GyazMail gets IMAP support and more
GyazMail, an up-and-coming Cocoa-based email client for Mac Os X, has been updated.
The new version (1.5) brings some other welcome improvements as well as a big feature bump–IMAP support.
Adding support for the IPv6 addresses and the ability to save messages in plain text, RTF and other formats are fine additions to any client, but it’s IMAP support that finally makes GyazMail almost a grown-up email app.
The interface is unapologetically modelled on Mail.app:
There is not much that it cannot do. GyazMail supports multiple accounts, a variety of screen layouts including an “Outlook-style” wide-screen format, message threading, rules and filters, SSL/TLS support, labels, customisable keyboard shortcuts, some AppleScript support and more (see the full feature set 
on GyazMail’s web site).
Personally, I think Mail.app still holds the edge in at least two ways: the “Unified Inbox” and the ability to extend and customise it through plugins (two of the five reasons to be grateful for Mail.app).
But after fooling around with it for a day, I’m happily prepared to put it ahead of Mail’s two other main rivals, the Behemoth and the Wildebeest’s Butt.
GyazMail is shareware (USD 18), although you can try it for free first in a 40-day demo which is available at the developer’s web site .
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Tags: Apple Mail, email, entourage, imap, mail.app, thunderbird
January 8th, 2007 at 11:37 pm
I love GyazMail! I agree that I wish it had a unified inbox. I don’t really care for the separate mail folders for each account. At least make it an option like Thunderbird finally did.
In the absence of a plugin-type system like Mail.app, the only other feature I would like added would be a tagging system like MailTags adds to Mail.app. Tagging seems to be a “must have” feature in almost all apps these days.
If you are waffling over Mail.app, I suggest taking avantage of the free trial. You might be surprised on the features offered and may find this app a better fit for you than Mail.app.
January 8th, 2007 at 11:43 pm
Sorry about the waffle :)
I did try GyazMail out, but it is going to be a cold, cold day in Hell when I switch from Mail.app. The undertakers will have to pry it from my lifeless fingers, etc, etc.
January 9th, 2007 at 1:44 am
Tim:
I like syrup with my waffles. ;-)
Truth be told, the absence of the features I listed above are what’s keeping me from switching as well. I am using Mail.app full-time.
I just offered my experience with GyazMail in case someone was bent on switching from Mail.app and looking for a very capable alternative. I feel GyazMail is a *much* better alternative than Thunderbird and some of the other alternatives people seem to speak about.
January 9th, 2007 at 3:25 am
I’ve also been trying the demo of GyazMail. I find it the strongest contender to Mail out there. I could live without the unified Inbox, but it would be hard to give up on MailTags, etc.
Still, there are some nice features: I love the ability to apply rules to outgoing messages and the navigation features (in Key Assignments>Other Keys) are quite nice.
Price is right for supporting this developer whether I actually make The Switch or not.
January 9th, 2007 at 3:57 am
IMAP support IMHO still looks a bit incomplete: I found no way to define an IMAP sent folder in the account settings and also GyazMail’s (probably POP-inherited) concept of a (more or less “static”) queue folder doesn’t really fit into the scheme of IMAP.
January 9th, 2007 at 5:47 am
“The interface is unapologetically modelled on Mail.app”
To be fair to Goichi Hirakawa he’s not copying Mail.app here. His app was sporting its current interface long before Mail was three-paned. Before Tiger, Mail used to have the mailboxes in a drawer.
I liked the expressions “Behemoth” and “Wildebeest’s Butt”. I think I recognize those: the Behemoth must be Entourage, as it’s a full-blown PIM client; the Widlebeest’s arse is obviously Thunderbird, as its GUI is certainly lacking in elegance and looks by Mac standards.
January 9th, 2007 at 6:57 am
After trying it once or twice in the past I have finally stumped up the registration fee for GyazMail. What convinced me was not the availability of IMAP but the level of filtering allowing me to filter outgoing mail. The main plus for me is the speed compared to Mailsmith that I have been running for 3+ years and now under Rosetta.
What are the “behemoth and “Wildebeest’s Butt†though?
January 9th, 2007 at 7:08 am
Yes, the special folders options for IMAP are hard to find.
It can be done though: Preferences > Accounts > Edit the desired account > Misc.
January 9th, 2007 at 7:12 am
@Steve — Pet names are a bad idea on a blog, I suppose. Entourage and Thunderbird.
January 9th, 2007 at 7:39 am
Chris,
As Tim notes, you can define your own Sent, Draft, and Queue folders in the Misc. panel of the Accounts preference. Those folders can either be local or IMAP-based.
What I find frustrating is that the Trash folder apparently can NOT be a local folder. I’d rather store my trash locally so as not to fill up my IMAP server, reserve it for stuff I really do want accessible anywhere I am. I don’t know if this is a bug or some kind of limitation that the developer can’t/won’t work around.
January 9th, 2007 at 8:25 am
The one thing that continues to frustrate me in GyazMail is the inability to search across all the folders. I may have missed an option but as far as I can see a search is limited to a folder.
January 9th, 2007 at 8:41 am
I’m also trying out Gyazmail and rather liking its speed and flexibility. It’s a refreshing change from the strange sluggishness of Mail. I miss MailTags/Act-on, though it seems that with a minimal about of work some of their behavior could be replicated. Gyaz includes labels and customizable keystrokes, yet no way to apply labels or to move messages to new folders with keystrokes.
January 9th, 2007 at 8:57 am
I just tried out Gyazmail, it’s fast but the interface is ugly and it uses quite a bit of memory, upwards of 100mb on my system.
January 9th, 2007 at 8:58 am
Matt, if you select multiple folders (command-select, which means they can be discontiguous), the search includes all of them.
January 9th, 2007 at 8:59 am
Sorry, my comment about searching was directed to Steve’s comment, not Matt’s.
January 9th, 2007 at 9:13 am
Josh, you can attach keystrokes to rules. So for moving messages to folders, I set up a rule that acts on “all message”, set it to a Manual Menu type, and then attach a keystroke to it. The way to do this is described in the Help for Rules.
January 9th, 2007 at 9:39 am
Wow, I had no idea you could do that! This makes it even nicer.
January 10th, 2007 at 4:24 am
Thanks for the pointer to searching multiple folders. It would feel much more intuitive to me if one could click on the account and then search all folders in the account.
January 10th, 2007 at 5:22 am
Strange, I just re-downloaded it and indeed the version now looks a little bit different from the one I’ve checked a couple of days ago and does have the ability to define a sent mail folder (and, yes, of course I had seen the appropriate preferences panel …!)—but I’d maintain that the concept of a (online) queue folder is somewhat flawed here. If your unable to send a mail, it’ll be very likely because of the whole server being unreachable and so an online IMAP queue folder wouldn’t be of much use. Apple Mail has this one right with a local queue folder created temporarily.
January 10th, 2007 at 6:32 am
I agree with Steve, it would make much more sense to click on the account to search the entire account.
Chris: I have my Queue folder set to a Local account. Won’t this address your point about the server not being available?