5 Best Gmail Desktop Client for Windows – Free Software

Best Gmail Clients for Windows Desktop

GeeMail (Link) : Desktop client for Gmail

Have you ever wished you could run a special application for gmail, and use the browser only for browsing? GeeMail is your wish fulfilled; and it does even more. Requires Adobe Air (link)

No Configuration Required : GeeMail has everything in place which is required to access your gmail. You don’t need to configure POP and IMAP settings like traditional email clients.	Offline Support : Even if you are offline, compose your email, click “Send” and forget about it. GeeMail is network aware; the next time it detects Internet connection, your email is sent right away!
Gmail User Interface : You don’t have to get used to a new user interface for GeeMail, because GeeMail supports the good old UI of gmail itself. Things just work the way they do in gmail, right down to the keyboard shortcuts!	Cross Platform :GeeMail work on Windows, Mac and Linux. You don’t have to miss GeeMail on any OS platform when you need to switch temporarily or permanently. GeeMail is truly cross platform.

Using Mozilla Lab Prism to Access Online Web Applications like Gmail

Prism is an application that lets users split web applications out of their browser and run them directly on their desktop. Prism lets users add their favorite web apps to their desktop environment.  Unlike Adobe AIR and Microsoft Silverlight, they’re not building a proprietary platform to replace the web. When invoked, these applications run in their own window in windows.
To try out the prototype, download and install it: Download Prism for Windows. Then start Prism. It will display an Install Web Application dialog.
Enter the URL of the application you want to use in Prism (e.g. mail.google.com), a name for the application (e.g. Gmail), and pick where you’d like to create shortcuts to the application.
Then press the OK button. Prism will create shortcuts to the application in the locations you specified and then start the application.

GMDesk (Link) : Use Gmail, Calendar, Docs, Picasa and Maps from your Desktop

GMDesk is an application that lets you run Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Docs and Google Maps as a stand-alone application to do all your mail handling, calendar event reading etc with. No need to open it up in a web browser, or have it clutter your workspace. Fire up GMDesk, and just alt-tab (on Windows or Linux) or Cmd-tab (on Mac) to shift between this application and the other ones you are running.

GMDesk offers an easy menu as well as keyboard shortcuts to switch between different Google services, and you can specify what default service you want the application to start with. It also supports Google Apps access as well. (Requires Adobe Air application)

Gmail Notifier (link) : Check your Gmail Inbox from Taskbar

The Gmail Notifier is an application that alerts you when you have new Gmail messages.
It displays an icon in your system tray to let you know if you have unread Gmail messages, and shows you their subjects, senders and snippets, all without your having to open a web browser.

Setting Up Outlook Express or Similar POP Email Clients for Gmail

1. Understand that no two email client programs are setup the same way. Here is the basic information you will need to setup the software.
   • Your Name: Your full name
   • Email Address: Your Gmail email address
   • Incoming Server Type: POP or POP3
   • Incoming Server Address: pop.gmail.com
   • Outgoing Server Address: smtp.gmail.com
   • Incoming Username: yourusername@gmail.com
   • Outgoing Username: yourusername@gmail.com
   • POP Server Port: 995
   • Use secure connection: Yes
   • Use authentication: Yes
   • SMTP Server Port: 587 or 465
   • Use Secure Connection Type: TLS
2. Set your Gmail preferences to allow POP email. Go to Gmail.com and login to your account. In the top right hand corner is a link for "Settings". Follow the link.
3. Click on the "Forwarding and POP" tab. Scroll down to "POP Download:" Click the radio button for either "Enable POP for all mail" or "Enable POP only for mail that arrives from now on." Which one you choose is up to you, but if choose to enable POP for all mail, the first time you start your client software and set it up, it will download all the mail in your Gmail account. This can be a problem if you have thousands of emails stashed away.
4. Follow"Configuration instructions." If you need more help with setting up your particular client software, follow that link.