What is Sylpheed Email Client?
Sylpheed is an open-source email client that runs on various OS like Windows, Mac, Linux, UNIX, etc. It is a default email client on Lubuntu, Damn Small Linux, and Puppy Linux. Sylpheed Email client support spam filters and various plugins. It is a light-weight application with lots of features which we will discuss in this article.
Technical Information
- Developers: Yamamoto Hiroyuki
- Written in: C, GTK+
- Operating system: BSD, Linux, Mac OS, Windows, UNIX
- Available in: English and Japanese
- Type: Email client, news client
- License: GPL/LGPL
Features of Sylpheed Email Client
- Easy to use graphical user interface
- Freely available and can be modified, redistributed under the software license (GPL)
- Powerful search options (query search, quick search, search folder)
- Inline Image display
- Mark/Color Label
- Easy transfer and view of attachments by MIME
- Support protocols – POP3, IMAP4, SMTP, NNTP, IPv6
- Spell checking
- Tray icon (minimize to tray icon, new mail notifications)
- Junk Mail control
Pros of Sylpheed email client
- Easy to use email client.
- Support templates, labels, and virtual folders for mail management.
- Supports OpenPGP encryption and TLS/SSL
Cons of Sylpheed email client
- Sylpheed’s message editor can’t reflow text, only wraps it.
- It does not support HTML formatting.
- Filters could be more flexible
Plugins of Sylpheed
- Automatic attachment encryption plugin – Using this plugin, attachments get encrypted automatically
- Mail Forwarding plugin – It is used to forward emails to the desired recipient.
- Password check for attachments – It verifies that the attachments are password protected when sending emails.
- Attachment Tool plugin – It is used to manage messages having attachments.
Common issues with Sylpheed Email Client
- Sylpheed frequently show an issue with POP3 server
- It often fails to start when connected with IMAP
- When there is problem with GnuPG, it show issues.
- It frequently shows SSL validation issue.
General Questions Asked by Users
Q – How many accounts can be set up in Sylpheed?
A – There is no such limit. You can set up any number of accounts in Sylpheed email client.
Q – Where Sylpheed store emails?
A – It stores emails in MH mailbox. In MH message handling system, every message is saved into a separate file in the directory.
Q – Is MBOX file imported into Sylpheed?
A – Yes, MBOX file can be imported to Sylpheed email client.
Q – How to prevent spam mails in Sylpheed email client?
A – Filters like Bogofilter and bsfilter are available to remove spam emails.
- Go to configuration> Common> Preferences> Junk Mail> Enable Junk Mail Control
- Select learning command preset or custom commands
- To check other filters, go to configurations> Actions.
Q – Does Sylpheed send HTML emails?
A – No, but it can receive HTML emails.
Conclusion
I hope you came to know in detail about Sylpheed email client such as Sylpheed technical information, pro & cons, features, plugins, and common issues faced with it.

