[LINK] RFC: A Capable Email-Client, e.g. for a Mac

Dr Bob Jansen bob.jansen at turtlelane.com.au
Sat Sep 29 07:51:23 AEST 2018


Roger,

I use Apple Mail on OSX. Like you, I maintain my own Mail archives (I have an archive going back to 2000) using emailchemy which allows me to convert from just about any email format to any other format, including the rfc one (forgot the rfcnumber) which is essentially text with all meta data maintained. So my archive has emails sourced from OSX as well as Windows email systems but all converted to the rfc format so indexing and searching is done using OSX rather than an email app.

As for attachments, if I keep the email, I save the attachments into the appropriate project folder (I maintain a separate folder for each project/activity I am involved in).

I have stayed with Apple Mail despite looking out for a replacement as I have found none to be better.

Good luck with your search.

BobJ

---------------
Dr Bob Jansen
Turtle Lane Studios Pty Ltd
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Ph (Korea): +82 10-4494-0328 
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 In line with the Australian anti-spam legislation, if you wish to receive no further email from me, please send me an email with the subject "No Spam"

> On 29 Sep 2018, at 06:58, Roger Clarke <Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au> wrote:
> 
> I'm desperately looking for a replacement email-client for Eudora.
> 
> I'd be very grateful for any leads that the Link Institute can offer.
> 
> _________
> 
> 
> I've lived in email since a few months after Robert/Geoff/Peter connected Oz to the Internet in late 1989.  
> 
> Eudora's been my client since very shortly after that.
> I use the very last version - 6.2.4 from 2006.  
> 
> OSX 10.4.11 is terminal, and the G5 it runs on is, well, wearing out.
> 
> I've searched for options, but none can do what I need.  (I've tried to use Evolution under Linux, and PostBox and Apple Mail under OSX.  I've read lots of specs of other clients).
> 
> I use POP3.  I store my archives on my own device. 
> My archives are complete - less a few days' hiccoughs - since mid-1993.
> 
> Stats:  
> c.10GB of messages (*ex*cluding attachments), c.1650 mailboxes nested up to 5 deep, 150 with write-activity during 2018, 120 filters, 1200 addressees
> 
> I don't use webmail at all, nor handhelds for email.  
> (On the move, I carry a laptop that's mirrored nightly from my desktop).
> 
> The clients I've examined (ignoring PostBox, which is a train-wreck) feature one complete party-stopper and one other serious problem:
> 
> (1)  I filter incoming mail into a lot of themed mailboxes and go to 
>     each mailbox when I'm ready to address that theme.  So I have to 
>     know which mailboxes contain new mail
> 
>     (Eudora opens each mailbox that contains new mail and leaves it
>     on the desktop until I've checked new messages and closed it.
>     Apple Mail doesn't, and it offers no alternative solution)
> 
> (2)  I need to have direct access to attached files, without having
>     to first discover the email that the file was attached to 
> 
>     (Eudora loads all attachments into a Transfer Folder, and I
>     manage them using Finder's capabilities. Apple Mail buries 
> I'm desperately looking for a replacement email-client for Eudora.
> 
> I'd be very grateful for any leads that the Link Institute can offer.
> 
> _________
> 
> 
> I've lived in email since a few months after Robert/Geoff/Peter connected Oz to the Internet in late 1989.  
> 
> Eudora's been my client since very shortly after that.
> I use the very last version - 6.2.4 from 2006.  
> 
> OSX 10.4.11 is terminal, and the G5 it runs on is, well, wearing out.
> 
> I've searched for options, but none can do what I need.  (I've tried to use Evolution under Linux, and PostBox and Apple Mail under OSX.  I've read lots of specs of other clients).
> 
> I use POP3.  I store my archives on my own device. 
> My archives are complete - less a few days' hiccoughs - since mid-1993.
> 
> Stats:  
> c.10GB of messages (*ex*cluding attachments), c.1650 mailboxes nested up to 5 deep, 150 with write-activity during 2018, 120 filters, 1200 addressees
> 
> I don't use webmail at all, nor handhelds for email.  
> (On the move, I carry a laptop that's mirrored nightly from my desktop).
> 
> The clients I've examined (ignoring PostBox, which is a train-wreck) feature one complete party-stopper and one other serious problem:
> 
> (1)  I filter incoming mail into a lot of themed mailboxes and go to 
>     each mailbox when I'm ready to address that theme.  So I have to 
>     know which mailboxes contain new mail
> 
>     (Eudora opens each mailbox that contains new mail and leaves it
>     on the desktop until I've checked new messages and closed it.
>     Apple Mail doesn't, and it offers no alternative solution)
> 
> (2)  I need to have direct access to attached files, without having
>     to first discover the email that the file was attached to 
