In the year or so that it's been available, CE Software's QuickMail has been a quirky contender for first place in the Mac E-mail race. QuickMail 1.01's set of features trounced the slicker In Box (from TOPS) and the leaner Intermail (now Microsoft Mail), but the program was buggy — an unacceptable trade-off.
QuickMail 2.01 fixes many — but not all — of these problems. In the process of cleaning up its act, CE has also added more features and more gateways to other systems than any other E-mail package on the Mac has, strengthening its lead. But with cc:Mail and Microsoft Mail 2.0 being released as I write, the situation may change in the near future (see the "E-Mail Horizon" sidebar).
WHAT IT IS QuickMail is primarily a LAN-based messaging system that runs over AppleTalk. It can deliver messages and files locally — from client to client via a server or from server to server across routers — or store messages for a remote batch-send at a specified time via modem and phone or dedicated lines. Its server uses a file-sharing and -copying strategy that sets up a separate message folder for each user on a central Macintosh. (With this strategy, if a user sends a message to ten users, ten copies are replicated at the server, which results in stability at the expense of efficiency.)
The QuickMail server should be installed on a dedicated Mac (for stability), but you can run it in conjunction with an AppleShare or TOPS file server or (on smaller networks) on a Mac used as a workstations. A user DA and several Startup documents give you access to that Mac's MailCenter and to your messages. When someone sends you a message, you're notified, and the server holds it until you pick it up. You can specify how and how often you'd like to be notified. Messages can be sorted by Priority, Read/Unread, Subject, Sender, or Date Sent.
To create a message, you select a form from the pop-up menu under the New button. QuickMail includes QM Forms, a utility that lets you create custom message forms. Messages can be saved as text or in tab-delimited format for importing into other programs.
You choose message recipients by clicking on and dragging names from a directory of users on your server. You can add names to your directory from other servers and can create groups for collective sends.
Messages can be weighted for importance; for example, urgent messages can be set to always go through. You can also enclose a copy of your Clipboard's contents (text or graphics) or up to 16 files, although folders aren't supported. Users can print messages on any printer on the network. QuickMail also offers context-sensitive help to guide you through every function.
QuickMail's Conference mode lets you connect interactively with other users and exchange up to 480 characters per message while maintaining a transcript of your written conversation.
QuickMail connects to the larger world of wide-area networks and on-line services via QuickMail Remote and various software bridges, CE's misleading term for gateways. With QM Remote (or a standard telecom program), a user can upload and download messages. With CE’s or third-party gateways, users can send batched messages at designated times to remote users, connecting via modem to commercial call-up services such as CompuServe, GEnie, MCI Mail, MacNET, and INet. CE's toolbox, Inside QuickMail, lets third-party programmers write other gateways to E-mail systems such as VINES Mail or UNIX Mail. Gateways to AppleLink, international Telex, and fax are in the works.
Since QuickMail's directories are stored at the user's station, any changes made at the server (such as a new or deleted user, a changed address, or a renamed or moved mail server) require tedious manual updating at each station. Automatic directory propagation is essential for large mail networks.
HOW IT WORKS In spite of its improvements, QuickMail still has some bugs, such as occasionally losing contact with the mail server, an inconsistent interface (for example, the main directory is sorted by last name but the conference directory is sorted by first name), occasional double messages, scroll bars that sometimes won't show you the first line as you retreat through a message, and an Unsend that doesn't work across servers. QuickMail also gobbles up nearly 100K in RAM for each user.
Despite this, QuickMail does so many things well (and CE's tech support is so responsive) that I recommend it. There's plenty of room for improvement, but as of this writing, it’s the best that’s out there.
But whether or not it's the ultimate E-mail system is another question. In spite of its improvements, QuickMail still has bugs. Even though they're not fatal, a flawed E-mail system can seriously impair your productivity and increase your blood pressure. Nonetheless, while we continue to wait for Microsoft Mail 2.0 to ship, QuickMail is the one you should pick.
Miley, Michael. (November 1989). QuickMail. MacUser. (pgs. 62-63).
Gil Beecher
Applications
out of 10 (0 vote)
3 / 
2020-09-15 / 
c90e00d9d08f7be4fe4de45021225ae8a52618ba / 
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quickmail_v2_client.sit
Emulating this? It could probably run under: 
Mini vMac
