Apple has updated four new technotes for users of its revamped webmail interface.

In brief:

1. Firefox issues when sending mail — Firefox can unexpectedly quit when sending an .Mac webmail message with a large attachment.
2. Entourage folder accents convert to HTML — The webmail interface converts Entourage folders with accents into HTML tags. Advice: Don’t use accents.
3. Scrollbar issues when expanding the Address Book — The interface doesn’t draw scrollbars for an expanded correctly when using the two-pane view.
4. Ways to use the online Address Book to create new messages — Two ways to use the online Address Book to create a new message. And one thing not to do.

.mac, dotmac, apple, technotes, firefox, entourage, accents, address book, interface

CRM4Mac is a contact management interface for Mac OS X which combines Address Book, iCal and Mail into a single interface.

It allows you to capture all the to-dos, events, email, contact information, phone call records and sticky notes on your Mac related to particular individuals, groups or projects.

A new version (3.0) has just been launched. It adds projects as a top-level coordinating category for your information, new filter options to restrict what is displayed in the main window, an update check and the ability to add new contacts, events and mail without using the iApps themselves.

It has also been rebuilt from the ground up to improve speed and stability, replaced its AppleScript foundation with SQL database technology, and improved the consistency of interface behaviour throughout the app.

A screenshot shamelessly stolen from the developer’s web site demonstrates how it works and what a user might gain:

I think that the labels are legible. Top left is a window that displays your Address Book groups, companies or projects. The next pane displays individuals within those categories and the main window then displays the emails, to-dos and so on for that person or group.

Underneath a view of the information for the select contact stands to the left of a preview pane for the main window above.

Is this a good thing? Sadly for the developers, I think that the answer doesn’t depend on the quality of the app itself, but on preconceptions about interface design and workflow. People will either love this idea or hate it before they even use it (or OD4Contact which does something similar).

People like Mike Salsbury, who feels that the integration in Ximian Evolution makes it better than Apple Mail would probably love it. Others, like me, who value the “purity” of working with mail and only mail in one app, with events and only events in another and so on, will be faintly appalled.

To help you make up your own mind, a 30 day demo is available from the developer’s web site . CRM4Mac costs USD 49.95, although the new version is currently being offered at the reduced rate of USD 39 with the coupon code “MacExpo”.mail.app, apple mail, ical, address book, productivity, integrated interface, entourage

Khoi Vinh has had enough . Although he is a long-time Entourage user and finds that the app is “a class act” that “frequently showcased the very best of what Microsoft’s Macintosh Business Unit had to offer”, he’s dumped it. It was just too slow and the new Intel Mac version too far away.

He’s liking his new email client, Mail.app, a lot:

There may be a fantastic new iteration of Entourage in the works, but I need a fast, nimble and Intel-friendly email client today. So I’ve switched over entirely to Apple’s Mail; there’s just no arguing with its lightning fast search performance, its Mac OS X native fit and finish, and the fact that it’s available right now.

Of course, there are some things that he doesn’t like. The perfect email client is yet to appear. In particular Mail’s Smart Mailboxes don’t seem so smart to him.

But it has proved the right move. Most of all, he’s loving the improvement with IMAP accounts:

Mail is very responsive with IMAP, to the point where it’s a nearly seamless experience, more or less exactly how IMAP was intended to work. This allows me to move easily between work and home computers while keeping my mail database in sync, and without effort. Brilliant.

mail.app, apple mail, entourage, microsoft, imap, junk, switcher, email, smart mailboxes

Maza Digital has re-released its Email Backup app as a shareware app called Email Backup Pro.

It offers a simple schedule for the complete backup of messages and settings in Apple Mail, Thunderbird, Eudora and MS Entourage X and 2004. The shareware version adds a restore option and comes with an optional add-on to manage backups on external harddrives.

The interface clearly presents options for the location and timing of the backups and the number of backup to save:

If you want to save your backups to an external drive that is not always connected, an additional freeware app Email Backup On Mount is provided.

It watches for the mounting on the remote drive and prompts you to do a backup when it is connected. It also offers menubar access to Email Backup Pro’s main features.

The backups are compressed as zip files with the date of the backup and the extension .ebp, which helps with subsequent identification and saves space.

Restoring the backup is as easy as selecting “Restore” from the app’s Tools menu.

Email Backup Pro costs USD 9.95 and a demo version (with scheduling disabled) is available from the developer’s web site .

Documentation is not included in the download, but is available separately.email, backup, restore, apple mail, mail.app, eudora, thunderbird, entourage

Jesse Hollington saw a recent post on Hawk Wings about how Mail.app bests Entourage and emailed me a thoughtful account of his own experiences. It’s good enough to share.

I’m an IT Consultant with a good number of years in the business of e-mail systems specifically, and of course am saddled with Exchange on the back-end for my corporate mail for various reasons, the most notable being Blackberry integration.

I’m also a “switcher” having liked the Mac for some time, but having been afraid that it wouldn’t quite do what I needed it to do (with groupware access being high on the list — I saw “groupware” rather than “e-mail” because we’re talking calendars, tasks, and all of the other myriad items that come with doing business). The availability of Entourage and its integration with Exchange was a huge selling point for switching to a Mac last year.

Although I started on Entourage, however, I’ve been back and forth between Entourage and the iApps about three or four times, but think I’ve finally settled back down on the iApps.

(more…)

John’s work moved to Microsoft Exchange Server so that workers could share calendars more easily.

John likes the challenge of a new piece of software, so he offered (after five happy Apple Mail years) to be the guinea pig for a test run of Entourage.

His account of how the switch went and the pros and cons makes for interesting reading.

In particular, a week with Entourage gave him enough experience to outline six (or possibly, five) ways in which Mail.app is better than Entourage. Not least, Mail.app seems a lot more ‘thought out’.

And how does he feel after the trial run?

Sometimes, you get a piece of software installed and, no matter how excited you get (see above for my software-trying-out love declaration) the thing is just damned hard work…. Entourage is one of those hard-work apps. I am going to stick with it though––it’s only been a week and I’m sure I’ll get used to it. But part of me feels that I shouldn’t have to––Entourage, if it were any good, would have banished any thoughts I’d have of going back to Mail within hours of using it. You know when you find an app that just works––unfortunately, Entourage ain’t one of those.

entourage, mail.app, apple mail, switching, email in general, email, microsoft

Email Backup, a simple and easy-to-use email backup utility that I posted about just last week, has been updated, adding support for Thunderbird and Eudora.

The app can now do backups for all the major Mac email clients, which can be selected from the main interface:

It’s not an ideal solution. Restoring one of its backups has to be done manually. It doesn’t back up some of the things that I think are essential for Mail.app.

But it’s a lot better than nothing. And it’s free.

Email Backup is available from the developer’s web site .backup, apple mail, mail.app, entourage, files, schedule, better safe than sorry, Thunderbird, Eudora