When comparing Mail and Calendar vs Mailspring, the Slant community recommends Mail and Calendar for most people. In the question“What are the best e-mail clients for Windows?” Mail and Calendar is ranked 2nd while Mailspring is ranked 3rd. The most important reason people chose Mail and Calendar is:
If your device has a touchscreen, then user can swipe the message thread either from left or from right, varies by swipe preferences set by user, eg: set swipe from right to delete and swipe from left to archive.
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Pros
Pro Swipe functionality
If your device has a touchscreen, then user can swipe the message thread either from left or from right, varies by swipe preferences set by user, eg: set swipe from right to delete and swipe from left to archive.
Pro Easy to use
It's like Outlook but free and not so ugly.
Pro Free
No need to put money on the table. It's free!
Pro Supports multiple services including Gmail
Mail and Calendar support multiple accounts from multiple services, including Gmail and Google Apps. Gmail and Google Apps support was not available on Windows 8. It is available on the Windows 10 version of Mail and Calendar app.
Pro Drag and drop calendar events to reschedule them (PC only)
If you like using a calendar, this is an efficiency perk.
Pro Background wallpaper
Similar to Yahoo! Mail and Gmail web app, Mail app can allow users to set any images as image background of the app.
Pro Send email from Outlook.com aliases
An alias is a great feature for keeping your email private.
Pro Great integration with Gmail
Mailspring has great integration with gmail features and tags.
Pro Neat UI
The UI is very well designed and neat.
Pro Read receipts and link tracking
Activity tracking is built into Mailspring so you get notified as soon as contacts read your messages and can follow up appropriately.
Pro CPU / battery efficient
Mailspring uses a C++ sync engine designed to be as efficient as possible, so you can leave the app running and not see your laptop battery life drain away.
Pro Unified inbox
Using a single inbox for all of your email accounts helps you get more done in less time. Mailspring supports every major mail provider—Gmail, iCloud, Office 365, Outlook.com, Yahoo!, and IMAP/SMTP—so you have a single, streamlined command center for all your messages.
Pro Snoozing support
You can swipe to archive / snooze messages and specify when you'd like them to resurface in your inbox.
Pro Unlimited number of accounts
Only in the paid version though.
Cons
Con Lots of bugs
- Always has issues with sign-in, and you have to regularly prove you're not a robot by re-typing the password
- Can mysteriously drop a specific Hotmail email account, which you have to re-add every time you load up
- Crashes often, particularly if you're working on more than one email (popped-out) at a time
- Sometimes the copy/paste function does not work
Con No aliases
The Mail app doesn't support email aliases.
Con Missing some advanced features
The Mail app is missing some advanced features that can be found in other products such as automatic template replies, email filters and custom notification sounds.
Con Bad formatting support
Doesn't have HTML or markdown support
Con No way to block senders without going to the online version, super unwieldy
Con Freezes
GUI sometimes freezes for 10-30 seconds.
Con Can't move between accounts
Impossible to copy or move mails between accounts.
Con No custom signature with HTML or images
You will miss the option to customize the signature with HTML content and images.
Con Only available on Windows 10
Con Doesn't open links in junk folder
E.g .you can not unsubscribe from newsletter you put in junk.
Con Can't use without creating a Mailspring ID
There is no need to create a third party ID for an email client. What if the Mailspring closes in the future - can't install a previously downloaded Mailspring software any more to continue using it or access your stored emails?
Con Slow updates and bug fixes
It takes months to fix some simple bugs. For example, they can't fix bug with notifications on mac OS from April 2019! Upd: they fixed it after 6-7 months
Con Unstable, have to keep fixing passwords
You have to keep "updating the password" because it continuously finds it hard to sync with multiple Outlook accounts.
Con Pro subscription model
To use some features, like contact profiles and link tracking more than a few times a month, you need to pay for a Pro subscription.
Con No addressbook
Con No way to see messages as plain text
And HTML is only optional.
Con Does not support Microsoft Exchange
Con Very limited user interface
No way to see the messages as a list, no way to rearrange views.
Con No portable windows (.zip) bundle available
Con Does not support POP
Just IMAP.
Con Does not support multi-user installation (Windows)
But instead installs to the user's home directory.
Con UI is sluggish (Windows)
Click and only after a tiny delay (~half second) something happens.