Most of the students cannot imagine their lives without their smartphones. They use them for communication and entertainment mostly – however, that’s not the only ways smartphones can be used. These days there are plenty of college apps designed to make our lives easier – and any student can indeed improve their lives a lot by installing some of these apps. Of course, it could be hard to pick the right ones as there are so many. That’s why in this article I want to offer you a list of apps that can make students’ lives more productive.

1. Spotify.

If you enjoy listening to music, you should definitely install this app. Many students know Spotify as the place where popular music and latest hits can be found – but it’s not the only reasons why it’s great.

Spotify has so many playlists you can listen to while studying. They are created by other students and help you focus on your assignments well enough. Of course, you might need some time to find the right playlists for you – but it’s still much easier than trying to create one by yourself.

2. Google Drive.

Google Drive is one of the best cloud services that allow you to save the data you definitely wouldn’t want to lose. Sure, there are plenty of other good apps as well (Dropbox, for example) – but Google Drive offers probably the biggest amount of disk space available: 15GB for free accounts.

This means that you are able to store not only documents there: projects, various files, and other important data can be saved there as well.

3. Feedly.

Students spend plenty of time online, either researching something useful like cause and effect essay topics or simply relaxing while reading Reddit and their favorite blogs. Not all of them, however, are able to keep up with the current news and the recent updates as much as they want to – students’ lives are busy, after all.

Feedly can ease the process for you. It’s an RSS app, where you can add your favorite websites as blogs to view it as one feed. You can also turn on the notifications to ensure you won’t miss important updates.

Mailbird helps you stay on top of your mails and projects.

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4. iHomework.

Would it be great to keep track of your college assignments and remember about the upcoming tests? This app can help you with that. Basically, it’s a homework organizer, where you can store all the studies-related data you want. You are also able to set notifications that will remind you about the deadlines and assignments that need to be finished.

5. Strava.

Many students do want to remain fit during college years. Some, however, struggle in the process a lot. Combining physical activities with a college education can be hard, especially when you do it on your own. This way you’ll always need to motivate yourself, to find time for sports, and so on.

However, this doesn’t have to be so hard. Strava app is designed especially for those who want to be fit but feel like they need some company and extra motivation in the process. Basically, it’s a social network for people, who run, cycle, jog or walk. It allows to set goals and to share your progress with the other, making the process more enjoyable.

6. Mint.

Managing personal finances is a constant struggle for many students. However, Mint app can ease the process greatly. It allows you to keep track of the expenses, set budget goals, and simply understand where your money goes.

Moreover, it’s very simple to understand. So while it doesn’t require many efforts to use, it could strengthen your financial planning skills quickly and effectively.

7. SelfControl.

These days even the best students can get distracted a lot. After all, we have messengers, apps, and notifications that pop up all the time and can turn our attention away from the work that has to be done. Sure, you can discipline yourself and try to ignore these distractions as much as you can. But if you want to solve the problem quickly and effectively, you should try the SelfControl app.

It has a laptop version and works very simply. You set the list of apps and websites you want to block – and you choose the period of time during which they need to remain blocked. After you’re done setting all this, you can focus on work without worrying that a Facebook message will distract you. What’s even more amazing is that you won’t be able to turn off the block even if you try deleting the app or restarting your device.

BONUS Mailbird.

Last but definitely not least you will need a strong app to keep on top of emails. Mailbird is a perfect Windows based app as it also integrates a lot of other popular apps including apps like Google Drive, Evernote and Dropbox. Once you have Mailbird installed on your desktop you can manage all of your online communication just from that one app, without even leaving Mailbird. This is great for efficient and focus work through your emails and tasks. And the best of all. Mailbird will also soon have a mobile App in the Playstore.

Mailbird helps you stay on top of your mails and projects.

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As you see, not all of these apps are related to homework and studies. That’s because this list is designed not only to make you a more productive student but to improve the quality of your college life in general. I hope you’ll enjoy it!

About the Author:

Kevin is a professional educator and a private tutor with over 8 years of experience. He is also a content writer for various blogs about higher education, entertainment, social media & blogging. During his off time, Kevin enjoys traveling and cooking. Feel free to connect with him on Twitter, Linkedin & Google+.

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in December 2017 and has been updated for accuracy and comprehensiveness.

The post Best College Apps To Help Students With Studies in 2018 appeared first on Mailbird.

This is an interview with Andrea Loubier, CEO of Mailbird who is one of the subjects for research on MVP’s within companies.

1. Why did you decide to start Mailbird?

Andrea Loubier: My cofounders and I all struggle with email management and productivity at one point or another in our professional careers. We observed a successful email client that only work for Gmail and Mac users, it was booming and was acquired by Google. So we decided to build the same for Windows, but today we are solving a bigger information management problem with an overflow of apps to manage our entire lives. So we pivoted to focusing on unifying communication on the Mailbird platform. Email is the greatest invention ever, and we wanted to be a part of a big global market in the business of information exchange and communication.

2. How many people were involved in the initial startup? What were their roles?

Andrea Loubier: 3 of us, me as the CEO, Olsen as the CTO and Michael as the CPO of Mailbird. Then we hired our first two junior developers. That was the starting team in the early days, today we are 12 people going strong.

3. Did you already know there was a market for your product, or did you have to find out? How did you go about it?

Andrea Loubier: We already knew, as we took the time to do research. There is an abundance of data about the email market online, so it was easy to validate the market for Mailbird.

4. Did you have a target market in mind? If so, what was it? Did you decide to concentrate on the whole market or a slice of it? Has that market changed since then?

Andrea Loubier: We focused on Windows + Email Productivity and we focused on the broad market within that scope for Mailbird. Technology is always changing, and yes with Email I’ve seen so many new things that have been tried. Some do great, some fail. Now the next big thing is artificial intelligence and unification alongside customized experiences. This is what we are constantly testing with Mailbird, which makes it very exciting!

**5. How do you define the term MVP?**

Andrea Loubier: It does the most basic function possible, without the bells and whistles of fancy design or smart features. For Mailbird our MVP was the ugliest, old school, basic email client that did nothing but send emails. It didn’t even have a contact manager. Today, Mailbird has transformed into an incredible piece of software, and yes I am bias, but to see the transformation from 2011 to today…I am so excited about what we are capable of doing for people around the world when it comes to unifying email and apps to help them manage their work and life easily.

6. How did you decide what features were going to comprise your MVP? Whose decision was that?

Andrea Loubier: We bench marked against other email client companies to see what the core basics of email were required. We discussed these together as a team, got feedback, iterated until we had a strong foundation for the MVP to build upon with the more fancy, innovative features down the line.

7. Can you describe what you went through to create the technical environment necessary to start development?

Andrea Loubier: Our founding team consisted already of 2 technical co-founders. Our CTO had experience of managing developer teams at past companies, so we started with our internal know-how and from there set up training with each new team member on the engineering team. We recruit engineers who are familiar with the language and coding platforms while also providing documentation and training to ensure a smooth transition and environment to start development. We work with setting milestones and weekly sprints to ensure we take the time to plan, discuss, execute and communicate progress.

8. Have you discovered that anything about your first release should not have been there? What have you done about it?

Andrea Loubier: We included a Mailbird signature branding stamp on all emails that went out from Mailbird to get the word out. We had some business users who wanted it removed so we got rid of it and sought other means for building traction and getting the word out. But yeah, you learn a lot of the time when you have this idea that you think will be brilliant and you actually execute it and get the feedback, it wasn’t such a good idea to begin with. A lot of times you have to analyze the execution of any new additions to when you build new software.

9. What metrics do you have in place that guide your decision-making with regard to future product features?

Andrea Loubier: We look at adoption and usage and retention of use with any new feature. We use a/b testing for a lot of these things while also not fully executing but for example putting a new action button in the Mailbird application, that doesnt actually work, but to gauge how many people click on it. If its significant enough to make a positive impact on the user experience in Mailbird, then we execute the full action. We love the lean startup methodology, to save you time so you don’t waste time developing something that will do nothing for your users. Also we use Zendesk to collect feature requests, then we prioritize them based on demand, time to execute and the anticipated ROI of bringing that feature to Mailbird. Ideally we like to stick with feature requests that satisfy a need for a larger % of our Mailbird user base. As you know, you cannot build every single feature request that is asked of you. This leads to your product loosing clarity, simplicity, quality and focus.

10. Do you have a product roadmap? How far into the future does it extend? How frequently does it change?

Andrea Loubier: Yes, we create a new one every year. We’ve found that when you plan too far in advance, there are so many different elements and variables that will impact your roadmap like changes in the market, technical roadblocks, delays in development releases etc. We have a flexible tentative idea of the longer term, five year plan on our product roadmap, but we really focus on the current year and break it out by quarterly product development milestones with Mailbird.

Is there anything else you would like to mention that would help us in understanding the Mailbird approach to product development?

Andrea Loubier: To summarize, we like to be lean and efficient in our processes when brainstorming, analyzing, testing, iterating and finalizing with an official launch of new Mailbird product developments. For us it’s important to analyze the data first before fully executing, we learned this the hard way but putting a ton of resources into development of a feature that did nothing for our users in the end. We do this while setting up weekly sprints and checkins to ensure we stick to timing and the team is all on the same page when it comes to product development expectations. Communication is so critical in what we do, if there is no communication there is no sync and all development can be off track. We care a lot about details and quality, so we take the time to do things right

See Mailbird fully developed after having gone through the lean startup methodology and launching in 2012 with their Minimum Viable Product. Today Mailbird is reputed as the best email client in 2018.

The post From Zero to MVP: How CEOs + Senior Product People Influence Their Minimum Viable Product in 2018 appeared first on Mailbird.

Emails are the most used means of communication today. It is literally one of the greatest inventions that came with the internet. Formal requests, informal invitations, business communication, file sharing and overviews of your conversations are all possible because of email. Email offers the world many opportunities for communication asynchronously. Email as a medium of communication is today still the #1 activity done online.

32 Insane Email Facts

As a compliment to online communication, email has evolved as a great channel for many people and businesses to conduct online marketing. Great email apps like Mailbird (Windows) or Airmail (Mac) work alongside many advancements in technology. The use of the internet has made communication via email even more accessible from computers, tablets, smart devices and mobile.

Apps like Mailbird take the next step and unify all online communication and productivity channels that are built on top of the framework of email communication.

Declutter your email with Mailbird. Give it a free try now.

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Mobile access to email communication is a must today, which has also led to a rise to spam or junk mail as well as the difficulty of managing all the information that comes through our inbox. That’s where email clients like Mailbird come for the rescue. Mailbird reduces the stress of email overload, whilst increasing inbox productivity.

There are 3.7 billion email accounts worldwide, and of that 3.7 billion, 86% of professionals prefer emails for communication. This infographic below by Webeeky shares astonishing facts about email which are both entertaining while providing deep insight into the facts about email.ᐧ

The post 32 Insane Facts About Email 2018 appeared first on Mailbird.

Email was intended to make communication quicker and easier but sometimes it’s more of a hindrance than a help. We now spend too long at work trying to manage the daily dose of business emails. Checking emails, trying to find old emails, searching through relevant chains for the information you need or trying to delete old mail. It seems emails is put as a priority above too many other business activities.

Remember email is a tool to help not a priority. Here are ten tip to improve (business) email management.

1. Process Once a Day

In some businesses you have to check email several times a day just to stay in the loop but you should only process them once a day. Try marking your calendar and setting your availability to busy to prevent interruptions.

Set aside a dedicate time in your daily life to process your emails. Prioritise the most important ones and then let the others go. Make a system that works for you, making sure you still acknowledge time sensitive emails. There are many (business) email management tools available to support you master your email inbox.

Email Clients like Mailbird (Windows) or Airmail (Mac) have many features implemented to making emailing a lot easier. Snooze, Inline Reply, Dropbox Integrations, unified inbox with color indicator feature are just a few examples features made to supercharge your email management.

Master your inbox with Mailbird. Give it a try now.

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2. Prioritize

The 80/20 rule is a great way of dealing with emails. “The 80/20 rule is the idea that twenty percent of inputs are responsible for eighty percent of outputs, meaning you should prioritize the twenty percent high value emails which will lead to maximum output,” advises leading email marketing manager Angela Bradley, from the Australian Reviewer.

These prioritized emails should be replied to immediately, if not at least get back in less than three days. For the other eighty percent you can allow yourself to take more time to reply, if you do feel to the need to engage with them.

3. You Don’t Have to Reply to Everything

Don’t feel obliged to reply to every email, no reply can often say as much as writing out an email. If you spend your day replying to emails just to acknowledge you’ve received them it will take you away from the things that actually need doing. Only reply if the cost of replying doesn’t outweigh the benefits then it’s not worth worrying about. Especially when so many emails are sent out to more people than necessary or are impulsive and often not relevant to your work.

For those you feel obliged to respond to create a folder for the lesser important emails that require responses. Set aside a day once every three days in a week to respond to these emails, it will take away the pressure to reply immediately and quell the fear of ignoring someone.

4. You Don’t Have to Answer Everything Urgent

This may sound a little counterintuitive but a lot of seemingly urgent emails resolve themselves without your assistance. Any urgent email about something going missing or not being able to get hold of a person are often resolved by themselves, wait an hour and see if you get a follow up email. The follow up email will declare if the situation has escalated or has been resolved.

This method also trains people to be more self-reliant and to have realistic expectations about how connected their colleagues can be to their inbox. This idea does require some common sense depending on which industry you work in, if you work in customer service and deal first hand with customers this will work differently.

