Email Clients (Desktop Email Programs and Webmail Services)

This page gives you a quick overview of the major email clients (or email programs and webmail services) we cover in Free Email Tutorials. Since webmail services like Hotmail and Yahoo! Mail have enhanced the classical webmail experience to get much closer to the rewarding feel of a desktop application like Microsoft Outlook, Windows Live Mail (Desktop), Apple Mac Mail or Thunderbird, we have added tutorials alongside those explaining traditional desktop mail applications.

Apple Mail (Mac Mail, or "Mail.app")

Apple's Mac operating system started by bundling Outlook Express for the Mac with their operating system: since Mac OS X, Apple ships its own Mail.app bundled with the operating system. In its current release (Mac OS X Snow Leopard just around the corner), Mac Mail is nearly on par with Microsoft's Office Outlook email client. Our currently only Apple Mail tutorial covers Mac Mail Panther: waiting for our next tutorial covering the latest incarnation of Apple's Mail application, you will find explanations, tips and tricks still applicable to the current version of Mail.

Gmail Tutorial

Although Google was the latest comer of the big free webmail providers (the other two being Hotmail and Yahoo Mail), it has in just a few years carved itself a loyal following, using a somewhat "risky" approach: unlike the other two, it does not offer true "email folders" - instead, it uses "filters", or "labels", which make searching and finding content much easier (what else did you expect from the Search King?). Also unlike the other two, which attempt to mimic the desktop email experience as closely as possible, Gmail . Note: "Google Mail" is the same webmail service as "Gmail" - in some countries like Germany, for copyright or trademark reasons, Google was not able to use the word "Gmail".

Mozilla Mail (now SeaMonkey Mail)

Mozilla Mail (now called SeaMonkey Mail) is an integrated email application bundled as part of the Mozilla (SeaMonkey) "Internet Suite" of software, which includes a web browser and a basic web page editor. The initially promising development of Mozilla Mail has unfortunately slowed down to a near halt, and only very limited updates (most notably, security updates) have been released for the past 3-4 years. Nonetheless, Mozilla Mail (SeaMonkey Mail) remains a very user friendly email program, which --like the Opera internet suite, see below-- offers the advantage of an fully integrated suite of software. Mozilla Thunderbird is a much more feature-rich version by the same organization.

Mozilla Thunderbird

Mozilla Thunderbird is the most widely used open-source email application for the desktop: it is available for Windows, Mac, and Linux. While the Mozilla Foundation has not put the same efforts behind Thunderbird as it did behind the more profitable Firefox, Thunderbird remains a very solid email program which will address the needs of most people. The upcoming Thunderbird 3 promises to make this solid email client alternative even better.

Opera Mail (Opera M2)

The Opera Mail integrated email client (or Opera M2) is offered as part of the free Opera internet suite, which among other things includes an RSS news reader, a full-featured web browser, and the mail client. The upcoming version of Opera Mail, to be distributed as part of Opera version 10, will introduce the ability to compose rich text emails; previous versions of Opera Mail only offered the ability to receive and read fully formatted emails, but limited composed emails to plain text. While Opera M2 may not be as fully featured as some other email clients, it offers unparalleled advantages when used as part of the full internet suite (using Opera to surf the web, read RSS feeds, etc.) - in fact, using M2 for emails is a no-brainer if you use Opera to surf the web.

Outlook 2003 and Outlook 2007

Microsoft Outlook is the best selling email client for businesses; most of the private sector is using Outlook 2003 or Outlook 2007 for the tight integration Outlook offers with Microsoft's Exchange email server software, and the task management and calendaring functionality that comes bundled with Outlook. As far as email programs go, there is very little that cannot be done in Outlook, especially now that Outlook 2007 has introduced the much needed ability to read RSS feeds alongside your emails, from the same application. Our extensive Outlook 2003 tutorial will give you everything you need to proficiently use Outlook at your office.

