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I've used every Linux email client on the market, from the terminal-based Alpine (originally just Pine) to the Evolution groupware, and everything in between. Some of those email clients I stuck with for years, but eventually walked away from them for one reason or another -- too ugly, too inefficient, too outdated, too slow, too broken, etc.
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Had you asked me five years ago which email client I would take to my grave, the answer would have been Thunderbird. Between then and now, I've found that email client to be a bit too outdated in the UI and a bit too slow for my needs. However, I will say that the Thunderbird UI has finally evolved from that 2010-era design, but even with that evolution, Thunderbird can still feel a bit klunky.
There is one email client that I went back and forth on for a while, but eventually came back to and, unless someone develops something new and amazing, will most likely stick with Geary for some time.
Why?
Let me answer that question.
1. The clear interface
One of my issues with several Linux email clients is outdated UIs. But it doesn't end with looking more like early 2000s software; some of those clients have UIs that are too busy to be efficient. Sure, that old-school interface worked for a long time, but with nearly every Linux distribution now running highly modern desktop environments, the apps that go along with those operating systems should at least look like they came from the last five years.
One of the few clients to do that is Geary, and I'm all for it.
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The Geary UI is clean and modern, blending right into nearly all Linux desktops. Even with multiple email accounts configured in Geary, it still has a cleaner UI than Thunderbird or Evolution.
2. The one-trick pony of it all
For those who need a groupware suite, Evolution is your way forward. If you're like me, however, you'd prefer your email client to do only one thing -- email. I have other tools I use for calendars, contacts, and tasks, so I don't need or want my email client to offer those same features; it's a redundancy I don't need.
Geary is a one-trick pony; it does email, and that's it. There's no calendar, to-do, or (thankfully) no AI. The good news is that Geary does its one trick really well. I've found Geary to be as good at handling email as Thunderbird, but it doesn't get bogged down with extraneous features.
3. The speed
During my many stints using Evolution, it would inevitably become slow. That could be due to a large email inbox, a crowded calendar, attempts to sync with other services, or even memory leaks. Although Evolution is a great groupware suite, I need speed over a kitchen-sink full of features. Geary shrugs off all that nonsense and delivers a fast experience.
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It opens very quickly, I can navigate through email as fast as my fingers can move (thanks to customizable keyboard shortcuts), and I never have to worry about the Geary app going awry and consuming more than its fair share of system resources. Aside from a terminal-based email app, Geary is one of the fastest email clients I've used in a while.
4. The ease of use
By design, Geary is very easy to use. This is partially due to the clean interface, but also the distilled feature set and limited customizability. Some might see the minimal customization as a weakness (especially given that it runs on the most tweakable OS on the planet), but it helps to make Geary an email client that anyone can use.
And because of this ease of use, Geary has become a very efficient email client. I never have to worry about getting bogged down with the app because it's been designed to be very intuitive. Geary might seem too basic for some, but for those looking for simplicity and reliability, it's a great option.
5. Easy setup
Because Geary focuses on simplicity, you can bet the setup is easy. When you first run Geary, you'll see a pop-up asking you to enter your email account details. Once you've done that, Geary will begin the sync process, and you're ready to go. There's no need to set up a calendar, cloud-sync, AI, sign into a third-party account, etc. In some cases, all you need is your email address and password.
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If you're setting up an IMAP account, you will also need the URL for your incoming and outgoing email servers, but that's it. On top of that, it takes just seconds to open Geary for the first time, set up your account, and start using the email client.
If you like your apps to be as uncomplicated as possible from the very beginning, Geary will make you smile.
6. The open-source license
I'm not an open-source purist, by any stretch of the imagination. For me, it's about the app that gets the job done, and Geary is that to a T. Sure, there are other email clients I could switch to (some of which meet and exceed my expectations), but they're proprietary.
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I have a rule I try to follow: if there's an open-source option that does as good a job as the closed-source software, I always go with the open-source option. The likes of Blue Mail and Mailspring are wonderful, but they're closed-source. With Geary, their equal, I'm going with Geary every time.
I'm not saying Geary is right for everyone. It's not. I am saying that if you like a clean, simple, fast, and open-source email client, it might very well be the one for you. I know it'll most likely be my default for a long time.
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