I am currently in the process of converting mail systems too. I am converting from being trapped in Windows Live Mail using all POP3 and local folders and separate inboxes and mail rules for each mailing list to Thunderbird using Tags and IMAP
I am converting for several reasons. I thought my biggest reason was I was fighting with accessibility issues with JAWS. Windows Live Mail just did not work well with JAWS 11! I managed for about the last year using JAWS 10, which worked slightly better. Over the last year, Freedom Scientific has slowly and surely improving accessibility with this application. The latest release finally solves almost all of the issues and JAWS 11 now works well with Windows Live Mail.
Your last statement regarding your concern about locking in your messages into one mail system hits home and has worried me for a long time! That is another large factor for wanting to switch to Thunderbird. It stores its messages in plain text that can be imported or opened easily. Additionally, I want to read my email in Vinux as well. Thunderbird is multi-platform and is available and works the same in both environments.
A final limitation of Windows Live Mail is pushing me to switch. As part of developing in the Ubuntu community, I now occasionly get secure email using Gnu Privacy Guard (GPG) encryttionn and electronic signatures. Windows Live Mail is not capable of reading these emails. Thunderbird works well with these features by installing a plug in.
As I am converting. I want to transition from storing my important messages locally to keeping them on the mail server. First, I switched as many accounts as I could, like gmail, from POP3 to IMAP. POP3 downloads all email to your computer and the mail is handled locally. Normally it is deleted from the server once downloaded. IMAP synchronizes some of the folders, like Inbox, on your computer and the server. This allows you to read mail from different computers phones, or other devices. On accounts that do not support IMAP, I set POP3 not to delete the files on the serverr when downloaded. This way, the messages remain on the server until you delete the message. This is not perfect, but this is a workable solution for rreading email from different devices.
Strangely, live.com and hotmail.com mail support IMAP only within Windows Live mail. For some reason, Microsoft has it's own interface and protocol here so it can not provide IMAP functionality to any other email client! I hear they might change that soon. Until then, you must use POP3 to read email from these accounts for the time being.
To download Thunderbird, visit: http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/products/download.html or http://GetThunderbird.comJamal has some JAWS Scripts for Thunderbird to add functionality and efficiency to Thunderbird. Many people say Thunderbird is completely accessible by itself and do not install the scrippts. I need the added efficiency and installed his scripts. the latest version can be downloaded with:
http://EmpowermentZone.com/tb_scr.exeI am still tweeking the settings to improve the way I read mail. If you install the scripts, there is a great help file that is always available in Thunderbird with Insert + h. It also comes up after installing the scripts. There are also at least two podcast on Blind Cool Tech to help set up Thunderbird.
http://feeds.feedburner.com/blindcooltechI am still determining the best way to transfer / convert my stored messages. There is no direct export / import path available. I may need to first export to Outlook so I can import into Thunderbird. I only have Outlook 2002 installed, which I never use. This will not be a problem coming from Outlook Express, because there is an import in Thunderbird directly from your active Outlook Express installation.
I am experimenting with gmail Tags rather than local storage folders. If anyone has ideas how to do this or manage archiving on a server with tags, let me know.
Don MarangThere is just so much stuff in the world that, to me, is devoid of any real substance, value, and content that I just try to make sure that I am working on things that matter.
Dean Kamen -------------------------------------------------- From: "qubit" <lauraeaves@xxxxxxxxx> Sent: Thursday, September 02, 2010 12:41 PMTo: "bprogramming" <programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>; "NFBnet NFBCS Mailing List" <nfbcs@xxxxxxxxxx>; "Multiple recipients of NFBnet GUI-TALK Mailing List" <gui-talk@xxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: getting critical
... as in serious, not as in criticism...*smile* Hi all -- I absolutely have to get off my old system permanently, which includes moving a good number of mail folders to a new machine.My XP box has been flaky for some months, and now is down to a paltry 9GB onthe hard drive. That with loads of stuff like mp3s offloaded onto an external drive. I have used outlook express forever (since getting onto windows) -- now I need to choose between either thunderbird or live mail or whatever else.So could someone tell me which is more accessible? And which can convert OE.dbx mailboxes to whatever other internal format it uses? And is there amail client that saves mail in a common format that wouldn't depend on justone program?Pushing things off thill the last minute... not a good idea. I have got mywindows7 box ready except for antivirus and mail client. I need recommendations. Meanwhile, I am uninstalling and deleting programs right and left so this old box will run. Then if it does, maybe I can procrastinate a little longer. Thanks in advance. --le __________ View the list's information and change your settings at //www.freelists.org/list/programmingblind
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