Radio amateurs in Russia in most cases use Mail.ru email of the form call sign@mail.ru.
Open source email client Sylpheed is the lightest (the installation file takes 10 MB) and supports Linux, Windows and Mac OS. This article is about setting up the client version 3.7 for Mail.ru and Yandex, using the IMAP protocol for Linux or Windows.

What are the benefits of Sylpheed?

1) lightweight and fast (written in C language) email client (10 MB distribution)
2) the ability to enable encryption or signature of letters using GnuPG
3) you can enable read receipts - a rare feature that is missing in most web interfaces.
4) Russian interface and intuitive controls in the style of the famous TheBat email client!
5) supports modern IMAP protocol and SSL connections.
6) the ability to configure letter filters (for sorting).
7) the ability to save messages from the IMAP server on the PC to the Inbox folders on the hard drive, if necessary.
8) there is a cache of messages - letters that were opened earlier are opened for viewing instantly the second time.

By default, Sylpheed, when working with a mail server, leaves letters on the server,
as the Mail.ru email client does through its web interface. This allows you to work with your mailbox from several PCs (work, home) and from a smartphone.

Using this approach (mail database on the server and display on the client) saves local disk space, unlike Thunderbird, which downloads letters locally.

Installation of Sylpheed

On Linux:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install sylpheed

On Windows:
download the Sylpheed-3.7_setup.exe distribution from the website Sylpheed.

Setting up Sylpheed for Mail.ru mail

1. The first step is to allow third-party programs to access your Mail.ru mail account and take mail from your mailbox. (Default - prohibited!)

   *log in to mail.ru on your computer with your username and password

   • in the upper right part of the window, click on the name of your account and select "Passwords and Security"
     

• in section "Login Methods" enter menu item "Passwords for external applications"
  

*click the button "Add"

• set a name for the setting, any, for example "PC access"- click "Continue"
  

• in the input form set the current mail.ru password and solve the captcha problem to protect against robots.
  

• click "Continue"

• the program will report that "The password for the external application has been created" and will display a very complex password for the external application.

  

  The created mail.ru complex password must be selected with the mouse in the www viewer window, copy the password to clipboard(Ctrl+C).

Therefore: Create a text file on your PC with the name "pwd-sylpheed.txt" or others, paste the password into an empty text file and save it to disk (for later use). However, you need to understand that storing passwords in clear text is undesirable - set the owner to root and rights 700:

sudo chown root pwd-sylpheed.txt
sudo chmod 700 pwd-sylpheed.txt

1. Let's launch Sylpheed through the operating system menu (Start menu - Internet - Sylpheed). You will be prompted to create an account in the program. Select the mailbox type IMAP4
   

2. In the next step, fill in the fields “Your name” and “Email”
   

3. In the next step, we indicate the following data:
   *login*- the name of your account in the form callsign@mail.ru, for example R1ABCD@mail.ru
   server IMAP - write imap.mail.ru**

   • need to check the box "use SSL"
   • server SMTP- we write smtp.mail.ru
   • put two ticks "SMTP Authentication" and "Use SSL"
     
   • press the "Forward" and then "Close" buttons.

4. In a new window, paste the long password that you received through the mail.ru web interface via the clipboard and click OK.
   

5. The main menu of the Sylpheed program will open
   

6. Settings - Accounts - (my account)
   
   -Edit

7. On the first tab, in the IMAP field, once again paste the password into the password field (which should not be empty).
   

8. On the rightmost tab "More" you need to check and fix the ports
   *SMTP 465

   • IMAP 993
     
     11.OK. Close. Account setup is complete!

Checking the operation of Sylpheed

1. Create and send a test letter to your email address - Sending works
2. Right-click on the name of the folder callsign@mail.ru - Rebuild the list of folders.
3. "Rebuild folder list"- “Yes.”
   
   There will be no mistakes.
   If the folder list rebuild error occurs, the reason is that the IMAP login must be set as
   callsign@mail.ru and not callsign.

4. Now you need to call the context menu by right-clicking on the "INBOX" line and selecting the item with the right mouse button Download message headers,
   

Setting up Sylpheed for Yandex.ru mail

Here are screenshots for setting up Sylpheed for Yandex mail for business (“Mail for a domain”):
The instructions for setting up external programs recommend username use:

• for a personal mailbox - the user name without specifying the domain, for example, for the mailbox user12345@yandex.ru you need to specify only the first part:user12345.

• for business mail (Yandex mail for a domain) login is the full address example:sales@myfirm.ru

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Disadvantages of Sylpheed (added)

Based on the results of use, the following disadvantages were revealed:
1) As in TheBat!, when displaying letters in HTML format, all formatting disappears, only pure text is displayed. Some (advertising) messages with a large number of tables and pictures are not displayed on the screen - “Message display failed”, others contain only text and links. In the third case, the HTML email is displayed as an HTML file attachment in the message. But this applies 99% to mailings and spam.
2) Advantage and disadvantage: letters from an IMAP mailbox are not downloaded locally (but this greatly saves hard disk space and Internet traffic for downloading all messages). Opening previously unread letters from the mail server always occurs with a slight delay (since a connection occurs and the server processes commands and sends data back). Messages are opened instantly at an Internet speed of 50 Mbit/s. In the future, messages from the cache are opened instantly.
3) Multi-window interface (you cannot open a message by double-clicking the mouse) - the mode in which the program window is divided into 3 parts always works.
4) Attachments in letters look like buttons or drop-down lists with long inscriptions (file name and type). Each attachment is a separate line. Fortunately, it is possible to save all attachments from a letter to a folder in one action.

Conclusion

The Sylpheed email program works well with small mailboxes, simple text letters with a small number of attachments. The advantages of the program include large font in the body of the message, fast sending, very modest use of memory and hard disk space, and the ability to use the IMAP and SSL protocols.

External links:

• http://settings.su/mailru
• Setting up Yandex mail - IMAP

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