Email

[GB2]

Well, I think the single most important thing to my business is my email system. Whenever that has a problem, I'm out of business. Now I always see people here asking about who's the best registrar and who's the best hosting company but I never see anyone ask anything about email systems.

So, what I'd like to know is what email system do you use and why, what are the good and bad points of your system and what additional knowledge can you provide regarding email.

I'm currently using a web based POP3 email through my domain registrar Enom. I started doing this years ago because at the time it wasn't "professional" to use something like AOL for business email. Now I think times have changed and nobody really cares if your email provider is Gmail or Hotmail.

The good points are:
1) I like the simple, clean, straight forward interface. No foolish things like Super Hot Mail Folders or wizards or wizigigs.
2) I like the way it functions, simple things like whenever I read an email and then close it the email remains highlighted on my inbox list so I know where I was. I've used others like Yahoo that just bring you back to the top of the Inbox list, which I don't like.
3) I like the way that whenever I read an email it marks it read but leaves it in the Inbox. I've used others like AOL that will automatically move your email to an Old Mailbox as soon as you close them, which I really hate.
4) I like that I can access my email from any device, anywhere, anytime. I suppose that is the case with most email systems but I don't think that is the case if you are using something like Outlook or Thunderbird to manage your email.

The bad points are:
1) Space - I pay for my email space and I'm up to about 5gb maybe but I constantly run out of space and have to order more.
2) Cost - Like I said I have to constantly order more space and that constantly adds more and more cost to my email system at a time when many email systems are free.
3) Service - Although I like the overall way my email works, it does not work all the time. There are far too many times when the system is down and I'm waiting and waiting to get back in business. I must say though, that whenever I call for service they are very good about taking care of things, it's just that I have to call too often.
4) Archive - I cannot archive my email unless I use something like Outlook or Thunderbird to manage my email. I'm not completely familiar with how that would work but I'd be concerned that I couldn't access all my email from anywhere if I did that.
5) Scrolling through the Inbox list can only be done page by page. I can't go directly to the P's if I'm looking from an email from Mary Peters, I have to guess what page the P's might be on until I finally find it through trial and error.
6) Syncing with everything else in the world - I do have a Contact and Schdule feature with my email but it doesn't sync with everything else in the world, like smart phones, etc., as easily or automatically like Gmail does...I think. I desperatly want a single place to manage my contacts and schedule that can be accessed anywhere, anytime, from any device. I'm hoping that the email system will eventually do that for me but I'm not settled in on it yet.

I know there is a lot more I could list but these are some of the highlights. I'm thinking about going to Gmail service but linking to my POP3 email. I believe this would give me everything Gmail but would still maintain my email address as it is. I'm not sure how this works, a web guy/friend suggested it to me. So, what can you tell me about your systems?

 

[royster13]

www.gmail.com since 05....Never looked back....

PS....I still use royce@glacierwind.ca and every thing comes and goes through Gmail...

 

[Fred Weiss]

I think these days when a client is looking for a supplier that there is a credibility factor with having your own domain and that your email goes to that domain address. So let's start by recommending that you get a domain name and setup at least a basic one page website.

For email, I like it to come into the inbox of a local client email application on my designated workstation for email. I use Thunderbird for that. But before it gets to my inbox, it is filtered and checked for viruses at two different places. The first is an online service named Postini which is owned by Google. It applies the latest virus definitions and spam filtering to all my incoming mail and only allows through what it judges to be okay. For viruses it is about 99.99% effective. I check it periodically and when a legitimate email is trapped there, I can approve it and no further email from that sender is held back in the future.

The email that comes through Postini to my local client is then checked again for viruses by AVG on my workstation before it appears in my inbox. Any spam that makes it through can be marked as junk in Thunderbird which will then put any future emails from that sender straight into the junk folder. My legitimate emails are filed into sub-folders I setup to suit my needs. Finding older emails when necessary is a breeze.

