I get asked often what I use to perform certain tasks, like checking multiple email addresses at once, or what my favorite AI tools are. In this series of posts I’ll answer those questions.

Today is all about email.

I have a dozen or so email accounts that I check on a daily basis. I know the first question is why so many? With several online businesses, a blog, and old Gmail accounts, I have over the years separated my communications into channels. I could move them all into 1 or 2 email accounts but I like the compartmentalization, So for now, I’ll keep them this way.

So, how do I check them all at once?

There are several reliable, and free, email clients which allow the management of multiple email address and mailboxes. I use Microsoft Outlook on my MacBook but I’m not impressed with the new Outlook. They have removed one of my most used features, more about that later. I use the web access to Gmail for that address and for the most part it works well. It’s hard to beat Gmail’s SPAM filter. It would be an even better app if they would make the sort feature easier. If you’re anything like me you get behind on what I term to be 3rd tier emails. 3rd tier emails are they emails that you want to read later but do not have the time now, and if you never read them, that’s OK too. I’d love to be able to quickly sort by sender and either read all at once or delete them. It’s possible to filter by sender but that adds a few too many steps.

Lately I’m liking eM Client. The feature set is rich with items I use on a “many times daily” cadence. My favorite is what was called Quick Steps in Outlook but in the eM software it’s Quick Actions. It allows the set up a series of actions which can all be triggered by a single click. For instance, I have an action set up that marks the email read, adds a specific label, and moves it into a specific folder depending on the sender. Once these actions are set, it’s as easy as clicking the Quick Actions dropdown and choosing the action. Dead simple.

Another great feature is the History detail that can be viewed when you’ve highlighted an email. It shows all the other email from that sender along with a separate tab for just the attachments from that person. So nice.

I can check multiple email addresses at once (currently at 9, yikes) and eM has a nice “All Inboxes” view that shows all emails in one folder while they remain in their original inbox.

The overall look and feel of eM resembles an older version of Windows, which isn’t a deal killer for me. I appreciate a nice design but I’ll give up that for functionality any day.

What is your go to email client?