A Better IMAP Email Client

A while back, I lamented the fact that the Apple Mail application just wasn’t cutting the mustard when it came to working with IMAP mail servers. At the time, my solution was to simply change my IMAP Path Prefix to “INBOX” in my account settings, which made the hidden “.mailboxlist” directory actually hide. I was satisfied and went on my merry way.

However, not long after that, my web host (Forged Network) made some changes for the better that affected the setting. I’m no IMAP expert, but the once hidden “.mailboxlist” folder suddenly became just “mailboxlist” and began showing up in Mail again. Turns out it was now a folder that should be “unsubscribed” from, but since Mail has no way of doing that, the folder sat there like a big bump on a log, taunting me every time I worked with Mail. Yes, I could have just lived with it, but I’m one of those UI perfectionist types, so I had to find a solution.

First, I gave Microsoft Entourage a try. In true MS fashion, it promptly wiped out all of my mail on the IMAP server in one fell swoop. Just “blam” and it was gone. We’re talking thousands of mail messages that I refer to regularly just not there anymore. After the nausea passed, I was pretty pissed off. That’s one application which will never see the light of day again, no matter what. Thankfully, I had a fairly recent backup of my Mail directory that could be restored, but even still, I lost a few days worth of messages thanks to that pile-of-crap-code.

After that fiasco, I gave Thunderbird a spin, but just like Mail, I couldn’t find any way to unsubscribe from that darned “mailboxlist” folder. Besides, it’s a tad slow when it comes to responsiveness. I opted to ditch it after about an hour.

I thought my search might be done once IMAP support was added to GyazMail a couple of months ago. But the early releases just weren’t up to the task. For those who haven’t heard of it before, GyazMail is a POP based mail client that’s been around for a long time — and a very good one at that. When I did POP, it’s what I used. But when I needed to get at my mail from anywhere, I had to put it down in favor of the IMAP capabilities of Mail.

However… I’m very happy to say that my quest is really finally over with the latest release (1.5.3) of GyazMail. Goichi added the option to subscribe/unsubscribe to/from IMAP folders (along with other significant fixes) in this version, and it works perfectly! I’m very impressed with how well GyazMail has matured in a very short amount of time. It’s definitely worth the $18.00 I spent on it two years ago.

There are still a couple of little things the application lacks, such as Digital Certificates, and the ability to compose messages in HTML or Rich Text format — but I think I can live with those shortcomings for now. I’m just so glad to be rid of that darned “mailboxlist” folder once and for all!