[bigstrat2003]

> Many HNers probably wont (or cant) remember the world of desktop mail clients...

If there are people who have never used a desktop mail client, I will say you owe it to yourself to try one. Web clients suck compared to desktop clients, it's not even close between the two. Sticking with just the Gmail interface (or whatever) is so limiting; definitely give alternatives a shot if you haven't.

[datenyan]

> Sticking with just the Gmail interface (or whatever) is so limiting

Perhaps it's the fact that I grew up with Gmail throughout my education (and now my career), but most local clients lack one key feature - quick move!

My entire workflow around emails is based around opening & reading them, and then using the "Quick Move" button in Gmail to move it into a specific folder by typing the first few letters of the folder and hitting enter.

I know there are extensions for Thunderbird like Quick Folder Move [0], but I find these can be buggy, slow, etc. I presume these are just the realities of dealing with email providers who'd prefer you use their webmail clients rather than Thunderbird et al.

[0] https://services.addons.thunderbird.net/eN-US/thunderbird/ad...

[aidenn0]

Gnome evolution has shift-ctrl-v to move to a folder with typeahead search. I don't use the gmail webclient so I can't say how it compares.

I should note that I mostly use the emacs notmuch mail client, which requires having the mail mirrored locally (which I do with e.g. isync/mbsync), but gives really responsive and rich search and tagging capabilities

[tracker1]

The biggest issue is if you're using IMAP with gmail itself, it's horrible and quirky.

[impendia]

I tried a couple of them, and they both started downloading my entire backlog of email to my hard drive, which I didn't want.

I couldn't think of a reason why this would be necessary, but I haven't really kept up with how the technology has evolved in recent years. Is this behavior intrinsic to desktop clients?

[secabeen]

Intrinsic, no. Common, yes. Many people who use desktop clients want a local copy of a substantial fraction of their email so that they can review or compose messages while off-line. Desktop clients also operate faster and can provide robust search services only if they have a cached copy of the messages on disk.

[globular-toast]

You can't think of a reason why you'd want a local copy of your mail? Do you have control over any of your data?

[impendia]

I can think of reasons why I might want a local copy, but they didn't apply in my case.

Do I have control over my data? I'm not sure I understand the question, but in this case the answer seems like a clear no, as my employer manages the email server.

[globular-toast]

There are options in Thunderbird to disable syncing completely or only sync messages from the last 30 days and such.

[tracker1]

Definitely make sure to adjust your defaults if you decide to dip your toes into nntp... I hate some of the defaults there... namely the reply/respond button defaults. Usually you want to respond to the group, not send an email to the poster.

That said, NNTP is so dead at this point, outside some active BBSes that offer NNTP access. Usenet definitely feels like a wasteland when I've looked around the past couple years.

[TiredOfLife]

I have tried thunderbird. Gmail is 10 times more usable and readable and performant than thunderbird.