There are a number of possible applications that can take care of this task. In this article I am going to illustrate a few of those tools for you so you can choose which one is the right one for you.  So, without further adieu, let’s get on with the installation and usage. NOTE: All of these tools can be found and installed using the new Ubuntu Software Center. For more information on that tool, take a look at my article “The new Ubuntu Software Center“.

Gmail Notifier

Figure 1

The Gmail Notify  is a very innocuous panel applet that also pops up warnings when you have calendar event notifications set up . The setup of this applet is simple. When you first run the Gmail Notifier a windows will appear (see Figure 1) where you enter your Gmail username/password and configure any options you want. But ultimately all this little applet does is reside in your panel and checks your Gmail Account for new email and pops up alerts.

Make sure, during the configuration, you set your Browser path or when select “Go To Inbox” from the right click menu, no action will be taken.

This entry in the Gmail Linux desktop apps is one of the less flashy, but also less intrusive as, say, the Prism take on desktop Gmail.

Check Gmail

This entry in the desktop Gmail space is one of my favorites. One of the main reasons why I like this one so much is that it only takes a simple mouse over on the panel applet to see a full listing of your Gmail inbox. Now, before you even try to start this application up there is a problem. Out of the box the Check Gmail applet will not be able to log into your account. You will go batty trying to make sure you type in your password correctly. The problem is the executable file in /usr/bin. I’m not sure why the developer has not fixed this (the error has been known since 2007), but here’s the fix:

wget http://checkgmail.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/*checkout*/checkgmail/checkgmail
sudo mv checkgmail /usr/bin/
sudo chmod +x /usr/bin/checkgmail

Figure 2

Once you have done that, Check Gmail will be able to log into your account. Once logged in you will see a tiny red and white applet in your panel that you can right click to get a menu of items to select from (see Figure 2) or you can hover your mouse over to see the first few emails in your inbox and the first couple of upcoming events in your calendar (see Figure 3).

Figure 3

If you do a single left click on the icon your browser window will open for you to log into Gmail. If you right click and select Compose Mail you will also be first taken to the sign in page. Even if you configure Check Gmail to save your password you will still have to sign in to your account before you can read or compose. This is a bit of a frustration and should not be a default behavior. This even happens if you already have a Gmail window open that is authenticated to your account.It would also be nice if you could set the background of the pop up to be transparent so it would be a bit less intrusive, but the application is very usable.

Gmail Prism

What would be a listing of Gmail Apps without including an actual web-based app. I mentioned Prism in my article “Install Prism on Linux for easy to use web apps“. You will find the Prism app listed in Synaptic as Google Mail or Prism for Google Mail. Very little needs to be said about the Prism app other than it’s nothing more than a stripped-down browser window that logs you into your Gmail account. There is no applet to remain out of your way – just a window.

Which is best?

From my experience (and for my preference) Check Gmail gets the vote. Although it has some issues that must be overcome before it will work, once it is working it is the usable of the Gmail applications available. If you rely on Gmail, and check it regularly, you would do well to at least give one of the above a try.

Related posts

• Two Quick Email Tips To Save The Day (19)
• Offline Gmail Buzz (12)
• Gmail UI For Thunderbird (3)
• Are You Up For An Email Client With Unique Features? Read On! (16)
• Yahoo to offer unlimited Email Storage (8)

Reply All With Attachments is a specialized plugin for Microsoft Outlook that has been designed for users who regularly include attachments that were attached to email messages that they received. The add-on has been tested with Outlook 2007 but chance is that it will also function with previous and future versions of the email client.

It has a few additional requirements especially the VSTO 4.0 runtime. The Reply All With Attachments plugin can then be installed by double-clicking the downloaded file. Users should ensure that Outlook is closed during the installation. A new entry called reply all with attachments should appear under the custom actions button in the main Microsoft Outlook menu.

A click on the new entry will automatically open a new email with all attachments of the original email attached. All recipients that have been listed in the original email will also be added as recipients in the new email. Reply All With Attachments is available at the developer’s homepage.

Related posts

• Microsoft Outlook Mail Time Zone Plugin (7)
• Xobni for Microsoft Outlook (1)
• Microsoft Outlook Inbox Management Plugin (1)
• Truemark Email Identification (5)
• Tablet Enhancements 3 for Outlook (1)

If you want to quickly send an email in the Windows operating system you have to start your email client, click on the write button and start writing the email. A much faster way is to press [windows R], type [mailto:] and hit enter. This opens the new email message window of the default email client on the computer system. It is even possible to add parameters like [mailto:admin@example.com?subject=test&body=test2] which would automatically add the recipient admin@example.com, the subject test and the body text test2 to the email.

