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The three software application types I use most are text editors, browsers, and email clients, and from the time that I first went on-line, the benchmark by which I judge all e-mail client software is the Eudora application, which came to be known as Eudora Light after Qualcomm bought the rights to Eudora. I have more than a dozen e-mail accounts that I use regularly, and for several years I worked around Eudora Light's lack of support for multiple accounts by using a simple Res Edit hack that enabled multiple copies of Eudora Light to run simultaneously with differently-named Eudora Folders. This worked reasonably well, but having to open all those Eudoras after every restart (yes, I know I could have written an AppleScript or used the Startup Items folder, but I like to keep things flexible and under manual control), and this workaround is RAM-inefficient. I have tried various other email clients, but I never found anything I liked as well as my hacked Eudoras, and I still use several of them for the e-mail accounts that I access most often. However, when Eudora 4.3 came out with its full-featured, ad-supported version, I switched a bunch of my lower traffic accounts to it as a rationalization measure. When Nisus Email debuted last spring, I was initially very enthusiastic about it, especially its drag and drop quick messaging feature. However, with more extensive use I have found that Nisus Email's handling of multiple accounts is clumsy and inelegant, there is no keyboard shortcut for simply checking mail, there is no way to alphabetize the contacts icons in the contacts window, and regrettably the program has infuriating ways of losing unsent message data, something that has happened to me several times. I still think that the drag and drop send feature is cool, and I will continue to keep a single e-mail account dedicated to Nisus Email for that purpose, but at least at its present stage of development, this program will not wean me away from my faithful Eudora Light. However, a new e-mail client application called SweetMail may have finally hit the sweet spot for me, so to speak. I really like this little program, which has what I think is the most attractive interface of any e-mail client I have used. It is in many respects a lot like Eudora Light -- which is high praise coming from me -- only modernized and enhanced with a slew of appearance and efficiency features.  For example, SweetMail supports multiple email accounts and has a wide variety of interface customization preference options. SweetMail is also very fast, rivaling Nisus Email for being the fastest e-mail client that I've tried (although the new Eudora 5.0 seems to be speeded up as well). One of the aspects I like best about SweetMail is its light, agile feel. I am not a fan of bloatware, and I love the way SweetMail starts up almost instantly (I should note here that startup time also seems to be improved in the new Eudora 5.0). Here is an analogy: SweetMail feels like a sports car, while Eudora 5.0 feels more like a pickup truck -- a very nice and powerful pickup truck, but still somewhat ponderous (although the program is actually not an awful lot larger). I like both programs, and Eudora 5.0 is still my heavy-duty e-mail client of choice, but I prefer the lithe feel and sporty looks of SweetMail. In actual numbers, SweetMail is 1.5 MB (application only, the entire folder less archived messages is 1.9 MB), and requires 2048k of memory. Messages are stored in a Mail Spool folder inside the application folder. Another big advantage SweetMail shares with Eudora Light 3.1.3 and earlier is that it supports 68k Macs as well as Power PC. At least that is a big advantage if you have a 68k Mac! Few modern e-mail clients offer 68k support. As I mentioned before, SweetMail's user interface is very nice in its default mode, but you can also customize it to your heart's content using SweetMail's extensive user preferences. And like Eudora Light, there is no program interface or toolbar cluttering up your desktop unless you open a window -- just menu selections on the menu bar -- a motif I prefer.  The developer of SweetMail is S. Ichise, a freeware/shareware author living in Kanagawa, Japan. He has written code for 22 years, and was the author of CalendarMenu 3.21 for the Macintosh 'in the old days.' When I asked S. Ichise what inspired him to develop this program, he replied: "It is a simple answer, there was no emailer I wanted to use. I think it is better to not use modal-dialogs, and to use thread processing. We must be careful about user-inoperable-time for smooth interface." "I liked Eudora-1.8.x in the old days," he added, "so, basically SweetMail's operation is similar to it." A man after my own heart! S. Ichise describes SweetMail as an Internet email client that has almost all the features you need, and new features you have never seen, plus "a sweet interface." S. Ichise continued: "At first, I began to make a basic modern interface with Drag & Drop Manager, Thread Manager and Appearance Manager. I paid attention to not using diffusive modal-dialogs, and not leaving the user waiting. As a result, I got a very smooth interface. "As a second step, I added new features: high-speed sorting, high-speed search, attachment files as MIME multipart, handling HTML-messages with an external browser, clickable URLs, inline image display, hierarchical mailboxes, filters, multiple signatures, templates, and mailbox-preferences. and in recent versions, thread-view, clickable message-id, realtime auto-wrap, and auto-indent. "Especially... "Related messages are displayed in a thread. Thread view generates relation automatically by reading the 'In-Reply-To:' header field on receiving/importing. Very, very high speed switching through plain view to thread view. The interface to cut & paste relation manually is easy to use.  "Realtime auto-wrap and auto-indent considers reply-level and comment-sentence (i.e. begins from #) automatically. "You can also make various message templates with a friendly icon "Mailbox preferences: You can set initial value of To, Cc, Bcc, from the headers for each mailbox. Each value will be used when you start writing by clicking the mailbox window's buttons, and you can replace system-templates with your own templates. "SweetMail's high speed search is very quick, and you get Intelligent word wrap while typing." "SweetMail is growing up almost every week," he adds. "I believe it has become the most sweet emailer available." Some SweetMail 1.93 features include:
 The SweetMail Preferences let you do a lot with color. For instance:
 System requirements:
If you use less than MacOS 8, you need also following:
SweetMail is $18.00 shareware. I have been trying to think of something I dislike about SweetMail, and not coming up with much. Documentation is pretty light, and while there is a manual posted on the SweetMail Website, most of it hasn't been translated into English yet. However, the program itself is so intuitively designed, that most people who have used an email client before should have no problem figuring it out. I like Eudora's integrated, scrolling, "Settings" dialog better than Sweetmail's several, scattered, tabbed dialog boxes and submenus, and I would prefer that checking individual email accounts wasn't buried in a submenu. Eudora 5.0's "Personalities" window is a better solution. but other than that, I found little to complain about. In summary, I think SweetMail's name says it all. This is one sweet piece of email software. For more information or to download, visit: http://www2.ttcn.ne.jp/~sweet/mail
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