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LinuxNovice.org: Mutt: An e-mail users best friend — Part One

[ Thanks to Nitebirdz for this link.
]

“With all the choices of graphical e-mail clients available
to Linux users, the reader may wonder why I would spend time on a
terminal based e-mail program.
Like other debates on GUI vs.
terminal base applications, the answer to this question is “it
depends”. It depend on what your needs are, what you’re use to, and
finally, what your preference is. Let me start with why I use
Mutt and then why you might like it too.”

“Like most Linux users, I get quite a bit of e-mail from
multiple mailing lists. I used Netscape Messenger for quit a while
and, for the most part, was happy with it. However, reading mailing
lists became a chore with Messenger because it handled threading
poorly; with no way of changing its behavior. At the same time I
needed a way of reading my mail remotely. If I used Messenger to
retrieve my mail at work, I wouldn’t be able to read it when I was
at home and vis a versa. I was familiar with Pine and was going to
use it when a friend suggested I try Mutt. Since it can be
configured to use vi like key bindings, (I love vi), I
decided to give it a try.”

“Mutt can be configured to do about anything with your mail. It
handles MIME encoded mail quite well, has PGP support, and can be
used as a POP3 mail client. The way it works with mailing lists and
threaded mail alone is reason enough for any heavy e-mail user to
consider it. You can configure it to use different signatures
depending on who you’re sending mail. And you can configure it to
view mail in different mailboxes in different ways, including using
color highlighting for different parts of an e-mail. If there is
some function you want Mutt to have, it can be configured to have
that function.”


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