Email Program – Which one Should You Use?

In part 1 of this 2-part series regarding email setup, we discussed two types of emails, standalone emails and email forwarders.

Here in part 2, we’ll discuss email programs (aka email clients) and discuss some of the options.

An email program is software used to access email. Popular options include Outlook, Gmail, Windows Mail, and Mac Mail. Mobile phones have their own default email clients as well. Email programs allow emails to be accessed without internet access (provided that the emails were already downloaded into the client) and emails can be backed up to your computer. There are a few primary benefits of using an email client. First, you can add multiple email addresses to a client so that you can access all of your emails without having to log in or out. Second, email clients are more user friendly and have more options for creating nice looking emails.

Webmail is a way of accessing email in a web browser. This requires an internet connection and emails can be backed up in the email server. The primary benefits of using webmail are that you don’t have to pay for an email client and you can access your email on any device, anywhere with an internet connection, without having to set it up. One downside is that emails sent from a client don’t look as professional as others and the formatting can be weird.

An important item to note is that you can use both. If hosting your emails with Devadigm, we will provide you the settings needed to setup your email address(es) in a web client as well as the webmail login, so you have both options available. Additionally, you can use multiple email clients to access your email on different devices. For example, you might use Outlook on your PC, Mac Mail on your MacBook, and the default Apple email program on an iPhone. 

There are also multiple clients you can use to setup your email on mobile devices and tablets and programs like Outlook and Gmail have apps that you can use.

Which email client should you use? It really comes down to a matter of preference and budget. My default initial response regarding all software recommendations is to use what you’re comfortable with. 

Outlook – Microsoft Outlook is an email client that is part of the Microsoft Office Suite, which include apps such as Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. There are two ways to use Outlook, both requiring a license. The first option is to have any Microsoft 365 license that includes the desktop apps, which would allow you to install and use Outlook as your email client. If you already have and use Outlook as your email client, there won’t be any additional charge to setup your hosted emails in Outlook. 

The second option is to host your emails with a Microsoft 365 license. This has a monthly fee, but it provides many services and apps in the Microsoft Office Suite.

Microsoft Mail – Is a free email client provided on Windows PC’s.

Gmail or Google Workspace (Formerly G-Suite) – Similar to Microsoft, there are a few options for using Gmail as your email client. The first option is to use a free Gmail account if your emails are hosted elsewhere, such as hosted with Devadigm. To do this, you’ll need to create a Gmail address if you don’t already have one. Then, once logged in, you can go into settings and add alternate email addresses to have multiple email addresses in your account. 

The second option is to host your emails with a Google Workspace account. This has a monthly fee, but it provides many other Google apps and services. 

Mac Mail – Mac Mail is a free email client provided by Apple on Mac’s. 

1. Does is do what I need it to do?
2. Is it simple to use and understand?
3. Is it reasonably priced?