The Best Email Client for MacOS
Email clients come in all shapes and sizes, but when it comes to the options available on a Mac, we think Airmail is the best email client for most people. It’s easy to use, supports several different email providers, has a robust search function, and more.
Airmail 3
Platform : macOS Price : $ 9.99 Download Page
Functions
- Supports Gmail, Google Apps, iCloud, Exchange, IMAP, POP3, and local accounts.
- Unlimited number of email accounts with a single mailbox
- Gmail keyboard shortcuts, global keyboard shortcuts, and custom keyboard shortcuts
- Customizable interface with multiple themes, modes and layout options
- Global search, filters, advanced token search and preview mode
- Integration with Omnifocus, Fantastical, Trello, Asana, Evernote, Reminders, Calendar, BusyCal, Things, 2To, Wunderlist and Todoist
- Large contact photos for most contacts
- Main Gmail inbox support
- Supports folders, colors, Gmail shortcuts, flags, and more.
- Attachment support for integration with Dropbox, Google Drive, Droplr and CloudApp
- Customizable notifications
- VIP support with notifications for a specific sender
- Quick replies
- Send later options
- Customizable menus, gestures and shortcuts
- Today expansion and handover support
- iCloud sync with iPhone app
- Folders and shortcuts for organizing
- Search filters, flags and message sorting
- AppleScript support
- Disabling and blocking functions
- Sorting based on tasks with the option to send emails to notes, ready-made or to-do lists
- Support for Markdown, rich text, HTML, and plain text.
Where is it best
The greatest strength of airmail is the variety of ways it can be customized. This is partly due to the fact that Airmail is updated quite frequently, which means that it not only gets new features regularly, but is always updated to the most up-to-date versions of macOS. Over the course of their existence, these updates have added features such as delayed receive, VIP inbox, and many other modern email features.
The methods for setting up airmail are pretty detailed . You can change what is in the sidebar, which emails you are notified of, how emails are displayed, how long the snooze lasts, how gestures work, where you save files, and more. Airmail also integrates with a number of third-party services, so if you use one of the supported to-do or note-taking apps as part of your email workflow, it’s fairly easy to integrate with Airmail.
Airmail is essentially a power user email application for people who don’t want to migrate to “full users” with something like Outlook. It’s great for people who want an advanced email client on their Mac and aren’t afraid to get their hands dirty while setting it up.
Where it fails
At $ 10, airmail is a small investment, and while it’s well worth the cost, if you use all the features, not everyone needs a ton of features to get started. While Airmail is highly customizable, it’s not big out of the box, which means you want to spend 10-15 minutes playing around with different settings, options, and other things to customize it to suit your needs. If you use email a lot for work, it doesn’t really matter, but if you are a regular user who just wants to send and receive mail, then airmail will be overkill.
Competition
Apple Mail is probably the most obvious competitor here. The packed email client … is fine. It works at a fundamental level, but since it only updates when Apple updates its entire operating system, it is practically devoid of modern features. However, if you just check emails and reply to them, it does the job.
Spark (free) is the best airmail alternative for people who don’t need as many extra features built into it. Spark has many modern airmail features without the clutter. It has smart sorting of incoming messages, iCloud syncing with the free mobile app, snoozing emails, and quick replies. The free part may seem like its main strength, but it makes me wonder because it is not clear what the business model is and therefore it is difficult to say what will happen to the application in the future. We’ve seen too many abandoned email applications over the years to be trusted by any free application that moves forward, even if operated by a company with a full suite of productivity products. However, it’s a great airmail alternative that you can check for free if you’re curious.
The Mailbox ($ 40) is another great competitor. Like Airmail, Postbox offers search options and additional powerful features that you won’t find in most other email clients. For example, you get a message summary view, sorting by email type / subject (aka focus bar), add-ons, easy message archiving, and more . It’s actually a little awkward to use, however, and Postbox doesn’t feel as at home on macOS as Airmail does. While you can try the Postbox trial for free, it’s hard to sell for $ 40 if you really don’t like it.