Free email program for Linux and Windows - Mailspring email client.

Introduction

I found out about the Mailspring email program by accident: an employee approached me with a request - Yandex mail stopped opening, and instead a window appeared with an advertisement for Yandex 360 corporate mailboxes. Then I began to look for applications for accessing mail not through the web interface. Thunderbird did not start for her, because... it is 64-bit and the OS is 32-bit. So I found this program among all the alternatives - Mailspring. As it turns out, it is not only free and open source, but also works on Windows and Linux and is actively being developed. Home page -https://github.com/Foundry376/Mailspring.

Mailspring can be installed from Snap

1) Install the SnapD service according to the instructions for your OS
(If Snap has not been installed previously).

For example, for Linux Mint "Vera" or Russian Linux Green:
https://snapcraft.io/docs/installing-snap-on-linux-mint

For any Linux OS:snapd installation instructions

sudo apt update
sudo apt install snapd
sudo snap install hello-world

2) Installing the mailspring email client from Snap

sudo snap install mailspring

3) Launch the mailspring email client

Launch the email program from the Start menu in the Internet applications section - "Mailspring".

First launch of MailSpring

Click "Get Started".

Click Next.

On the last screen of the wizard, there is a “Start” button, when clicked the program will prompt you to create a new Mailspring ID. I missed this point - clicked "Just need the basics? Skip for now":

The next screen confirmed that the cloud capabilities associated with Mailspring ID are not required:

Note: on some, but not all distributions (for example, Linux Mint "Vera"), you may receive a message that Mailspring cannot securely store your password: "Mailspring was unable to securely store your password. For more information, visit https://community.getmailspring.com/t/password-management-error/199"

Help on storing passwords can be found at:https://community.getmailspring.com/t/password-management-error/199. It contains a solution:

You need to install gnome-keyring with libsecret and run mailspring with the parameter:

mailspring --password-store="gnome-libsecret" 

In such distributions, you will need to add this parameter to the desktop application call file:

sudo nano /var/lib/snapd/desktop/applications/mailspring_mailspring.desktop.

You need to fix the last line by adding the key to the "Exec=" line:--password-store="gnome-libsecret"

Exec=env BAMF_DESKTOP_FILE_HINT=/var/lib/snapd/desktop/applications/mailspring_mailspring.desktop /snap/bin/mailspring --password-store="gnome-libsecret" mailto:

And save the changes: Ctrl+O, Ctrl+X

In other distributions (Linux Green), there is no password saving error and editing the mailspring_mailspring.desktop file is not required.

In both cases, you need to go to the window with the link "" just need the basics? Skip for now "", after clicking on which the setup wizard will offer to connect to one of the well-known email services, for example, Yandex mail, or to an arbitrary IMAP/SMTP server.

This screen "Add a mail account" is the start of setting up email in Mailspring:

Description of mail services for which Mailspring has quick setup

Service icon	Service Description	Free mail volume
	GMail- free email from Google (USA), also: Android OS email. You can first create an email account at on this page-> "For personal use."	15 GB free
!		Yahoo Mail- free email inbox from Yahoo. Registration for a mobile phone number, including a Russian one with code +7.	20 GB free
	https://www.icloud.com/- service for email and photo storage from Apple. A valid Apple ID is required (but when linking a phone with the code +7, account creation does not occur - “Your request cannot be fulfilled at the moment / It is currently impossible to create an account”)	no data
	Free mail GMX.com- creating a mailbox from a Russian IP address is impossible “We’re very sorry – we can’t sign you up / Your IP address suggests you are trying to sign up in a country where GMX registration is no longer possible. Unfortunately, this means we can’t create an account for you.”	doesn't work
	Office.com account- login is carried out with a Microsoft account of the form username@outlook.com or username@hotmail.com or using a Skype login - the ability to link mail.ru mail via Skype. OneDrive and email require a paid subscription to function	need a paid subscription
	вход осуществляется с учётной записью Microsoft вида username@outlook.com , на сайте https://outlook.live.com/mail/0/, mail leaves from an address like outlook_9d413a6a2d5b893b@outlook.com mail only leaves, but does not arrive. "Microsoft has suspended all new sales of products and services in Belarus and Russia."	doesn't work
	Платная служба почты https://www.fastmail.com/ from $5/month - addresses like username@fastmail.com or username@sent.com	paid, free period 30 days, not interesting
	https://360.yandex.ru/-> “Login” button -> “Create ID”. A Yandex ID will be created, linked to the phone number.	10 GB free, with ads
	any IMAP/SMTP server	any

Conclusion: in Mailspring in Russia you can use at least four free mail services:

1. 1.GMail from Google (USA, office at 1600 Amphitheater Parkway
   Mountain View, CA 94043, USA). In Russia, a subsidiary of Google LLC declared bankrupt by the Arbitration Court.
2. 2.Yahoo. In 2025, free mail works, but articles may not be available, because. Yahoo company from the USA - address 770 Broadway
   New York, NY 10003.
3. 3.Yandex- free of charge (owner of Yandex LLC, the company's head office is located in Moscow)
4. IMAP/SMTP- mail of your domain on web hosting (see paragraph 3).
5. It is not documented that the setting is automatic for mail MAIL.RU=> button IMAP/SMTP(see paragraph 4)

1) Set up Mailspring for Google's GMail email

In the "Start" - "Internet" menu, launch the Mailspring program

On first launch, a dialog box will open for the user to select the email service they want to add.