Declutter your Business Email with Mailbird. Give it a free try now.

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5. Use a Template

There is probably a trend to the things you respond to. Use a template if you find you are repeating yourself on a daily basis. Customize the template to fit the needs of the email and it could save you vital work hours.

Using editing tools like Academ Advisor and Grammarix will save time on having to proofread and edit articles.

6. File into Categories

Folders, or labels for the gmail user, can be a great way to organize your mailbox. Use a relevant name system that works for you and sort them into a hierarchical structure. Remember just because you have folders and subfolders you don’t have to keep everything, don’t be afraid to delete business emails you won’t ever need to look at again.

Prioritize, group, sort and file messages, this will make it easier to locate a specific email in the future. Create parent categories for broad subjects and then use subcategories related to more specific topics like a client or a work colleague’s correspondence.

Make sure you use obvious email subjects and put keywords in emails so they will be easy to relocate at a later date. Get help writing the best email subjects with UK Top Writers and Via Writing.

7. Be Ruthless in unsubscribing

We’ve all been guilty in signing up to newsletters in the hope of getting a discount code but these impulsive sign ups can quickly clog up an inbox. If you find yourself repeatedly deleting this type of email from your inbox it means you should probably unsubscribe immediately.

To quicken the unsubscribing process search your inbox for the term “Unsubscribe” and determine whose emails you continue to want and those you find useless. Various apps such as Unroll.me can help your unsubscribe from unwanted emails.

8. Send Less Emails

It may sound simple but a golden rule of email management is if you send less you receive less. The less people you send the email to the less response you’re likely to get, so when you go to send that email think about who really needs to see this information.

If you want to send an email but do not really want a response use declarations not open ended questions. Questions will generate more emails, which will require you to give more attention to your inbox.

9. Take It Offline

Email can be as destructive as it can be productive. Sometimes nuanced and often sensitive subjects can create inbox arguments. Words can easy be misconstrued and tone mistaken and the outcome can be combustible. If you find yourself in an antagonistic discussion stop, take it offline. Pick up a phone or have a face-to-face interaction, it is likely to douse the flames before they become too heated. An aggressive chain email will not help any situation and will seriously damage work productivity.

Only write an email if it’s necessary and avoid using anything personal that could initiate conflict. If you are concerned your emails could be misunderstood use a writing service like Revieweal.

10. Use Autoreplies

The out of office message can have lots of alternative uses. Set it up to inform people you are minimalizing your business email time. Ensure you mention an emergency number or your assistant’s contact details for the sender to refer to. Are you receiving a high level of business emails about one subject? If it’s not highly confidential add the time of a meeting or a certain piece of data to your out of office message.

Like any regimes there is no overnight results but the most critical step is sticking it for the long run. The key is to remember is to not let your inbox control you. Regular housekeeping helps to avoid you become overwhelmed with your business emails. At first you may struggle but following these steps will, in the long run, simplify your life.

About the Author:

Rachel Summers is a social media manager with seven years’ experience in the industry, working for big and small companies, including Best British Essays. Rachel, in their free time, advises small and start-up businesses on their social media campaigns.

The post 10 Easy Ways to Manage your Business Email Inbox appeared first on Mailbird.

Windows 10 offers a wide variety of awesome apps that can really increase both productivity and your sanity, especially when it comes to emails. Of course, there are hundreds of ‘Best Windows 10 Email Clients’, that claim to achieve just this goal.

We’ve compiled a comprehensive list of the cream of the crop. Stop banging your head against the keyboard in frustration, and install one of these Windows 10 apps that work best for you!

What are the Best Windows 10 Email Clients?

Mailbird

We can’t create a list of the best Windows 10 email clients without including ourselves!;-) Mailbird stands out amongst other email clients in a number of ways. Productivity is a huge issue for a lot of companies, and email can feel like fuel on an already raging fire. Features such as attachment search, profile picture search, and a quick action bar drastically reduce the amount of time you spend finding old documents or emails.

Unified Inbox is the favorite feature and main reason for many email ninjas to use Mailbird. All of your accounts will populate in one unified inbox. This feature is an absolute must for people that are managing multiple email accounts. The color indicator feature will help you tell immediately what account the email was sent to without even having to open the email first.

From there, customizing the look of the email client is up to you. You can change the background image, message sound, theme color, welcome messages, choose a vertical or horizontal layout, and even activate a dark mode!

In order to be fully happy with an app, you need to be able to integrate a variety of other applications. Luckily, Mailbird has no shortage of popular app integrations. Social media such as Facebook and Twitter, Google Cal and Google Drive, as well as communication apps such as WhatsApp and WeChat are all available integrations for your convenience. This is only a small list–there are many more to explore!

**Update** We launched our new Contacts Manager with Contacts Sync. Not only are you able to sync your contacts from any account, they are also unified! We have combined the best features and attributes from all Contacts Managers out there and unified them in Mailbird. You can drag&drop your contacts where needed. The edits and details will be applied and synced to ALL your accounts.

Declutter your email with Mailbird. Give it a free try now.

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Thunderbird

Mozilla’s very own email client is not only still around, it’s alive and well. It’s been popular and considered one of the best Windows 10 email clients for years because it’s a very functional application. An appealing aspect that many users adore, surrounds the fact that it runs so smoothly. In the off chance it’s not functioning well, there are plenty of tips and tricks to fix just about any bug on your own.

Thunderbird offers a few other stand-out features. It’s one of the only programs that allows you to extend the size of the window, much in the way you would with a web browser–making it ideal for those who enjoy a wide-screen monitor. An extremely powerful spam filter keeps out unnecessary junk mail. If you require an RSS feed, you may integrate that, as well. More than likely, if you’ve thought of an extension, it probably exists in Thunderbird.

Unfortunately, Thunderbird is not being developed and updated anymore. Therefore, the UI is perceived as rather cluttered and not very intuitive by many users.

Inky

Simplicity is key, especially when it comes to choosing from the best Windows 10 email clients. Inky does a great job at creating a straightforward, easy user experience. It offers a variety of features you are used to in a unified inbox app. After you download it, you connect your accounts from platforms such as Gmail, Outlook (Hotmail), Google Apps, and Yahoo. The process is streamlined significantly, by the fact the majority of the account information auto-fills just, similar to the installation steps in Mailbird.

Just like in most of the other Windows 10 email clients, Inky lets you add as many accounts as you’d like. If you are not into using the unified inbox option, checking each account individually is easy. Features such as “social”, “daily deals”, and “subscriptions” can provide a Smart View for categorizing the various types of emails that enter your inbox. You hold the power to completely customize your user interface.

As emails come in, Inky will rank them with a color-coded system. Dark blue is the most relevant, while light blue is the least relevant. Of course, it can mismark emails, so you have the ability to teach it which ones are the most relevant to you. Keeping your interface exactly as you please is a big facet of Inky’s success.

Microsoft Outlook

The big behemoth that most people know: Microsoft Office Outlook. It’s an all-in-one productivity booster, organizational tool, calendar, and email client. A basic version comes with a whopping seven gigs, and doesn’t limit the size of your attachments. Say goodbye to zip files!

One of Outlook’s best features is its many integrations, including Exchange support for smartphones and tablets. This allows you to use the app both on your computer, and on-the-go. Since the email client is owned by Microsoft, you can chat directly from your inbox via Skype.

Outlook is, just like the other Windows 10 email clients, dedicated to making your entire life easier, including social media. It allows you to link up accounts such as Google Plus, Twitter and LinkedIn. It will provide you with a feed without leaving the program! Outlook is interested in keeping your account safe, and boasts a 97% spam blocking rate.

All the above-mentioned features, still don’t necessarily justify the price for most of the users. Similar to Thunderbird, Outlook’s UI feels rather cluttered and outdated for many users.

Em Client

This email client has a lot of the same feel as Outlook–without the price tag. It behaves in a typical multi-account manner. Em Client differs in that it’s very customizable, and offers a variety of color schemes and styles. At its basic level, you have the ability to link two accounts. With the “Pro” upgrade, you can add as many other accounts as you please!

If you choose to participate in its paid exchange services, you’ll receive a few additional bonuses. Those include phone support and unlimited accounts. This service syncs all emails between your PC, laptop, and any mobile devices.

Popular IMing platforms such as jabber, Yahoo, and Skype fit in very neatly with the built-in chat feature. It also includes many of the awesome productivity features Outlook offers, such as tasks, calendar, contacts, and junk mail filtering. Plus, it boasts additional features, like a bar that opens all previous communications between yourself and your current email contact.

Zimbra

Much like Em Client, Zimbra has a lot of the same functionality as Outlook. Some of the similarities include a calendar, contact manager, and email client. It integrates Gmail, Hotmail, Microsoft Exchange, and both IMAP and POP syncing. Social media is a prominent feature, as well, and will show various feeds like Twitter.

Similar to Mailbird’s Unified Inbox, you can view your multiple accounts in a single inbox, or as individual inboxes. Any email you receive is single or threaded. It gives you the ability to color code, filter and tag like other email clients. Zimbra on the other hand has a more user-friendly feel to it. Moreover, it integrates well with your mobile devices, and reflects mobile changes to your contacts on the desktop version.

Bonus: Hiri

While not specifically for multiple email accounts, it’s a productivity booster worth noting. Email can be a phenomenal tool, but we often abuse it as users. Hiri was created on this premise and is in search of a way to “fix” this behavior. The vast majority of messages that arrive in your work inbox are thoughtless and seemingly without purpose. With this in mind, you can rate each message, which sets your email analytics. At the end of each week you’ll receive a score based on this feedback. There is an Outlook extension available if you’d like to integrate it with another app. It really sheds light on your email behaviors and can be a base for breaking bad electronic communication habits.

Ultimately, deciding on the ‘Best Windows App’ for yourself really comes down to personal preference. There is a slew of programs to choose from, which all claim to be the best Windows 10 email client. One way to tackle the big decision is to write up a list of the most important features to you personally. Eliminate any programs that don’t have these essentials, and narrow your search from there. Email doesn’t have to be the bane of your existence–up your productivity and electronic happiness today!

Email doesn’t have to be the bane of your existence–up your productivity and electronic happiness today!

Any app you would like to add to the list above? Let us know in the comment section below.

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in February 2017 and and 2018 and has been revamped and updated for accuracy.

The post Best Windows 10 Email Clients To Manage Multiple Accounts 2018 appeared first on Mailbird.

Effective communication is the best and easiest way to be productive throughout your personal and professional life. Many people think of email when talking of online communication. And if you are also looking for the best way to manage your email on Windows 10, then we would suggest you to check out this post: “Best Windows 10 Email Clients To Manage Multiple Accounts 2018“. Should you be looking for the best Windows 10 apps to master all aspects of your online communications then this post might be very helpful to you. Let’s dive right into it.

Skype

Skype is one of the most popular software for online communication. It is used by millions of people every day to talk over chat, voice calls and video calls. Not just that, you can share files, call someone on their cell phone and more. Skype is available on desktop, tablets and mobile devices, so just head over to the download page and get started. Download Skype app

Facebook

The world’s biggest social network also has a Windows 10 app. Share your memories, talk to your friends and let others know where you are without needing to open a browser. Download Facebook app

Trello

Trello is a simple task management app which turns into a great communication tool when you have to organize and manage an event with others. Want to plan you kid’s birthday party? Invite your spouse and friends on a Trello board and start planning what needs to be done and when. Download Trello app

Viber

Viber is another powerful communication app on Windows 10 which allows you to send texts, make voice and video calls while using only your internet data. You can send stickers, emoticons, photos and locations to make your communication fun. And the app syncs between your phone and computer in real time to make your experience as smooth as possible. Download Viber

Twitter

Till first quarter of 2018, the micro-blogging website has acquired 330 million active users and has secured its position among the top social media platforms. At one side where Facebook has stringent privacy restrictions, Twitter is an open platform to interact with almost anyone in the world from former president Barack Obama to sports legend Sachin Tendulkar. Twitter has also come up with an exclusive version for Windows 10. Download Twitter app

Line

Line is a free messaging app and is similar to Viber but with more features. Apart from allowing you to to send messages, make voice and video calls, it has stickers for more expressive chats, high quality video maker, timeline to stay in touch with the news about your favorite brands and celebrities. It also has a store from where you can buy additional stickers, themes, premium call credits and games. Available on multiple platforms you can use its Windows 10 app to stay in touch with friends and family. Download Line app

Mailbird

Acknowledged as the “Best email client for Windows & Gmail” Mailbird has launched its new version for Windows 10 which works smoothly on both desktop and tablets. With advance touch support and third party apps like WhatsApp, Evernote, Asana, Facebook, Twitter and many more, it is an all-in-one communication hub for Windows users. Download Mailbird

Piip

Piip is a completely free messenger which works on multiple platforms including Windows 10. It boasts about its simple setup and group chats which makes it ideal to talk to your friends or colleagues. To top it off you can also keep a backup of your messages on Piip Messenger cloud so you can restore them in case of stolen/lost device. Download Piip Messenger

Teamviewer

Teamviewer is a screen sharing tool where you can present a product demo or control someone else’s screen. It is a convenient tool to communicate, help and support others. Teamviewer has established itself as a tool for business use and with over 200 million users it has grown into an excellent communication app. Next time you want to help your grandma in setting up an email account, Teamviewer would come handy. Download Teamviewer Touch

Slack

Slack is a messaging app for teams. It aims to bring all your communication at one place by integrating with tools and services you use everyday. With its explosive growth in the last year, it has been considered as one of the fastest growing software in the last decade. It is a multi-platform app and works seamlessly on Windows 10 desktops and tablets. Download Slack

Did we miss your favorite app? Let us know in the comment section below what app made it to the Top 3 of your list of Best Windows 10 Apps.

