Mailbird – Desktop email client for Windows 10 and Gmail

Gmail is the most popular email service with over 1 billion active monthly accounts.  It’s free, reliable, and easy to access on whatever device you may be using whether it’s Windows, Apple, or Android.  For many people using the mobile app or webmail is perfectly fine.  Still, there are conveniences that come with having a desktop email client and for some people this is just a more comfortable environment to work in.

Some of the advantages of having a desktop client are not having to log in to webmail and having access to your messages even when you are offline, and being able to create folders to sort your email.  If you were a user of earlier versions of windows you are probably very familiar with Outlook Express or Windows Live Mail applications that came bundled with Windows.  These were basic desktop email applications that served us well for the most part but these are no longer available in Windows 10.  Instead we have an application simply called Mail which I usually refer to as Windows 10 Mail. The user interface in Mail is modern and colorful but the usability feel limited.  Again, it is included in the operating system and very basic as far as functionality.

For Gmail users, I find the Mailbird desktop email client a much better option.  There are two versions, a Mailbird Lite and a Mailbird Pro.  If you only need to access one email address then the free Mailbird Lite will be enough.  The best thing about Mailbird is that it seems built to integrate with Gmail.  When setting up the client you don’t need to know sever names or port numbers, just enter your Gmail address and password, it does the rest.  I was happy to find that  Google Docs, Google Calendar, and Google Contacts are all automatically incorporated into Mailbird.  No need to export and import anything.  If you choose to do so, you are also able to link your Facebook account to display pictures of friends when they send an email.  By default Windows will notify you of new emails that are received in Windows notification area in the bottom right of your screen.  This can be disabled if you find it annoying though.  Folders and sub-folders can be created and used to sort mail within the client and will also be reflected when you log into webmail.  If you want to set up filtering rules for your mail you will still need to do that on the webmail side but that’s easy enough to do in Gmail that it shouldn’t be a big hindrance.  I would highly recommend giving Mailbird a try if you are looking for a light weight and free desktop email client for Gmail and Windows 10.

You can download Mailbird here.