Choose your setup
The first screen of the wizard lets you choose how detailed the rest of the wizard will be.
Picking Full experience or Simple mode applies a complete set of sensible
defaults immediately and skips the remaining steps of the wizard, so you can start using the
application right away. Picking Custom setup instead takes you through each of the
steps below - Theme, Layout, Conversations, Categories, AI Features and Privacy - so you can
decide every setting for yourself.
If you've already used eM Client on another device, you can instead pick
Sign in to eM Sync to pull in your synced accounts and settings straight
away, rather than setting everything up again from scratch.
Whichever you choose, nothing here is permanent; every option can be
revisited at any time via Settings.
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Full experience
Switches on every advanced feature covered in this wizard - Conversations,
Categories and AI Features are all enabled, and Privacy is set to a balanced,
convenience-first default. This is the fastest way to see everything eM Client
can do, and it's the option we recommend for most people.
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Simple mode
Keeps the interface deliberately minimal by turning off Conversations,
Categories and AI Features, and setting Privacy to its balanced option, with external content being blocked by default but contact avatars from external sources are dowloaded.
Your Inbox behaves like a traditional, single-list mail client with nothing extra
running in the background. Good if you'd rather add features later, once you're
comfortable with the basics.
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Custom setup
Steps you through Theme, Layout, Conversations, Categories, AI Features and
Privacy one at a time, explaining what each setting does before you choose.
Recommended if you already know how you like to work, or if you're just curious
what each option controls.
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Sign in to eM Sync
Sign in with the account you used to set up eM Sync on another device, and your
synced accounts and settings will be pulled in automatically - skipping the rest
of the wizard. See the eM Sync section below for more
details.
Select your theme
The theme controls the overall look of the application - the colors of the toolbar, message
list and panels throughout eM Client. You'll be offered a selection of built-in themes
directly in the wizard so you can preview them before you commit to one.
This is purely visual and entirely reversible - if you want to look into more options later,
go to > Settings > Appearance > Themes.
There is a number of default built-in themes to choose from, but you can also create
your own, using our
Theme Editor or download user-made themes from the eM Client
Theme Gallery.
After you import a downloaded or created theme via the "Import theme" button you can
find the custom themes in the list below the built-in ones.
Layout
Decide how to view and read your messages - the layout allows you to show the message detail
directly in the main window, either on the right of the message list or below it. This
choice also determines whether the message list itself uses a Compact layout (right-hand
panel) or a Single-line layout (bottom panel) at first, so it's worth previewing both before you pick.
If you turn off the messages panel, you will only see the message list in the main window
and will need to double-click a message to open it in a new window - closer to how a more
traditional desktop mail client behaves.
You can change this setting anytime via Settings > Appearance > Layout. Compact or
single-line message list can then also be set independently of the message layout in Settings > Mail > Read.
There are three options to choose from:
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Messages to the right
The message panel sits on the right side of the message list, giving you a longer area to read and allowing you can keep an
eye on the rest of your Inbox while you read - the most common layout, and the
one we recommend.
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Messages on the bottom
The message panel is shown below the message list instead, giving the message
text more horizontal room to breathe - useful on narrower or vertically
oriented screens.
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Message panel off
Shows just the message list with no reading panel at all. Double-click a message
to open it in its own window instead - handy if you like keeping messages open
side by side while you work.
Conversations
Conversations are a viewing option that puts messages shared with the same contacts and the
same topic into logical, chronological threads, so they are easier to read.
Messages of the given account are linked into conversations from all folders except Trash or
Junk Emails. Messages are not moved into different folders when viewed as a conversation -
they keep their original location but will be shown in any folder that contains at least one
part of the conversation.
That is why, for example, you can see the same conversation in the Inbox and Sent folders -
the messages you sent are still stored in the Sent folder but you can read the full message
exchange in your Inbox if you need to check what was said in previous emails. This is true
for any parent folder.
There are three default options to choose from:
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In all views
Conversations will be shown in the opened message detail and also as threads in
the message list.