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in August 2015 and has been updated for accuracy and comprehensiveness.

The post Best Windows 10 Apps – Upgrade your Online Communications appeared first on Mailbird.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve probably been getting spammed by GDPR emails left and right. There’s been plenty of confusion going around, too – what is the GDPR? Why am I getting these emails? Should I open them or can I just delete them? We’re here to answer your questions.

What is the GDPR?

Since 1995, data collection and retention in the EU has been governed by the European Data Protection Directive. The GDPR – the General Data Protection Regulation – is an update for the modern age.

What will it change?

The GDPR is an EU-wide regulation, but it will have implications for companies around the world. Any company that handles the data of EU citizens either itself or through a subsidiary will need to comply. The core principles of the GDPR are:

The right to be forgotten: The right to be forgotten allows EU citizens to request that data about them that is no longer relevant be removed from websites or search engines. This right has been on the books in Europe for some time, but it has now been clarified that international companies will have to comply as well.
Privacy by design: The GDPR demands that services provided to EU citizens be private by design. This means that privacy and security must be central and fundamental considerations in any service, not afterthoughts that may or may not be left out.
Data portability: EU citizens should be allowed to move their data at will from data collector to data collector. This would obligate Facebook, for example, to package up your data for you so you could transfer it to a new social network. Please note, Facebook account deactivation does not automatically remove the data collected by the platform.
The right to access: You should be able to find out exactly what data a website has gathered about you. Do they know your age? Where you live? Who your friends are? What your favorite ice cream flavor is? The GDPR says you should be guaranteed the right to find out.

Why am I getting so many emails?

There are a few different reasons why you may have been receiving so many GDPR-related emails. Naturally, many companies have been scrambling to change their privacy policies to comply with the GDPR. Even before the GDPR, many countries demanded that businesses notify their customers about the changes – hence the emails. Part of the GDPR’s requirements also state that everyone receiving emails from a business needs to have opted in to receive them. One of the results of lax internet privacy requirements is that businesses buy and sell email addresses all the time. Now, the GDPR has finally required them to ensure that everyone receiving their emails actually wants them. It would be a good idea to open emails from companies or brands you’d like to continue receiving emails from. That’s because many companies will most likely stop sending emails to anyone who doesn’t give them permission to do so. The mountain of GDPR spam has a silver lining after all – you get to see which (compliant) companies have your email address and get rid of the ones you don’t want to hear from.

About the Author

Harold Kilpatrick is a cybersecurity consultant who also freelances as a blogger. Harold lives in New York, where he loves to go on coffee walks with his golden lab, Ernie.

The post Diving into GDPR and What It Means for Cybersecurity appeared first on Mailbird.

Microsoft Outlook has made its reputation as a comprehensive email client loaded with features, settings and extras that make it a powerful application. However, unless you’re a super user that can invest a significant amount of time and patience into mastering the email app and all of its features, it’s probably way more than you need. It can be overwhelming when you try to navigate an email client with a user interface packed with extra features. For this reason, people who only need basic email client capabilities, such as email and tasks/calendar, are searching for less complex alternatives to Outlook. Plus, many of the alternatives we are about to share are also free—or at the very least, less expensive than the $100+ Outlook price tag for the app. If you’re looking for a simpler interface, but still require some of the main Outlook features, we’ve included a list of email applications to consider below.

Top Alternatives to Outlook

1. Mailbird

If the complicated layout and user interface is your biggest qualm with Outlook, then Mailbird is definitely one of the best alternatives to Outlook out there. Mailbird is designed around the user—a clean user interface, an intuitive user experience and simple design that allows for quick navigation through the app. It’s because of this that most people can master the application within 5 minutes, whereas Outlook can take days or longer to get used to. A common concern of those not familiar with Mailbird is that it doesn’t have as many features as Outlook. This is not the case. In fact, in many ways, Mailbird’s features are more sophisticated than Outlook’s, and they are delivered in a way that doesn’t clutter or complicate your experience using the app. Some of the most popular features are listed below

Mailbird Inbox with WhatsApp in the sidebar

Key Mailbird Features:

Integrate with third party apps, including messaging apps (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp), task management (e.g., Todoist, Evernote, Asana), Google Calendar, and more
Integrate all of your email accounts into one user interface using Unified Inbox with color indicators
Reply to emails in-line with automatically color-coded formatting and name
Personalize your inbox with layout and color theme customization
Search for attachments using keywords and preview attachments before downloading
Snooze emails or correspondence from a particular person until you’re ready to respond
Connect your email to LinkedIn to lookup your contacts on the networking platform
Free/Lite and Pro versions available at a low cost

“I’ve purchased Mailbird for my old mother as well, as it’s easy to use. She’s not in anyway computer savvy, but last weekend I actually got an email from her – the first ever, imagine my (very pleasant) surprise! For me Mailbird is a keeper – easy to use and most importantly easy to configure!! My 80 year old mom is a testament to that.” Lars – May 12.

Mailbird is a lightweight alternative to Outlook. Give it a free try now.

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2. Gmail

As far as brand names go, Gmail and Outlook are equally recognizable. Gmail is one of the most popular email clients around, but it has a distinct difference from Outlook and the other alternatives on this list—it’s primarily a web-based email client. There are some obvious advantages to web mail: you can access it from anywhere and on any computer, and you won’t need to install a separate app. However, some disadvantages include not being able to access your email offline and less features and functionalities than a desktop app. alternatives to outlook

Key Gmail Features:

Integrated with popular Google apps, such as Google Drive, Google Calendar and Google Photo
Customizable themes and layouts to organize your email your way
Inbox sorting based on message type, such as inbox, promotional and social
Labels and filters to sort and organize your email communication
Advanced inbox searching features
Free to use

3. eM Client

eM Client is on the opposite end of the spectrum from Outlook as far as user interface and experience goes. It offers a simple, user-friendly design that is not complicated by too many bells and whistles. The layout is also customizable to your preferences, which makes the experience even easier on the user. It has a built-in calendar and instant messaging app, and it supports all the main email clients (e.g., Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, etc.).

Key EmClient Features:

Built-in calendar that integrates tasks and to-do lists
Contact manager that includes communication history and a merge feature for sync contacts from various addresses
Real-time chat function with the ability to send attachments instantly
Contact and attachment search function
Free option available, with Pro upgrade

4. Thunderbird

Mozilla Thunderbird is very commonly cited as one of the best alternatives to Outlook because of its advanced customization. While it had many of the standard features, there are also tons of add-ons you can install to expand its capabilities. One of the most popular benefits of Thunderbird is its strong security system. For those concerned with privacy, Thunderbird allows for email encryption.

Key Thunderbird Features:

Highly customizable with robust add-on library
Advanced security features and email encryption
Instant messaging function included
Import/export features
Integrated RSS management
Free to use

5. Windows Mail

The Windows Mail app is a contender for an Outlook alternative due to its simple setup and use. While it won’t have as many features as the other email clients on this list, it comes with a Window 10 operating system, and therefore requires much less effort to start using. Windows Mail is best for people with simple needs, focusing primarily on basic email communication. (Note: If you are not a Windows user, the nearly identical alternative on Mac would be Apple Mail.)

Key Features of Windows Mail:

Easy to setup and use
Sleek, simple user interface with minimal interference from complex features
Support for iCloud, Office365, Exchange, POP/IMPA and more
Free to use with Windows operating system

Conclusion

While Microsoft Outlook is a professional-grade email client—mostly used for business or super email users—it’s not for everyone. But you may not be aware of all the other alternatives out there or why you should choose something else. Hopefully this list provides you with some new options to consider for your email client.

What Microsoft Outlook alternatives have you tried or considered? Tell us about your experience in the comments!

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in June 2015 and has been revamped and updated in 2016 and 2018 for accuracy and comprehensiveness.

The post 5 Best Free Alternatives To Outlook in 2018 appeared first on Mailbird.

In this day and age pretty much every person you know, has at least 1 email account. Especially, since we tend to use email for almost anything we do online. Be it for work, entertainment or just compartmentalizing reasons, having several email accounts has become a common occurrence. Effective management of them all can get daunting if it weren’t for the variety of email tools and email clients out there. This is why we bring you the ultimate list of the ‘Best Email Clients for 2018’. And the best part is, all of them offer at least a free version. Whether you are on Windows, Mac or Linux you can download any of these completely free email clients we have listed in the corresponding sections below. You can use the table of content to jump to the section that covers your OS. 1. Best Email Clients For Windows 2. Best Email Clients for Mac 3. Best Email Clients for Linux

Best Email Clients For Windows

Mailbird

Let’s start with this lightweight email client for Windows. Mailbird covers a large variety of your multiple email accounts’ needs with many different features and integrated apps such as WhatApp, Facebook, Asana, Todoist just to mention a few. It has a large number of customizing options that enables you to maximize your productivity. Mailbird is currently working on releasing an Android app that will be released most likely in 2019.

Mailbird Unified Inbox with Color Indicator

Check out the main reasons why Mailbird definitely has the potential to be the best option for all Windows users:

Complete compatibility with multiple accounts and apps.
Full-serviced Contacts Manager featuring a very unique linking feature in addition to common features such as merge, search and sync.
Fast and lightweight email functions like clean Inline Reply, Attachment Search, Tagging Feature, Snooze and Quick Compose.
You can set up any number of email identities.
Synchronization with Google Calendar for increased productivity. A native Calendar is in the works too.
Unified inbox with color indicators for simple navigation and email management.
Touchscreen option to adapt the interface for phones and tablets.
Integration with Degoo for sending big attachments without any issues.
Overall, a very simple yet powerful email tool.

Declutter your email with Mailbird. Give it a free try now.

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TouchMail

This great looking email client takes off after the Windows 8 layout and brings it to Windows 10. The stylish and cleanly organized inbox is enhanced for touch screens.

TouchMail Inbox

TouchMail supports all common email provider and smartly displays, files and arranges your folders to best suit your needs. Want to adjust the number of icons and mails displayed? Simply zoom in or out. This email client is super easy to use and therefore made it to the second place on our list of best email clients. TouchMail is completely free. Take a look at the list below to help you decide on whether or not TouchMail is the best email client for you.

Great looking and intuitive interface.
Supports the most important email services like Gmail, Outlook and Yahoo!Mail.
Made for touchscreens, with an input version for versatility.
Super simple synchronization with your email accounts.
Easy message filtering by sender, time or type.
Push notifications for new mail.

eM Client

This clean-cut and simply designed email client is available for Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8 and Windows 10 users. eM Client supports all major email services like Gmail, Outlook, iCloud just to mention a few. It offers a free version with limited feature support that might already be enough for some users.

eM Client – Inbox

Some of eM Clients’ best email features are:

Integrated translation tool.
Message encryption.
Full contacts handling, allowing you to find, merge and search contacts easily.
Complete spellchecker.
Touchscreen option to adapt the interface for phones and tablets.
Intelligent and super-fast search tool for quick localization of specific messages, senders or attachments.

Opera Mail

Before we dig deeper into Operas functionality we do want to mention, that Opera is no longer being developed. It is still available and the best email client for Windows out there for some users. You will find a disclaimer on Operas website that we would like mention too. The disclaimer reads: “Opera Mail is at the end-of-life stage of its product life cycle. This means neither technical support nor product and security updates will be provided. The product is still available to download, but you will use it at your own risk”. One of Operas’ greatest features is its intuitive tagging feature that automatically sends your incoming emails to your personalized folders. Just like Mailbird and eM Client, Opera Mail has a sidebar on the right that integrates Apps, Calendar and Todo-lists.

Opera Mail Inbox credit: Softpedia

Summing up the pros of getting Opera Mail:

Excellent tagging and labeling system, with a central inbox and individual folders for each account.
Unlimited number of connected accounts.
Offers options for a secure connection.
Low band-width mode option for slow connections or for when you’re using your phone.

Best Email Clients For Mac

Mozilla Thunderbird

This amazing email client is available for free on both Windows and Mac. Thunderbird comes with a handful of incredible filtering, searching, archiving and security features that make it the best email client for some of its users.

Thunderbird for Mac

Once installed you can start managing your contacts and email, create smart folders just to mention a few of Thunderbirds’ features. Mozilla Thunderbird offers a “Do Not Track” option and keeps spam at bay with intelligent Junk Mail filters for your own security. Mozilla Thunderbird is a great choice for Mac if you are looking for:

Unlimited number of connected accounts.
Suits your needs through easy download of plug-ins and add-ons.
Allows you to create a personalized email account.
Great for viewing heavy attachments through online services.
Automatic setting of server addresses.

Polymail

Polymail has become one of the most popular email clients for Mac. Not only for its light and clean interface espcially because of the tracking and security tools it features for all OS users. Supporting Google, Outlook, iCloud and Yahoo, Polymail believes in the use of email for a productive work space.

Polymail Inbox

Some interesting features in Polymail include:

A customizable snooze option for messages that delays reading time.
Notifications for when your mail has been opened, read and downloaded.
Built-in analytics for productivity and time management.
Fairly regular updates to improve the program.
One-touch unsubscribe option for newsletters.

Spark

One look at Spark and you’ll know this is one of the smartest email clients for Mac, with a great set of tools and features that focus on productivity. It provides the complete user experience by automatically organizing your mail into personal, pinned and newsletter messages. Spark comes with a smart inbox and search bar, a nice and clean built in calendar and a follow up reminders feature that make it not just a grand email program, but also an impressive organizing tool for your everyday life.

