It has been about a year since we integrated email with TrulyMail. Since that point, you have been able to use the TrulyMail Client (standard or portable) to send and received both TrulyMail messages (which travel through TrulyMail servers and bypass email servers altogether) and email. In fact, you can even send a single message to both TrulyMail and email recipients. In this case, of course, the message has to be sent twice (to the TrulyMail servers and to the email servers).
Better than Email
There are many features which you get with TrulyMail messages which you do not get with email messages. For example, when you send a TrulyMail message, you always know if and when your recipient receives your message. You also get encryption for free. When we say free here we mean without cost AND without effort. You also get authentication so that you know when you receive a message from Anna that it is really from Anna and not from someone else.
We have worked hard to fix the fundamental problems with email by making TrulyMail the most robust communication tool around. However, what if you still want to use email?
Better Email
Since TrulyMail includes support for email, we wanted to make your experience with email as good as it can be. Yes, email has some built-in limitations but there are still many things we can do to make your email experience better.
1) Better Address Book - We have written previously about the TrulyMail address book. Its use of tags, its ability to configure so many options on a contact-by-contact basis, even its ability to block certain people from emailing you are features unique to TrulyMail. These features are all focused on one thing: Giving you better control over your communications.
2) Better Support - If you use Outlook, Outlook Express, Thunderbird, or any other email client, and you run into a problem, who can you contact? Can you call Microsoft? For a fee, yes, yes you can. You can make a posting on a website and keep checking back to see when the problem is resolved, if it ever is. However, we think it is much easier to simply be able to transmit any error information (only when you say to do so) directly to the people who can get you sending and receiving again. In TrulyMail, just go to Help->Send Data to TrulyMail Support and you know we can understand exactly what is going wrong. Of course, TrulyMail would never send any information anywhere without your permission.
3) Better Trash Can - Trash cans are great. You can delete messages to get them out of the way but they hang out in the trash so, in case you deleted one accidentally, you can still get the message back. Of course, once you empty your trash can, you lose all your messages in there. Since we are most likely to want to 'recover' a message soon after we delete it, we should have the option to empty the trash but keep the most recent 10 days worth of messages (or whatever number you choose). TrulyMail does exactly this. Actually, it does it all automatically. TrulyMail constantly keeps an eye on the trash and when a message has been in there more than 10 days (you choose the number under Tools -> Options -> Experience) then TrulyMail automatically, permanently, removes that message from the trash. This has one more benefit - your trash can never takes up too much space. If you keep your TrulyMail on a USB drive you don't want your trash filling up your drive.
4) Better Messages - We all have contacts which do not understand the subject line of a message. They always leave it blank or they put something so generic (like 'you' or 'information') that the subject might as well be blank. However, if you want to keep your old messages somewhere and you want to be able to find them by scanning a list of subjects, having a meaningless subject is really fustrating. Wouldn't it be great if you could change the subject on any message you received (or a message you sent without putting a good a subject on it)? After all, we can rename files so why can't we change the subject of an email? Of course, with TrulyMail you can. Just look under Message->Change Subject. Want to keep some notes attached to your message? Wouldn't is be great if you could just type in a little area off to the side but within the message itself? This way, if you ever opened the message, you would see those notes? Of course, TrulyMail is here to help. Go to Message -> Add Notes and you can do exactly that.
5) Better InBox - Wish you could see which messages have notes? Well, you can. Just look for the little note flag next on the message. Wish you could tell the size of a message (if you are trying to free up space, better to delete one 10MB message rather than 10 tiny messages). As you can see, the size is listed right in your message list. Want to see more than just whether or not a message has attachments? You actually want to see the number of attachments? Done! Just look in the 'A' column and you can see if a message has one, twenty, or no attachments at all.
6) Better Receipt Processing - One of emails greatest weaknesses is that although there is way to request a return receipt when sending email, there is little you can do with that receipt when it gets sent back to you. How do you keep track of which messages have been received and which have not? Of course, TrulyMail has the answer. While TrulyMail messages process receipts automatically, email receipts require some intervention on your part. Still, you can easily process email receipts and you can see the original message in your Sent Items folder get updates. Then, just scan your Sent Items folder and you will see which message (TrulyMail and email) have been received and which have not.
7) Better Options - Want to block remote images when someone not in your address book sends you an email? Go to Tools->Options->Email and you will see the option to do exactly that. Here's an even better feature: Imagine you have two contacts with the same name (father and son or perhaps just lucky to know more than one John Smith). When you receive messages from either one of them, you don't really know until you open the message which one sent the message. Perhaps you like to refer to the father as "John Smith The Elder" and the son as "John-John Smith." Of course, you cannot control how they send their name but you can control how you see their name. Again, go to Tools -> Options -> Email and choose to show the sender's name as it is in your address book. Then, update your address book and you will see your InBox in a whole new light.
8) Safer Reading - We've already covered remote images but what about scripts embedded within a message? Is it possible for someone to send you a message with embedded javascript (after all, an email message is usually HTML) which can be used to track you or to make some other change you would prefer not have happen? It is not only possible but it happens all the time. Try viewing the source on a posting from a Yahoo news group and you will see the scripts they add. If you don't like people running scripts inside your email, then you'll love TrulyMail. Open a message with scripts in it and TrulyMail will tell you how many scripts it blocked. This will let you know who is trying to do things you want to avoid. Our policy is that there is no reason to embed scripts within email.
There you have it. With TrulyMail, you get a communication system which is truly better than email and you also get truly better email. You get the best of both worlds, all in one application.
As you can see, while it is not possible to fix all the problems with email, it is possible to make email better. If you have some ways you would like to see TrulyMail better handle email, please let us know.
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