Hello All,
I was wondering if someone could help me find a suitable portable email client for use with a USB drive.
Currently I have 4 email accounts. One personal account with POP3&IMAP support, a work account (POP3), a separate personal account for SPAM (POP3), and a second work account (POP3). I manage the first 3 with Outlook Express on my home PC and the 4th through the gmail website.
Ideally I would love to have the email client only SYNC with these accounts such that it leaves all the email either on the server or available for my home Outlook Express. Therefore when I SYNC in the morning, I would have access to whatever is at home. However I would have the comforts of an email client while away at work. But throughout the day it would leave everything on the server so when I get home I can still use Outlook Express and have my messages.
Would portable thunderbird be able to do this?
Anyone have any other suggestions? If I had IMAP support on all 4 accounts, it would be easier, but I don't believe this is possible with my work accounts.
Thank you so much,
Timothy
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The "yes" part is: Just tell Thunderbird not to delete messages from the server after downloading them--in fact, I think this is the default.
The "no" part is harder to explain. Due to the nature of POP3, once an email client (such as OE) downloads a message, the message is marked with an invisible designation that says "don't download this again"--even if the message isn't actually deleted from the server. There's no way around this that I know of. Gmail accounts allow you to reenable POP3 access for all messages again; other email services might not be so nice.
So the best way around this is to just use one email client for everything. If you intend to use a client all the time, ditch OE and just use Portable Thunderbird, even when you're at home. This way, everything is in one place and you don't have to worry about keeping PTB and OE synched (which as you should have figured out from your own experience and my explanation, is nearly impossible).
Excellent. Thank you. Would it make any difference for "sync"ing if I used regular Thunderbird at home instead of OE.
I imagine I will go the PTB only route. The only issue is that the Gmail account is accessed by more than one person. However if I set Thunderbird to not delete messages from the server, everyone else should be able to still access it from the web correct?
I assume it's easy to move all my address book, old emails over to PTB?
Thanks again,
Tim
Timothy
AIM: TimothyDMB
http://www.mollyandtim.com/
Timothy
Yes, everybody else will still be able to access the Gmail account from the web. Just specify in the preferences that Gmail messages are to be left in the inbox after being downloaded by a POP3 client (the default, I believe, is to archive them).
Now... as for whether using a regular copy of Thunderbird and a portable copy will make any difference... no. For all intents and purposes, having two copies of the same client counts for the same amount as having two different clients. Because of the way the POP3 protocol is set up, once one client downloads a message, another can't access it because it's basically marked "do not download again." Gmail allows this flag to be removed (through the option "enable POP for all messages" in preferences), but I can't speak for other email providers.
In short, it'll be a lot less stress for you if you just use Portable Thunderbird for everything.
Once again Thank you for your help.
exactly the info I needed.
Timothy
AIM: TimothyDMB
http://www.mollyandtim.com/
Timothy
in my experience this is incorrect.
I use Local thunderbird at home and PTB on the go. I have gmail, yahoo, and ISP accounts. They all download on both, no matter if one was there first. If i am at my college and use PTB, I can still download them with a local copy of TB at home.
As for leaving the messages on the server, very easy.
Go to TOOLS> ACCOUNT SETTINGS> {account you wish to modify} > Server Settings > and near the bottom choose leave messages on server. You can do this for a period of time, or leave them until you choose to delete them.
Jacoby
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Posted in Mozilla PowerSkunk. Other Browsers run in fear!
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And if that dosen't work (though there should be no reason why it shouldn't
:P), you can always do it the hard way by saving the messeges to the hard drive and opening them via 'File>Open Saved Messege...'
or use portasync. handy proggie there. good to sync FF and/or TB profile to portable, or portable to FF and/or TB.
see portasoft.org for that one.
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Posted in Mozilla PowerSkunk. Other Browsers run in fear!
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Hear, hear!
Since Steve is working on Libertà I`m doing the development til he`s done.
So, what do you want to see?
----
R McCue
"If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate."
Yeah but I have a new one in C++ almost done that kicks the old version back to the stone age!
Yours
Steve Lamerton
Developer Profile Sync & PortaLog
Great! Looking forward to it.
I have to sync my FF on all my assigned lab computers at school to PFF, and ProfileSync has helped a ton. Looking forward to the new one.
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Posted in Mozilla PowerSkunk. Other Browsers run in fear!
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Sounds good.
BTW Steve, are you going to answer my emails?
----
R McCue
"If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate."
I don't know what you guys are doing differently, but once Thunderbird downloads a Gmail message for me, it won't download it again, even if I wipe out my Thunderbird profile from Explorer and start fresh. This is what happens in my experience: PTB downloads the message, Gmail archives it, and then no client will download it again, even though it's still on my Gmail account.
In order to get Thunderbird (or any other client) to download the old messages, I have to go into Gmail settings and turn on the option "Enable POP for all mail (even mail that's already been downloaded)"--and I have to do this every time I want a client to download those messages again.
GMail itself marks it as downloaded and won't make it available for POP again. Gmail isn't a standard POP account so it behaves quite differently.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
oh yeah, i had to change that in my gmail options. its in your settings, the pop3 section. sorry forgot about that. you have to do it through web mail interface obviously
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Posted in Mozilla PowerSkunk. Other Browsers run in fear!
(Brought to you by Firesomething.)
You might take a look at inscribe http://www.memecode.com
The free version allows only one email account, but the registered version allows multiple accounts.
The installed size is around (without spam filter database) 2MB