Spark Inbox

Every Mac user can expect the following from Spark:

Tagging and labeling made easy with automatic folders.
Fast and clean interface that won’t lag or overload your inbox.
Notifies you about important messages only.
Automatically identifies your most used features and prioritizes them over the others.
Can let you know when emails are opened.

Spark is very well worth your time and your trust, proving without a doubt to be one of the smartest and best integrated email programs for Mac.

Apple Mail

This native Mac program is a no-nonsense email client that supports all your accounts in a smart and straightforward UI. Mail is the best email client for users that want a simple, “old fashioned” email organization with solid filing and archiving functions and not too many extra features.

The latest version of Mail comes with space saving iCloud storage of your oldest messages to keep your drive light and clean of useless content. The pros for this Mac email client include:

Fitting perfectly into the Mac interface.
The iCloud service storage lets you send up to 5GB in files.
Allowing for multiple accounts in iCloud, IMAP, POP and Exchange
Smart filing and labeling of important messages through color coding and automatic folder creation.
Offering stylish stationary and graphics for composing emails.

Although Mail counts very few cons, keep in mind that stationary or graphic templates can not be used on replies. It also does not support smart folders.

Best Email Clients For Linux

Evolution

This email client is the favorite for all Linux users, that are looking for a solid and reliable account manager. Evolution comes with smart task- and contacts management, a highly functional spam filter, a neat note taking tool and a smooth calendar integration to ensure high productivity levels.

Evolution Inbox

Other cool features in Evolution include:

Smooth integration of email, address book and calendar.
SpamAssassin for getting rid of spam forever.
Virtual Folders automatically collect email under certain labels.
No need for extensions or plug-ins.
Desktop notifications.
Connects to both Google Mail and Office 365.

Mailspring

Mailspring is the follower of Nylas Mail. While it may seem like they are one and the same, you will notice very soon that it got some serious updates. 50% less RAM space is just one major improvement. It offers a clean interface and an array of basic and useful email tools. Snooze and Unsend options as well as link tracking and a unified inbox are only a few examples.

Mailspring on Linux

Check out some of the pros that could make Mailspring the best email client for Linux for you :

An improved, native C++ core that works seamlessly with Linux.
Uses up to 50% less RAM than its predecessors.
Offers templates for quick, instant replies.
Customizable, minimalist interface to suit your taste and help you declutter your unified inbox.

Claws Mail

If you’re looking for a fast and lightweight email account manager that organizes even the messiest of emails, then Claws Mail is your right choice. Its simple and somewhat basic layout may not look as good some of the other email clients on this list. Nevertheless , Claws Mail makes up for it with a solid number of features, tools and plugins that focus around functionality. Claws Mail provides a very strong and smart search feature for users to easily find contacts and emails.

Claws Mail

Some other pros of Claws Mail are definitely:

Straightforward, simple and flexible interface.
Comes with a plug-in store for unlimited expansion.
Creation of custom filters that can be applied to all incoming messages or specific labels.
Constantly updated and improved.
Automatic download of email attachments.
Availability for Windows.

Geary

This fast, light and great looking Linux native client manages all of your accounts and adjusts perfectly to making email the easiest thing in the world. Geary features a clean unified inbox on a highly responsive UI while it is also pretty stylish.

Geary Inbox

Among Geary’s most interesting features and/or attributes are:

Support of major email services like Gmail, Outlook, and Yahoo!Mail.
Native GNOME client that works perfectly into the Linux system.
Presentation of your emails in threaded conversations, organizing them by that same criteria.
Support of signatures on every email.
Can compose HTML text.
Desktop notifications.

Did we not mention your favorite email client? Let us know in the comment below which of them you would consider to be the best email client out there.

The post The Ultimate List of Best Email Clients for Multiple Accounts in 2018 appeared first on Mailbird.

Almost 23,ooo people search for www.gmail.com on google to get access to their Gmail account every day

Given that a good “average” speed for typing on the computer is around 330 characters per minute (or CPM), that means that people spend a total of roughly 15 hours a day worldwide typing www.gmail.com into their browser to access their webmail. That’s a long time! And that’s not even including the redundant and often long page-loading time. Think about it, logging into Gmail to get to Google Drive involves navigating close to 4 pages like the Google search prompt page, the search results, and the Gmail login. Then once you’re finally logged into Gmail, you need to find Google Drive to perform your next set of tasks. To do this multiple times over the course of a work-day is quite exhausting – and there are far better alternatives!

Monthly Google search volume for www.gmail.com

Regardless if you are new to Gmail, webmail in general, or if you are a newcomer to the web – we are going to show you 4 ways to drastically cut down (and even completely remove) the need for you to type www.gmail.com into your computer in order to access your Gmail account.

All of these ways are safe, secure, and provide you direct access to manage your Gmail account the same as if you manually entered www.gmail.com and clicked the link.

what you see when you enter www.gmail.com as a search in google

Before we get to the best ways to access Gmail, let’s first address the issue behind:

Why typing out www.gmail.com into your search engine is not the best way to go about doing things

It’s a waste of time

Sure, you may not be wasting 15 hours a day yourself but this action can get really annoying when you’re working with multiple email accounts. Let’s say you’re a remote worker for a marketing company. You’ve been given the logins to a main email address; you have your personal email address as well as your work email address to tend to. Spending time logging in and out of all of your email addresses to manually login to each one is time you can be using to perform more important tasks, to say the least. If there is a way to get to where you need without having to type in all those “www’s” and so on, shouldn’t you take it?

It needlessly exposes you to ads

This is a Google search ad related to gmail

Search results have ads. Every time you perform a search in Google you are opening yourself up to ads targeted at exactly what you are looking for. These ads can even get integrated into your personal social media accounts. You just want to check your notifications, not to be distracted by useless ads getting in the way of your every move!

Lastly, it can affect your browsing experience

Google remembers what you search for. Furthermore, it will usually try to auto suggest/fill possible related search terms based on what you regularly type in Google. This includes personal information like home addresses, credit card information and passwords, making it easy for somebody to gain access to your information.

Since chances are Gmail is not the only website you write out including the “www” in search results, you may notice that you are constantly presented with all your most commonly searched websites every time you begin to type in the search bar, requiring you to type 4+ characters before your suggested searches are even close to relevant to what you are intending.

Google suggests relevant searches while you type

Why do so many people search for www.gmail.com?

There are likely many reasons why. However, the most likely reason for most people is that they misunderstand the difference between the search bar/field/box and the address bar/field/box.

search bar vs address bar

The Search Bar is always inside the frame of your browser and it’s where you input text to perform a search.

These include Google, Bing, yahoo!, DuckDuckGo, and a myriad of others. These search engines are applications that exist online and not a part of your computer or your browser, though most browsers have integrations or preferences towards one or more search engines. For example, Google Chrome (a popular browser) defaults to Google.com for it’s search engine. However, you can easily use one or more other search engines within Chrome. In addition to searching, different search engines include varying behaviors including the ability to open websites directly from searches, and more advanced commands. Here are some resources you can use to become more familiar with the other things you can enter into today’s more popular search engines: Google Search Operators Bing Search Operators Yahoo Search Operators

The Address Bar is a part of your browser window, and can perform a few different functions depending on what you type in.

Generally, if there is no “www.” or “http://” preceding your inputted text, the browser will treat your input as a search using your chosen default search engine. Your default search engine is almost always managed in the browser settings. You can perform a quick search on “*your browser* default search engine” to easily find out how to change it (no matter what search engine it is currently set to use by default).

If you input a website, such as gmail.com, into the address bar – you will be redirected directly to the site. Sounds like a better way, right? Well sure, but we can do even better than that:

Here are the 4 best methods for accessing Gmail (without searching for it in Google)

Method 1: Enter Gmail.com in the address bar

That’s right. Especially if you are new to the internet, you may be surprised to learn that you (usually) don’t need to include that pesky “www.” when entering websites.

The vast majority of websites online today include both a www, and non-www variant in their address. Usually, this is the case because website owners redirect from one to a preferred version. That’s why you might notice that sometimes a site you type in with “www” lands you on a page without one.

This doesn’t mean that you’ve gone to the wrong site, or that there is anything wrong. The website simply is set to redirect users to one or the other – www, or non-www. There is no difference.

https secure connection for www.gmail.com

It’s also worth pointing out that many websites are beginning to use a more secured protocol in order to protect their sites and users. This protocol is indicated by an “https”. This means that the network connection between you and the website is secured, and is no cause for alarm. Quite the contrary, in fact – you should always be cautious of entering or providing any details or logging into any account on a site without an https, or secure connection.

Method 2: Bookmark www.gmail.com

Arguably the most popular method for quick access to Gmail, bookmarks are a great way to get one-click access for any popular sites you visit online. These bookmarks live in your browser, and can even sync across all your devices where you use the same browser and browser account.

You can bookmark your Gmail inbox by logging into your Gmail and bookmarking the inbox page. You can also bookmark individual messages if you need to refer to them later.

Adding a single email as a bookmark in Chrome. Image Source: Techf5.com

For more information on how to bookmark websites, here is a great resource from ehow on how to Bookmark pages from any browser.

Method 3: Browser “Apps”

Chrome in particular has a myriad of popular apps including one for Gmail. Just like a smartphone, these apps enable you to quickly and easily manage your Gmail account “outside” the browser.

For the official Gmail app, this acts as little more than a bookmark. However, having it as an app does allow you to add some default settings such as opening it in a new browser window or as a full screen window.

Chrome Browser Apps

For more information on apps, click on the settings or options menu in your browser. You should be able to find them. Otherwise, you can search for information using any search engine.

Method 4: Email Clients

If you are going to be checking your email often, or if you are not as familiar with webmail clients, Email clients are a great alternative. Instead of having to open a browser, typing in gmail.com, clicking on the link, and waiting for Gmail to load – Email clients check for you.

In addition to bringing your Gmail account offline to your computer, they often include a wide range of other features that can enhance your productivity and use of email.

Mailbird email client

For instance, Mailbird 2.0 allows users to manage multiple Gmail accounts from one window – something you cannot do with www.gmail.com. Again, this is highly effective for someone working with many accounts.

In addition, email clients usually do not require a constant or reliable Internet connection for you to check your email. They accomplish this by periodically “syncing” with your account similarly to how cloud storage works. In other words, the client uses your stored credentials or access “token” (a stored security string of numbers used to verify your identity and granting your application access to the webmail program, allowing it to manage your email) to access your email provider’s server, grab any new email, and send off any mail you send in the email client.

That’s not all

There are a few other ways people use to check their Gmail accounts, including browser extensions (you can read more about browser extensions here). However, the above methods represent the most popular (and all better than typing in www.gmail.com) ways people access them.

We hope this post helped you!

Do you have a better way to check Gmail that we missed?

We’d love to hear it! Please share your preferred method with us in the comments below.

Get the best email client for Windows

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in April 2016 and has been revamped and updated for accuracy and comprehensiveness.

The post www.gmail.com – 4 free methods to access your Gmail faster in 2018 appeared first on Mailbird.

Thunderbird—created by Mozilla, the organization behind Firefox—has been a popular email client with a loyal following over the years, despite threats of halting updates and further development of the application. While Mozilla no longer supports Thunderbird, it still remains a powerful app with a robust library of add-on features that allow for full customization of your email experience. While some may enjoy the added functionalities, others may find this difficult and complicated to set up. Also, Thunderbirds interface may not be as user-friendly as other email clients out there, including those that have just as many (if not more) advanced features. For these reasons, you may be considering alternatives to Mozilla Thunderbird. Whether you’re looking for an entirely new email client or switching from Thunderbird, we’ve compiled a review of five Windows options below to evaluate instead of Thunderbird. Since Thunderbird is a downloadable program for PCs and Apple OS, we won’t be including mobile apps in this review.

The 5 Best Alternatives To Mozilla Thunderbird:

Mailbird Unified Inbox with color Indicators

Credit: Mailbird

Mailbird is a relatively new email client that has quickly developed a reputation for being a powerful, feature-packed application that’s beautifully designed for a quick, easy user experience. Set up is simple and it only takes 5 minutes to learn how to navigate the app. You can also customize your layout and color theme to design an experience that’s ideal for you. The reason Mailbird has become the top alternative to Thunderbird is the many third-party app integrations. Users can connect Mailbird to Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, Google Drive/Calendar/Photos, Dropbox, Evernote, Asana, Veeting Rooms, and a whole host of other apps. This level of connectivity turns Mailbird into more than just an email client—it’s an all-in-one communication platform. Beyond this, Mailbird also has many email features worth mentioning: You can sync multiple accounts from any provider with their Unified Inbox, which was just upgraded with color indicators for easier navigation and email management. The snooze function allows you to snooze emails and contacts until a later time that suits your focus better. Inline reply automatically formats replies with a name and color, so you can respond directly in messages. These are just a few, there are so many more! If you’re looking to increase productivity and communicate more effectively, Mailbird is the way to go.

Mailbird vs Thunderbird. Give it a free try now.

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eM Client Inbox

Credit: eM Client

eM Client is another highly-rated alternative email client to Thunderbird. Users praise its simple design and user-friendly interface that allows for customization of layout and theme. It offers the most features for free compared to other options; the only differences are that the Pro version lets you connect an unlimited number of accounts and includes tech support. The free version only supports two email accounts. Migrating to eM Client is quick and easy, and it can transfer your messages and contacts from a variety of common other email clients, including Gmail, Exchange, iCloud and Outlook.com. It also has a real-time chat function for instant messaging—you can even send attachments through it! Some other notable features include automatic translation of emails, a fast search function, and encryption options.

