Thunderbird Question

[deadly7]

I've been wanting to use an e-mail program instead of actually using the online web interfaces for a while now, so I have some questions about Thunderbird:

1. For those of you that have used it, what is your opinion of the program? Any major issues/annoying nuances?
2. Is it possible to run multiple e-mail accounts off of Thunderbird? I'm thinking of using it to manage 1 GMail account, 1 university account . This may potentially change to 2 GMail accounts, however.
3. Is it possible to synchronize two different computers and have them interface the same Thunderbird instance? I would imagine TB saves all outgoing e-mails as well as incoming. Unless it just saves the "outgoing" folder and refreshes the emails and downloads them when they get added to the online directory, making this a moot issue, I'd like a way to save all the same e-mails on both computers.

[Newby]

1. For those of you that have used it, what is your opinion of the program? Any major issues/annoying nuances?

I recently dealt with a flood of e-mail with multiple attachments, multiple sizes (some 3-6MB). It struggled to load the messages. But that could have been anything. The network, the wireless, the e-mail server... so I don't blame Thunderbird.

2. Is it possible to run multiple e-mail accounts off of Thunderbird? I'm thinking of using it to manage 1 GMail account, 1 university account . This may potentially change to 2 GMail accounts, however.

Yes. Google provides instructions for setting up Thunderbird with a GMail account. I used my university account with Thunderbird, and then they went GMail and the switch was painless. Change some settings, everything is there again. I also manage newby@backstab.us with it, and I did newsgroups for one of my classes.

3. Is it possible to synchronize two different computers and have them interface the same Thunderbird instance? I would imagine TB saves all outgoing e-mails as well as incoming. Unless it just saves the "outgoing" folder and refreshes the emails and downloads them when they get added to the online directory, making this a moot issue, I'd like a way to save all the same e-mails on both computers.

Maybe I am misunderstanding you, but it sounds like IMAP would be your solution here. And Thunderbird handles that.

--

On a related note, if you just want e-mail, go with Thunderbird. If you want anything more, go with Outlook. I used Outlook for a bit, and damn, the interface was sleek, it ran better than thunderbird, it can do the same things Thunderbird can (as far as I know) and it has all the other crap (notes, address, to-do, etc) added right into it. Downside is that it costs money, but hey, college kids get shit cheap. If the Mac version of Outlook (Entourage or whatever the hell they package in Office 2K8) wasn't so neutered and shitty, I would definitely use it over Thunderbird.

[iago]

I haven't read Newby's reply, but I'm guessing it's roughly the same....

I've been wanting to use an e-mail program instead of actually using the online web interfaces for a while now, so I have some questions about Thunderbird:

1. For those of you that have used it, what is your opinion of the program? Any major issues/annoying nuances?

It's awesome. Use the 3.0 beta, it's way faster.

2. Is it possible to run multiple e-mail accounts off of Thunderbird? I'm thinking of using it to manage 1 GMail account, 1 university account . This may potentially change to 2 GMail accounts, however.

Yep

3. Is it possible to synchronize two different computers and have them interface the same Thunderbird instance? I would imagine TB saves all outgoing e-mails as well as incoming. Unless it just saves the "outgoing" folder and refreshes the emails and downloads them when they get added to the online directory, making this a moot issue, I'd like a way to save all the same e-mails on both computers.

Use IMAP.

IMAP used to be really slow, but as of the 3.x branch your IMAP mail is cached locally, so it's as fast as pop3.

[deadly7]

Thanks for the help, guys. I have one question about IMAP though..

I was looking online and from what I understood of it, I couldn't figure out if the e-mails are actually downloaded to the computer or not. I'd like a copy of the e-mails on my hard drives for sure, which I know you can get with POP3, but I'd also like it if I could set up my desktop and laptop with a "common" e-mail folder. Sorry if I'm being unclear, I'm having problems explaining.

[iago]

Read my response! :P

IMAP *generally* isn't stored locally, but Thunderbird, as of 3.0beta-something, does. It's on by default, you can turn it off in the 'account settings'.