IMAP And POP Mailers Make E-Mail Easy Accessing a directory is only the first step. How much further can an e-mail client go? The answer is further than you might think. For example, you could maintain a personal address book that contains information you access most often. This is possible if you maintain a local directory based on queries to external directories, rather than on manual entries you make from other sources. By storing the information locally, queries are faster and more readily available offline. Managing your own directory lets you insert or modify entries, fine-tuning the information to your needs. Other advanced directory service features include customizing the format of the information, as well as the fields that are present in every entry. Netscape's Messenger contains an LDAP-based directory search and a local directory, which you can modify. Clearing the Clutter If yo u receive hundreds of e-mail messages a day, it may be difficult to maintain and access them. Mail clients with folders, filters, search mechanisms and customizable features can help you stay organized, turning an Oscar Madison into a Felix Unger, at least as far as your e-mail is concerned. Whether you're searching for a message from last week, last year or this morning, your e-mail client should help you find what you want--not keep you from it. You wouldn't put all of your data files in one directory or folder. Why would you consider this acceptable for your e-mail? Folders provide a familiar means for organizing messages using a hierarchical structure of nested folders. E-mail clients should support nestable folders to at least one level deep (practical uses for nested folders will probably not go beyond two or three deep). Not all e-mail clients have nested folders, and some don't use folders. Filters help manage your messages by performing a specific function based on some attribute of a message . Common actions taken by filters include transferring a message to a different folder, deleting a message and changing a message's attributes (such as priority or status). Filters almost always are automatic (they are invoked on the message as the message is received). Some clients also have manual filters that can be invoked on messages already held in the local store. Among other applications, manual filters let you move groups of messages as a single unit. Some clients have limited filtering capabilities, and some don't include any filters at all. At the very least, you should look for clients that have some filters and are capable of filing your e-mail messages on the fly. The ability to search archived messages is critical. Most e-mail clients have mechanisms that can look through message headers or text while others simply search the headers or let you specify which messages to search. Some of the more impressive search mechanisms let you narrow your search to folder sets or skip to the next folder or message. The ability to customize every aspect of your mail client is also an important factor to consider when purchasing an e-mail client. Changing the layout or adding a button to the toolbar can mean the difference between two relatively equal e-mail clients. Customizable components often include the layout of the client and toolbars. Some clients let you code parts of the mailer. For example, NCD Software's Z-Mail provides its own scripting language, Z-script. By writing Z-script code, you can create buttons and add functionality through devices such as an enhanced search mechanism or manual filters. Your choice of e-mail clients can make using e-mail easy and productive or annoying and difficult. For the best results, keep in mind what purpose e-mail serves for your users. Frequently, an e-mail system's purpose can be facilitated simply by choosing the right client and then custom-configuring it to meet your exact needs. Whether directory services or rich-feature sets are your concern, chance s are you'll find a client compatible with your needs. Greg Yerxa is an assistant NetWare administrator for the Computer-Aided Engineering Laboratory at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He can be reached at yerxa@cae.wisc.edu. To download an Adobe Acrobat .pdf format version of the IMAP and POP Mailers Buyer's Guide charts, click here.

Open Inte rnet Standards Explained Updated July 10, 1997