Latest Zimbra Desktop beta brings Yahoo! Mail to your desktop
- Posted July 29th, 2008 at 4:12 pm by Ryan
- Categories: All-New Mail, Classic Mail, General, New Stuff
Some big news came out of the Zimbra camp last week. Their downloadable client software was bumped up to an all new beta version on Thursday, and this one has some functionality that will be of particular interest to some YMail users. Before I get to the nitty gritty, I should remind you that this is still a beta, and a lot of the synching options and functionality are still in the early stages. Things could change considerably between now and the general release.
The first bit of cool news is the new default appearance. When you open it the first thing you will probably notice is that it VERY closely resembles the All-New Yahoo! Mail. Zimbra has several themes (or “skins”) that can be applied, and it now defaults to a Yahoo! option. So if you like the interface of New Mail you will probably find this new default appearance quite cozy. Of course there are still differences to the interface and functionality, but the look will be familiar.
Another benefit for YMail users is that Zimbra enables offline access to your Yahoo! Mail. You’ll be able to compose, move, and also delete messages, and all of these activities will be pushed back to Yahoo! Mail the next time you connect. That may sound mystical to some, but IMAP helps make it possible. Yes, you read that last part right … Yahoo! Mail has dipped its toe into the IMAP pool and is testing the waters with Zimbra (after all, they are family).
The sync options are currently limited to Mail, so keep that in mind if you were hoping to play around with your Calendar and Address Book. Regardless, this still represents an exciting new option for the YMail user who is frequently on the go (and hasn’t drank the iPhone kool-aid).
You can get more details about all of the changes over on the Zimbra blog.
Ryan Knight
Community Manager
Yahoo! Mail
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- 32 Comments
July 29th, 2008 at 7:08 pm
Does this mean that YMail Plus customers might get to use IMAP one day?
July 30th, 2008 at 10:33 am
Chuck,
Can’t really comment on how or when IMAP might be rolled out further, but I think this does indicate that we are exploring.
-Ryan
July 30th, 2008 at 3:29 pm
Exploring is good.
July 30th, 2008 at 12:44 am
This thing rocks!
July 30th, 2008 at 2:44 am
All this is fine, but when are you going to allow POP access to download mails from folders other than inbox? I am a paid yahoo mail plus user and it totally irks me that I cant download mail from all my folders.
July 30th, 2008 at 6:34 am
Ryan,
I’m glad to hear that Yahoo is jumping on the IMAP bandwagon.
However, why is IMAP functionality limited to the Zimbra client? Why can’t we use any client we want (Apple Mail, Outlook, Thunderbird, etc.)?
Thanks,
Eric
July 30th, 2008 at 10:35 am
Eric,
As I mentioned to Chuck just above, I can’t say how or when IMAP might be rolled out further, but at least this confirms that we are examining it.
-Ryan
July 30th, 2008 at 8:21 am
It is so interesting how MyAvatars 0.2 module doesn’t show any avatar on this blog… Very Pro! ;))
July 30th, 2008 at 10:32 am
Ciprian,
I’m trying to figure out why the avatars aren’t behaving properly, and have enlisted some help from some blogging friends (who are far more technically savvy than me) and hope to have it fixed soon.
I think it stems from the fact that I’m trying to override the default WordPress Gravatars with MyBlogLog avatars. While still allowing for the potential of a Gravatar if no MBL one exists. Clearly I’ve drifted out of my depth and need to return to the kiddie pool.
-Ryan
July 30th, 2008 at 8:46 am
I’ve been using it all weekend. It’s definitely in the right direction! I’m just waiting for the Calendar & Contacts sync function from Yahoo!!!!!!!!!
July 30th, 2008 at 10:36 am
Ty,
I’ll try to get updates out to people here, but you can also check out the Zimbra blog (www.zimbrablog.com) for up to the minute news. They are working on the Calendar & Contacts sync, but I’m not sure when it will be available.
Glad you like it!
-Ryan
July 30th, 2008 at 10:35 am
I can’t get the thing to stay sync. It keeps getting a login authority problem. Pretty quirky.. Then when it comes up…. It says server unknown.
hmmmm. Had to take it off the computer
July 30th, 2008 at 4:09 pm
Ryan-
Thank you for the confirmation regarding the fact that you’re examining a further IMAP rollout. If I can suggest, what I’d like to see if you’re sticking with a “Paid” model for IMAP like you did with POP, is that Yahoo Mail Plus users get to use any client they like while regular users get to use only the Zimbra Client for IMAP.
I’d be ok with that. I prefer folders over labels (a la Gmail) anyway. Of course, if you’re going to make it a sweeter arrangement than that, then I’d be ok with that too.
Thanks,
Eric
July 30th, 2008 at 8:10 pm
Even with Zimbra, you still get that awful tagline that is attached to every email sent from Yahoo Mail. If you have desktop integration like this, at least take away the tagline like how Microsoft did with Windows Mail Live connecting to Hotmail.
July 31st, 2008 at 1:04 am
IMAP support for all (or plus) users of Ymail would definitely be a big one. I’ve been waiting patiently for years now
It’s time….
July 31st, 2008 at 6:21 am
Does this sync the folders and make them available offline too? I am bummed that I have never been able to do that…please say it is now possible.
