Email App with Built-in Address Book?

[Kevin L.]

I've been looking all over the internet, and testing various email programs to find a Mac-based email app that lets me do all the standard email functions while managing contacts & groups internally. My purpose is to manage incoming/outgoing emails, plus contact info and groups for a non-profit group I started. I just want all the info self-contained in the app so that it doesn't merge with, or infringe upon my Mac OS's default Mail and Address Book application data.
I've tried Sparrow Lite, Mailings, DirectMail and LogicalMail, but all of these programs either don't offer an incoming mail option, or an address book function. Is it impossible to find something that combines both functions? The icing on the cake would be if I could find something that allowed me to set throttle parameters for doing semi-bulk mailing instead of just putting everyone's email address in the CC field.

 

[Kevin L.]

Oh ya, I also tried Opera. That has the built-in mail and address book, but navigation is a bit odd since it's a web browser by nature.

 

[cmdrmac]

Have you considered Thunderbird?

 

[Kevin L.]

Yes! Thunderbird is probably what I had in the back of my mind. It didn't show up in the App Store so I didn't think to look for it separately. THANKS!

 

[robgendreau]

Maybe I'm misunderstanding, but doesn't simply using different accounts accomplish what you intend to do?

And unless you're running your own mail and contact server, any mail/contact application you use isn't "internal" to your Mac.

If you were to set up a Google Apps account for that non-profit, for example, it would all be separate from anything you had that was personal or for another business. Millions of us do this all the time; Thunderbird, Mail, Post Box, etc are mail clients because they simply are a way to interface with the email servers in the cloud.

It also has the advantage of scalability and access. If all your non-profit's info were truly internal on your Mac in your own mail and contact servers then access by others is limited, and it would become a giant pain if it gets bigger. Not to mention issues about running business stuff through your ISP, which can result in problems.

If you do go all internal, then perhaps Lion Server.

For bulk email I found RoboPostman by Koingosw very handy.

 

[takeshi74]

Maybe I'm misunderstanding, but doesn't simply using different accounts accomplish what you intend to do?

And unless you're running your own mail and contact server, any mail/contact application you use isn't "internal" to your Mac.

Internal is in reference to the mail app. In other words, versus Mail and Address Book where contacts and groups are managed outside the mail app. Using a different account in Mail wouldn't accomplish what the OP is looking for. OP wants to keep it segregated by using an entirely different client.

 

[Kevin L.]

OP wants to keep it segregated by using an entirely different client.

Yes, that's right. I was referring to a local-based email program (not in the cloud) that allows me to store contacts AND mail folders in the same program. In the past, I used Mailings for another non-profit, but I had to make a separate user account on my mac just to check the incoming mail and make additions to the separate address book. Sure, I could have made separate groups in Address Book on my mac, and used different mail folders with rules in Mac Mail, but visually that just got too confusing. Anyhow, Thunderbird and Opera both do what I was looking for... and I ended up using Thunderbird since it feels more like a true email client.
Cloud-based email sounds good, but last time I checked, I couldn't use my unique email address from my domain. I could forward it to a gmail or yahoo account, but then my outgoing emails wouldn't be from my personal domain. I know there were some work-arounds a couple years ago when I last tried, but the involved subscription services. Have things changed? Is there a simple solution for using a service like gmail as a full cloud-based solution while still keeping my unique domain for outgoing emails?

 

[Macman45]

I've been using Thunderbird for years. It's well featured, has the built in address book you need, and bolt ons are available for calendars and much more. I wouldn't return to Applemail now.

 

[cmdrmac]

Personally, I've migrated to Sparrow. GMail does an excellent job of storing all my emails and I never have a need to keep a contacts list. I just search for the person's name (to find any emails they sent me) in Sparrow and simply copy their email address and send them a new email. May not be as fluid as having a stored contact address, but to each his/her own, right?