Web-Based IMAP Email Client

June 2, 2005 10:45 PM

I'm looking for a web-based email client: something I can pull in all my IMAP accounts with at one time (preferably into one merged inbox), something free (although I'm open to paid solutions as well), and either something remotely hosted (like web2mail, but with simultaneous access to multiple accounts) or a PHP/JavaScript/what-have-you solution I can install on my webserver. Any ideas?
posted by jruckman to Computers & Internet (9 answers total)

I have used Oddpost for several years (and it's the only reason that IE is ever opened on my computer). Unfortunately, they were purchased by Yahoo! and don't seem to be activating new accounts.
posted by ajr at 8:47 AM on June 3, 2005

I've installed and used (successfully):

• Squirrelmail -- quick and easy to set up, no Javascript required. I don't think it does multiple IMAP account, though
• Horde. More dependencies and more awkward to configure, but more feature-crazy than a metrosexual geek on speed. Does handle multiple mailboxes.

If you have the time to play with setting it up, I'd recommend Horde and IMP -- Horde is an application framework, and IMP is the webmail bit, but there are other nifty projects that can sit on top of Horde and give you things like calendaring, time management, etc.
posted by 5MeoCMP at 10:07 AM on June 3, 2005

I've been using (a single install of) Squirrelmail to host 150 users across 9 domains for the last 4 years, and I (from the administration perspective) and my users (from the usability perspective) are deliriously happy with it.
posted by dmd at 10:33 AM on June 3, 2005

I've tried using OS X mail.app to read gmail's pop3, but it won't retrieve any messages after a certain date. I figure if Google can't do it right, POP3 is fundamentally broken.
posted by craniac at 11:27 AM on June 3, 2005

For the record, you meant mail2web, right?
posted by nthdegx at 11:29 AM on June 3, 2005

I think 5MeoCMP is correct about sqmail only accepting one IMAP account at a time, but it's my choice too. If you control the mail server, why not just send all the mailboxes to one account?
posted by blag at 2:59 PM on June 3, 2005

Acmemail is no longer under active development, but it works just fine and is extremely straightforward to install.
posted by majick at 3:21 PM on June 3, 2005

Horde. Tops everything.
posted by devilsbrigade at 4:31 PM on June 3, 2005

Try cdrmail. It's free and mostly done in ajax. It is still in beta, but quite functional. It'll even do rss feeds of your email.
posted by el_lindo at 10:35 PM on June 3, 2005