August 4th, 2008 at 2:34 pm
Yup it does - you can read & move your Y!Mail around offline and it will sync to the server when your internet connection returns.
Only mail at this time - sync with other services like Y!AB & Y!Cal are the following RFE’s if you’d like to go and vote:
http://bugzilla.zimbra.com/show_bug.cgi?id=23949
http://bugzilla.zimbra.com/show_bug.cgi?id=30249
July 31st, 2008 at 1:31 pm
Hi !
I tried it and it works perfectly , it syncs every folder and every message . I’m so happy that you’re now using IMAP , it will be cooler if it will be for free(please).
For now, I’m just enjoying it ^_^
Thanks for every thing
July 31st, 2008 at 1:53 pm
Since setting up Zimbra, it has been busy syncing itself with my inbox. During this time I can’t access my inbox from the web. Even when I close Zimbra, it takes a few hours before I can get back into my inbox. It’s been over 24 hours and it still isn’t complete. I’m resisting going back to Zimbra to check cos it’ll put me back a few more hours. How long does this sync take (i have over 1000 messages in my inbox). I think it’s a great idea this, but annoying when I can’t do my work in order to set it up. Any help please will be appreciated.
August 4th, 2008 at 2:51 pm
During initial setup we present a ’sync all folders’ option thats unchecked by default because it can indeed take a long time (the user can turn on sync per folder later) - of course I realize that doesn’t help if you work entirely from /Inbox
Yahoo Mail is unlimited quota, but we do show the user how much you’ve downloaded offline just not in the Yahoo skin right now, go to preferences > global theme and if you temporarly change it to another you’ll see the amount of mail downloaded so far.
If it’s relatively low (like you’ve only managed to download 100MB or something so far. See how fast it goes up & keep in mind you’re limited desktop side by CPU/HD (as it has to process & index) as well as your internet connection’s bandwidth & limits server side per IP & per connection.
You can vote for the following RFE about adding the storage space used display back to the Yahoo! skin: http://bugzilla.zimbra.com/show_bug.cgi?id=30145
July 31st, 2008 at 5:35 pm
My Mail Plus renewal came in June. My wife’s in July. I seriously hesitated this year, but decided to give it another year. This is definitely a step in the right direction. It seems like IMAP is around the corner. I would love to be using Yahoo Mail through my Apple Mail client at home and webmail at work. Like someone said earlier, I prefer folders over tags and this has been making me hesitant to jump to gmail. I even have a personal domain set up with Google Aps, but I prefer the Yahoo webmail experience to Google. I also like the address guard feature on Yahoo Mail Plus. All this said, lack of IMAP was almost a deal breaker. Almost. With this news, I feel like my renewal was the right decision. Alright, I am going to go and play around with Zimbra to see what it is all about.
August 1st, 2008 at 2:09 am
i am not able to bring all the mail from my yahoo.co.in mail box can you pls help me regarding this
August 4th, 2008 at 3:01 pm
If you describe the problem over at http://www.zimbra.com/forums/zimbra-desktop/ someone can give you a hand.
~/zimbra/zdesktop/log/mailbox.log and turning on the setup > account > debug option helps us know what’s going on.
August 2nd, 2008 at 7:38 am
Are there plans to make the Inbox window sortable by more than just the Subject and Received columns? Other than that, this is the client I’ve been waiting for forever! Thanks!
August 3rd, 2008 at 2:03 pm
How cool is that! Congrats to our friends at Yahoo. This looks very exciting.
August 4th, 2008 at 1:55 am
Good to see that there is some more IMAP access coming out. I hope that this spreads soon so that other platforms and devices can use it. If not, there’s always Gmail.
August 28th, 2008 at 7:57 pm
Sorry for post it so many days after. I’m from Brazil, and I love these discussions about Yahoo! and IMAP. I’m a Mac user, and the my only reason that I’m subscriber of MobileMe, former .Mac, is the IMAP access. Gmail? Don’t need it, I have Yahoo! But I agree that with IMAP Gmail is taking a lot of Yahoo! (and other) users. My opinion is Yahoo! is wasting time on introduce IMAP protocol. Maybe on a first step it could by allowed to Plus users, and then to all Yahoo! subscribers.
August 7th, 2008 at 10:22 am
Nice work!
August 14th, 2008 at 2:42 pm
So if I read this correctly… Zimbra is only good to use with Yahoo Plus? Since I can’t download on the free version? Even with IMAP?
August 22nd, 2008 at 7:09 pm
Jeff,
In fact no. This version of the beta supports Plus and Free YMail users.
-Ryan
August 30th, 2008 at 11:03 am
Any way to set Zimbra to only download the last # of emails, or emails over the past # of days? Not interested in any application (OTLK, T-Bird, Z, etc.) downloading years’ worth of emails the first time out…just because it has to.
Also, when mobile, I only need to keep track of the past week’s emails, anyway. I tend to use my Windows Mobile phone for checking email, because it automatically deletes older emails when I sync. Can’t seem to find a desktop application that will do the same.
September 6th, 2008 at 11:36 am
Why can’t we use IMAP feauture with Microsoft Outlook or any client??? WHY?
I donn’t like zimbra; and i prefer Mic.Outlook…