[haswell]

Webmail requires an active Internet connection. A desktop client lets me work in more environments/situations, and acts as a kind of local backup/cache of my communications.

It also makes focusing on email easier. I dislike having to dive into tab sprawl to read/write email.

[mngdtt]

webmail works fine without an internet connection, gmail does it. You need to write a PWA.

[forward1]

Gmail also spies on everything you do, whereas desktop clients like Thunderbird do not.

[haswell]

I should clarify that I meant "webmail" in general, and meant to answer the spirit of the broader question about why people prefer thick clients over web clients. Most web clients aren't great offline, but a "YMMV" does seem necessary here.

With that said, while I don't know much about the particulars of the Proton web client and how it handles offline access, I'd still prefer a client that treats all mail the same way, regardless of provider, and that I can manage locally/migrate to a new computer/back up to my own NAS, etc.

[stvltvs]

But do I have a local backup if my webmail provider deletes my account?

[prng2021]

https://proton.me/support/export-emails-import-export-app

[giancarlostoro]

PWA does indeed let you cache plenty of data, but I am not familiar with if gmail does this at all or not.

[pcdoodle]

No thanks on the gmail, it's not really email.