There is probably a reference somewhere on the Internet that has a list of all possible mailto commands but I could not find it right now. It would be great if anyone would post it.

The second tip is more useful for recipients who sometimes have troubles if their email program divides a link on multiple lines making it lead to a non-existing page as only the first part of the link will be executed. Users who send emails should put long lists in <> brackets to avoid this.

Got any more email tips that you want to share? Let us know in the comments.

Related posts

• Move Thunderbird Email Profiles To Another Location (3)
• Why I’m Still Using A Software Email Client (17)
• Gmail UI For Thunderbird (3)
• Gmail Backup (19)
• Email Client: Thunderbird 2.0.0.21 (1)

It does not really matter if an online email service such as Gmail or a desktop email client such as Mozilla Thunderbird or Microsoft Outlook are used; Most, probably all, do not display information about the recipients timezone in the email client.

Sender’s Time Zone (via Technospot) for Microsoft Outlook changes that for Microsoft Outlook as it displays information about a sender’s time zone when replying to emails.

The plugin for Microsoft Outlook requires no configuration after the installation. It will automatically display the sender’s current time and the time zone difference in hours ahead or behind when replying to email messages in the email program.

Sender’s Time Zone is a plugin for Microsoft Outlook 2007, Outlook 2003, Outlook XP (2002) and Outlook 2000.

Related posts

• Microsoft Outlook Plugin Reply All With Attachments (4)
• Microsoft Outlook Inbox Management Plugin (1)
• Xobni for Microsoft Outlook (1)
• Outlook 2007 SP1 (5)
• Microsoft Outlook Quickbooks Addin (2)

One of the most interesting features is the archive function. Gmail UI adds the archive function of Gmail to Thunderbird. The user selects a folder name for the archive that can be used on account basis which would mean that the folder had to exist under every user account or one global archive folder which obviously only has to be selected once. The keyboard shortcut [Y] moves selected emails from the current folder directly into the archive folder.

That’s however not the only feature that has been ported over. It is possible to move messages up and down with the [J] and [K] keys, mark emails as junk with [Ctrl J] or focus on the quick search bar with [/]. Expressions are added to the quick search bar which mimics the search expressions in Gmail. Some basic examples would be to enter terms like from:paul, to:mike or f:bob t:dave s:help.

Related posts

• Two Quick Email Tips To Save The Day (19)
• Synchronize Contacts Between Thunderbird And Gmail (12)
• Sync Gmail Contacts with Thunderbird (13)
• Gmail Backup (19)
• 5 Extensions to Make Thunderbird Gmail-Friendly (15)

Whatever it may be it turns out to be very, very easy to move a single profile or even all profiles from the default location to another one. The first step is to close the Thunderbird email client so that it will not write data to the profile folder anymore. The default location of the Thunderbird profile folder depends on the operating system in use, below is a list of common locations:

• Windows XP/2000, %AppData%Thunderbird
• Windows 95/98/Me, WINDOWS\Application Data\Thunderbird
• Linux, ~/.thunderbird/
• Mac OS X, ~/Library/Application Support/Thunderbird/

Copy one or several of the Thunderbird profiles to the new location. Now open up the file profiles.ini in the original folder and edit the path pointing to the new profile folder locations accordingly. You also need to change the parameter IsRelative=1 to IsRelative=0. Please note that this is valid for all profiles which means that you need to add the full path (e.g. c:\thunderbird\profiles\profile.code\ in the Windows operating system) to profiles that are kept in the default location. Start the Thunderbird email client. If everything worked well it should display the emails and other data as usual.

Related posts

• Two Quick Email Tips To Save The Day (19)
• Thunderbird Security Update To 2.0.0.17 (0)
• Thunderbird Mailbox Alert (0)
• Thunderbird 3 Release Candidate 1 (5)
• Thunderbird 2.0.0.16 Out (0)

The general responsiveness of Outlook 2007 has been increased by reducing the I/O disk usage processes and UI response times. Startup has been improved by moving long operations from the initial startup while shutdown time was decreased by making Outlook exit predictable. Finally the folder and view switching benefits from improved view rendering and folder switching routines.

The update is currently classified as a hotfix meaning that users will have to request it by providing their email address on a form at the Microsoft website. Users who do use Microsoft Outlook 2007 as their main email client will benefit from the update to a large extent. Startup time might be slower during first startup because of a one-time data structure upgrade.

