Email Client with Support for Multiple Identities

[hhlost]

Hello,

I just installed SuSE 9.1 and I'm preparing to make the switch from Windows. There's only one thing standing in my way:

I can't find an email client for Linux (preferably for KDE) that supports multiple identies the way Outlook does. I have multiple email accounts on muliple domains. In order to deal with lots of email without losing my mind, I need to keep each group of accounts on a single domain completely separate from the others.

In Outlook I do this by using the "Switch Identity" freature. When I am using one identity, there's no way to fetch/send email from the other. I Kmail, I can separate accounts, but I have to remember to choose the correct account from the drop-down list. If I forget--which I do often--then my organization system breaks down.

Does anyone know of an email client for Linux that has true multi-identitiy functionality???

Thanks!!!
hhlost

[jeremy1701]

You can set up filters in almost any e-mail program so that mail from server x goes to folder x and mail from server y goes to folder y.

That would seem to solve your problem.

As for mulltiple identy e-mail clients... I don't know, it would seem counterintutive to Linux, as it's a single user environment.

Jeremy

[hhlost]

As for mulltiple identy e-mail clients... I don't know, it would seem counterintutive to Linux, as it's a single user environment.

Yes, that seems to be the thinking...

Filters are great, and I use them within each identity. But they don't help solve the real problem -- I want muliple identites, each with different email addresses, address books, to do lists, filters, calendars, etc. But I don't want to use multiple user accounts, because I want my other KDE settings/apps to work the same. It's just the way I'm organized. The webmaster for site X should not be contacting the owners of site Y. And with the Kmail model of mulitiple identites, this will eventually happen.

I hate to say it, but this is one thing MS got right.

hhlost

[bquark]

The various accounts in Thunderbird work quite independently of each other. I have four different accounts set up. Each has a different different inbox and hierachy of folders. If you reply to a message in one of those folders it will have the reply address and from address of that account. If you compose a new message while in one of those folders it will have the reply address and the from address of that account. Each can have its own signature settings.

Is that what you are looking for?

Of course I have done all of this in Windows since I use mutt on linux. You could probably simulate the same effect with mutt by crafting alternative .muttrc files using the -F flag.

$ mutt -F id1_muttrc

You might have to quit mutt to change identies but it is quite fast to start.

[variant]

Err.. linux is _the_ multi user environment so i dont know where jeremy got that info hehe. anyway.. check out sylpheed.. it does everything you need it to!

[jeremy1701]

linux is _the_ multi user environment

What I ment was that as a multiuser system you should really only have one person loging in on each account, and therefore a mulituser program, like Outlook, seems a little counter intutive.

Sorry!

[user440]

Bringing this back from the dead.

I need separate accounts (on the same domain) for my wife and I. I would much prefer to have this encompassed in one client rather than have to run two separate clients.

I understand of course that I could setup rules and folders, but I would much rather have a unique identify for both my wife and myself.

Currently, I have her on Evolution (which I REALLY like) and I am on Thunderbird, which I am not that crazy about. I like the calendar and contact functions of Evolution and hope to find something (a single program) similar to this that can handle 2-3 identities.

Thoughts?

[genesus]

This is entirely possible and not so hard to accomplish.

1) to receive from multiple accounts to on central spool, a properly setup fetchmail and procmail can grab your mail from as many different accounts as possible and deposit it to your local spool file, then whichever client you use can just grab mail from the local spool.

2) properly configured exim4 can send from your multiple identities.

3) any client you like would support these two processes; however, I'd recommend either mutt or rmail, both have fantastic labeling and queuing features.

This is actually a very useful feature to have on your computer if you, like me, have tons of e-mail account from various jobs, schools, etc.

exim4, procmail and fetchmail are fairly easy to setup but you will have to rtfm; however, it will be well worth it for the type of functionality that it provides, and if you use a cli email client you can ssh in.

[user440]

This is entirely possible and not so hard to accomplish.

1) to receive from multiple accounts to on central spool, a properly setup fetchmail and procmail can grab your mail from as many different accounts as possible and deposit it to your local spool file, then whichever client you use can just grab mail from the local spool.

2) properly configured exim4 can send from your multiple identities.

3) any client you like would support these two processes; however, I'd recommend either mutt or rmail, both have fantastic labeling and queuing features.

This is actually a very useful feature to have on your computer if you, like me, have tons of e-mail account from various jobs, schools, etc.

exim4, procmail and fetchmail are fairly easy to setup but you will have to rtfm; however, it will be well worth it for the type of functionality that it provides, and if you use a cli email client you can ssh in.

Excellent response. Although it is against my religion, RTFM would be no problem in this case. Before I do, let me understand one basic thing first.

To check mail with this procedure, step one would be to SSH to user account 1, user account 2, or etc; correct? Once logged on, I would then execute the client of my choice (Evolution for instance). Is this correct?

[genesus]

Excellent response. Although it is against my religion, RTFM would be no problem in this case. Before I do, let me understand one basic thing first.

To check mail with this procedure, step one would be to SSH to user account 1, user account 2, or etc; correct? Once logged on, I would then execute the client of my choice (Evolution for instance). Is this correct?

No, just get the entire setup installed on your main computer, then use cron to periodically run fetchmail and procmail, which will "fetch" all of your mail from all of your accounts and organize it in your local spool based upon your procmail settings.

Use any email client of your choosing, eg thunderbird. It will automatically let you know when any mail arrives in your local spool, usually /var/mail/user or ~/mbox. When you send mail, exim4 will do it for you based upon how you set that up.

The only reason that I mentioned ssh is that if you DO decide to use a cli client you can ssh in from another computer and have full access to all of your mail accounts, although, with thunderbird or evolution you could do the same thing through vnc.

The entire process, though, once you get it set up would be completely automated. Fetchamail/procmail running through cron and exim4 is called whenever sendmail is called.