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Supported email software
Changes to Yale email and calendaring planned for 2008! Yale's primary calendaring (Meeting Maker) and email infrastructures are in need of updating to ensure we have secure, reliable services with up-to-date functionality. In coming weeks, ITS will begin contacting affected clients to initiate the move of their email accounts to our new YaleConnect service. For some people, the infrastructure changes will result in new interfaces to both email and calendaring, while others will experience no noticeable differences. learn more...
The YaleConnect email and calendaring service can be used on systems running the Windows operating system with Microsoft Outlook and on systems running the Macintosh operating system with Microsoft Entourage. You can also use the Outlook Web Access service using Internet Explorer or any web browser. Read the YaleConnect system requirements.
IMPORTANT: To configure any of these clients for your Yale email account, go to our email configuration page.
Questions or concerns regarding this information may be addressed to helpdesk@yale.edu.
Apple Mail
Apple Mail is the email client bundled with Max OS X on Macintosh computers. It is an advanced IMAP and POP email application, which integrates well with Mac OS X and other Mac applicatioans. Among its useful features are the ability to use Applescript to write rules to manage email, including handling spam. Support for Apple Mail, as well as other Macintosh applications is evolving and expanding.
Thunderbird
Thunderbird is a recent member of the Mozilla family of programs which include the Mozilla browser and email suite, the Firefox browser, and different flavors of Netscape. It is an advanced IMAP and POP email application, favored by those who value speed, functionality, and portability over a pretty shell. Among the the more pleasant features of Thunderbird are that its menus and screens are essentially the same on Mac, Windows, and Linux platforms. Although it is an advanced program with many features, Thunderbird is easy to install and configure. It is very popular with students, faculty, and staff who want a program that works reliably on just about any personal or lab machine. Thunderbird is available from the Software Library.
MS Outlook and Entourage
The MS Outlook email application is recommended on the Windows platform. Outlook comes bundled with the Microsoft Office software suite (2003 or 2007). For the Macintosh platform, Entourage (2004 or 2008) is recommended. Entourage comes bundled with Microsoft Office for Mac OS X. These programs can be set up as POP or IMAP applications for use with the YaleMail service or can be configured for use with the YaleConnect email and calendaring service.
Eudora
Eudora is an email program that runs on your PC or Macintosh computer. It is best used as a POP client and works well for users that only check email from the one computer they run Eudora on. It is an extensive program with many options. Features such as searching, mail filtering, and personalities help organize email.
Best for: users with one computer that is not shared.
News: Eudora is now open source
On October 11, 2006, Qualcomm Corporation released the final commercial versions of Eudora for both Windows and Mac operating systems. Future versions of Eudora will be free and open source. Qualcomm and the Mozilla Foundation announced that the next versions of Eudora will be combined with the other Mozilla open source email application, Thunderbird. The open-source version is targeted for release during the first half of calendar year 2007. Once the open source version of Eudora is released, Qualcomm will cease to sell Eudora commercially.
Eudora users should understand that while Eudora will continue to function, Qualcomm will not issue any future enhancements, patches or upgrades to Eudora. Additionally, Qualcomm has announced its intention to phase out all support for Eudora in 2007. ITS is evaluating the news, assessing alternatives, and offering recommendations to the Yale community.
Eudora is available from the Software Library.
Webmail
Webmail can be convenient for travelers who are away from their own computers temporarily, at airports, rail stations, or Internet cafes. It can also be convenient for students at kiosks and libraries. Webmail was was upgraded in September of 2005 to run on a cluster of servers for improved performance. Because of the web environment, it remains slower than other email applications, and it handles searching, address books, and attachments different from previous version of webmail, as well as other email applications. It is not recommended as a person's primary email program.
Pine
Email software on the Pantheon UNIX shell servers is called Pine. While being text based, the Pine software has many configurable features and is much faster than webmail since it has no graphics to deal with. However, attachment processing can be a bit cumbersome. Pine is available by logging into the Pantheon UNIX servers via SSH from anywhere at Yale and on the Internet.
Best for: users that want raw speed, understand UNIX or Linux, and can set up secure sessions by Using the Terminal. Pine is also helpful when moving email or preparing to archive and convert email.
Learn more about Pine from its creators at the University of Washington.
