In the past few years, the triumph of web-based mail services seemed unstoppable. More and more users now operate email directly in their browsers and do away with specific client programs. No wonder that work on many mail clients has come to a standstill.

Meanwhile, however, a few programmers have found renewed courage to work on such tools. Reasons for their use are plentiful and include closer integration with the operating system or the advantage of providing a uniform user interfaces for different accounts. The signs are good for a classic mailer renaissance, and one interesting new application is Geary [1].

Geary developers aren't new to the open source scene. They also developed Shotwell [2], a popular image manager for Gnome. They're also fond of crowdfunding to finance their work. They floundered for a while, but they finally got to work, and the results are great [3]. The "Installation" box describes how you can integrate the newest version of Geary into your system.

$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:yorba/ppa
$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get install geary

Wizard

Geary is already preconfigured to work with the largest and best-known free mail providers. If you send and receive messages via Gmail, Yahoo, or Outlook.com (formerly Hotmail), you already have the necessary accounts. Start the program and select the service provider from the drop-down list, then fill in the remaining fields (Figure 1). Enter the email address exactly as you registered with your service. Geary then connects to the server, and your account should immediately become active. If you use your own server or a provider not on the list, choose Other for a service. This option requires manual entry of the details.

Figure 1: Gmail or Hotmail users need to add just a few details to the Geary setup wizard to get immediate mail connectivity.

Own Server

Geary mainly works with providers with access to messages through IMAP – the modern form of managing server mail. With an IMAP account, everything remains on the server until deleted there. With the older POP3 process, the client usually retrieves messages from the server and deletes them after they're received, which means moving them from one folder to another on the server isn't possible. IMAP doesn't mean, however, that no emails or data end up on the user's machine. To speed things up, most mail programs retain local copies of messages and attachments.

If you want to set up personal access, you can use a "nickname" in the dialog. Geary uses this nickname to distinguish between accounts. In the main area of the window, specify the server details (Figure 2). These details include the hostname, possibly the encryption method used to communicate with the server, and the log-in information. Exit the dialog with OK to complete the settings. You might want to know where Geary stores the account credentials, which is, after all, sensitive information. However, you have no reason to distrust Geary: The program doesn't store the access data in an open configuration data format but rather in the key management of the Gnome desktop.

Figure 2: As long as the server recognizes the IMAP protocol, you can use it with the current version of Geary.

First Steps

After setup, Geary first calls up the list of messages and folders on the server. As with many clients, the program window is divided into three parts (Figure 3). The list on the far left includes the various accounts and their folders.

Figure 3: The developers use a classic three-pane layout that looks very smart and functional.

The middle area includes the list of messages for the selected folder, and the area on the right shows the message content. Scrolling with the keyboard through the list of messages automatically marks the elements as read – even those out of view.

Conversations

Geary breaks new ground in presenting messages. Whereas other programs create a tree hierarchy, Geary groups them into conversations , single threads of discussion. If responses to a message already exist, you'll see them as part of the conversation in an abbreviated form.

Geary also inserts a number next to the entry that indicates how many messages are part of the same subject. Instead of paging through the list of emails, you can simply click the newest message, which you then see in the right pane in full. All the messages for the same subject are in one place.

Clicking the preview opens all the other emails of the same context. Thanks to this linear view, you can better keep track of the conversation and more easily access its thread of replies.

Labels Instead of Folders

Google's Gmail service not only ensured that its users avoided having to amass a lot of disk space, but it also provided a whole new concept for storage. Up to then, web services and mail programs alike used the time-worn method of organizing messages into folders.

Gmail uses a different method. Purely physically incoming mail ends up in a common directory. You then impose the real structure as "labels."

The service distinguishes between user-defined and system-defined, unchangeable labels. Messages that you delete go into the system label Trash , for example.

To create a label in Geary, click the message in the list and then click the label icon on the toolbar. Currently, there's no way to assign your own labels in the software, but it reads labels created in email accounts with no problem. To apply other labels or edit them, the only way is to log in to your account via the web. Once you assign a label to a message, it disappears from the Inbox.

Finding Messages

The Internet and technical magazines are full of different tips and strategies for working with email. One thing experts agree on is that it's generally not a good idea to keep mail in the Inbox indefinitely, because you want to return to it or edit it some time in the future.

If a message is important, Geary has two options: You apply a label to it, or you "star" it (i.e., give it importance) by clicking its star icon in the conversation list. A message marked as read stays in its original folder. You can subsequently apply a label and move the message to another place in Geary. The Starred label includes all the messages marked as such.

Writing and Replying

In Ubuntu and its Unity interface, you can write a new message by right-clicking the Geary icon in the Starter (Figure 4). Alternatively, you can switch to the program window and either click the new mail icon or use Ctrl+N (see Table 1).

Figure 4: The Geary editor is simple and functional. Only the signatures function would be a helpful addition.

The Geary editor has a simple design, yet it provides many functions for editing correspondence.

If you've set up multiple accounts, you can switch among them from the drop-down list at the top of the window. Use the toolbar to select from a series of formats. To send a file, click Attach a file and specify the path to the file in the ensuing dialog.

Alternatively, you can open the file manager, mark the attachment there and drag-and-drop it to the bottom of the editor window. Be sure not to drop the attachment next to the button.

The developers have not yet integrated a function to store and add signatures for messages. However, you can conceivably copy the signature from an older email and paste it to the clipboard; then, if you need the signature, you can copy it from there into the message.

Professional users are especially keen on a printing function. To print a message, choose it in the right-hand pane, then use the little button at the upper to open another menu, where you'll find the Print command. You can also open a preview of the message to proof it before printing.

In the message list, if you right-click a message, a small context menu appears. The functions include replying to and forwarding the message. Geary uses the TOFU (Text Over, Fullquote Under) method of replying by default. If this style bothers you, remove the sections in the editor that you find irrelevant or move your reply closer to the text in question.

Conclusion

Geary's interface and functions may leave you wanting more. For a program in version 0.4, it proves stable and takes care of all basic tasks satisfactorily. Overall, the software still shows some imperfections. Ubuntu users will notice a less than perfect Unity integration. For example, options to use the HUD display or get feedback from the control panel are missing.

The developers could have added a few more functions in its core area. Missing above all is support for server-based filters and rules to sort incoming mail faster. Certainly useful in this context would be for Geary to support the keyboard shortcuts from Gmail and other services.

Unfortunately, the developers didn't make good use of context menus. These especially would save time in message management, such as moving a series of messages into another folder with a simple right-click menu item.

Topping the wish list is undoubtedly the integration of encryption in the program. Currently, external programs are the only way around it. This works but is very inconvenient.