Best email for Windows 7?

Squidward · 07 Feb 2016

I had to get an email replacement for OE when switching from XP to Win7. I had a huge data base of business emails, with attachments, that I had to import without a hitch, and they had to be sortable and searchable.
I finally tried OE Classic.
I will say that it did import everything (although it did skew folder names in the process) and the emails are searchable.
But in everyday use OE Classic has some real inconveniences that you cannot turn on/off to improve the program: no “message rules,” such as automatic sorting to a folder, no spell checker, you cannot drag and drop incoming attachments (you have to “save as”), and there is this annoying “navigate to URL?” message that pops up whenever you click a hotlink, requiring an additional step. Also, sometimes it stalls like something is running in the background.
But, OE Classic has worked OK and did not mess up the folders import beyond use.
The developer responds to emails and says they are trying to add the most-requested features. They are not looking to add spell checker because this is already in so many programs; this is a problem for me because I need it when I compose in an email frame.
I would consider another program, but I would need to have infallible message and folder import.
What are other people experiencing?

Callender · 07 Feb 2016

You will probably get recommendations to use Thunderbird. Personally I ditched Thunderbird and now use eM Client:

I've had no problems with it.

eM Client | Best Email Client for Windows 10, 8, 7, XP

I'm using the free version. Message rules can be created if you want to move messages into pre-defined folders.

Import/ Export seems to work okay but my testing of this has been limited.

You can test install it as your non-default email client if you want to see if it would be suitable.

It does store emails in databases with the .dat format and I must confess that I don't know how to open and browse the .dat message databases.

For other email clients you can browse message databases and convert messages to .eml format using:

MiTeC Homepage

MoxieMomma · 07 Feb 2016

Callender said:

You will probably get recommendations to use Thunderbird. Personally I ditched Thunderbird and now use eM Client:
I've had no problems with it.
eM Client | Best Email Client for Windows 10, 8, 7, XP

^^Thanks for that tip. It's always good to have an alternate plan for TB, just in case. ^^

Having said that, yep, I've been using TB since the days of papyrus.
It does offer one apparent advantage over eMClient: customization (and it's open-source and totally free).

Yeah, migrating from one client to another is a scary undertaking...
But I don't know if *any* email client, not TB and not eM Client, could ever promise to be completely "infallible" during importation. This is especially so if the "old" databases/profile could be very large or possibly corrupt...

Here are some articles about the steps needed to migrate from OE to TB, if you wish to do so:

Importing and exporting your mail
Import from Outlook Express

And it's always advisable to back-up one's data/profile before beginning any major work, such as migration.

Hope this helps,

MM

whs · 07 Feb 2016

Since day1 of my PC career I use AOL and I never had the slightest problem. I went thru many PCs and operating systems and I can still retrieve my mail from day1 - and I never had to save or manage anything. If I see all these poor people struggling to find a solution to various mail problems I can only say - use AOL and you won't have those problems.