Alternatives to Thunderbird

[BobH]

I gave up on MS Outlook many years ago. Like so many MS apps, it was just to fat. I went to Thunderbird and was a happy camper for those many years until recently.

I tried Fastmail and a) didn't like the way it works, b) never could get it to work satisfactorily. I also tried Mailbird and had problems getting it set up. (Maybe PEBCAK applies, eh?)

The problems seemed to start with Ver. 115.

Now, I cannot add an account to Thunderbird . . . not even an account that I had set up on TB but deleted because I hit issues and thought that deleting and re-adding would fix the problem. It didn't. I now have about 10 email addresses that I cannot use by any means other than webmail at the appropriate domains' sites.

I'm about ready to abandon Thunderbird, as much because of not being able to get any effective answers from Mozilla Support forum as because of the stated problem. I've tried the usual remove/download fresh copy/reinstall without success.

What email clients do you use (other than Outlook and Thunderbird)?

[RonH]

Morning Bob,
Like you, I have been looking for alternatives to T'bird 115, though mine is functioning OK just now ... I stopped 115 updating because of what's on their forum. My email requirements are fairly basic and I only use two addresses.

Choices? Difficult because what I use a lot are the T'bird Local Folders. I do not keep emails at server, preferring to retain locally on pc ... which I also copy to the Mailstore free software.

I have considered New Outlook for Windows but as yet no Drag & Drop! Also local folder flexibility leads me to consider setting up Windows Documents Folder/Sub folders and saving in .eml ... all entirely possible but messy until Outlook has drag & drop. Save As is a solution just now.

Given that I don't plan to alter T'bird Settings, I will continue with it for now. It's a complex product, somewhat techo, but if I keep my requirements simple then I will 'tread water'.

No answer for you but just my pennyworth.

[stuck]

Likewise, no alternative suggestion for you but...

I gave up on MS Outlook many years ago...

Whereas I've used MS Outlook since the release of Office 2010 and never had any bother with it at all. First on my Win XP Media Center Edition machine, which only had a Pentium CPU, 4G RAM and a 256 GB HDD (and 1 TB HDD for data) and now on my Win 10 Pro machine, which only has a Core i5 third gen, CPU, 8 GB RAM and a 256 GB SSB (and a 10 TB HDD for data). Neither of these machines could ever be described as state of the art, both 'old' (i.e. refurb. machines) when I bought them.

I have numerous email addresses that all resolve to one of three mailboxes and Outlook is configured to POP each of those mailboxes into three separate accounts. OK, so using POP means that when I'm out and about and wish to access my email (via webmail) from my laptop I can only see as far back as the longer of either the last 14 days or the last date I checked the accounts from my desktop of messages but that's never been a problem for me.

Similarly, both of my sons use MS Outlook, as part of a MS 365 subscription, as an IMAP client and have done for a long time, again without any problems.

Ken

[ChrisGreaves]

... Now, I cannot add an account to Thunderbird... I'm about ready to abandon Thunderbird,

Hi Bob. I'm with Ron on this. I like to store all meaningful emails on my PC. I have tried migrating folders from another installation to no avail, for example when installing TBird on a new laptop. At this stage of Windows O/s i expected to find something like "Import Folder" or even (gasp!) drag-and-drop.
TBird seems, to me, to be a very insular program - works well if left to do what it was told to do, but unimaginative when it comes to Real World.

And again, with Ron "No answer for you but just my pennyworth."
Cheers, Chris

[jonwallace]

For those hankering after a more old-school Thunderbird-like experience, there is always epyrus.
I believe that it's possible to import an older Thunderbird profile, but newer ones tend to bork the install.
I think (although I've never tried it) that it would be possible to recreate the mailbox structure and then copy the mailbox folders from a Thunderbird profile to an epyrus profile, but YMMV.

Disclaimer: I don't use this, I'm happy with Thunderbird for the moment, though I don't know how long that'll last...

[jonwallace]

I have tried migrating folders from another installation to no avail, for example when installing TBird on a new laptop. At this stage of Windows O/s i expected to find something like "Import Folder" or even (gasp!) drag-and-drop.

