Re: package for Email

[Tassilo Horn <tsdh@gnu.org>]

Gottfried <gottfried@posteo.de> writes:

Hi Gottfried,

> 1. Which Email package do you use?

I use mu4e.

> Can you tell your experience with your email package?

It's great.  Basically, you have to use a tool like mbsync to
synchronize your remote IMAP accounts with local maildirs which are then
indexed by mu.  The good thing is that you can do crazy searches like
"all mails from Gottfried in the period 2020-2021 mentioning apples and
having an attachment" in almost an instant.  Downsides are that you have
to configure mbsync or offlineimap or something alike which can get
complicated depending on your email provider, e.g., when you need 2FA.
And of course, you can spend a life configuring mu4e to your liking,
too.

Before mu4e I've used Gnus for more than a decade which is great, too.
It's just slower when you access IMAP accounts directly with the nnimap
backend.  But one of Gnus very strong points are (adaptive) scoring,
e.g., sorting the message overview such that threads interesting to you
are on top and the boring stuff at the bottom.  That's a thing I miss.

> 2. Does it make sense for me as an emacs-newbie to change from using
> thunderbird to an emacs email package?

The good thing is, you can use thunderbird AND some emacs package.

> 3. There are
> Rmail, GNU, Wanderlust, Mu4e etc...

It's Gnus, not GNU.

> 4. I prefer to habe folders because I like to have an overview.  Mu4e
> doesn't have folders.

Not true.  Its main concept is having searches and results for searches
but its maildir shortcuts are searches for mails in a specific maildir.

> 5. I want IMAP.
> Do all of them provide IMAP? (does Rmail now provide IMAP)?

Gnus can do IMAP, mu4e does only maildirs and you need another tool like
mbsync to synchronize your IMAP accounts to local maildirs.  I think
Rmail does just Rmail, a variant of the MBOX format, but I might be
wrong.

> 6. Wanderlust seems to be more difficult to set up, and I still have
> trouble because I am an Emacs-newbie.

I think it's niche, indeed.  If you want support, go for Gnus, Rmail, or
mu4e.

> 7. Which one is easier to use?

I think they are all efficient to use after you have taught them your
way to deal with mail in years and years of configuration, like it's the
case with emacs in general. ;-)

I can only speak for Gnus and mu4e: if you have a helping hand like this
list, you should be able to get the basics working in no time.

> 8. Should I start with Rmail? and later switch to GNU?

I don't know.

> 9. Or is it useful to start with GNU because it has more options and I
> have to learn it anyhow? and I can use it with org-mode?

What does "use with org-mode" mean?

> 10. Do all of them have the same or similar keybindings or do I have
> to learn for each one separate keybindings?

I think all of them have mostly different bindings.

> 11. What are the benefits compared to thunderbird?

If you need to handle and write tons of text-only mail, or apply patches
from mails to code bases, then that's probably much better in any emacs
mail client.

If on the other hand, you need to do HTML-mailing like it's ubiquitous
today, then thunderbird is probably better.

> A. Only the keybindings of Emacs I can use and in knowing them it will
> be easier in future to handle it?

Maybe.

> B. It is within emacs and uses less CPU

Probably.

> C......

Having fun just by doing it!  As said, there's nothing wrong with using
thunderbird, your email provider's web client, Fairmail or K9 Mail on
your Android phone, and multiple emacs clients.

Bye,
Tassilo