Hi all,

I'm currently using Outlook 2007 (under windows 7), but I much prefer free software (open source being the best of course), so I thought I'd ask for expert advice here.

I thought it might be easier if I included a small "wanted list":

• I receive about 15 to 30 e-mails every day, but I have large archives (>10'000 emails), which I frequently need to access.
• I usually open and close my mail program many times, so I'd like it to start pretty fast
• I cannot use an online mailbox, because I have too many email addresses (about 5: 1 for work, 1 for home, 1 semi-private, 1 for specific emails, and 1 for newletters

By order of importance, the things I'd like my mail client to be able to:

1. Efficiently categorize e-mails. Until now, I've mostly been using Outlook folders, because filtering by tags was not easy, but I'd rather one large list of mails, neatly tagged so I can easily filter. I'd love being able to select mails by tags (eg in a click or too (could be a tab) show all mails tagged with "software")
2. Create "tagging rules", such as "if the mail was sent to this address, add this tag", or "if the body contains ..., add that tag"
3. Sync contacts with Gmail, handle tasks (syncing with toodledo would be awesome), possibly provide a calendar
4. Create e-mail templates, signatures...

Other ideas: A timeline, scripting support, being able to import MS Outlook emails, provide a nice backup format...

Thanks for sharing ideas and suggestions!