Testing Eudora 7

Aaaaaggghhhh….. Well, I’m relegating Powermail to backup status. Perhaps what I will do is use Powermail as an IMAP viewer when on the road, or maybe not. If I am not going to download messages to my laptop for storage, I guess I can use Powermail to view what is online. However, Powermail is not the most robust IMAP viewer. I asked on the Powermail boards about the problems I was having and someone who doesn’t understand my need to maintain storage limits on my web host and doesn’t understand why for business purposes I’d like copies of all my correspondence, railed at me for wanting downloaded copies of emails on my hard drive. In spite of being criticized for using POP mail,  I don’t intend to stop using it on my desktop. For on-the-road viewing it makes some sense, but when I am overseas I may pay for connections by the minute and don’t want to spend time online reading mail. I want it downloaded so I can write replies off line. (My mail account is accessible either as POP or IMAP)

That brings me to Eudora.  What I found is that while the older version 6 is EOL, there is a new version that is open source called Eudora OSE now in version 7.  And the program is lightening fast for both message retrieval and so far for search.

Preliminary Thoughts:

• Eudora is built upon the Thunderbird engine, which I have never used. While the program is fast, it also is not that pretty. It feels like I’m using Windows or Linux. The fonts are heavy and the whole thing looks kludgy.
• While I was able to import my local folder structure from Apple Mail, I was not able to upload my database of messages. Since this is the third program that has truncated my message database, I suspect the problem is entirely Apple Mail’s fault. The import of my folder structure is seen as a local folder system similar to Powermail or Entourage, but it is not imported to my IMAP account. So, to get an online duplication of my local setup, I’d have to create it by hand. However, I don’t think I want that setup at all…
• I’m having trouble getting used to the idea of using IMAP with folders. While I am told I can create a duplicate folder structure online as the one on my desktop, this setup would get quite confusing. Am I looking at mail online or locally?  It is redundant and a lot of work for no reason.
• Eudora has the ability to create filters that would sort the mail, but the filters seem to work either online or locally, but I’m not sure it works from online to force a download. I think it does but it is cumbersome to create these filters for online to local sorting. Only those emails that match a filter would be downloaded. The rest would remain online. This isn’t a problem for a pop mail reader. You are only dealing with one set of folders, and everything is on your computer.

I’m starting to understand the methodology of Postbox as an IMAP email reader. It is much more Mac-like than Eudora.  But again, I don’ t understand the need to create filters for online content unless you are going to maintain a complete online database and keep your messages there. Duplicating the local folder structure makes no sense, so all the power that Postbox and Eudora have would be wasted on me. I admit that using these programs is much preferable to logging into a webmail account using a browser, but I remain unconvinced that keeping my mail as part of the cloud is for me. I don’t trust the cloud.

So, I HATE to say this but, I’m actually considering upgrading to (or at least testing) Office 2011 with Outlook when it comes out for my desktop and just not installing it on my laptop, but using an alternate email program with an IMAP reader when I’m on the road. If it were just for the email program, I wouldn’t consider it, but it turns out that I do create templates for clients in Word. And while it may not be necessary to stay current, it may make some sense to do so. I also realized that a huge portion of my daily schedule is doing email.  So I better be happy with the program that consumes so much of my day. However, if it is still incompatible with AddressBook, there may be no point in changing anything. I’ll just keep using Entourage with all its crashes and incompatibilities.