What is SquirrelMail Mail client?

SquirrelMail is a webmail package based on PHP language. It provides a webmail client and a proxy server for IMAP protocol. It also supports other protocols like POP3, SMTP, etc. It provides all functionalities of an email client including address book, folder manipulation, calendar, and also provides preview in multiple formats such as message preview in PNG, JPG, GIF, etc. and document preview in TXT, PDF, XLS, DOC, etc. It does not support message template scripts and programming languages. Plugins are used to add features in the application.

History of SquirrelMail

SquirrelMail project has been founded by two brothers named Luke and Nathan Ehresman in 1999. Its first version 0.1 was released in the same year. It is licensed under GNU General Public License so it is free of cost for users.

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Technical Information

• Original authors – Luke and Nathan Ehresman
• Preview release – 1.5.2-svn
• Stable release – 1.4.23-svn
• Platform – Web platform
• Available in – 56 languages
• License – GNU General Public License
• Developers – The SquirrelMail Project Team
• Written in – PHP
• Website: www.squirrelmail.org

Features of SquirrelMail email client

There are multiple features available in SquirrelMail client –

• Multiple language support – The SquirrelMail is available in 56 languages like French, Chinese, German, Spanish, English, and others.
• Additional plugins option – Several plugins are available to extend the core features. Around 241 plugins are available to add in SquirrelMail. Some of them are described below –
  • Add- ons: To create functionality for SquirrelMail, Add-ons plugins are used.
  • Change password: Plugins allow you to change the password.
  • Compose: To compose a new email.
  • Filter: To filter and sort incoming mails
  • Vacation: To auto-reply the message
  • Visual additions: To add graphics and more information to SquirrelMail interface.
• Support various platforms – SquirrelMail is available for multiple platforms such as Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, UNIX, etc.
• Provide security – SquirrelMail provides several security layers like TLS (Transport Layer Security), SSL (Secure Sockets Layer), and various others.
• Users Data Storage – Storage facilities are provided by web and IMAP servers. It stores address books in text files and the location of these text files is in the directory setting in SquirrelMail configuration. User preferences are stored in .pref file, address book in .abook file, and user signatures in .sig file.

Functions of SquirrelMail

• Address book – It provides the facility to save email addresses of contacts.
• Search Mail – Easy searching of a batch of emails with Search Mail option.
• Options – A large number of options on how to use the mail client
• Compose – Several options to compose a new mail such as choose recipients, adding attachments, signature, spell check, etc.
• Folder – Various options to organize email messages to different folders.
• Help – Online help is available, you can ask if you have any query.

How to login to SquirrelMail

To login to SquirrelMail, fulfill some basic requirements –

Requirements to run SquirrelMail –

• IMAP Server required that supports IMAP4 and web server with PHP installed (4.0, 5, or 6 edition)
• Any OS supporting PHP

Steps for installing SquirrelMail –

1. Download SquirrelMail package and PHP from the official website.
2. Install PHP and web server
3. If running email server on Windows, enable IMAP service.
4. Unpack SquirrelMail package
5. Prepare data directory and attachment directory.
6. Configure SquirrelMail by Run command
7. Check SquirrelMail configuration
8. Now, log in to SquirrelMail

Pros

• Easy to understand interface
• Search and flag mails
• Available in 56 languages

Pros

• Only text emails are supported. Do not support HTML composition
• No updates and even problems with interface in the recent versions.

General Questions Asked by Users

Q – Does SquirrelMail support Windows OS?

A – Yes, it is a web-based email client so it supports Windows, Mac, Linux, UNIX, etc.

Q – Is there any new user registration process in SquirrelMail?

A – No, it does not come with new user registration process.

Q – Does SquirrelMail support POP3 account?

A – Yes, it is capable of retrieving emails from POP3 Server but needs IMAP Server.

Q – Can I use SquirrelMail to connect to IMAP Server through SSL?

A – Yes, SquirrelMail supports IMAP-SSL with PHP 4.3x and higher versions.

Conclusion

The article focuses on SquirrelMail including what is SquirrelMail, history, its features, technical information, pros & cons, functions, and ways to login SquirrelMail.