Software to exchange emails between networked computers

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sram

[H]ard|Gawd
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Jul 30, 2007
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Hello folks. I need your help in a small thing I want to setup. I searched a little but I'm not competent in this area and doesn't have much background in this topic.

Say I have a small workgroup network of 10 PC's. Each PC is for a section in one company and they want to exchange emails via the use of an email software that is installed in each computer. This system is to be used to pass information or to give orders to lower-level sections(Like for example the manager sending a command to his deputy). The messages should stay there after being opened and an alert of course should come up to let the user know there is a new message for him. NOW, I know that Outlook does all this nicely but I want to use another software. Outlook is already there and being used as an email client with remote locations.

Is there a simple(Maybe free?) program to do this? Can it be done in a workgroup setup? Or do I have to have Client/server setup? If in workgroup, where will data(messages) be stored? Can one PC made to be a central machine where one storage place is used to hold the program data? Can I have more that one email software in one pc? Can a PC be part of a domain and at the same type be a member of a workgroup network?

One thing I want to accomplish is making orders/commands + instructions + responsibilities documented so that no body can say I didn't know or I didn't hear....etc, provided that he opened the message in question in his pc.

Am I clear enough? What would be the easiest way to build such a setup?


Thank you very much folks.
 
Not really sure what exactly you are looking for but look at phoneslips.

http://www.phoneslips.com/

Phone slips is a program that runs off a shared data folder and is pretty much an inner office message system. The company I work for is a reseller of it as we have a few business that use it. Mainly law firms and accountants for sending messages back and forth in house. Just look at it and request a free trial. They will mail you a cd with info. It isn't that expensive for smaller setups either.
 
Still sounds like you want/need an email server. http://www.hmailserver.com/index.php?page=welcome might work good enough (on windows).

Then, each user would have an email account where they connect to it with whatever email client they want like Thunderbird, Sylpheed, Opera's built-in mail client, mulberry or claws mail or alpine etc.

With an email server that supports IMAP, you can even provide a webmail interface with http://squirrelmail.org/

The only reason to use your own email server though is to keep everything super private. If that's not needed, you can just use free mail providers.
 
Shadow2531 said:
Still sounds like you want/need an email server. http://www.hmailserver.com/index.php?page=welcome might work good enough (on windows).

Then, each user would have an email account where they connect to it with whatever email client they want like Thunderbird, Sylpheed, Opera's built-in mail client, mulberry or claws mail or alpine etc.

With an email server that supports IMAP, you can even provide a webmail interface with http://squirrelmail.org/

The only reason to use your own email server though is to keep everything super private. If that's not needed, you can just use free mail providers.
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So, how do I do that? Go install the mail server on one machine and install thunderbird for example in each of the other machines where I want the user to exchange emails? Is it straight forward? Any thing to watch out for or give special attention to?

Thanks.
 
sram said:
So, how do I do that? Go install the mail server on one machine and install thunderbird for example in each of the other machines where I want the user to exchange emails?
Click to expand...

Basically.

Is it straight forward?
Click to expand...

I don't know how to configure hmailserver *properly*. But, I've gotten IMAP turned on with it before. enough to use it with Opera's built-in mail client to do some testing.

So, configuring hmailserver isn't straightforward imo. But, once you get it running right, the Thunderbird part IS straightforward. The ip address of the hmailserver machine is what you tell all the Thunderbird's to use the ip address.

IIRC, adding accounts and setting up username/passwords for them in hmailserver wasn't too hard.

Any thing to watch out for or give special attention to?
Click to expand...

If the network is exposed to the net, you might not want to expose the mail server to the net too. There's an option in the hmailserver config to do that I think. Or, maybe you'd need to do something else to set that up properly. If the mail server is exposed to the net though, no one will be able to access any accounts without username and passwords (if it's set up properly).

Maybe others can go into detail on the specifics. For now though, install hmailserver on one of the machines and setup a single email account for yourself and use Thunderbird on that machine to connect to 127.0.0.1 (IMAP: port 143 with or without StartTLS or port 993 with TLS, POP: port 110 with or without Start TLS or port 995 with TLS, SMTP: port 25 or 587 with or without StartTLS or 465 with TLS). Thunderbird auto-detects this stuff, so that should be easy.
 
sram said:
I was thinking about it. But, you know, email is more formal I think.
Click to expand...

Indeed it is, both can be archived as well. We just migrated from IceWarp Mail Server which had its own Jabber IM built in. We're now successfully running on SmarterMail + OpenFire, both tied into our AD Domain for simplicities sake. :)

AfterLogic is another good commercial mailserver.
http://www.afterlogic.com/

It's only $149 for a 25 user license.
 
Also, getting back to free: hMailServer

You can tie that in and use Mozilla Thunderbird with POP or IMAP, IMAP if you want to keep it centralized. You can also toss on a free Webmail interface like Roundcube or something.

If you go with Thunderbird, make sure you give them a nice calendar with the Mozilla Lightning project.

These are in no way robust, but probably more than what you need and will get the project done for free. Assuming you have a computer to put it on already. Windows XP or whatever should be all you need.

On a final note, if you intend to use a public domain, Google Apps is free up to 50 accounts. Gmail, Google Calendar, Docs, Sites for free. :)
 
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MikeTrike said:
Also, getting back to free: hMailServer

You can tie that in and use Mozilla Thunderbird with POP or IMAP, IMAP if you want to keep it centralized. You can also toss on a free Webmail interface like Roundcube or something.

If you go with Thunderbird, make sure you give them a nice calendar with the Mozilla Lightning project.

These are in no way robust, but probably more than what you need and will get the project done for free. Assuming you have a computer to put it on already. Windows XP or whatever should be all you need.

On a final note, if you intend to use a public domain, Google Apps is free up to 50 accounts. Gmail, Google Calendar, Docs, Sites for free. :)
Click to expand...

I can't be more grateful Mike..........Many thanks.
 
I'd still look at phone slips which is a cross between email and instant messages. Not free but stupidly easy to setup. Gives you interoffice memos, messaging, in/out board, and scheduling. Seems a lot simpler then trying to setup a second email system and then having people bitch when they try to send an external email from the wrong system.
 
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