What I like about it is that I don't have to remember to check email periodically online. Thunderbird automatically downloads my email at whatever interval I choose (every 5 minutes), filters it for junk and checks it for viruses. So anyone sending me an email will have their message to me in my local inbox in no more than 5 minutes after they send it (unless it is virus infected or appears to be spam). And I have an archive including attachments that is safe, filtered for spam, sorted, organized and searchable going back for years with no concerns about size.

I haven't found a downside to this setup yet. The cost is not a problem. I have three domains setup with my local IT guy who is a Postini provider and he charges me $54 a year for the service.

 

[SignManiac]

My setup is nearly identical to Fred's except I use Barracuda for spam filtering, Kaspersky for antivirus, and MS Outlook with sub folders to keep everything neat. I do have email address tied directly to my website. Mail is also checked every five minutes.

 

[SightLine]

I hope you meant that having email through Gmail or whatever as being acceptable as having them as your host, not your actual email addresses. I still think a business with blahblah @yahoo, @gmail, @msn, etc is still unprofessional.

Our setup- we have our hosting and use their email server for pop/smtp. However we do not have email clients setup to directly access email from the hosting. Internally we run Exchange Server on our main server. The Exchange Server uses an add on POP connector to fetch emails from our hosting every 5 minutes (outbound sending is immediate). It then distributes the mail to the internal Exchange mailboxes. Internally everyone uses Outlook (full not express). We have some shared contact lists, calenders, etc within this framework. Additionally OWA (Outlook Web Access) is configured on the Exchange Server (and firewall to allow it access) to give full access to email from anywhere you have internet with a web browser. The OWA version looks and has near all the functionality of Outlook itself. We have 5 static IP's though our ISP so I just mapped one of the static IP's to OWA then made a redirect page on our website that points to the IP so no one has to remember an IP address - just have to know to put /XXX after our website and it then prompts for your network login.

Somewhat of a complex setup but it works really well and assures everyone in the shop has a consistent way of dealing with email and give some extra features like shared calenders, and server level spam and virus protection for email (with another program on the server) and a very robust email client (Outlook).

 

[royster13]

My Gmail is on all the time and I get an indicator when there is unread mail in my inbox...

I like the fact that is does not matter where I am at, with or without my own computer, I have access to everything....I also keep a lot of stuff in Google Docs...

 

[WildWestDesigns]

My Gmail is on all the time and I get an indicator when there is unread mail in my inbox...

You get the same thing with Outlook and Thunderbird and you can also have to where both applications do not delete the emails from the server so you still have it if you have to go online with a computer that doesn't have those programs on it or is not your normal computer.

I tend to like to have an email client (Eudora, Outlook, Thunderbird etc). That's just me though, I tend to like their GUIs better then web-based ones without any fiddling involved.

I like Eudora, but haven't used it in years, I think there was another post where it is still around, but I can't remember. I use Outlook on my main computer and Thunderbird on my netbook (ubuntu version) and on my production/travel laptop. I would use Thunderbird on all computers, but I like the archiving abilities using Acrobat Pro interfaced with Outlook. I don't think there is a simple interface between Pro and Thunderbird and the workarounds that I've read on the community pages require more effort then I want to put forth, so I just keep Thunderbird setup not to delete my messages from the server.

 

[royster13]

You get the same thing with Outlook and Thunderbird and you can also have to where both applications do not delete the emails from the server so you still have it if you have to go online with a computer that doesn't have those programs on it or is not your normal computer.

How do you deal with sent email?.....Are they somehow placed on the mail server?...Also, most mail servers do not give you the storage you get free from Gmail....

 

[JoshLoring]

I think these days when a client is looking for a supplier that there is a credibility factor with having your own domain and that your email goes to that domain address.

+1
It's funny how many vendors approach me that I've been neglected simply for the fact they use a gmail/yahoo and not @onesdomain. It really goes to show the lack of ability to manage a business and take the time to get a legitimate email.

I have a dedicated virtual server with media temple where I resell hosting to my web clients. They have built in spam protection and on top of that we use iMap with outlook and iPhones for emails +AVG2012 for extra filtering.

I get unlimited emails with my monthly DV cost for any domain.

