Opera Mail 1.0 Build 1040

Overview

The Opera Mail package introduces some new ways to handle email. Email can now be viewed much like web pages with multiple tabs showing different email that you want to pay special attention to. Labeling is included to provide new ways to intelligently sort through the email clutter and find the important emails on a given topic that really matter. Email threads help group related emails together so related conversions stick together. The feed reader (RSS) within Opera Mail can update the email user when their favorite web sites have been updated as well.

Installation

With installation, the file is first extracted. Accepting the Opera Mail terms and conditions, the software can then be installed. The red progress bar provides a visual indication on the installation progress.

The installer then poses the question of: Select what kind of account you would like to create? The choices are: Email, Newsgroups or Import email.

Next, the software asks the user to confirm their real name, email address and organization name for their new account. They then have to setup their email account with the login name and password for it, plus confirming whether the account type with be a POP email account or a IMAP account.

Once this is completed, the software will add the email address, connect to it and pull in the latest email. The software is then ready for use.

Interface

Opera Mail includes button access to Email, the address book and a few other links. The main folders are shown in the first pane on the left sidebar. Any mailing list is shown in the next pane. The bottom left pane is used for different colored labels to apply to emails to make them easier to identify when they are received.

The second column shows the emails within the selected email account and folder. Clicking on an email with cause it to be displayed in the right side pane which is the email pane. Controls for handling email processing are shown in a small toolbar above the email pane.

Pros

• Familiar interface for users of Opera
• Handles POP and IMAP email types
• Colored labeling support
• Address book management
• Filtering rules
• Free

Cons

None.

Alternatives

Mozilla Thunderbird is a good email package from the people behind the Firefox web browser. It also has a portable version which is useful too.

Conclusion

The Opera Mail software is a decent email package if you are unhappy with your existing desktop email application. It has POP and IMAP capabilities and can filter email with colored labels which makes email easier to process.