Postbox Inbox

Credit: Postbox-Inc.

Postbox is one of the easiest-to-use email clients on this list. It works with any POP/IMAP account, including Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo, and more. Once you’ve added your accounts, you can group them, in “personal” and “work” groups for example, to keep your email organized. The application’s filtering and tagging features allow you to get even more organized—all on a beautifully designed interface. You even have emoji support, 25 email signature templates, and 70 professionally written email response templates at your disposal. It’s important to note that Postbox also includes a number of integrations with services like Evernote, Slack, Todoist, and more.

Inky Inbox

Credit: PC world

Inky is a great alternative to Thunderbird that simplifies email management and organizes your inbox. Users can quickly set up Inky with the username and password from their email addresses. It’s best for personal use, as it lacks some of the advanced features that a business user might appreciate, but you can definitely use it as one location to track all of your emails (whether work or personal). Inky attempts to sort and filter your emails, so that you see only what’s most important to you in a clutter-free user interface. That’s how it keeps your inbox organized and allows you to streamline email management.

Web Mail

In any assessment of an email client, web mail is always worth mentioning. What do we mean by web mail? Gmail, Yahoomail.com, Outlook.com (not to be confused with the Outlook APP) are the most popular options. Most email providers have some sort of web-based email offering that have a few advantages over email applications. Most importantly, you can access your inbox from any computer and on any browser. You don’t need to download an app to your computer. On the other hand, you cannot access your email offline and web-based email clients don’t typically have as many features as desktop apps. It will be important to weigh the benefits and drawbacks of web mail against your needs before deciding to go this route.

Conclusion

Whether you’re a current Thunderbird user, or someone considering Thunderbird but interested in your other options, there are many viable alternatives to Thunderbird. If you’re a light user, Postbox, Inky, or even web mail might be the best choice. For more advanced users, consider Mailbird or eM Client. At the very least, it can’t hurt to try a few options to see which one you like the best! Did we miss any popular alternatives to Thunderbird? Let us know which ones you prefer in the comments!

Declutter your email with the best alternative to Thunderbird.

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Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in December 2015 and has been updated for accuracy and comprehensiveness.

The post The Best Alternatives to Mozilla Thunderbird for Windows in 2018 appeared first on Mailbird.

Many Windows users automatically default to using the built-in Windows Mail app that comes with their operating system. It’s already installed, and it’s free, so it seems like a good choice. Users tend to like the Windows Live Mail app because of its simple, minimalist design. The experience isn’t bogged down by an excess of features that you may not even use. Plus, you can connect email addresses from many popular services, such as Gmail, Yahoo, iCloud and more. But did you know there are several better alternatives to Windows Live Mail? Windows Mail is not without its faults. There have been numerous complaints of bugs in the program, which would be frustrating for any user. Also, it is almost too basic—it does not include a lot of the popular features that email users have begun to expect. While it works for sending and receiving email, it’s not ideal for anyone that has multiple email accounts or a lot of contacts and hopes to keep their inbox organized. Even if these aren’t issues for you now, they might become issues for you in the future and you may consider looking for alternatives to Windows Live Mail. Check out our list of recommendations below! Please visit our post “The Ultimate List of Best Email Clients for Multiple Accounts in 2018” should you move from Windows to a different OS and still not quite sure about your email client options.

What are the best Alternatives to Windows Live Mail?

Mailbird

If you like the Windows Mail app for its simple design, but are frustrated by its lack of features, then Mailbird is the email client for you. Mailbird comes packed with great features, and its interface is designed around the user, which means the robust features don’t complicate the user experience. Mailbird is also super easy to set up—in fact, it takes most users around 5 minutes (not days!) to master the application.

Pros

Quick and easy set up with easy import of contact/message data.
Lightweight platform that is optimized for speed, as well as includes a user-friendly interface and experience design.
Third party integrations with messaging apps (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp), task management platforms (e.g., Todoist, Evernote, Asana), Google Calendar, and more.
Advanced features, including automatic inline reply formatting, layout and color theme customization, keyword search in attachments and attachment preview, email and contact snoozing, and more.
Unified Inbox with color indicators, which allows you to link several email accounts into one app.
Advanced Contacts Management through unique linking feature.

Cons

The free version has limited access to some of the features.
There is no mobile version available yet.

Mailbird vs Windows Live Mail. Give it a free try now.

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Webmail

While webmail is not a direct alternative to Windows Live Mail, it’s always worth considering as an option for your email needs. Webmail includes the various web-based email clients, such as Gmail, Yahoo Mail, Outlook Online, etc. What makes a webmail client different is how you use it. Windows Live Mail—like the other alternatives on this list—is an application that you download to your computer. It’s treated like a program on your hard drive, just like any other (Microsoft Word or Adobe, for example). The Webmail client option, on the other hand, is accessed via a web browser (e.g., Firefox, Google Chrome, Internet Explorer, etc.). You aren’t required to download anything to your computer. If you use a webmail client, you don’t necessarily need any other app for your email. However, you can have a webmail account that is linked to an app, which gives you the best of both worlds.

Credit: Kirk Schmidling

Pros

Accessible anywhere and on any computer through a web browser.
No software download necessary.
Most services are free.

Cons

No offline access to your email/contact data (at least most of them).
Not as feature-rich as dedicated email applications.

eM Client

If you’re turned off by the overly simplistic nature of Windows Live Mail, eM Client is a powerful, free alternative to consider. eM Client supports all major email clients (including Gmail, Outlook and more) and makes it easy to import your messages, contacts and calendar. The layout is fully customizable based on your needs, while still maintaining a simple, user-friendly design and experience. Some of the most popular features include an integrated chat function, automatic translation and scheduled sends.

Pros

Simple set up and migration of information.
Advanced layout and theme customization with a sleek design.
Includes an instant messaging feature.
Free version includes most special features.

Cons

The free version only supports two email accounts. The Pro version includes unlimited email accounts.
Tech support only included in Pro version.

Thunderbird

Thunderbird is a free email client created by Mozilla, the minds behind the web browser Firefox. It works a little differently than the other email clients on this list. Rather than coming fully loaded with built-in features, where what you see is what you get, Thunderbird has a robust library of add-ons that you can install to expand the service. Other than the customizations, Thunderbird supports multiple accounts, allows for email encryption, has advanced security features, and has an instant messaging client.

Pros

Highly customizable with tons of add-ons to enhance features.
Advanced security and encryption protocols.
Easy set up process.
Free to use.

Cons

Set up and customization can take a while because you have to install all your preferred add-ons/features.
The future of Thunderbird is somewhat uncertain since it’s been separated from Mozilla, so you could be stuck without future updates/developing.

Try one of the best alternatives to Windows Live Mail now for free.

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Conclusion

It may seem like the easy decision to use the default mail application that comes with your operating system, but you could be putting yourself at a disadvantage. While the Windows Mail app shines with a simple, uncluttered design, it lacks a lot of the powerful features that help you better manage your email. We would recommend considering one of the alternatives proposed in this article over Windows Mail. Your inbox will thank us! Have you used any other comparable email clients to Windows Live Mail? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

The post Best Alternatives to Windows Live Mail in 2018 appeared first on Mailbird.

Postbox is a powerful, feature-rich email client that, despite its ‘short’ time on the market, has gained much popularity. The simple, clean user interface streamlines the management of your email accounts and inbox. The email client also connects to third-party apps, including Evernote, Slack, Todoist, Salesforce, Mailchimp, and more. ‘Why are people searching for alternatives to Postbox then’ you may think. Unfortunately, these features come at a price of $40 per license per version (Postbox 5, Postbox 6 i.e.), though there are discounts for multiple use. It can be hard to justify the cost of Postbox especially with many free alternative email clients available for any OS on the market. Perhaps you decided to try the free trial but found that the features and experience didn’t justify the cost. Or it’s possible you’re a current Postbox user but have realized you don’t utilize all the features. Maybe you need more licenses and don’t want to shell out the additional cash. Whatever reason you may have for switching to another email client, we’ve compiled a few recommendations for alternatives to Postbox that you can try below!

1. Use Agile to Manage Your Remote Team

It’s not easy for remote teams to coordinate with each other while working on complex projects. Ineffective communication, unclear directions, poor intra-team and inter-departmental coordination lead to confusion, misunderstandings and conflict – all of which are bad for employee engagement. Implementing an agile project management approach can minimize these roadblocks and boost engagement. The agile approach is centered around the principles of adaptability, mutual accountability, continuous improvement, frequent communication and empowerment of every single employee. That’s why it’s perfect for remote teams. For instance, the agile methodology makes people communicate openly and frequently to discuss roadblocks. Team members can openly share their challenges in scrum meetings, without fear of judgment. That’s because they know that the entire team is there to support them to work towards a solution, rather than play a blame game. This sort of support is extremely vital in a remote team, where people often feel isolated and wish that they had more help. Creating an atmosphere of trust and efficient coordination between stakeholders from different departments is always tricky, and more so in a remote setting. The agile approach also includes frameworks for managing cross-functional teams, which can help. For example, if your product management team has to work closely with the marketing team, the agile methodology ensures that these stakeholders have clear and efficient ways to communicate, provide their inputs, take decisions, be debriefed, and so on. The agile methodology includes all the key engagement activities that HR experts talk about – frequent communication, mutual accountability, coaching, etc.

2. Invest in Frequent Training

The more knowledgeable your team members are about their roles and the domain, the more productive they will be. That’s why successful companies are always investing in training and development. This includes on-the-job mentoring and shadowing as well as regular training workshops on technical and soft skills. Employees look forward to training programs because it helps them build vital skills they need to grow in their careers. They also function as team-building opportunities where team members can develop better relationships amongst themselves. That’s why they are a great employee engagement tool. In a remote team, you won’t be able to assemble a group of people for a training workshop in a boardroom. But why let that limitation stop you? You can always host live webinars and organize a few workshops a month. In fact, live webinars can often be far more effective than conventional workshops. You can have far more attendees, and these webinars can be easily recorded, so that people can refer to the videos later on. But why live webinars? Because that will allow participants to ask questions, interact with the trainer and feel part of a live group event. You can also make these webinars interactive like virtual meetings. Make use of your employees’ existing knowledge base by encouraging participants can share their own inputs and experiences during these virtual training sessions. These small touches can make a significant difference to employee engagement.

3. Create a Customer-Focused Culture

In most companies, especially mid-sized and above, the majority of employees fail to understand the link between their own duties and the organization’s goals. That’s because companies rarely make an effort to explain that link to their employees, unless of course, they are at a senior level. That disconnect leads to a lack of purpose. So, unless people can clearly identify themselves with a meaningful purpose, it’s hard for them to feel truly engaged. This shared purpose is more difficult to imbibe in a remote team, where people are physically separate from their team members. This feeling of purpose is most important in customer-facing roles such as sales and support. A lack of engagement there will lead to stunted revenue growth and excessive customer churn – both of which can be disastrous. So how do you imbibe it? By creating a customer-focused culture. Link everything people do with the mission of delighting customers. Have dedicated virtual meetings for remote sales and support teams for discussing customer needs at least a couple of times a month. Use these meetings to discuss people’s customer interaction experiences over calls, web chats, video chats, cobrowsing sessions, etc. Discuss, analyze and document the most common customer interaction mistakes that people are making so that they can be avoided in future. And what about other teams such as finance, HR and IT, etc. which are not customer facing at all? It would be a great idea to hold virtual meetings on customer needs with them too. Not as frequently, but at least once a quarter. The customer should always be the focal point of everything that happens in an organization, whatever the team might be. Creating a customer-centric mission is a great way to build a sense of shared purpose and is perfect for boosting engagement.

4. Integrate Freelancers in your Processes

There’s a significant shift taking place in the global economy right now. An increasing number of people are choosing to freelance – either full time or as a side hustle. Freelancers contribute an estimated $1.3 trillion to the US economy. So what does this mean for your company? If you are not hiring freelancers as part of your remote team already, chances are that you will in the near future. It certainly has advantages. You could hire specialized talent who might otherwise be too expensive, such as a data security expert. Or hire experts for roles that do not have enough work to justify hiring a full-time employee such as a video producer. Freelancers work best when you integrate them as part of your own team rather than treat them as external vendors. They will be far more committed to you if you treat them as your own! Moreover, they will develop far better rapport with your own team members, which is always great for collaboration and team productivity. For example, if you are making a corporate video, enable your freelance video producer to work closely with your internal team. That will allow them to come up with far better ideas and create content that more closely matches the company’s branding and their customers’ aspirations. This is especially vital if you want to create impactful videos with a far-reaching impact like brands such as Red Bull and Lowe’s. You don’t have to do much to engage your freelancers. Just add them to your Slack channel and your project management tool as a team member. Invite them to virtual meetings and live training webinars. If you organize remote team retreats, invite them too! That’s it!