> 
>     (Eudora loads all attachments into a Transfer Folder, and I
>     manage them using Finder's capabilities. Apple Mail buries 
>     the files, which prevents discovery and management)
> 
> For the insomniac, the details of (1) and (2) are below.
> 
> 
> Is anyone aware of any client that does what I need?
> 
> If not, it seems that I would have to:
> (a)  find a way to emulate an OSX version that can run Eudora 6.2.4,
>     and hope that the chip can cover the performance hit;
> *and*
> (b)  die before any one of the OSX version, emulator, Eudora, SMTP,
>     POP3 or hell freezes over.
> 
> Much obliged for any leads at all!!!
> 
> ________________
> 
> The critical factors on which Apple Mail fails are:
> 
> (1)  Filtering Incoming Mail to Identified Mailboxes
> 
> A valuable function performed by an email-client is to sift through incoming mail, apply filtering rules, and allocate messages to specialised mailboxes, each of which is themed.  
> 
> This enables efficient handling of incoming mail, because the relevant mailbox is read only when the person is ready to do so, and the mind is already attuned to the relevant context.
> 
> I've depended heavily on this feature, since the mid-1990s, to enable rapid handling of >100 incoming messages per day.  I have scores of filters, and scores of mailboxes that messages are filtered directly into.  (c.30 for spam-detection, 40 for lists, 40 for topics).  Many of those mailboxes are nested, and up to 3 layers down (e.g. Associations / ISOC-au / ExecCtee).
> 
> Each morning there are more than 20 windows open awaiting inspection.  My client fetches mail every 10 minutes, and each fetch commonly opens several windows, and as many as a dozen.  I turn my attention to mailboxes in priority order, when I'm ready to do so, switching my mind to the list or topic as I activate the window.  I also eyeball the 5 spam-boxes daily.
> 
> I can't conceive of any other way to handle email efficiently.
> 
> Apple Mail provides a filtering rules capability, which defaults to operating on all incoming messages.  The functionality is adequate, although incomplete in a considerable number of ways.
> 
> However, it provides no effective way to highlight which mailboxes contain new messages.  The only options appear to be:
> -   manually open every mailbox every time mail is fetched 
>    (inconceivable)
> -   know how many messages are currently unopened in every mailbox,
>    and visually detect those that have changed in the most recent 
>    fetch (impossible, given the numbers, and the depths of nesting)
> -   clear all messages between every successive fetch, such that 
>    any message count > 0 means that a new message has arrived
>    (completely impractical, and destructive of prioritisation)
> 
> I can see no settings, and no capabilities within the Rules feature.
> 
> There's a possibility that AppleScript could be used to address the need, but the capabilities and system-variables are very poorly documented, flakey, and change at Apple's whim and without notice.  (Searches find large numbers of questions in user fora, unanswered by Apple).
> 
> As a result, any custom feature that was built might break at any time, and might not be able to be revived.
> 
> 
> (2)  Saving Incoming Attachments to a Target Folder
> 
> Email is much-used as a means of transferring files between people.  People need to be able to quickly locate named files within Finder, in order to move them to another location, invoke them, render them, attach them to an outbound messages, etc. 
> 
> Apple Mail instead stores incoming attachments in Attachments directories deeply-nested inside the .mbox directory in which the associated message is stored.  For a sample pathname, see at bottom.
> 
> In order to invoke, render or save a copy of the file elsewhere, it is necessary find the message to which the file is attached, open the message and perform additional steps to rescue the file.
> 
> There is no setting whereby attached files can be stored instead in another folder, or even stored in another folder *as well* as in the deep-nested file.
> 
> The Rules function includes no ability to achieve the desired result.
> 
> _____
> 
> ***  Sample Pathname
> ~/Library/Mail/V4/BBE4761F-145B-470E-BA0A-15E7951FEA2F/INBOX.mbox/511B15CF-4186-4C4F-A8A5-063E0B2534C1/Data/7/01/Attachments/107887/2/Czech Airlines flights.pdf
> 
> 
> -- 
> Roger Clarke                                 http://www.rogerclarke.com/
>                         
> Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd      78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA
> Tel: +61 2 6288 6916                        http://about.me/roger.clarke
> mailto:Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au                http://www.xamax.com.au/ 
> 
> Visiting Professor in the Faculty of Law            University of N.S.W.
> Visiting Professor in Computer Science    Australian National University
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