Text-based email client

{{short description|Email client that does not use graphics}}

[[File:Elm.png|thumb|Screenshot of Elm]]

A '''text-based email client''' is an email client with its user interface being text-based, occupying a whole terminal screen. Other kind of email clients are GUI-based (cf. email client) or Web-based, see Webmail.

Text-based email clients may be useful for users with visual impairment or partial blindness allowing speech synthesis or text-to-speech software to read content to users. Text-based email clients also allow to manage communication via simple remote sessions, e. g. per SSH, for instance when it is not possible to install a local GUI-client and/or access mail via Web interface. Also users may prefer text-based user interfaces in general.

Typical features include:<ref name=aerc-ycombinator/> * Editing various emails via tab support * Configurable rendering of various MIME types, for instance OpenPGP encryption or HTML email * Vim-style keybindings * Support for multiple accounts and protocols, e. g. IMAP, Maildir, SMTP, and sendmail * UTF-8 support

== List of text-based email clients == Notable clients include:<ref name="tecmint2020" /><ref name="useplaintext" /> * aerc<ref name=aerc-initial/><ref name=aerc-contributors/><ref name=aerc-ycombinator/> * Cone <!-- need to create pages for these --> * Elm * Emacs: Gnus, mu4e, rmail, Wanderlust, Notmuch (emacs interface)<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://notmuchmail.org/doc/latest/notmuch-emacs.html|title= Emacs Frontend for Notmuch|website = notmuchmail.org}}</ref> * Lumail * mblaze * meli * Mutt ** NeoMutt <!-- need to create pages for these --> * pine ** alpine * sup<!-- need to create pages for these --> * vim (using a plugin<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://github.com/soywod/himalaya/tree/master/vim|title = Himalaya/Vim at master · soywod/Himalaya|website = GitHub}}</ref> for himalaya)

Email software for the command line that does not occupy the whole screen (cf. TUI) include e. g. Cleancode eMail, CURL,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://everything.curl.dev/usingcurl/reademail.html|title=Reading email - everything curl|website=everything.curl.dev}}</ref> himalaya, mail (Unix), mailx, MH, procmail, sendmail, and many others.

== See also == * Text-based web browser * Comparison of email clients

==References== <references>

<ref name="tecmint2020">{{cite web |url=https://www.tecmint.com/best-commandline-email-clients-for-linux/ |title=7 Best Command-Line Email Clients for Linux in 2020 |author=Ravi Saive |date=2020-02-13 |work=TecMint |quote=sometimes, users prefer to deal with email directly from the command-line}}</ref>

<ref name="useplaintext">{{cite web |url=https://useplaintext.email/ |title=Use plaintext email |date=2021-03-19 |quote=There are two main types of emails on the internet: plaintext and HTML. The former is strongly preferred, but often isn't set up by default. We'll get you set up right. }}</ref>

<ref name="aerc-initial">{{cite web|url=https://git.sr.ht/~sircmpwn/aerc/refs/0.1.0 |title=aerc 0.1.0 |date=June 3, 2019|accessdate=June 9, 2019}}</ref> <ref name="aerc-contributors">{{cite web |url=https://git.sr.ht/~sircmpwn/aerc/contributors |title=Contributions to ~sircmpwn/aerc |access-date=2021-06-12 |archive-date=2019-06-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190608201222/https://git.sr.ht/~sircmpwn/aerc/contributors |url-status=dead }}</ref> <ref name="aerc-ycombinator">{{cite web|url=https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20090950 |title=Aerc – An email client that runs in the terminal |date=2019-06-05}}</ref>

</references>

{{Email clients}}

Category:Text mode Category:Email clients Category:Accessible information

{{Software-type-stub}}