WinXP & OE sunset advice?

DRNewcomb · 30 Nov 2013, 07:25 PM

I searched before asking, I really did.

I'm considering the sunset of support for Win XP and OE along with it. I've been using OE as my mail client since at least 1996. I know there are better clients but I have not spent a lot of time investigating them. For the last several years, my wife and I have shared a FM account, using subdomain and plus addressing to sort incoming mail to appropriate folders. It's worked quite well. While we both have clients on or mobile devices, we archive e-mails on the Windows machine at home.

I've ordered a copy of Win 7 (64-bit) to update one of my PCs. (The others will probably become Linux machines.) I'm going to need to find a new e-mail client and considering that I used the last one for 17 years I'd like to decide on one I can stick with. Looking at the Wikipedia page on e-mail clients, my head swims with all the possible choices.

The obvious choices would be Windows Live Mail, Opera Mail and Thunderbird. Mailbird is also on my list, for no particular reason. One feature I need is the ability to easily move 17 years of archived e-mail from OE. Another would be the ability to support the selection of different From: addresses for a single account. To do this in OE I had to set up a separate account that is only used to provide an address. (There are probably other ways with different "Identities" that I've never understood how to use.)

So, has anyone made a study of the available clients for Win 7? Any clients to avoid?

LinuxArie · 30 Nov 2013, 08:26 PM

Thunderbird, because you are planning to run Linux and windows.
Besides that it's a great program.

rblon · 30 Nov 2013, 09:17 PM

I don't feel the need these days to have an email client on the desktop as I consider the web client as good. So it depends how much storage this 17 years of email takes, but you could consider moving it (back) to the Fastmail servers.

kijinbear · 1 Dec 2013, 01:56 PM

Be very, very careful with those 17 years of archived email! One wrong click and they could just vanish into thin air.

Email clients usually have an option to import mail from Outlook Express, but make sure everything is imported properly before you do anything dangerous.

If you use Thunderbird, all imported mail will be stored under "Local Folders", and you can find out where the actual files are stored by right-clicking on "Local Folders" and selecting "Settings". Back up this entire folder before you upgrade Windows. If you want to be absolutely sure that you got the backup right, try restoring it to another computer first.

Alternatively, use Thunderbird to copy all your local mail to Fastmail servers (as @rblon suggested) if you have enough space available. It's as simple as drag-and-drop, but it can take a long time if you have a lot of mail. You can check how much space your archives are taking up by right-clicking on each folder, clicking "Properties", and looking at the "size on disk" entry.

Once all your mail is on Fastmail servers, it doesn't matter which program you use to access your mail as long as you always use IMAP. But for importing/exporting and copying emails around, I prefer Thunderbird because it doesn't have any proprietary tricks up its sleeve. You don't want decades of email locked up in a dead-end proprietary platform like Outlook Express.

DRNewcomb · 2 Dec 2013, 08:22 AM

I've installed Thunderbird and am reasonably impressed that it will do everything I need. The way I'm considering the transition is that my current main Windows desktop is a really old Dell Dimension 2400. I have a Dell E521 (64-bit, dual core) which I use mostly for playing around with Linux. I bought a 64-bit Win 7 license which I intend to install on the E521 and then migrate my Windows stuff to that machine. Once I'm satisfied that everything works and is backed up, I'll make that my Linux sandbox. (I also have a Mac Mini and they're all connected together by ethernet and a kvm switch.) My current OE storage folder has 1.25 GB of "stuff". Not saying I need all that "stuff" but it's there.

EricG · 2 Dec 2013, 10:59 AM

Live mail will import OE local folders, converting them into folders of EML files. These can be imported into thunderbird. I don't see anyway to do both in a single step.

You might as well set up both on your Win7 machine to evaluate.

kijinbear · 2 Dec 2013, 11:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DRNewcomb

My current OE storage folder has 1.25 GB of "stuff". Not saying I need all that "stuff" but it's there.

If you have an Enhanced account, definitely try uploading all your local mail to FastMail servers. It can take a few hours depending on the speed of your internet connection, but once you've done it, you'll no longer have to worry about losing your archive if your computer crashes.

If you have a Full, Lite, Ad Free, lifetime Member, or some other account, you won't be able to upload all of it unless you pay a lot more $$$. In that case, just make regular backups of your archived email

bwat47 · 3 Dec 2013, 12:51 PM

Pretty much anything is better than OE. I do tech support for an ISP and I hate that program so much. Using it with multiple email accounts is nightmarish and convoluted, and It just completely craps itself when the database gets bigger than 2gb :/
/rant

Anyway, thunderbird is a pretty good alternative if you like OE. Its a very solid mail program with a "classic" style interface and has a good amount of features. WLM is decent too, but isn't as customizable of feature rich as thunderbird.

I've recently starting using one called eM Client and I really like it. Its got a very outlook 2003-like interface and I like it better than thunderbird (its got a better interface, built-in calendar, CalDav/CardDav support), but its shareware (the free version is fully functional and doesn't nag you, but is limited to 2 email accounts).

