The Bottom Line
VM is a solid, tested and easy to use mail reader for Emacs. It can do all you expect from an email client and some more. VM is better used with POP and local mboxes, not IMAP, though.
Pros
- VM is powerful, easy to use and very customizable
- You browse mail on POP and IMAP servers with VM
- VM supports virtual folders and auto-filing
Cons
- VM's IMAP support is not stellar
Description
- VM lets you fetch mail from local mail spools, POP and IMAP accounts.
- You can work on messages directly at a POP or IMAP server with VM, too.
- Messages can be assigned user-defined labels and can be sorted, organized and threaded flexibly.
- VM provides virtual folders that contain all messages based on criteria.
- VM helps you with saving/archiving mail by suggesting a folder based on various criteria.
- VM can be customized and automated using tons of options and hooks.
- Works well with other Emacs mail packages.
- VM supports Emacs 19.x/21.x and Xemacs (on all platforms).
Guide Review - VM 7.19 - Free Email Program
"VM" can be thought to stand for "View Mail", but viewing mail is by far not all you can do with VM. While it's true that the message composition mode used by VM is largely the default Emacs mail mode, there's enough power in VM to make many email clients pale (or blush).
VM lets you sort and thread mail flexibly, and you can collect and browse mail matching certain criteria in virtual folders. Another useful feature is VM's auto-filing that lets you save mail to appropriate folders automatically.
While it's nice that you can fetch mail from POP and IMAP accounts and can even access them online, VM is not a true IMAP client and better used with local maildrops.
