, but has managed to establish itself as one of the best email clients. The developers managed to combine a simple interface and an abundance of interesting features. For example, Polymail shows receipt notifications for sent emails and knows how to schedule sending at the right time.

Regular updates can also be attributed to the advantages of Polymail - developers are constantly correcting bugs and introducing new features. Unlike alternatives, Polymail is free in both macOS and iOS versions. There is no paid functionality.

Pros:

1. Ability to receive notifications when messages are read.
2. You can postpone sending emails "for later".
3. The application is free.

Minuses:

1. There are still minor bugs.
2. Sometimes the application does not send notifications of new messages.

Mail Pilot

According to the developers, Mail Pilot is a client aimed at maximum productivity. Here, the interface is simple, despite this, the application combines an email client and a task manager. The client is available for macOS, iOS, and watchOS.

In Mail Pilot, you can combine emails into lists, so it's more convenient to work with large tasks. The price for productivity is high - the macOS version is $19.99, the mobile version is $9.99.

Pros:

1. Support for the entire Apple ecosystem.
2. Email client and task manager in one application.
3. Nice interface.

Minuses:

1. A non-standard approach to the mail client may not suit some users.
2. High price.

Mail

Complaints about mediocre Gmail and the need to periodically clear the attachment cache aside, Mail is one of the best email clients for macOS. For many - the best, because the standard.

All the benefits of Mail are tied to the Apple ecosystem. You can search emails in Spotlight, send replies from the notification center, and sign documents right in the app.

Pros:

1. Standard Apple App.
2. Is free.
3. There is support for macOS, iOS, watchOS.

Minuses:

1. Mediocre work with Gmail, especially on iOS.
2. Smaller, in comparison with third-party clients, functionality.