Instead of Apple Mail...

[DarumaBlue]

...what do you prefer to use?

I ask because, while Apple Mail is perfectly functional and smooth and wonderful, whenever I tie it to Gmail (three times over) there are small gaps in functionality here and there. For example, searching for a particular e-mail in Apple Mail is entirely a lost cause, while simply searching for the same e-mail via the web client version of Gmail gets the job done every time.

What are some desktop alternatives that plug into Gmail better?

 

[ziggyonice]

Apple Mail (via Snow Leopard) is the best and easiest I’ve used. Entourage is bloated and poorly designed, Thunderbird is alright, but not as integrated into the OS. There may be others out there, but for me Mail takes the cake. Maybe when MS releases Outlook for Mac next year.

 

[MecPro]

I'm having the same problems with Mail.app, I even created a thread with no replies

But it's pretty shoddy for Gmail use, I randomly miss emails into the account, and can't search properly like yourself.

So at the moment I am using the Gmail notifier for my two email accounts. I hardly send emails from home, but if I need to the Gmail notifier then can open up Mail.app to send the email. Annoying, but I'd rather have 100% of my emails

Thunderbird just doesn't work for me at all

 

[Angelo95210]

There was a time I used Thunderbird. But Mail is so simple that I keep to it now.

 

[miles01110]

If you're having trouble searching for things in Mail, try rebuilding your index (Mailbox -> Rebuild). Spotlight finds what I'm looking for almost every time.

 

[rwilliams]

Apple Mail would be perfect if Apple would get out of the 1990s and offer at least an option (if not the default setting) to have vertical columns to take advantage of their own widescreen computers. It's ridiculous that we have to depend on third-party plugins for something this basic.

 

[dws90]

You may want to try Mailplane:
http://mailplaneapp.com/

It packages the Gmail web interface in a dedicated application, adding a number of neat tools such as file drag/drop, dock notifications, Growl notifications, and some level of Mac OS address book integration. It can work offline through Gears (just like if you opened the web interface is Safari - although I think Gears is still broken in SL 64-bit). If you have multiple Gmail accounts, it can provide notifications for multiple accounts at the same time, and lets you switch between them very quickly.

The catch is that it's $25, and there's some disagreement over whether or not it's worth the money. I personally feel it is, but it has a 30-day trial period so you can make your won decision.