Email Clients vs. Web-Based Email — Technology Class 8/13/2026

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Email Clients vs. Web-Based Email — Technology Class 8/13/2026 



Class Overview & Resources

  • This is a recurring weekly technology class; notes and AI-generated summaries are posted after each session at sfct.net
  • Participants are encouraged to slow the instructor down or revisit the blog notes if content moves too fast
  • New participants were welcomed at the start of this session

Last Week's Recap: Spam Filters

  • Covered how to set spam filters at the source — by logging into your email provider's website (e.g., gmail.com, mail.yahoo.com, outlook.com)
  • Marking emails as spam or "not spam" on your phone does not fix the root issue; it must be done via the web-based interface

How Email Storage Works

  • Emails are stored in the cloud on your provider's server, not on your local device
  • All devices (phone, computer, tablet) connect to the same server, which is why they stay synced automatically — no button required
  • Sync speed varies; some systems are faster than others

Web-Based Email vs. Mail Clients

  • Web-based email: accessed via a browser (Chrome, Safari, Edge, Firefox) by going to a .com address (e.g., gmail.com)
  • Mail client: software installed on your device (e.g., Macintosh Mail on Mac, Outlook on Windows, Thunderbird)
    • Mac default: Macintosh Mail (blue envelope icon)
    • Windows default: Outlook
  • Email providers encourage web-based access because they control and maintain it; mail clients (Outlook, Macintosh Mail) may be slightly out of date

How Mail Clients Work

  • Requires a one-time setup: enter your email address and password; the client automatically retrieves IMAP/SMTP settings
  • IMAP = incoming mail settings (retrieves email from server); SMTP = outgoing mail settings (sends email)
  • In earlier days, users had to manually type in server addresses and port numbers — this is now done automatically
  • Mail clients rarely ask for your password again after initial setup, unlike web-based email which times out periodically

Benefits of Using a Mail Client

  • No ads: web-based email shows ads in the inbox or sidebar; mail clients suppress these
  • Flags & tags: emails can be flagged (e.g., red flag) to prioritize follow-up actions
  • Delayed sending: schedule emails to send at a later time
  • Multiple accounts in one inbox: manage several email addresses from a single unified interface without logging in and out
  • Cleaner printing: File → Print in a mail client prints only the email message; web-based email prints the entire screen including folders and sidebars
  • Second spam filter: mail clients add a second layer of spam filtering on top of the provider's own filter
    • ⚠️ To train spam filters properly (teach what is/isn't spam), always go back to the web-based source (gmail.com, etc.), not the mail client's spam folder

Printing Emails

  • In web-based email, use the print icon within the email (not File → Print) to isolate just the message
  • In a mail client, File → Print correctly prints only the message
  • Print orientation and scaling can be adjusted if content appears too small
  • Save as PDF is recommended over printing on paper:
    • Mac: use the PDF button in the print dialog → "Save as PDF"
    • PC: choose PDF as the printer option
    • Saves a digital record to your documents folder without wasting paper or ink

Email Conversation Threads

  • Mail clients and web-based email group replies into conversation threads
  • Printing a thread prints all messages in it; click an individual message first to print just that one
  • Conversations can be turned off in settings/View menu if grouping is confusing

Creating Group Email Lists / Distribution Lists

  • Make sure you create your contact list in the right place to match where you're sending email from
    • Using Macintosh Mail? Create the list in the Mac Contacts/Address Book app
    • Using Gmail in a browser? Create the group under Gmail Contacts (called "Labels" in Gmail)
  • In Macintosh Mail / Contacts: File → New List → name it → drag contacts into the list
  • In Gmail: create a new Label in Contacts → add people → the label name auto-populates when composing a new email
  • To remove someone from a list only (not from all contacts), delete from the list alone; deleting from the main contacts removes them everywhere
  • Test: before adding all contacts, type the list name in a new email compose window to confirm it appears — if it doesn't, the list is in the wrong place

POP Email — Backing Up Old Emails (Advanced)

  • For users with years of archived emails on a server, POP (P-O-P) can be used to download emails physically to your computer as a backup
  • Recommended client for this: Thunderbird
  • ⚠️ Critical setting: check "Leave messages on server" before downloading, or emails will be removed from the cloud
  • Also check that "Delete after X days" is not enabled
  • POP must be manually activated in your provider's settings (e.g., in Gmail: Settings → See all settings → enable POP)

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