5. Centralize your Communication

Communication can get really confusing in a remote team. That leads to misunderstandings, conflicts, stress and consequently lower levels of employee engagement. But a few simple tactics can make it more straightforward. First, have clear guidelines for when to use different media like email, chat or video calls. Communication becomes a lot simpler when all team members stick to these guidelines. Chat Use chat for a back and forth conversation between team members, or when you need an answer quickly. However, don’t use it for trying to convey complex information or discussing emotionally sensitive matters. Video Calls Video calls are the closest you can get to a face to face conversation. That’s why it’s the best medium to explain something complicated (perhaps over a screenshare) or to have a sensitive conversation, such as a feedback session. Email Avoid using email for a back and forth conversation within your internal team. Instead, use it for

Sending long project updates and data
To forward emails from external parties like vendors and customers
Detailed company-wide or team-wide announcements
When you don’t need an answer immediately

All these tools give you the freedom to communicate in accordance with what the situation demands, but there’s also a drawback. Managing a bunch of different media can be confusing. However, it’s super-easy to streamline team communication with Mailbird. Mailbird is way more than just an email client. It’s an all-in-one centralized communication hub which integrates with chat and video apps that you can use right from its dashboard. For instance, you can chat on Slack or Whatsapp directly from the Mailbird dashboard and have video calls too. No need to keep multiple applications open at the same time.

And there’s much more.

Locating older emails is a pain in most email management tools, but Mailbird’s Contact Manager and user interface makes it a breeze. Just click on a contact and you can see all the conversations you have had with that person. Since Mailbird also integrates with G-suite and several project management apps, you can do a substantial amount of work keeping it at the center of all your communication. The simpler your communication tech is, the less frustrated your employees will be, and the more time and headspace they will be able to dedicate to their jobs! Using Mailbird is a great way to simplify your communication, and hence boost engagement, so you should give it a try.

Simplify your Remote Teams Communication with Mailbird.

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Conclusion

Boosting your remote team’s engagement is certainly not hard. Focus on these key aspects and you will have a committed and productive team that will take your business forward. Which of these methods will you apply today?

About the Author:

Peter Banerjea is Co-Founder of Startup Voyager, a blog about startup growth stories and also a content marketing agency. His work has appeared in Entrepreneur, Inc, HuffPost, Fast Company and Lifehacker. He has also delivered speaking engagements for British Telecom, AXA, Kuoni, IHS Markit, JCB, GKN, and several more organizations.

The post 5 Smart Ways to Keep your Remote Team Engaged appeared first on Mailbird.

While popular email clients like Mailbird include the ability to add individual account inboxes to a “unified” inbox – many, like Microsoft Outlook, do not make this easy. If you manage multiple email accounts, then you know how tedious it can be to be forced to switch from inbox to inbox in order to check each one. To help out, we’ve gathered a couple of the best ways MS Outlook users can set up a unified inbox – or as close to one as Outlook will allow.

Outlook Unified Inbox Method 1: Search Folders

Skill Level – Beginner The simplest method for getting a unified inbox in your Microsoft Outlook client is by using it’s search. Although this method is easy, there is unfortunately no way to save your search – requiring you to perform a search every time you need it. If you check your recent searches from the “Search” menu, you may be able to select it. However, if you are searching alot you may not be able to find it every time.

Type the following in the search box: folder: (Inbox) received: (this week)
Press Ctr+Alt+A to or click All Mailboxes button (Outlook 2013) or All Mail Folders (Outlook 2010).
Hit enter and you should see your Unified inbox for all mails received this week.

You may notice a “Search Folder” option in the “Folder” pane. However, this only lets you create search folders using data from individual accounts – Not something we can use to make a full Outlook unified inbox with.

Email client worth downloading -end of blogpost

Outlook Unified Inbox Method 2: Rules

Skill Level – Intermediate First, we will create a folder for your Unified Inbox (don’t worry where, or in which account you create it).

Creating a new folder for a Unified Inbox

image source: scrubly

Right-click on the account you will use and select New Folder. Next, name the folder “Unified Inbox.” Next, we create the rules for the folder.

THE RULES

On the Home tab of the Outlook Ribbon, click the Rules drop down and select Manage Rules and Alerts.

image source: scrubly

This will bring up the Rules and Alerts menu. Click the New Rule button to begin creating a rule on your first account.

selecting a new rule for a Unified Inbox

image source: scrubly

The next few steps get a little complicated. Outlook has alot of options for creating rules and things can get confusing if you are new to them.

In the first step of the Microsoft Outlook Rules Wizard, select Apply rule on messages I receive from the Start a blank rule section.
Click Next to continue.

step one for creating a rule for a Unified Inbox

image source: scrubly

The next screen has a bunch of options, but don’t worry. All we need to do here is indicate you want this rule to trigger for any message through the account.
In the Step 1 box, check ONLY the box next to through the specified account.

image source: scrubly

In the Step 2 box, click the blue underlined specified item.

selecting an account for a Unified Inbox

image source: scrubly

You will be presented with a drop down. These are your email accounts. To make things as clear as possible, select the one you created the Unified Inbox folder in. It’s possible this will select the account you created the Unified Inbox folder in by default. That’s fine.
Click OK after highlighting the account, and then click Next.

clicking an account for a Unified Inbox in Outlook

image source: scrubly

On the next page, you will indicate what to do with any (all) messages that match the criteria you set in step 1. Only check the move it to the specified folder item.
Clicking this box will give you another specified item to fill in. Click the link and select your newly-created Unified Inbox folder.
Once you’ve selected the Unified Inbox folder, click OK

choosing destination for a Unified Inbox in Outlook

image source: scrubly

Next, select the assign it to the category item. Go down to Step 2 and click the category link. We will be assigning a different category to each email account in Microsoft Outlook so you can easily tell them apart in your Unified Inbox.
Once you’ve selected a category (or created a new one), click OK.
Then, click Finish

image source: scrubly

After clicking Finish, a warning should appear letting you know that this rule will only run when Outlook 2013 is running. Click OK.

image source: scrubly

Repeat steps 3-11 for each account you want included in your Unified Inbox in Outlook.

The reason being is you need to create a new rule for each account to send it’s messages (with it’s account category applied) to your new Unified Inbox folder.

ADD INBOX TO FAVORITES

To add the Unified Inbox folder to the Favorites section of Outlook, click and drag the folder from the account you created it in into the Favorites section above the accounts pane.

adding a Unified Inbox in Outlook to favorites

image source: scrubly

A Quick Note on Rules

You may have to adjust any existing rules or copy them to your new folder. If you want a rule to run before the message is sent to your unified inbox folder:

Click File
Select the account who’s rules you want to manage from the dropdown
Click Rules and Alerts
Highlight the rule/s you want to run before sending messages to the Unified Inbox
Use the arrow keys from the menu ribbon to move the rule/s above the one moving messages to the Unified Inbox
Repeat for any other account that has rules you wish to change.

Outlook Unified Inbox Method 3: Visual Basic Macro

Skill Level – Advanced If you are a bit more advanced, you can Microsoft’s Visual Basic scripting language within Outlook to create something similar to a Unified Inbox. In fact, all this macro does is run the search from Method 1 outlined above – in one click. The downside is that it still needs to be run every time you open the client. The upside is that it offers unique customization options including the ability to choose exactly what you want included in the Unified Inbox view by adjusting and adding more queries.

Before setting the macro up:

Select “File” > “Options“.
Select “Trust Center” on the left pane, then select the “Trust Center Settings…” button.
Select “Macro Settings” on the left pane, then the desired setting. …
Click “OK“, then close and re-open Outlook for the setting to take effect.

Once your Outlook has restarted, continue setting up your new Macro:

Press Alt+F11 to open the VBA editor
Expand Project1
Expand Microsoft Outlook Objects
Doubleclick “ThisOutlookSession”
Paste the following code into the window:

The code for a UNIFIED INBOX:

Sub UnifiedInbox()
Dim myOlApp As New Outlook.Application
txtSearch = "folder:Inbox received: (this week)"
myOlApp.ActiveExplorer.Search txtSearch, olSearchScopeAllFolders
Set myOlApp = Nothing
End Sub

The code for a UNIFIED SENT BOX:

Sub UnifiedSentbox()
Dim myOlApp As New Outlook.Application
txtSearch = "folder: (Sent Mail) sent: (this week)"
myOlApp.ActiveExplorer.Search txtSearch, olSearchScopeAllFolders
Set myOlApp = Nothing
End Sub

You can also change the scope of the Macro by using these search scopes:

Scope	Description
olSearchScopeCurrentFolder	Limit the search to the currently selected folder.
olSearchScopeSubfolders	Limit the search to the currently selected folder and its subfolders. To search all folders in one data file, select the top level of the pst.
olSearchScopeAllFolders	Search all folders (of the current folder type). This search includes all data stores that are enabled for search.
olSearchScopeAllOutlookItems	Search all Outlook items in all folders in stores that are enabled for search.

Note: In Outlook 2007, you are limited to olSearchScopeAllFolders andolSearchScopeCurrentFolder

The post Unified Inbox in Outlook: The Complete 2018 Guide appeared first on Mailbird.

For the first few minutes after an interview, you feel relieved and proud all at once. The hard part is over–the actual interview–but now comes the dreaded wait. Did you nail it, and get the job? Or did they hire someone else? Don’t let this anxiety over the response stop you from positioning yourself as a better candidate. An interview follow up message is key to that venture, so make sure a thank you email after the interview is on your to-do list!

Here is a comprehensive list of interview thank you emails. Feel free to use them word-for-word, or just the general feel of the wording. Either way, they will provide a great idea of how to write a great follow up email!

10 Sample Thank You Emails After Interview

General Follow Up Email After Interview

Dear Mrs. Carlisle,

It was a pleasure meeting you today. Thank you so much for taking the time to interview me! I truly believe my background as an app developer, and the prosperity of the app I personally developed, ThymeCrunch, really set me up for success at The Develapp company. Looking forward to hearing from you. I hope you have a wonderful day!

Cheers,

Alan Cho

Share a Mutual Interest

Dear Ms. Lee,

It was wonderful meeting you today, and I really appreciate you setting aside time to interview me. I’m very excited to be considered for the junior actuarial position, in addition to all of the potential opportunities the company presents! It was lovely chatting about our shared passion for sand volleyball!

Thank you so much for your consideration, and I hope you have a phenomenal rest of your day!

Best,

Abigail Rumfield

Social Media-Specific Job

Dear Mr. Khan,

It was lovely meeting you today. I really appreciate you taking the time to interview me! I wanted to electronically provide you with my social media accounts, for sake of ease. I’ve tried various social media strategies over the years, and have built a significant following. You can find me on the following platforms:

Facebook: Facebook.com/JamesonOConnor

Twitter: @J_Oconnor

Instagram: @OconnorJ

Thank you so much for considering me for the Social Media Guru position. I look forward to hearing from you, and I hope you have a wonderful day!

Best,

Jameson O’Connor

Thank You Email After Phone Interview

Dear Mrs. Wykowski,

It was phenomenal speaking with you today. Thank you so much for taking time out of your day to call me for an interview! I appreciate you considering me for the position as a part-time beauty consultant. If you’re interested, here is a direct link to my portfolio: (Insert Link). Please feel free to reach out with any further questions. I hope you have a lovely day!

Cheers,

Kira Ramirez

Video/Skype Interview

Dear Mr. Miller,

I really appreciate you taking the time to interview me today! It was very beneficial to have a visual of the office–it really provided me with an idea of the office environment. Thank you so much for considering me for the Graphic Design position, even though we were unable to interview in-person. I look forward to hearing from you, and I hope you have a phenomenal day!

Best,

Erika Mason

Strictly Virtual Position Interview

Dear Mrs. Prakesh,

Thank you so much for setting aside time to interview me! I really appreciate being considered for the remote secretarial position, and I’m looking forward to learning more about life as a virtual employee. If you have any further questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out. I hope you have a lovely day!

Cheers,

Jamilla Brown

I Have Further Questions that Didn’t Arise in the Interview

Dear Mr. Johns,

Thank you so much for taking the time to interview me today! I really enjoyed our discussion regarding the current state of the stock market. A few questions did come up after the interview, that I would like to ask now.

-When I’m traveling on business trips, will I generally be driving or flying?

-Approximately how long do business trips tend to last?

I appreciate your consideration for the position. Looking forward to hearing from you, and hope you have a wonderful day!

Cheers,

Michael Mokena

“I Really Blew It” Interview

Dear Ms. Burton,

It was wonderful meeting you earlier today. Thank you so much for setting aside time from your busy schedule to interview me! I really appreciate being considered for the Interior Decorator position and wanted to electronically provide you with my portfolio. It can be found here: (Insert Link). Additionally, a former manager will be reaching out regarding my best project! I hope you’re having an absolutely phenomenal day!

Best,

Mackenzie Johnson

You’ve Already Followed Up, But Still Haven’t Heard

Dear Mr. Longbottom,

I really enjoyed interviewing with you last Thursday, and I wanted to touch base. Do you need anything further from me, in order to help the process? I hope you’re enjoying the new dusting of snow!

Cheers,

Killian Thomas

You Didn’t Get the Job, But Want to Keep a Relationship

Dear Ms. Jolie,

Thank you so much for your consideration for the PPC management position. While I’m a bit sad I wasn’t the right fit, I’m sure you did a great job of choosing the best candidate! I would love to stay in contact with you. Looking forward to seeing you at the Women in Digital Marketing seminar later this month. I hope you have a lovely day!

Best,

Emilia Lorenz

Anything you would like to add to the list? Let us know in the comment section below.

The post 10 Thank You Email Samples to Wow Your Interviewers in 2018 appeared first on Mailbird.

The Best Way To Manage Gmail For Windows Users

You probably have a Gmail account. In fact, according to worldwide statistics there’s a good chance you have more than one of them. Google has announced that Gmail now has more than 1 billion monthly active users – up from the 900 million the company announced last year and up from 425 million 2012.

