Microsoft Outlook Alternative – Zimbra – Freeware email client

For those of you who are tired of using outlook and paying for something that should be free to begin with – check out

[box type=”shadow”] Zimbra – www.zimbra.com [/box]

Its a free desktop email client which works like a charm! I used to use Mozilla Thunderbird, but due to the large number of email accounts which I have (17 – it used to be more), Thunderbird just kept on giving issues and was terribly slow, not to mention the issues it had with default mail server security certificates

A couple of things I really like about Zimbra

  • It’s FREE ?
  • Simple to configure
  • Integrates with popular services (Google, Yahoo, AOL)
  • Works beautifully with Google Calendar
  • Its CROSS PLATFORM – Works on Windows, Mac, and Linux (For a real operating system, click here)

Here are the features taken from the Zimbra website:

Key features

  • Email, contacts, calendar, and documents all in one application
  • Syncs Zimbra, Yahoo! Mail and Gmail email, contacts and calendars
  • Read email from any POP or IMAP email account including AOL, Hotmail or business email
  • Works on Windows, Mac, or Linux desktop computers
  • No limit to the size of email storage
  • It works online and offline
  • Available in 20 languages

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Feature details

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Email

  • Easily compose, edit, delete, reply, or make drafts
  • “Drag and Drop” messages into new folders or the Trash
  • Supports plain text and html message formatting
  • Add email signatures for each account and automatically reply with the correct “from” address
  • Compose email even when users are not online-messages sent are saved in the “Outbox” and are sent when users connect again
  • Supports any POP or IMAP email plus Zimbra, Yahoo! Mail, Gmail, AOL and Hotmail

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Conversation Views, Tags, and Search

  • Collapse email threads into a single Conversation View to simplify the inbox
  • Tag messages as important from people users care about
  • Quickly search the mailbox for pictures, documents or text-even with attachments
  • Use Advanced Search to easily search by folder, date, person, subject or attachment
  • Save searches as Virtual Folders- for example “All email with attachments from Joe”
  • Now features built-in support for Yahoo! Inquisitor

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Web mash-ups

  • View addresses as Yahoo! Maps
  • Automatically detect users’ location and find points of interest with Yahoo! Local
  • Preview web pages at thumbnails instead of opening a browser
  • Users can see the calendar schedule from within an email message simply by hovering over a date
  • Web Search powered by Yahoo! is built directly into Zimbra Desktop
  • Automatically save pictures to Flickr

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Contacts

  • Store all your contacts in one place for all your accounts
  • Create groups and tags to organize them
  • Add photos to contacts
  • Auto complete email addresses when composing email
  • Easily import new contacts from other applications as .csv files or export contacts as .csv files for backup
  • Syncs Zimbra, Yahoo! and Gmail contacts

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Calendar

  • Manage multiple color-coded calendars
  • View calendars in Day, Week, Work Week, Month or List view
  • “Fisheye” in the Month view let’s you easily view and edit events
  • Drag and drop’ events to new days or to change times
  • Import public web calendars (iCal format), such as sports schedules
  • Invite others to meetings and view free/busy times
  • Syncs Zimbra, Yahoo! and Gmail calendars

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Documents, Tasks, Briefcase

  • Edit Documents including add images, tables and spreadsheets; share them in email
  • Track your to do’s including start and end dates, percent complete
  • Save attachments in Briefcase rather than as message attachments
  • Works with any account you set up
  • Extra features with Zimbra Collaboration Server and Zimbra

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Extra features with Zimbra Collaboration Server

  • Email, contacts, calendar, documents, tasks synchronize to the Zimbra Server
  • Access to shared data from peers (email, contacts, calendars, etc)
  • Works with both ZCS and Zimbra Collaboration Appliance (ZCS 5.0+ servers)
  • Existing user preferences (folders, signatures, settings, etc) are imported
  • Access to mobile devices, the Zimbra online Web Client and much more

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