I have also been looking for an offline Gmail solution. Please post any replies you get!

No.

Most of the replies by email have suggested using Outlook Express, or equivalent. Speaking technically, I think that's an ickie solution, so I'm hoping for something else.

I use both Gmail (online) and Thunderbird (offline). Thunderbird connects to Gmail and brings over the messages. When on planes, you can compose replies and then thunderbird will send them out when you get online.

Ickie, but it works ;)

How is Outlook or Thunderbird not a 'fat client software' solution?

I've been thinking about this lately. Some browsers, including Internet Explorer and Firefox, allow offline access to available pages in the cache. That's because browsers deal with pages. Dealing with email messages, however, needs to be done by software that understands them, so you need an email program.

For now that does mean using something like OE or Thunderbird. For the future, if and when Gmail supports IMAP access, I can imagine a program through which you do your Gmail (or other IMAP-accessible mail), both online and offline. Usually it will be online and your experience will be like what you have now via your browser -- but it will also intelligently cache the messages you're most likely to need if you happen to go offline.

Don't write that off as "fat client". Back in the mainframe/minicomputer days, some of us used "intelligent terminals" which improved on the usual "dumb terminals" (unfortunate term, but that's what they were called) by having local processing abilities, e.g. to edit software locally without needing to involve the remote computer at every step. Like how using an Ajax-equipped application can be a lot nicer than one that isn't: Ajax makes use of local processing (JavaScript), and could be said to turn a "dumb browser" into an "intelligent browser". Intelligent terminals were more costly than dumb terminals, but were worth it for power users. Now think of your laptop like that: unlike the usual "dumb" thin client (e.g. a cellphone that has a browser), your laptop is an "intelligent" thin client (the term "rich client" is sometimes used) that, at a higher price, has the extra added bonus of being able to deal with email messages even when offline. It's not a traditional fat client, because everything is network-centric.

I believe the future is that everything is stored on servers, accessed via the Internet by devices having varying capabilities: some have larger screens than others, for instance, while some use local caching to be useful even when the Internet is inaccessible. (This takes us back to the 1970s.)

Rohan Jayasekera, Toronto

I use Eudora, multiple Gmail accounts and forwarding on Gmail. The last two parts occur if I check my e-mail from two different computers, using the offline program.

Unfortunately, to make sure I do the spam filtering, I have to manually move the spam over to the Inbox and reset my POP download setting.

It also gets annoying when I forget to change the from address when I reply to e-mail. People are like, "Huh? Who are you?"

Ummm, Opera browser on your phone?
You say you don't want a 'fat client' solution, but I suspect you mean that you don't want to install another program besides your browser. So, how about the Mozilla Seamonkey browser/mail/html composer suite? Or brain implants that support POP3 and GSM?

I just started using AIM mail, since GMail and Yahoo Mail were freezing up too often. AIM Mail has IMAP support which I have not tried. So if you forward all your gmail (from all accounts) to AIM mail, you can read the email offline there and reply as needed. I think the reply-to will still be AIM Mail though.

However, I haven't tested this theory. But I do know that the AIM Mail ajax UI is quite good and fast (for now). I love having the delete icon next to every single message.

oh yeah, also make sure that you install the AdBlock extension in Firefox so that you aren't looking at ads all day long.

You're going to need a client of some sort. If you want something light, and you are not afraid of the CLI, then you might want to look into Mutt. (if you are using windows, you'll need cygwin as well)

www.mutt.org

The only problem with Mutt, is its a text based email client. If you want pretty pictures, Thunderbird is the least worst option I have seen.

You're going to need a client of some sort. If you want something light, and you are not afraid of the CLI, then you might want to look into Mutt. (if you are using windows, you'll need cygwin as well)

www.mutt.org

The only problem with Mutt, is its a text based email client. If you want pretty pictures, Thunderbird is the least worst option I have seen.

imap? imap is the worst invention ever, or at least imap + thunderbird is. the mail folder is half my hard disk and still it hasn't bothered to cache any of my new messages, just a random selection of old ones. puke.

Hi paul -- so as you can see there is no solution yet. As you know, you'd be crazy to integrate a kludge into your workflow (I'm speaking as someone who tried that once).

Probably best to get a WWAN card and do all your quick-fire email stuff while waiting for boarding or comfortably in your seat before the flight starts. Lengthy replies (presumably small in number) can be composed between naps in flight, then sent later.

However, if you find something that works for you, please let us know!

BTW, the person suggesting mutt is some sort of sadist (or a linux kernel developer). I've been mutt-free since '00 at least (tho I sadly still can't live without cygwin)

w