It’s a no- brainer why Gmail is on fire right now. Its app has over 90.7 million monthly users for a reason. It’s an easy to use interface which is well integrated with cloud storage, making file sharing easy (Google drive), offers great work-collaboration opportunities (Google Docs) and has countless other features from Google Spreadsheets to Google Slides. Statistics even show that 94% of Gmail users use the integrated translation services in their Gmail account. However, while Gmail has made it big, they have really not done justice to PC users.

Firstly, using the Gmail site itself to manage these accounts presents a few serious problems:

You always have to be connected to the internet
It’s difficult to manage multiple accounts
It’s only as secure as your internet connection

Considering that Gmail makes up over 85% of all global users worldwide, you may find it odd that there is no official application for Gmail for windows. There is indeed no way for a Windows user to manage accounts directly from a PC and there is nothing in the app store that presents this function.

This is the least bit convenient for businesses, self-employed workers, people who work out in the field or in-office using Windows products. Logging into Gmail from the web is a pain, especially if you have multiple accounts to tend to throughout the day.

That’s why more and more people are using Mailbird. It is the perfect solution to managing Gmail for Windows users. Mailbird makes juggling all of your Gmail accounts (and every other account you have) easy. It brings them all together into one beautiful and lightning-quick app. Plus, with an intuitive and easy to use interface, Mailbird makes it simple to view multiple email accounts under one tab on Windows devices.

Stay Connected, Even When You Aren’t

You can’t always be connected to the Internet. But, that shouldn’t stop you from checking your emails and composing replies effortlessly. The world is moving too quickly to miss out on important email threads – especially if you work in time sensitive environments. In some fields, responsiveness is extremely important – to close that deal, to fix that bug in the system, or to make important arrangements.

That’s where Mailbird comes in: Read through any messages from all your Gmail accounts, even when offline with Mailbird’s auto-sync function. This allows you to see your emails as quickly as possible so you can manage, respond, delete, etc… all without a connection. Then, when you do connect to the internet at a later time, Mailbird auto-syncs your accounts again so you consistently stay up-to-date with changes in your mailbox.

In many fields, email is a primary mode of communication along with chat functions and web calling. With Mailbird, you can easily:

Check & respond to all your emails while travelling
Cut down on data usage
Get crucial information from emails while at a conference
Use integrated web calling and task apps to synchronize important information into various channels

Never again find yourself left in the dark just because you can’t open your emails.

Emails in Unified Inbox Plus

One Inbox for All Your Gmail Accounts

No more logging in and out of Google accounts just to check your messages! Mailbird does all the work for you. You can also easily respond or compose new messages as any account with our quick functions like quick compose. Other useful functions include: Search by attachment, search by profile picture and LinkedIn Lookup which easily lets you retrieve information and connect with professionals.

Here’s a scenario: imagine you’re in a meeting and you need to open up an important document last minute or you even need to share it in live time with a client. Instead of scrambling to retrieve the information coming off as distracted and unorganized to your colleagues and clients, simply use one of these search functions and you’ll have the information readably available in seconds ready to send to the client through the integrated communication app you’re using.

Did someone send you an email to the wrong address? Simply click the “from” dropdown in the “compose” window when responding and send it from any other account you manage. Best of all, your previous conversation will be forwarded along with it.

Sent the wrong details in a mass email? Don’t worry. With the unsend email function, you can delay the email for up to two minutes to catch your mistake and fix it. You no longer have to worry about awkwardly, sending another email back to every single contact apologizing for the mistake. This handy feature will certainly save you any future embarrassment and keep you on your A-game!

Introducing Unified Inbox!

Did we mention you could view all your emails in the order they were received, across all your accounts, with Mailbird’s built-in Unified Inbox? It even allows you to group emails together as conversations. Seriously, if you need one reason to move your Gmail to Mailbird, this is it. Answering emails across multiple accounts has never been easier.

So, Why Wait?

We could cover all the reasons why Mailbird is the perfect Gmail for Windows app out there, but why not just give it a try. It’s free to download, and you don’t even need your credit card! Connecting all your Gmail accounts is a breeze, and you can get started in as little as 3 minutes. Trust us, you’ll love this smart, easy and intuitive interface. Email will become a breeze!

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in January 2016 and has been revamped and updated for accuracy and comprehensiveness.

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As mobile communication platforms such as WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Google Hangout, GroupMe and others have become preferred methods of keeping in touch with your clients and colleagues, it might seem that emails are irrelevant in today’s business culture. But while the instantaneous nature of these messaging apps offers convenience and accessibility, there is a degree of professionalism in an email correspondence that a brief texting exchange often lacks. So how to write professional emails that don’t come across as obsolete and manage to hold the attention of your recipient? These four strategies are useful and efficient points of reference to consider when sending your next business email.

1. Make the Subject Line Concise

One appeal of the messaging trend is how quickly and succinctly information can be delivered. People often don’t have the time or patience for a rambling monologue, so just a couple sentences of text with clear conclusions is adequate to secure their interest and retention. Keep that same approach in mind when choosing the subject line when writing a professional email thread. When a recipient checks their inbox, it’s plausible to assume they’re scanning the first few words—give or take—of the subject line, then deciding whether to open the email and continue reading. So anchor your subject line with the main point you need to communicate and place those keywords right at the beginning.

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Avoid language that is too verbose or can be misconstrued as “spammy”. The shorter and more direct you frame it, the more likely a recipient is to engage with the content of your email instead of scrolling past the subject line.

2. Write for Your Specific Audience

When structuring the body of a professional email, it’s imperative to consider who the email is addressing. Is the recipient a coworker, employee, supervisor, client, stakeholder or another business entity? An individual’s position and connection to you will dictate how the email is worded. This is where email has an advantage over messaging because this particular medium offers the space to personalize your communication. For example, you are writing to a team member you’re collaborating on a project with. The tone can be more relational and conversational with internal jargon or abbreviations used. But if the recipient is a client or employer, the tone often needs to be less familiar and more deferential. Don’t pander to your audience which comes across as disingenuous. It’s important to maintain authenticity. Take each relationship dynamic into account before deciding how to write the email professional. A helpful gauge is thinking about your verbal communication with that person. The manner in which you talk to a friend at the water cooler is different than how you interact with your boss in a meeting. The email correspondence should reflect that distinction.

Know your audience!

3. Choose a Focal Point to Discuss in Your Professional Emails

There is a reason you invest time and effort into writing an email in the first place. It serves a purpose, both for you and the person reading it. But for the sake of clarity and brevity, it should cover just one well-defined focal point instead of bouncing around to multiple half-baked, disjointed or unrelated ideas. When conversing through a messenger app, you often narrow the topic of discussion. Mainly, because it’s understood that you and the recipient are both multi-tasking in the midst of this exchange. That’s why mobile communication is popular—it accommodates a busy, fast-paced workflow. So adopt a similar mindset when it comes to email and assume that your recipient has the bandwidth for one call to action at a time. If you’re contacting someone to verify tomorrow’s business lunch, then remember you also need to forward them notes from last week’s budget meeting, these focal points should be addressed in two separate emails. It might seem unnecessary or excessive, but this approach tends to minimize confusion. It keeps the information digestible rather than inundating the other person with several memos, tasks or requests all at once.

4. Ask “Is the Content Readable?”

Communication threads on platforms like WhatsApp are entertaining to read. Not just because they’re concise and pithy, but also because they’re visual. On instant messaging services, you can interact with people using all kinds of digital media such as images, and videos. This makes the conversation both sensory and stimulating for all parties involved. Since email doesn’t offer that same versatility, it’s crucial to attract and maintain the recipient’s attention through your choice of words. Think of writing an email as constructing a narrative—most people are drawn to information that is fresh, relatable and thought-provoking, so offer content that someone would actually want to read. Before sending an email, skim through it and critically pose the question, “Does this absorb my interest?” If you’re not compelled by the message you have written, chances are the recipient will be even less attentive. You might be emailing the other person about something as mundane as client feedback on a project. This doesn’t mean your verbiage has to sound monotonous. Use descriptive language that invokes their curiosity, encourages them to brainstorm and mobilizes them to respond with affirmative action. If the content is readable, it won’t be filtered into “junk mail.” There is no question that today’s culture of business has gone mobile, but email correspondence still has a place. An enormous volume of messages are flooding inboxes and smartphones on a daily basis. It’s important to make sure that your emails are noticed—not discarded in the shuffle. So keep the information succinct, focused, audience-specific and engaging to read. With these strategies at your disposal, sending emails won’t seem like an exercise in futility but an efficient mode of conducting business.

About the Author:

Lesley Vos is a professional web writer and writing coach from Chicago. Currently blogging at Bid4Papers website and contributing to publications on business, digital marketing, and self-development, Lesley helps peers develop the confidence and skills for better content creation and promotion. Feel free to get in touch on Twitter.

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Newton Mail is a formidable piece of software. It’s long been considered one of the benchmark standards for email server platforms, packed as it is with a wide range of cool features and sporting an interface that’s simple to navigate and easy to hit the ground running with. Unfortunately, it’s not much longer for this world. Newton will be discontinued on September 18, 2018, meaning that anyone who was using the app or eyeing it for purchase will need to seek out an alternative. But you don’t have to worry about being left out in the cold if you’re looking for an alternative to Newton Mail Mac or Windows. There are a number of sophisticated pieces of software that replicate the main features of Newton Mail while also carving out their own identity in the market. Here are a few of the best.

Alternative to Newton Mail for Windows

1. Mailbird

Perhaps the best alternative to Newton Mail Windows is Mailbird. Ranked the Best Email Client by Windows Report for 2017, this platform finds the perfect balance between intuitive design and customization. This is the type of software that’s ready to give back as much as you’re willing to put in. In addition to its sleek mouse-and-touch enabled interface, Mailbird comes standard with both its own keyboard shortcuts and compatibility with traditional Gmail shortcuts. Particularly impressive is how expandable the interface is. A number of different features and integrations allow you to turn your email inbox into a hub for all of your note taking, contacts management, and blog feeds. Mailbird’s utility lies in its ability to nimbly handle a number of different accounts. You can sync up as many emails as you want under a single account and access them individually or through a unified inbox that is equipped with color indicators. Best of all, Mailbird is generously priced, and a free version is even available for more casual users.

Key Features of Mailbird:

A wide selection of customizable layouts and designs.
Native integration with some of the most popular third party apps (including WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter, DropBox, and Google Calendar).
Snooze function to hide non-priority emails and scheduled and delayed sending functions.
Speed reading to help you read through your backlog of emails more quickly.
Powerful search functionality for attachments.
Unified Inbox with color Indicators.
Popular tagging feature to increase email management speed.

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2. Microsoft Outlook

Microsoft is the dignified old gentleman of the software industry, and the modern Outlook client has a heritage spanning back to before the days of Windows. But the company has done an admirable job of keeping up with modern times through their ability to evolve and adapt their Outlook platform. Outlook works across a number of platforms, making it easy to access your messages and activities through both your Windows platform and your mobile device, but where Outlook sets itself apart from the competition is through its presence as part of the Microsoft Office 360 ecosystem. The software is fully integrated with Outlook Calendar and Outlook Contacts, but the way it easily syncs up with other Microsoft platforms like Word and OneDrive mean that it’s just one tool neatly integrated into a larger kit. But Outlook is one of the more expensive email clients on the market, so if your demands are less stringent or you haven’t bought into the Office marketplace, you may find less value here than elsewhere.

credit: Techradar

Key Features of Microsoft Outlook:

Professional and dynamic signature creation options.
Advanced calendar sync options including bill pay and suggested event locations.
Tracking and forwarding for event RSVPs.
Support for multiple time zones in day and week calendar.

3. Gmail

When Google launched their proprietary email client in 2004, it was a revelation. It proved that a cloud based email client could work as a replacement to a traditional software platform rather than just a complement to it, and it put in place some of the fundamental features users today demand from their clients. It’s still one of the most popular cloud email platforms around. The spam identification is notably smart, and Gmail’s filtering system automatically sorts your mail using labels rather than traditional folders, serving as something of a digital filing system for your messages. If you’re willing to dig into the filtering rules, you can make impressively complex parameters for how your email gets filed away. Rather than rely on the traditional email structure, Google’s platform threads your conversation to create a more natural and orderly flow to your conversations. It’s not for everyone, and sometimes necessary messages can get lost in the weeds, but it’s generally a smart and effective method for catching up on your important messages. But it’s hard to ignore the fact that features that were once revolutionary are now standard across many clients, and the tantalizingly free price tag might not be enough of an incentive for people searching for more advanced alternatives.

Key Features of Gmail:

Meticulous virus and malware protection.
Integration with all of Google’s cloud-based applications.
Over 10 gigabytes of free storage space.
Rich text options including hyperlinks, emoticons, and direct image pasting.

4. eM Client

If Microsoft Outlook and Mailbird are the two respected prizefighters in the world of email clients, eM Client is the scrappy underdog. While its design sensibilities leave a bit to be desired, anyone who’s willing to look past its ugly duckling reputation will find a strong contender for best alternative to Newton Mail Windows. The fact that it’s completely free to use is certainly a mark in its favor. Like many clients on the market, eM Client seeks to serve as more than just a standard email client, instead working as something of a virtual assistant able to coordinate all of your messages and activities. Multiple accounts can be synced up through eM Client, but keep in mind that the free version offers support for only two email addresses. A proprietary calendar and task list are further complemented by direct integration with Google, Facebook, and Jabber messaging systems. If you’re looking to see everything eM Client, there’s not a lot to lose. The standard version is free, and all new users get access to a 30 day trial of the Pro version.

credit: eM Client

Key Features of eM Client:

Migration tool that works with Thunderbird, Outlook, Windows Live Mail, and Windows Mail.
Translation functionality through the Bing chat tool.
Communication archives that can be sorted by each contact on your list.
Support for AirSync protocol, allowing faster access when syncing Microsoft email accounts.