30 Nov 2013, 07:25 PM	#1
DRNewcomb Junior Member Join Date: Feb 2009 Posts: 27	WinXP & OE sunset advice? I searched before asking, I really did. I'm considering the sunset of support for Win XP and OE along with it. I've been using OE as my mail client since at least 1996. I know there are better clients but I have not spent a lot of time investigating them. For the last several years, my wife and I have shared a FM account, using subdomain and plus addressing to sort incoming mail to appropriate folders. It's worked quite well. While we both have clients on or mobile devices, we archive e-mails on the Windows machine at home. I've ordered a copy of Win 7 (64-bit) to update one of my PCs. (The others will probably become Linux machines.) I'm going to need to find a new e-mail client and considering that I used the last one for 17 years I'd like to decide on one I can stick with. Looking at the Wikipedia page on e-mail clients, my head swims with all the possible choices. The obvious choices would be Windows Live Mail, Opera Mail and Thunderbird. Mailbird is also on my list, for no particular reason. One feature I need is the ability to easily move 17 years of archived e-mail from OE. Another would be the ability to support the selection of different From: addresses for a single account. To do this in OE I had to set up a separate account that is only used to provide an address. (There are probably other ways with different "Identities" that I've never understood how to use.) So, has anyone made a study of the available clients for Win 7? Any clients to avoid?

3 Dec 2013, 12:51 PM	#8
bwat47 Member Join Date: Oct 2013 Posts: 41	Pretty much anything is better than OE. I do tech support for an ISP and I hate that program so much. Using it with multiple email accounts is nightmarish and convoluted, and It just completely craps itself when the database gets bigger than 2gb :/ /rant Anyway, thunderbird is a pretty good alternative if you like OE. Its a very solid mail program with a "classic" style interface and has a good amount of features. WLM is decent too, but isn't as customizable of feature rich as thunderbird. I've recently starting using one called eM Client and I really like it. Its got a very outlook 2003-like interface and I like it better than thunderbird (its got a better interface, built-in calendar, CalDav/CardDav support), but its shareware (the free version is fully functional and doesn't nag you, but is limited to 2 email accounts). Last edited by bwat47 : 3 Dec 2013 at 12:59 PM.

30 Nov 2013, 08:26 PM	#2
LinuxArie Member Join Date: Nov 2013 Posts: 69	Thunderbird, because you are planning to run Linux and windows. Besides that it's a great program.

30 Nov 2013, 09:17 PM	#3
rblon Essential Contributor Join Date: Jun 2009 Posts: 340	I don't feel the need these days to have an email client on the desktop as I consider the web client as good. So it depends how much storage this 17 years of email takes, but you could consider moving it (back) to the Fastmail servers.

1 Dec 2013, 01:56 PM	#4
kijinbear Cornerstone of the Community Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: ~$ Posts: 652	Be very, very careful with those 17 years of archived email! One wrong click and they could just vanish into thin air. Email clients usually have an option to import mail from Outlook Express, but make sure everything is imported properly before you do anything dangerous. If you use Thunderbird, all imported mail will be stored under "Local Folders", and you can find out where the actual files are stored by right-clicking on "Local Folders" and selecting "Settings". Back up this entire folder before you upgrade Windows. If you want to be absolutely sure that you got the backup right, try restoring it to another computer first. Alternatively, use Thunderbird to copy all your local mail to Fastmail servers (as @rblon suggested) if you have enough space available. It's as simple as drag-and-drop, but it can take a long time if you have a lot of mail. You can check how much space your archives are taking up by right-clicking on each folder, clicking "Properties", and looking at the "size on disk" entry. Once all your mail is on Fastmail servers, it doesn't matter which program you use to access your mail as long as you always use IMAP. But for importing/exporting and copying emails around, I prefer Thunderbird because it doesn't have any proprietary tricks up its sleeve. You don't want decades of email locked up in a dead-end proprietary platform like Outlook Express.

2 Dec 2013, 08:22 AM	#5
DRNewcomb Junior Member Join Date: Feb 2009 Posts: 27	I've installed Thunderbird and am reasonably impressed that it will do everything I need. The way I'm considering the transition is that my current main Windows desktop is a really old Dell Dimension 2400. I have a Dell E521 (64-bit, dual core) which I use mostly for playing around with Linux. I bought a 64-bit Win 7 license which I intend to install on the E521 and then migrate my Windows stuff to that machine. Once I'm satisfied that everything works and is backed up, I'll make that my Linux sandbox. (I also have a Mac Mini and they're all connected together by ethernet and a kvm switch.) My current OE storage folder has 1.25 GB of "stuff". Not saying I need all that "stuff" but it's there.

2 Dec 2013, 10:59 AM	#6
EricG Essential Contributor Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Canada Posts: 296	Live mail will import OE local folders, converting them into folders of EML files. These can be imported into thunderbird. I don't see anyway to do both in a single step. You might as well set up both on your Win7 machine to evaluate.