Linux Email Clients give me a migraine

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Goal:

• GUI email clients only; no terminal clients
• connecting to O365 backend
• Electron apps make me cringe

Evolution

• When to use this? when you need a full Outlook replacement (when configured properly)
• full mail, calendar, contacts
• integrates well with GNOME/Budgie
• decent search
• can add/remove folders in sync with O365

Cons:

• need EWS library
• Need to setup account online first
• have to know of outlook.office365.com
• search ain't great

install

• install Evolution + Exchange Web Services
• Online accounts: Microsoft Exchange
• email: name@company.com
• custom server:outlook.office365.com

mailspring

• When to use this? Easy Button, when you need email+contacts, on an OS with Snap packages
• Electron
• Forked from Nylas Mail
• "Get Started"
• Requires a Mailspring account, easier to convert to the paid service. easier to track which features you are using
• mail doesn't go through their account servers, but did in Nylas
• makes a [Mailspring] folder in your Exchange/O365 account
• Windows & Mac as well
• snooze email for later/ follow ups

cons:

• contacts searches for Facebook/LinkedIn/etc with link-tracking, like a paid Advertising email service - analytics
• Diet Coke of proprietary software - easy, but not advisable all the time
• You can disable the link-tracking
• $8/mo to keep snooze, link-tracking, reminders more than limited

install

• sudo snap install mailspring
• "Office 365" button, only simple
• "graph" icon by search, and "eyeball" in first message, to disable link-tracking

Thunderbird using DavMail gateway

• When to use this? when other options don't work, has to run on a toaster, when you are a thunderbird dev, Windows
• only free way to do O365 calendaring fully
• Lightning caldav calendar doesn't really work
• most portable solution
• Thunderbird search is good!

Cons:

• 20 slides of configuration!
• can't move folders
• can break for no good reason (magic URLs)
• depends on how O365 Admins have it setup, magic URLs can be shut off
• Java!!
• Most total resources
• some hidden settings (cache up to 1GB), controlled by Firefox about:config instead
• slow to sync mail compared to other solutions

DavMail

• LDAP-EWS gateway for Exchange - sourceforge.net site
• Java-based
• openjre-8 stable only; not development
• in Ubuntu repos
• setup:

1. protocol: Auto or EWS
2. URL: https://outlook.office365.com/EWS/Exchange.asmx
3. outbound ports can be your choice

install

• install thunderbird
• mail account: IMAP: localhost SMTP: localhost
• scary screen about unencrypted ports
• Create a New Calendar
• On the Networkhttps
• Location: http://localhost:1080/users/name@company.com
• get prompted for user/password for the calendar
• Open Address Book: File > New > LDAP Directory
• Name, URL: localhost, "ou=people"
• in Settings > Composition, set the directory to use when making new emails

summary

• wish Evolution search improves/more portable
• Mailspring has no calendar
• Thunderbird is complicated

Evolution keyboard shortcuts, uncomment (as root) any shortcut in: sudo vi ~/.config/evolution/accels