You’ve probably noticed that here in Enquiring Mimes-land we like Zoho.  They have built a great suite of free web products and they keep offering something new.  They have just plugged one of the largest holes in their productivity suite by releasing Zoho Mail.

With their obvious competition with Google and Google Docs, Zoho need to provide their users the kind of mail support offered by Gmail and in many ways they have bested Gmail, by providing functionality that includes the best of webmail and the best of traditional email readers like Outlook.

In one clear way Zoho has trumped Gmail by being the first to offer offline support for their webmail.  Zoho, ironically, takes advantage of the Google Gears technology to provide offline support.  When you have Gears installed you can configure Zoho Mail for how many messages you’d like to be able to see while offline and Zoho automatically can sense the change in state when you go offline and switch you to offline mode.

In a couple of interesting ways, Zoho Mail has given their users a choice of how they’d like to work with their email:

Folders vs. Labels – Zoho Mail supports both old-style folders for storing and classifying your email – Outlook-style as well as labels Gmail-style.

Threads vs. Lists – In a similar way, Zoho Mail gives you the choice between seeing your messages grouped by conversations – Gmail-style or as a serial list – Outlook-style.

Signup for Zoho Mail by registering a free Zoho user account and you can choose your @zoho.com email address.

Zoho Mail Features

• Intuitive User Interface
• Unlimited Storage
• Support for Multiple Email Accounts
• @zoho.com Email addresses for all Zoho Users
• Zoho Writer, Sheet & Show Integration for opening attachments
• Offline Support
• Zoho Chat Integration
• Folders (hierarchical) & Labels Support
• Conversation & Normal Email Views
• Multiple Search Options
• Search within attachments
• Anti-Virus Checks
• Spam Filtering
• POP Access
• Import Contacts
• Address Book Support
• Keyboard Shortcuts
• Multi-language Support
• Font Family & Size customization
• Layout Customization
• Email Archiving Support
• Message Filters Support
• All Mail – View
• Flagging Support
• Signature Options
• Vacation Auto-Reply
• Email Forwarding
• Ask Receipt

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