I have had excellent success in the past using the procedure:

• Find your TB profile on the old PC and copy it to a stick (USB, not forked). Beware, it might be huge!

• Install TB on the new PC.

• Run it, but cancel out without creating any accounts etc. and close TB

• Find the profile on the new PC and copy the contents of the profile folder off your stick into the profile folder newly created.

and there you go.
Note: the profile is usually in someplace like C:\Users\yournamehere\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles and will look like b2aalza6.default. It's the contents of this folder you want to copy into the new profile folder.

[Ted Myers]

Tbird can use many company's emails but there is no mention of the one members use. I use Gmail in Tbird and have no problem with email, calendar or address's book.

[BobH]

Like Ted, Chris, and Ken I use POP to download email from the server to my system. I much prefer this; however, I cannot re-add old accounts (deleted in attempts to solve the problem) or add new ones to T-Bird and have relied on Webmail for the last months whilst my ISP(Astound) resolves issues (attempts to resolve; this has been ongoing for months) it has with the domain they purchased. My situation is complicated by T-Bird problems as I cannot add accounts with ANY domain. The process proceeds to the point of probing servers to validate my settings but fails every time when I proceed to add the account. I get a message indicating that the server failed to accept my credentials which I believe NOT to be the case as one of the domains whose servers I use also houses a web page for me. I cannot add accounts with my ISP's domain, with Google's domain, or with the IONOS domain I own.

If I could get these issues resolved, I'd probably stay with Thunderbird. I've used it for years - maybe decades - but Ver. 115 seems to have ruined it, for me at least.

[stuck]

...I get a message indicating that the server failed to accept my credentials which I believe NOT to be the case...

I can sort of / perhaps relate to that as I had similar messages ,and the associated indignation that I had got the right credentials, when I came to rebuild my Outlook client a couple of months ago (after a freak power surge blew out my entire Windows installation). It took me more than one attempt to get the right combination of incoming/ outgoing server names, together with their correct ports numbers AND the type of encryption protocol (STARTTLS or SSL/TLS) that was required I got there in the end though.

Ken

[BobH]

LOL

Thanks for the reality check, Ken!

I have been down that track so many times that I have the variables memorized for the three domains mentioned; HOWEVER, I created a notepad with the correct values and copy and paste the information to avoid typographical errors. I even went to the extent of having my SIL look over my shoulder and verify that I have the correct information in my notepad. PLUS, I've been on the phone with customer service and had them verify that I had the correct values. PLUS PLUS it's a problem no matter what domain name is in an email address I attempt to add.

I think Mozilla Thunderbird took a perfectly good, functioning email client and turned it around with ver. 215.

[Ted Myers]

I forgot to state that I have two (2) gmail accounts in Tbird using POP3. I believe it gives me better control.

[RonH]

Quote from Ken ...
It took me more than one attempt to get the right combination of incoming/ outgoing server names, together with their correct ports numbers AND the type of encryption protocol (STARTTLS or SSL/TLS) that was required I got there in the end though.
Ken
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UPDATE. After taking lunch, the interconnect between Thunderbird and Outlook is OK ... for now at least! There are many report on the web about interfacing Outlook with Thunderbird and differing ways that folk have tried to use to solve. Maybe its just a matter of 'waiting' ...

We now have a recent issue between Thunderbird and Outlook.com ... nothing has been changed locally by us and no pc failures Entering password achieves nothing!

Screenshot 2024-01-28 102602.jpg

It constantly keeps coming up, both on my W11 pc and my lady's W10 pc.
Server Settings on both pc's:
Normal Password, SSL/TLS, imap-mail.outlook.com, Port 993
After clicking 'Cancel' Outlook behaves normally ... until the next time.
Any clues 'how to solve' would be appreciated ... could it be associated with Microsoft introducing 'New Outlook for Windows?'

[BobH]

I wonder if the Mozilla team working on TB didn't jump the shark with ver. 115.