 

[oldgoatroper]

How do you deal with sent email?.....Are they somehow placed on the mail server?...Also, most mail servers do not give you the storage you get free from Gmail....

You can use Thunderbird to act as an IMAP client for gmail. I have TB setup to use two gmail accounts. It works grand.

 

[WeekendDirectionals]

My Gmail is on all the time and I get an indicator when there is unread mail in my inbox...

I like the fact that is does not matter where I am at, with or without my own computer, I have access to everything....I also keep a lot of stuff in Google Docs...

I do the same with yahoo.com email. I can choose from a drop down menu 5 different from addresses, all within my yahoo email, including my primary one from my main domain at www.pennjerseysigns.com.

I have found godaddy's email secureserver.net to be spotty.

 

[royster13]

You can use Thunderbird to act as an IMAP client for gmail. I have TB setup to use two gmail accounts. It works grand.

Are your sent emails available when you log in somewhere other than where your Thunderbird program is?...

 

[oldgoatroper]

Are your sent emails available when you log in somewhere other than where your Thunderbird program is?...

Yes. IMAP service is where the client does not actually store any email -- all the storage is on the server -- but a record of all the message headers is kept by TB.

So, at home I can use a proper email client (TB) for my gmail accounts, yet have access to all messages, sent and received, from anywhere I can log into gmail.


But the bigger advantage in TB is that I also have another 5 POP3 accounts in TB and it can check mail on all accounts and give me a consolidated new mail listing on all accounts -- its pretty brilliant the way it can display mail.

Also, I never thought Eudora's searching speed could be matched, but TB has reached and passed Eudora for searching mail.

And one more thing, TB can thread messages much like gmail. This, I really, really like.

 

[WildWestDesigns]

How do you deal with sent email?.....Are they somehow placed on the mail server?...Also, most mail servers do not give you the storage you get free from Gmail....

Outlook does not, but since I use that for archiving it doesn't matter.

Thunderbird does not as far as I know either based on default settings. I haven't had a chance to play around with it's advanced settings or with add-ons. It may very well, I just haven't found it yet. The work around that I was planning to use would just to Bcc a copy of the sent email to my address for archiving if need be. But like I said, I like to archive via pdf. Which mitigates the need for a lot of storage on the server itself.

Now I know the application that I use on my phone to send and receive email will keep a copy in the sent folder on the server, but I would still have to Bcc a copy of it to my inbox for later archival if it is one that I do want to archive.

 

[WildWestDesigns]

Yes. IMAP service is where the client does not actually store any email -- all the storage is on the server -- but a record of all the message headers is kept by TB.

So, at home I can use a proper email client (TB) for my gmail accounts, yet have access to all messages, sent and received, from anywhere I can log into gmail.

Ok apparently it looks like Thunderbird does, I just haven't played around with it enough.

 

[royster13]

Yes. IMAP service is where the client does not actually store any email -- all the storage is on the server -- but a record of all the message headers is kept by TB

So then do you have to buy your own server?...Right now I have almost 8 gigs, 31,500 messages on gmail....

 

[john1]

I use gmail, works like a charm since 2005. I use it on my iPhone and desktop.

 

[oldgoatroper]

So then do you have to buy your own server?...Right now I have almost 8 gigs, 31,500 messages on gmail....

I have no idea what happens when you go over your limit with a gmail account, but I would defn' look into somehow pulling some of your old stuff (if not all of it) off of gmail and archiving it in some way.

 

[royster13]

I have never gone over 50%.....They keep giving me more space.....Today I am only at 45%....And I love the search function.....Works very well and quick....

 

[SqueeGee]

We have two hosted exhange accounts for my wife and I . I have everyone else at the shop on IMAP accounts. This is all setup with a local provider that prides excellent service(I get a real, live, local person whenever I call from 7am to 7pm). I'm an email pack rat but I haven't had any issue with space. I love being able to search sent or received mail from my phone, office or through their Outlook interface web portal. We probably pay a little more than what we could get a similar setup through google but I like our setup.