Outlook Express

One of the most popular email programs in the world, Outlook Express is Microsoft's equivalent to Mac Mail: from Windows 98 to Windows XP, each version of Windows shipped bundled with Outlook Express (which was also available as a download for Windows 95 users). Outlook Express has truly brought email to the world's desktop: still used by millions, Outlook Express has now been replaced by Windows Mail in Windows Vista, and by Windows Live Mail for Windows XP or Windows Vista users. Aside from junk mail filtering, the functionality Outlook Express offers is about the same as Windows Mail.

The Bat! Tutorial

Unlike most email programs, The Bat! is an email program unapologetically designed for "power users"; while most everyone would be able to use it as a basic mail client, The Bat! shines when you need access to advanced features - typically useful for system administrators and internet network technicians. One major drawback of The Bat! is that (with the last version we purchased) is uses its own keyboard shortcuts, which cannot be customized. So, switching back and forth between The Bat! and other email programs can be quite a challenge, since regular keystrokes that have become second nature have a completely different command mapped to them. The Bat! comes as shareware, with a basic academic edition (cheaper price), and a full-fledged, "professional" version.

Hotmail ("Windows Live Hotmail")

Hotmail ("Windows Live Hotmail") is one of the most popular webmail services in the world, along with Yahoo! Mail and Gmail. Our Hotmail tutorial shows you how to use Hotmail as email client, how to customize your Hotmail account settings, and even how to create a Hotmail account. We also spend a few tutorials explaining how you can make the most of Hotmail's contacts management features and customization. Unlike most of our other tutorials' topic, our Hotmail tutorial actually talks about a webmail service, as opposed to a full-fledged desktop email application like Outlook or Thunderbird.

Windows Live Mail (formerly "Windows Live Desktop Mail")

Windows Live Mail, which used to be known for a while as "Windows Live Desktop Mail", is the email program created by Microsoft's Windows Live team: they created software like Writer (a blog editor) and Live Calendar, which can be downloaded and used for free on Windows XP and Windows Vista. Windows Live Mail takes the best of Outlook Express and Windows Mail, and combines it into a surprisingly powerful and flexible email program that gets close to rivaling Microsoft Office Outlook in terms of functionality. The latest version of Windows Live Mail includes not only the ability to read email messages and RSS news feeds, but even comes with its own calendar, which is synchronized through your Live.com account (or Hotmail account profile). Since Windows 7 ships without a bundled email program like Outlook Express or Windows Mail, it is the best choice of program to download (for free) on Microsoft's latest operating system.

Windows Mail (for Windows Vista)

Windows Mail is the new email program that replaces Outlook Express, and ships bundled with Windows Vista but not Windows 7 (Windows Seven is the current version of Windows). Windows Mail offers you a very similar experience to Outlook Express: in fact, if you have used Outlook Express, in the past, you will feel right at home with Windows Mail. Many of the changes (such as email storage) have been made behind the scenes.

WordPerfect Mail Tutorial

Now purchased by Yahoo!, Corel used to be a strong competitor in the office productivity suite market, alongside Microsoft. Late in the game, Corel added an email program, separate product from their productivity suite, called "WordPerfect Mail" (named after their very well known word processor, "WordPerfect"). While a lesser know email clients, WordPerfect Mail offers everything you might expect, and more - including POP and IMAP email accounts support, a calendar, plain text or rich format editing, and even an integrated RSS reader.

Yahoo Mail Tutorial

The second most popular webmail provider in the world is Yahoo Mail: more than the other two big players in this arena (Windows Live Hotmail and Gmail), Yahoo Mail is constantly tweaked and upgraded: at the time of this writing, there are no less of three different "versions" of Yahoo Mail you can use: Yahoo Mail Classic, which is ideal for older web browsers, but offers more limited interactivity; then, the current version, which is still called "All-New Mail", and is much more user-friendly for anyone who has a modern web browser; finally, Yahoo is currently allowing any user to try out the latest version of the service, "Yahoo Mail Beta 2010/2011".