dabMail™: The product
dabMail™ is an email client, much like Microsoft Outlook Express ®, but with an important difference.
dabMail is database driven.
Having your emails stored in a database has several, very significant advantages:
- For the first time emails can be shared with co-workers without having to forward emails or the need to install additional software. Any number of employees can connect to the same database, sharing not only an inbox but also sent items, certain settings, accounts, signatures, templates and more.
- Inbound and outbound email can be grouped per contact, eliminating the need to wade through cluttered folders to find emails.
- Because emails, folders, email accounts, signatures, templates etc. are all stored in a single database, making backups is as easy as making a copy of the database file. Getting your old mail set up on a new PC has never been easier.
dabMail has a number of other handy features designed to make life easier for those of us that use email as a business tool. Notably, you can now add comments to your email contacts. Like the rest of dabMail, this feature can be shared over a network, allowing co-workers to share critical information about clients or store client information like contact numbers, order history etc.
Switching to dabMail
The important thing to remember is that dabMail in no way attempts to be just another email client. It is a radically new way of thinking about email. Although it can be used much like a normal email client, dabMail will automatically try to keep itself organized. It achieves this by grouping emails - primarily according to senders.
For those times when you want dabMail to function like just another email client, there is the "Global" root folder. By selecting the Global folder, you effectively override the dabMail way of organizing emails. From here you can scan through all emails in the database, both inbound emails and sent items. With the addition of the truly powerful dabMail search function, you can be sure that your days of losing important emails are over.
Changing to dabMail can be a smooth process, but please follow these guidelines:
- In most beta versions, dabMail will by default leave a copy of all emails on the server. This allows you to also download those emails to a previous, stable version of dabMail or to a different email client. Now you can really get stuck into trying dabMail without having to worry about losing important emails. To turn this feature off, access the Accounts dialog on the Tools menu item, select the account you want to edit, click the Change button, click the Advanced tab and uncheck the box next to "Leave a copy of Email on server".
- Although you can use dabMail like a normal email client, you should take the time to investigate its special features. If you use email as a business tool, the time you invest in familiarizing yourself with the dabMail way of doing things could save you hours every week.
- Because dabMail takes a clear step away from the traditional way of working with email, it is more than likely that you will have questions. If you cannot find the help you need in this Help section, we would love to hear from you.
- And the same goes for ideas. Think of dabMail as your ideal email client in progress. If there is a feature that will make your life easier, we just might build it into the next update for you... but only if you tell us what you need. Use the Feedback function located under the Help menu item. Your feedback determines the road ahead for dabMail.
The future of dabMail
The field of database-driven email applications is fairly new. To our knowledge, dabMail is the first commercial email client that attempts to bring the power of a database into the world of business email.
dabMail is going where no email client has gone before. In an untested field like this, user feedback and suggestions will be the main driving force behind the development of dabMail. Once a wide user base has been established and dabMail graduates from its beta status, a more advanced commercial version will be launched, but it is likely that there will always be a free version as well.
To delve further into the dabMail™ Help Section, please see the Help Topics.
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