If the window with the list of mail services is not displayed (for example, other mailboxes are configured) - select the menu item "File" - "Add account".

In the service selection window, click the button

A window will open informing you that a link to access GMail (links) has been opened.

In the browser, I confirmed the binding of GMail to Mailspring:

I allowed Mailspring only access to GMail email, and disabled access to Contacts and Calendar.

Scrolled the web page in the browser and confirmed - button "Continue":

The browser “thought” a little and finally displayed a page for selecting the appearance of Mailspring, on which I left the default settings (Disable viewing area, GMail keyboard shortcuts) and clicked the button "Looks good".

Setup is complete:

Clicked "Finish Setup":

2) Setting up MailSpring for Russian Yandex email (mail.Yandex.ru)

To work with a Yandex mailbox, two conditions must be met:
1) Enable access to your Yandex mailbox via IMAP using email programs
Access to iMAP is provided in the main Yandex mail (or Yandex 360), in the web application menu "Settings - All settings":

In the left menu select "Mail programs" and turn on IMAP.

Or follow the following direct link:https://mail.yandex.ru/?dpda=yes#setup/client

Check the box against "From the server mail.yandex.ru via IMAP protocol"

2) "Create application password" - enabling this function is available in the "Security" mailbox settings menu on the Yandex ID website.
(Source:Yandex instructions “Application Passwords”).

First of all, you need to log into Yandex ID through a web browser:
https://id.yandex.ru/

*Next - section "Security" in the menu on the left:

In the section Access to your data choose Application passwords.

*Create application password - Mail iMAP/POP3/SMTP
step 1 - come up with a name - for example, entered "Mailspring"**

and pressed "Next"

• шstep 2. Copy the generated password to the clipboard
  

Now everything is ready to connect their Mailspring to Yandex.

Launch Mailspring from the Start menu

Select Menu item:
File - Add Account

Click the Yandex button:

In the window "Add a Yandex account" you will be prompted to enter

• username
• email address of the form user@yandex.ru

• application password, which was copied to the clipboard in the previous step.

  

In the window you need to enter your data and paste the application password from the clipboard (Ctrl+V).
When everything is right. Click the "Add account" button.
A window will appear for a second informing you that Mailspring is connected to Yandex Mail and a Yandex mailbox will open. Also, a Yandex Mail entry will appear on the left side of INBOX.

3) Configuring the Mailspring client for an arbitrary IMAP/SMTP mail server

Launch Mailspring.

File - add account - IMAP

Username, email and IMAP password used by the provider

Specify the mail server parameters - IP addresses, connection protocols.

Settings can be obtained from the hosting provider, or in the configured program Evolution- select an account on the left side of the window -Properties-

• Receiving mail imap.server.com 143 Username admin@domain.com / encryption method STARTTLS
• Send email to smtp.server.com 25 STARTTLS after connection

!!Note. the two checkboxes on the form must be unchecked because... they are signed just below "Allow insecure SSL" - they disable certificate-based SSL/TLS security checking.

After pressing the button "Add account" a connection to the server will occur and upon successful sending and receiving of a test letter via SMTP / IMAP, the folder of the new mailbox will appear in the Inbox of the Mailspring program

4) Setting up Mailspring for mail from MAIL.RU

Log in to your Mail.ru mail via the web interface, in Settings - All settings - Security - Passwords for external applications

Add:

Enter a name for the external application password:

Continue. Pass the verification - enter your email password.

Continue. Please verify that you are a human and not a robot:

At the last step, Mail.ru will show the application password, which should be highlighted with the mouse and copied to the clipboard:

Specify the First Name/Last Name that will be displayed in letters, check the e-mail address and click Next.

4.1) Full description of settings for Mail.ru

Account settings are in the menu Mailspring - Edit - Settings - Account - Update connection settings.

Incoming messages by mail (IMAP):
Server: imap.mail.ru
Port: 143
Security: STARTLS
next to it, the "Allow insecure SSL" checkbox is unchecked
Username: user_name@mail.ru
Password: password_application_mail_ru

Outgoing mail (SMTP):
Server: smtp.mail.ru
Port: 465
Security: SSL/TLS
next to it, the "Allow insecure SSL" checkbox is unchecked
Username: user_name@mail.ru
Password: password_application_mail_ru

Other connection parameters are given in the article in English "Access to mail.ru via IMAP and SMTP".

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