14 DAY TRIAL // Not a day goes by without abusing my email client. I know it sounds awkward, but with all the avalanche of emails and spam I get every day I wonder how it keeps up and does not crash. Lately I've seen more and more freeware email clients. And good ones, too. Let aside the classic Thunderbird, there is also DreamMail (and the name is really up to its value) which can be used for retrieving emails from multiple accounts and user accounts preserving the settings for each and every one of them.
Sylpheed is yet another email client to append to the collection. The application is absolutely free and those used to Outlook or Outlook Express it'll be a breeze to handle it. There is no installation as the program's files come archived in a 5.27MB file and all you need to do to have a look at it is decompress it and launch the executable. This would generally qualify as portable, but it seems that the application will not store all its settings in one easy to transport location as the default folder for saving the entire configuration is in Windows' Documents and Settings.
The first time you run Sylpheed it'll require creating at least one email account in order to continue. This involves providing some minimum details like server information (type of protocol used, mail receiving/sending server) and your email account details (user ID and password).
If you are going for a full configuration of the account be prepared to walk through a number of seven tabs filled with all sorts of options. Message receiving options let you enable secure authentication (APOP), set a number of days after which the messages will be removed from server, downloading all the messages from the server (including the ones already received) and set the default inbox folder. I suggest you to be careful with enabling that message removing from the server option. It is not quite a smart thing to do should it happen to need an erased email.
Mail sending is also customizable and the application lets you tune up the header of the message and configure SMTP authentication settings (in case the details are different from connecting to the server when receiving an email). There is nothing complicated about this and leaving it to default will probably cause you no trouble.
To save more time when composing an email Sylpheed will automatically input the default mail address as the sender of the message and allows you to type in the default Cc, Bcc and Reply-to addresses. By default only your address is inserted as direct input (it appears at the end of the message together with the provided name in Basic tab).
Privacy tab is one of the most sought of features when it comes to communication via email. Yu would not want anyone but the receiver to read the email so Sylpheed takes this a bit further and implements PGP encryption in the application. This way the receiver will be able to read your message only if your public key is at hand. Otherwise decrypting the email is quite a tough job. Signing key can be selected by the default GnuPG key, selected by your email address or a user defined user or key ID. The option is particularly interesting as it uses asymmetric encryption which is one of the safest ways to keep your conversations private.
Regular protection for your information is not disregarded either and you can enable SSL for POP3 or SMTP connections. The last tab available for configuring your email account is Advanced. There is nothing scary here, but you will have to know the SMTP and POP3 ports if the default ones are not in use and you can configure the location sent, draft, queued and deleted messages.
The looks are not at all impressive and the plain spartan interface is divided the traditional way: in the left there is the folder panel containing all the directories for easy accessing emails, in the lower right hand side there is the preview of the message while in the upper part you have the message management window displaying the subject, sender, date and size of the email.
Sylpheed supports creating multiple accounts just like any other modern email handler on the market. The only trouble is that it will not create separate folders for each account and all the messages will be undertaken by the same Inbox folder. There is a way to avoid mixing up personal emails with office ones. Simply create another mailbox from File menu (Mailbox>Add Mailbox) and all the default folders will be re-created under a separate folder tree.
Getting to configure the application is not too challenging a task, in some respects, for the average user. You can set the time interval for your emails to be retrieved from the server, set the program to execute a command when a new message arrives, configure the general looks of the interface (text font, folder view and summary view), but just to a minimum. In what regards junk mail control, what can I say? It really works and it only takes a little studying of the patterns.
The last option in application's preferences window is Details and to tell you the truth this is what tells a good software from a bad one. The minor options everyone seems to neglect and cry out for them when they aren't present. Sylphide has plenty of these, able to remember the last selected message, ready to open Inbox after receiving an email, minimize to system tray or automatically empty trash on exit. It can also be configured for external commands for the web browser used, text editor, printing program or mail sending program.
Given its support for multiple accounts, Sylphide could not be left without a search function to look up your emails. There is nothing fancy about it and practicality is more like its game. Using it you'll be able to search in any account and in any folder for matching sender, receiver, subject, reply, message body, size, read, unread messages. Or lookup messages not containing your query in the earlier mentioned locations.
All in all the application works just fine but it seems to be a little difficult to handle. And if you add the lack of a proper Help file containing all the answers to your questions fast and effortlessly, then its learning curve just becomes steeper.
The Good
The interface is simple and familiar to those used to Microsoft's email clients. Setting up an account is not too difficult a task and can be completed in just a minute or two provided that you know all the details.
Support for PGP keys for sending encrypted messages only ads to its regular security features.
The Bad
The lack of a proper Help file included in the application and providing fast answers for any issue the user may have is a bit of a problem.
There is no obviouas way to make it portable. But if you really want it on a stick just rename "sample-syplheed.ini" file in application folder to "sylpheed.ini". If you want a different location then application folder for saving your messages simply edit the file providing the desired path for storing the settings. This way all your settings will be There are some settings an average user would find very difficult to understand and apply in order to get the most out of the software.
The address book cannot be exported to a familiar format to popular email clients (CSV file). Remote mailbox control for POP3 is absent.
A personal wish is to receive confirmation of sending the message and to be able to backup all the directories of a mailbox at once and to be able to go up one level if a wrong folder is selected when exporting/importing mailboxes.
The Truth
The application uses little resources (about 19MB of RAM) and works just fine. The only trouble is that the settings are not for all the users. The interface is way too simple and a bit of color would not hurt.
There is still a lot of work to be done, but a few versions from now I think Sylphide will become a fierce competitor on the market.
Here are some snapshots of the application in action:
