YOU CAN PLAN A PRODUCTIVE DAY ON ONE SHEET OF PAPER.

Ever since the news broke that Sparrow was no longer going to be developed, I began a search for my new mail application of choice in earnest. It pained me to leave Sparrow behind because I really enjoyed its minimal approach to email, so the new app of choice will have some big shoes to fill. I’m not about to rush into picking a new one, but when I do pick one I will want it to be as frictionless and functional as possible.

Here are the candidates I’ve looked into so far:

1. Notify¹
2. Postbox
3. MailPlane
4. MailMate
5. Mail.app

I’m going to give each app some time to prove itself over the next week, with a post dedicated to my findings each day that I post. I get enough email that I figure I can give each app a thorough test with only one full day of use.²

By the end of this week, I’ll make my decision, and I’ll let you all know what it is on Monday August 13, 2013. (Update: I’ll have results of my search up a week later, on Monday August 20, 2013 as a result of this.)

If you’ve got any suggestions of apps I’m missing out on, let me know in the comments (keeping in mind I’m using a Mac and want a native app if possible). Since there are 7 days in a week and I’ve only lined up 5 apps to test, I’ll pick 2 of the best suggestions and run with them over the weekend.

Wish me luck. (Or if you want to be part of the process, send me an email wishing me luck. And don’t worry…I won’t publish any email addresses sent my way. I simply don’t play like that.)

Photo credit: Cynical View (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

¹ While I did look at this app, it has been out of active development since May 2011. So there’s that.
² I haven’t upgraded to Mountain Lion as of this writing, so Mail.app will likely be tested later in the week once I do..