Are you tired of having to connect to several web services to read all your e-mails? Looking for a tool to centralize, manage and control all your correspondence? Futura offers a selection of the best email clients, each with interesting specificities.
Over the years, we tend to multiply the number of email addresses we use, especially when we need to check both personal and business emails. This may require us to connect to multiple email clients web. To avoid wasting time navigating and logging in multiple locations, there are free solutions to centralize, view, administer and customize all of your correspondence. Windows offers a built-in to its operating system with Mail /Outlook, but it is possible to find other more complete and more adapted to its needs.
Futura provides an overview of the best free email clients at the moment and reveals their specificities.
Mozilla Thunderbird: the best known
Mozilla Thunderbird is very often the first option that comes to mind when it comes to finding an alternative to Outlook. This email client, as its name suggests, was developed as part of the Mozilla project, whose most famous program is undoubtedly the popular Firefox browser. It is free and open source software, supported by a large community and has been improving since it was first released in 2003.
Mozilla Thunderbird is both complete and easy to handle. For this, he embeds an account creation wizard. Some mail clients need to know and fill in the IMAP, SMTP and SSL / TLS settings of the various services used. Mozilla Thunderbird only requires the name, email, and password. He then configures everything himself by looking for the mail provider information he needs in his database.
The address book can be opened in one click from the emails received to add information about the correspondent (name, photo, date of birth, etc.). It even has a tool for remembering to attach a document if, when it analyzes the message the user is writing, it detects keywords like “coin”, “attached”, “attached” or file format names.
As on Mozilla Firefox, it is possible to open several tabs simultaneously and switch from one to another with one click. Mail / Outlook, to name only one, only allows the preview of one e-mail; Sometimes it’s frustrating to waste time opening and closing the same messages over and over again during a work session.
In addition to its many functions to filter, search and archive its e-mails, Mozilla Thunderbird is a customizable software. Indeed, it is possible not only to change its appearance through hundreds of “Personas” (themes) but also to choose and install dozens of add-ons improving the grip, productivity and data protection.
Finally, Mozilla Thunderbird integrates basic security features. It protects the user against phishing by warning him of the dangerousness of the message and noting that the link contained in the email sends it back to a website different from the one indicated. It also offers tools for detecting spam and warns whenever a security update is available.
It runs on Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux.
Mailbird Lite: the most customizable
Mailbird Lite is an email client (awarded annually since 2013) that offers a successful email management experience. It has a clear interface, easy to understand and fully customizable.
It has so many configurable layout tools with hundreds of colors available and the transition from a dark theme to light in seconds. It also offers the possibility of individualizing the sounds of notifications, whether with those offered by Mailbird Lite, or those of your library. It allows you to connect to your LinkedIn account in one click from the inbox, but also to integrate applications to its interface such as Facebook, Twitter, Dropbox, Google Calendar, Asana, Todoist, WhatsApp, Evernote, etc.
It also contains advanced features such as the ability to configure keyboard shortcuts to archive, reply to messages, compose, transfer, but also an optimized search bar to find attachments and the ability to put certain messages on hold for focus on the most important ones.
A flat is to bring, however, the Lite version allows the management of only one e-mail address. In addition to the unlimited number of addresses, the highly affordable Pro version adds additional features such as quick attachment preview, enhanced read speed, and priority access to customer service.
Mailbird Lite is only available on Windows at the moment.
eM Client Free: the most effective way to boost productivity
We already recommend eM Client in our article on the best free software 2019 for PC. This e-mail client stands out as a very credible alternative to the above-mentioned solutions thanks to its multiple functions that grant a clear saving of time and productivity, as well as its quick and easy installation with the automated import of the parameters of the different courier services.
eM Client Free integrates a tool for automatic backup of the data it contains. The user no longer has to worry about the conservation of his e-mails and can keep his concentration on the tasks he has to perform. It also has an advanced table editing tool, making it easier to resize cells, rows, and columns.
Editing images is also simplified: images pasted into emails are automatically adjusted to a suitable size. The user can always change the size of the image if it is not satisfactory; in addition, he has the possibility of turning it and turning it over.
It also has a feature to configure automatic replies on Gmail and another to create and import PGP keys. These are used to encrypt and digitally sign e-mails. The Free version of eM Client allows you to link two email accounts (for example, the primary personal account and the business account). Switching to the Pro version has the advantage of being able to associate an unlimited number of accounts and to have access to a VIP customer service.
eM Client is available on PC and Mac.
ProtonMail: the most secure
We mentioned it in the article ” How to make my messages and files really private? ProtonMail is a web-based messaging service for people who care about protecting their data. It is a complementary software to those we have presented: unlike the others, ProtonMail does not allow to manage the accounts of various mail clients via a single interface.
Its purpose is different: to offer the highest level of security when it comes to sending and receiving e-mails. Thus, the user has a new e-mail address that he can use for the transmission of important or sensitive information. ProtonMail is completely anonymous, there is no need to enter personal data to create an account and the logs of the IP addresses are not preserved.
It stands out, therefore, primarily by end-to-end encryption, guaranteeing the lowest interception risks for this type of program. Normally, only the sender and the recipient can read the contents of the messages. The data is indeed encrypted using a key to which no one has access except the user. Interesting clarification: ProtonMail’s servers are located in Switzerland. They are therefore subject to Swiss legislation, which is reputed to be one of the most protective in the world with regard to the personal data of customers of companies on its soil.
The free version of ProtonMail is limited to an e-mail address and certain restrictions regarding the size of the storage and the number of messages sent (500 MB and 150 messages per day all the same).
The Plus, Professional and Visionary versions increase storage, the number of e-mail addresses, the number of messages sent daily and the number of users.
