IMAP Client that shows email like an IM client IM client that can display and respond to IMAP-based email

February 6, 2009 4:49 PM

Does anybody know an IMAP Client that shows email like an IM client? IM client that can display and respond to IMAP-based email?

Here in Japan, almost no one uses text messages, which turns out to be nice, because they send short little emails, and since my mobile email is IMAP for the iPhone (without push, but that's a whole other, annoying story), I can send and receive through any IMAP client (good for while I'm at home).

What I want is a way to send and receive these short emails without having to search back through a big inbox to see the whole conversation. I know Outlook and the like offere arranging by "converstation," but that's pretty terrible.

What I want is IM-style. Each little message is just a line in a chat, if you know what I mean. Is there an IMAP client that can do that?

Bonus points for OS X :-p

posted by phaedrus441 to computers & internet (7 comments total)

So you *don't* want them to be grouped at all?
posted by rhizome at 5:07 PM on February 6

That's exactly how the iPhone Mail client shows messages - unthreaded, most-recent-first. You can set how many lines of each message are visible in the list in Settings > Mail.
posted by nicwolff at 5:40 PM on February 6

Sorry, I *do* want them grouped.

In the same way that SMS messages are grouped together, separated by sender.

Reading my original post, it's completely confusing, sorry...

Any ideas?
posted by phaedrus441 at 6:50 PM on February 6

GMail does some very nice threading - could you forward your mail through GMail?
posted by spaceman_spiff at 6:54 PM on February 6

I don't know of one, but it wouldn't be hard to write. What is the difference from Outlook's conversations that you don't like?
posted by rhizome at 6:56 PM on February 6

Ah ok, sorry for misunderstanding. You could switch to IMAP, have Gmail rules that label incoming messages from your usual correspondents (and skip the inbox), and the labels will appear as IMAP folders, each with one "conversation".
posted by nicwolff at 7:53 PM on February 6

I detailed a couple of other hints for using IMAP with Gmail on the iPhone in another AskMe answer.
posted by nicwolff at 7:55 PM on February 6