Alternative to Newton Mail for Mac

1. Apple Mail

A list of the best alternative to Newton Mail Mac wouldn’t be complete without Apple’s standard mail client. The fact that it comes standard on all Mac models and is free to use is a powerful incentive in its favor, and the fact that it’s built off the company’s patented design principles means that Mac users will feel right at home with the interface. Multiple accounts can be synced easily through the Apple Mail interface, and tight integration with Spotlight (the operating system’s default search system) means that finding that needle in a haystack is always a simple affair. It also works well with the Notification Center, and all in all, it’s the most seamless client for a standard Mac setup. Apple Mail is also remarkably rich in features, to a degree that may even be overwhelming to some. Figuring out how all these underlying functions work can take some digging, but if you’re comfortable spending some time learning, you can create a client that’s tailored pretty perfectly to your individual needs.

credit: AlternativeTo

Key Features of Apple Mail:

Smart mailbox allows filtering of mail into folders using a diverse range of different criteria.
Toolbar customization options using a simple drag and drop interface.
Dynamic message themes in the form of Apple Mail stationary.
Integrated note taking and task list functions.

2. Airmail

Airmail prides itself on its speed, and it certainly delivers in that regard. If you’re looking for a responsive email client that manages to look consistently good, this is the client to be beat. But a sleek design and nimble performance aren’t the only strengths of this client. Compatibility with markdown language and HTML allow you to create highly complicated emails without having to rely on the more limited toolbars you’ll typically find in other email clients, a huge boon if you’re a professional looking to put together outreach or marketing messages. A split screen approach lets you see the results of your code in real time as you type it. One of the platforms more creative flourishes is a task based system that lets you organize your messages according to priority and more neatly structure your schedule instead of relying on more conventional flags and junk mail folders. Drag and drop and customizable swipe options tie together the package, making for a client that’s impressively responsive and able to be customized to your individual demands.

credit: MacWorld

Key Features of Airmail:

Support for third party productivity apps like Wunderlist, Fantastical, and BusyCal.
Compatible with Gmail keyboard shortcuts.
Quick reply functionality that resembles more traditional chat platforms.
Snooze and delay functions for incoming and outgoing messages.

3. Spark

Airmail may impress with its staggering level of customization and features, but Spark takes the cake for ease of use on Mac and iOS devices. Spark recognizes that sorting through emails is sometimes a chore that you just want to get through, and their design philosophy is built to facilitate that. In addition to a unified inbox that allows you a big picture view of your messages from all your email addresses, it also offers a smart inbox that automatically sorts out low priority emails and messages already read and puts the highest importance on new mail and those that have been pinned by the user. This prioritized approach to your inbox is tied together with a notification system that lets you know when important mail comes in but doesn’t bother you with every message that comes down the pike. The result is an email platform that’s refreshingly utilitarian and perfect for users who are looking for a dedicated email client rather than a more robust virtual assistant.

credit: MacWorld

Key Features of Spark:

Private comments and draft sharing options for teams.
Email scheduling and reminder followups.
Professional signature templates.
Personalization for every multiple components of the interface.

4. Postbox

Users with an affection for the now defunct Mozilla Thunderbird platform will find plenty to love with Postbox. This is an email client built for the power user, and there’s a lot of functionality if you’re willing to learn the platform’s ins and outs. Professional users who need to manage multiple accounts and send out messages in bulk will find this the perfect playground, as its powerful systems are tailor made for the demands of marketers, sales people, and project managers. Supplementing these capabilities are robust search functionality. Postbox is compatible with any IMAP or POP email account, and there’s no limit to how many different email addresses you can track within the client.

Key Features of Postbox:

Account groups designed to compartmentalize multiple work and personal email accounts.
Placeholders and response templates for sending out a slew of messages en masse while still providing personalized content.
Fully integrated Code View HTML editor.
Quick post messages through a number of third party apps including Evernote, Todoist, and Slack.

Conclusion

While Newton Mail is an impressive piece of software, it’s far from the only game in town. Any of the clients on this list can serve as a respectable alternative, and they each come with their own strengths. With this many options, you should be able to find a client that suits your specific needs.

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First impressions matter, especially in business when your end goal is to attract clients and customers. This statement is even more accurate when it comes to email business communication, as people are becoming more and more selective when it comes to their inbox. Spam emails and promotional offers from unwanted sources tend to make people wary of opening a new message, and this is where your professional email address comes into play. Learn about Mailbird – the top Windows email client that provides you with the best managing options for a growing business! We are going to give you a few elementary examples about the importance of a professional email address that we’re sure have already happened to you in one form or another. Imagine looking for the perfect wedding photographer, and of course, you want a professional, who is affordable, but still good at his job. While you’re searching through the web and getting irritated because you have already seen way too many people on Craigslist that don’t quite fit the criteria, a struck of luck hits you, and you find “the one”. You’re browsing the online catalogue of finished projects with wedding photographs, and they look great. Also, the price list is within your range, and you’re ready to hire this person — until you check the info and it says contact: mike.huhuh.@hotmail.com. Do you still want to hire him? Now let’s move on to a more professional setting, for example, a workshop or a seminar for startups. You came here to find collaborators for your new project and do some light networking. However, you can’t seem to find the right person that shares your vision. But then you meet Emily, who’s a very committed graphical engineer and understands your ideas perfectly. You start talking with her, the conversation is following, and you even brainstorm a little before she hands you her card with an email: ema_xoxo_16@yahoo.com. Do you still want to work with her? A professional email address matters because it’s an extension of your business. As we said in the beginning, the appearance can make a difference, and if you want to build a brand and a reputation in your field, then you should have a professional business email account. GoDaddy surveyed their customers, and 75 percent declared that a professional email address is a key to building trust with a business. As a business owner, you must address this issue before it starts damaging your company. You can’t make a brand if you’re not willing to invest in it.

How to create a professional email account

In this section of the article, we are going to answer the question of how to create a professional email account. Google Apps will be our example for this step-by-step guide as the most commonly used option and a reliable provider. Since Mailbird is a fully integrated Windows desktop client, no matter which provider you choose, you are still going to be able to incorporate it with the other accounts. This is what you will get with a Google Apps professional email account:

A professional email address with your domain name
Good security
Blocked spam
30 GB of space for each team member that uses your professional account
Approximately 30 email pseudonyms
A Gmail app that is compatible with your mobile phone and all other devices
Integration and sync with Outlook and Mailbird
Access to multiple apps (Google Hangouts, Google Calendar, Google Drive and others), although Mailbird also syncs all of your other productivity apps
24/7 support
No downtime
Excellent performance

Now let’s move on to the step-by-step process: Step 1 – You sign up for a Google Apps work account When you go to their website, you will see that they offer a 30-day free trial so that you can get comfortable with their service and see if they can fulfill your business needs. The regular monthly cost after the trial period ends is $5, although you will see that Google offers various options and packages regarding the price. You click on the “Get Started” button, and you’re on your way! Get started A page that requires you to enter your first and last name, a valid email address and phone number, and then your business details will pop up. After you fill in the form, you click next to “move on to the domain page.” Now, here you have to be a bit careful because you have to pick one of two options:

Pick a new domain for $8 a year.
Put in your domain name if you already purchased one (enter the URL).

The administrative user The first email address you’re going to put in the following field becomes your administrative user for the Google Apps account. This means that from here, you can create more email addresses or pseudonyms, but this remains the primary one from which you control all others. In this step, you also need to create your username and password and click on the “Accept” and “Sign Up” button for the Google Apps for Work agreement. Step 2 – Add people to your Google Apps account This is the part where you need to add a first and last name, username and email of the people on your team in the Google work account. Once you fill out the form, you click on the “Add” button. You need to add everyone, and only after that, you should click the “Next” button. As we said above in the previous step, in the administrative user section, the first account (yours) is the main one and with that account you manage all the others. Step 3 – Verify your domain and set up email Step 3 is the last one, and here you’ll need to verify the ownership of your domain. This can be a little tricky because there are several methods for you to confirm a domain, as adding a meta tag to your website’s header, uploading the file to your web server or adding a CNAME record. You need to choose one. We recommend you go with the most straightforward technique, and that’s adding a meta tag to your website’s header. You need to copy the meta tag code from the Google Apps setup screen and then paste it into your website’s header. When you’re done, you need to go back to the work setup and click on the box that says: “I added the meta tag to my homepage”. You’ll see that there is a list of additional things you need to do to complete this step. This is how that list will look:

I added the meta tag to my homepage
I have opened the control panel for my domain
I have deleted existing MX records
I have created the nex MX records
I saved the MX records

To delete the MX records and add new ones, you have to log into your cPanel and select your domain. Once logged in, you will click on the “MX records shortcut” and hit “delete” on the files shown in there. After that, you paste your Google details in the add new section. When all of that is done, you go back to your Google dashboard, click “Next” and wait for an hour or so for your professional email to create. Congratulations, you have created your branded business email address!

How to make a professional email address

Now that you know how to create a business email account, we can focus on the more delicate details on how to make a professional email address that can impress your clients. The first thing you need to stick to is simplicity and accuracy! Don’t use any nicknames or numbers. Instead, the best way is to use your full name and surname or at least your first name in combination with the domain. You can choose the name or surname option with initials, but in all conscience, don’t use nicknames because they look very unprofessional. Put your full name and surname as your email display name when you’re communicating with your regular clients that know your employees. However, if you want to launch a marketing outreach campaign or send out promotional materials, then you should display just the name of the company. Create a separate email address for your website with a generic name like contact@coolnewstartup.com or info@awesomewebsite.com where people who want to reach out can contact you.

Managing the account after you created the professional email address

If you started out as a single-person powerhouse, and now you have more than 10 employees working full-time for you, it’s time to upgrade some aspects of your company. As your business grows, so will the team, and the need for an upgraded business account will become more apparent. After the email account is created and you picked the perfect professional email address, it’s time to manage it. Let’s say you have multiple email addresses and you’re starting to lose track of everything that comes through your inboxes, using an efficient email client can help you select and sort things out more easily. Finding the right email management tool can make your work easier, which is why you should give desktop email clients a try. We would recommend Mailbird for the Windows users and Airmail for Mac users.

Mailbird

What you’ll get with Mailbird is unlimited accounts with a unified inbox, and this is very important if you want to have a complete overview of everything that goes in and out in the name of your company. You won’t have to waste time managing and syncing the contacts from your Google and Outlook accounts (also Google Apps and Office 365), because the Mailbird client service will do that for you when you set it up. All of your productivity apps like Asana, Moo.do, Todoist and Dropbox files also will be integrated, so you won’t have to waste time opening and closing every app a couple of times every hour. Finding what you need at the exact moment when you need it can save you time and anxiety, which is why the attachment search feature was included. Everyone’s favourite new feature is the Contacts Manager, which allows you to copy, edit and sync all the contacts from all the business email accounts you have been using. You can have the contact information of all your partners and clients in the email client itself, and then use it or edit it whenever necessary. Mailbird, as a Windows-based email client, provides you with the in-line reply feature and the undo-send option for up to 30 seconds after you click on send. However, the most exciting and useful features in Mailbird are the snooze button and the tagging feature. Why? The snooze option gives you the freedom to organise your working day according to the highest priorities without forgetting about the not-so-important emails. The snooze feature allows you to send an email into a “snooze folder”, which is not visible in the email client and set a time for it to come back to your inbox. The auto tag feature, on the other hand, enables you to add new associates in conversations quickly and easily. All you have to do is type “@” in the compose window and add the contact. After this action is taken, this person will be automatically added to the list of recipients. It’s one of the favourite Mailbird’s features for businesses because it allows for a fast “catch-up” with everyone involved.

Airmail

Airmail is a very elegant and fast Mac email client with a stylish interface and fantastic design. This email client allows full integration with your iCloud email account, Outlook, Google, Yahoo, and any POP3/IMAP email accounts you might use. You can opt for a unified inbox option or separate your email accounts within the email client, depending on preference. As we said above, the interface is smart and simple, and that’s one of the reasons companies love working with Airmail. All of the modification options are carefully placed within their relevant categories, which gives the user control (to some extent) on how the email client will look and work. Similar to Mailbird, it has a built-in snooze option, and it integrates with some of the most used social business applications today. To name a few so you’ll get the idea, Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, Droplr, Todoist, Box, Evernote, Things 3, BusyCal, Fantastical, Bear, and it’s also synced with Mac’s built-in Reminder and Calendar.

Making a professional email inspires confidence

Similar to any business that wants to grow and prosper on the market, you need to take the confidence of your clients very seriously and making a professional email will take you a step further towards that goal. Everyone is talking about marketing management because that is how you succeed in the market, and things that might not look that important can completely change the way your company is perceived. Opening a professional email and choosing the right enterprise email solutions is one of those small details that can make all the difference. You need to see your business email as a natural recognition of your company. The layout and the signature should be professional and intuitive, and they should convey all the necessary basic information to your clients. This is how you can build brand awareness and trust with your customers. A professional email that can be recognisable for your consumers is equivalent to word-of-mouth marketing on the web! Learn about Mailbird – the top Windows email client that provides you with the best managing options for a growing business!

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