Microsoft has updated their Mailbox Storage Size Guidance to reflect the performance and responsiveness improvements when utilizing Cached Exchange Mode with respect to mailbox/OST sizes:

• Up to 5 gigabytes (GB): This size should provide a good user experience on most hardware.
• Between 5 GB and 10 GB: This size is typically hardware dependent. Therefore, if you have a fast hard disk and much RAM, your experience will be better. However, slower hard drives, such as drives that are typically found on portable computers or early generation solid state drives (SSDs), experience some application pauses when the drives respond.
• More than 10 GB: This size is where short pauses begin to occur on most hardware.
• Very large, such as 25 GB or larger: This size increases the frequency of the short pauses, especially while you are downloading new e-mail. Alternatively, you can use Send/Receive groups to manually sync your mail.

The service pack for Outlook 2007 contains additional improvements for components like the Calendar or Outlook search among others. Interested users can read up on the Outlook 2007 SP1 update by visiting the extensive Microsoft Knowledgebase article and an official blog post covering the release announcement.

Related posts

• Microsoft Outlook Mail Time Zone Plugin (7)
• Microsoft Outlook Facebook Add-On (1)
• Microsoft Outlook 2007 Essentials (3)
• Recover Lost Outlook Passwords (3)
• Outlook Tips: Multiple Outlook Instances (6)

Although the Thunderbird 2.0.0.21 release notes page is already up it has not been fully updated with information regarding this release. It mentions security related fixes in this version of Thunderbird but the link points to a page that has not been updated yet. The download link on the release notes page is also pointing to Thunderbird 2.0.0.19 and not the current release.

Many users would probably want to update their email client immediately after reading that it contains patches for security issues. Several users reminded us last time we posted a link to a release of Firefox and Thunderbird that we should not do so. So, no link for now which is kinda stupid as everyone with half a brain will be able to find the Mozilla ftp site with the download link of Thunderbird 2.0.0.21.

Everyone else will have to sit tight with an insecure version of Thunderbird until the official distribution process has been completed and the update is officially announced.

Some add-ons might stop working after installing Thunderbird 2.0.0.21. You could try and change the allowed version number manually or wait for the software developer to update the add-on for the email client.

Related posts

• Two Quick Email Tips To Save The Day (19)
• Thunderbird Security Update To 2.0.0.17 (0)
• Thunderbird Quick Folders (2)
• Thunderbird Email Thread Visualizer (2)
• Thunderbird Email Address Crawler (0)

Offline Gmail is an interesting option for users who do not want to (or cannot) install a desktop client on their computer. Everyone else is probably better of using desktop clients like Mozilla Thunderbird, Microsoft Outlook or The Bat which provide many advanced features and usage scenarios that web email clients do not offer.

It should also be noted that Google Gears has to be installed on the computer to make use of the offline Gmail extension. Google Gears is currently only available for Firefox and Microsoft Internet Explorer.

Is the buzz about the new experimental Gmail feature justified? It is highly limited at this point in time and does not come with any features that cannot be achieved otherwise. It might be nice for users who like to use Gmail and do not want the troubles of installing a desktop email client. What’s your take on it?

Related posts

• Two Quick Email Tips To Save The Day (19)
• How To Setup Gmail In External Mail Clients Properly (7)
• Gmail UI For Thunderbird (3)
• Gmail Backup (19)
• Change Default Mail Client In Windows XP (6)

eMailaya is a portable email client for the Windows operating system. It is one of those software programs that receives fantastic ratings all over the place but is known by only a few users. What makes this client unique in comparison to other desktop clients and web based email services?

The answer is its functionality. Have you ever asked yourself why there is no way to send audio or video emails easily? Why there is not a build in feature to check and manage emails on the mail server? Why there is no easy way to backup emails?

Those are just a few of the features that eMailaya comes with. Lets take a closer look at the audio email feature. All you need is a microphone that is connected to the computer. You press a button in the email client that indicates that the recording starts. You talk and as soon as you stop the recording the audio file gets added as an attachment.

The same principle applies to video emails. It is really that easy. No more starting another application, recording the audio or video, saving it and adding it as an attachment.

What else do you get:

• Pop3 and IMAP support
• SSL support
• Calendar
• RSS and RSS2Email
• Quick Chat with email contacts (if both use eMailaya)
• ISP switching
• Tabbed emailing
• Statistics like information when the last email from a specific contact was send / received or about the sizes of specific mail folders.
• Password Protection
• Automatic archiving (create one zipped attachment containing all attachments)
• Upload Files to the mail server
• Dynamic folders on mail server

Is it the right email client for you? That’s a question that is best to be answered after testing eMailaya extensively. The email client can import messages from Gmail, Outlook, Outlook Express and eml/ema/msg files. Contacts can be imported from the Windows address book.

Related posts

• Two Quick Email Tips To Save The Day (19)
• Offline Gmail Buzz (12)
• Move Thunderbird Email Profiles To Another Location (3)
• Microsoft Outlook Mail Time Zone Plugin (7)
• Gmail UI For Thunderbird (3)