In the message detail, you will be able to read and scroll through all the
messages. By default, only the latest and unread messages will be expanded, other
messages will be collapsed under a "Show X older emails" heading, so you can view
them if needed.
In the message list, you will see a number of messages in the given
conversation. Clicking the number will open the list of the messages as a
Thread, so you can open specific messages one by one without having to scroll
up or down. This is the option we recommend.
This also means that older messages will not be found in the message list
separately - they are all hidden inside the thread, and the conversation
will be listed in the message list based on the received time of the newest
message.
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In message detail only
Conversations will be shown in message detail only, the message list will show
emails separately.
The message detail works the same way as in the previous option - you'll
have the option to open and scroll through all the emails in the given
conversation.
But the message list will show every message separately.
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Disable conversations
Messages will be shown separately in both message detail and message list.
This is the most simple view, in which the message list shows each message
separately and the message detail shows only the message you clicked on.
You can change your conversations view at any time via menu > View > Conversations or
in menu > Settings > Mail > Conversations. You can also change some other
preferences, such as whether to show messages in conversations just from the current folder,
order of messages and participants and more.
Categories
Categories will show messages from your Inbox in separate tabs based on the sender or type of
the message - the messages are still located in your Inbox folder, but they are organized so
it's easier to get to important messages faster and filter out the rest.
For Google accounts the Categories are synchronized from the server - so if you already use
Categories and have them set up to your liking, the messages will be sorted into the correct
categories, the same way they are in your Gmail webmail.
For other accounts, eM Client uses its own algorithm to categorize the messages for you.
You can of course change the category when needed - simply drag and drop a message onto
another Category tab, or right-click the message to change it to a specific category. This
will also create a rule for new messages received from or sent to the same contacts, so
they'll be categorized the same way automatically going forward.
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Press and hold the "Shift" key while drag and dropping messages to change the
category for all messages received from or sent to the same contacts.
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Press and hold the "Alt" key (on Windows) or "Control" key (on macOS)
while drag and dropping messages to change the category just for the selected
messages, without creating a rule.
You can change the categories or turn them on/off via right-click at the top of the message
list and change settings for "Category tabs."
You can also change the same settings in menu > Settings > Mail > Categories, where
you can manage the custom rules for each account.
When choosing the category options for the first time you can choose from these
options:
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Autoselect categories based on account type
Default Google categories (Primary, Promotions, Social) will be enabled for
Gmail accounts.
Primary and Other categories will be enabled for all other accounts. This is the
option we recommend, since it matches each account to the category style its
provider already uses.
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Primary and Other categories for all accounts
Only the Primary and Other tabs will be shown for all accounts, regardless of
provider. Important emails go to Primary while the rest of your messages go to
Other.
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Gmail style for all accounts
Use the default Google categories - Primary, Promotions, Social - for accounts
from all mail providers, in every inbox.
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Disable categories
All accounts will just use a normal Inbox view with all messages together; this
option will not show any category tabs.
Once you select one of the other options, you can always come back and
customize it further - adding or removing any of the categories.
AI Features
eM Client can use AI to help with everyday tasks like drafting replies, summarizing long
threads and surfacing what needs your attention. This step decides how much control AI has
over your interface, from fully automatic to entirely off. Read more about AI Features on
this dedicated page.
You can change this anytime later via menu icon > Settings > AI Features.
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Enable AI features
All AI features are turned on, including the ones that run automatically when you open a message - such detecting events or offering quick replies on the current message - as well as the
ones you trigger yourself, like AI summary and AI-assisted replies. This is the option we
recommend if you want to see the full capability of eM Client's AI tools.
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User-initiated AI only
AI features are available, but only run when you explicitly ask for them - for
example, by clicking a button to draft a reply or summarize a thread. Nothing
runs automatically in the background. A good middle ground if you want the tools
on hand without them acting on your mail unprompted.
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Disable AI Features
Both the automatic and user-initiated AI tools are switched off and won't appear
anywhere in the interface.
Privacy
Emails can quietly include tracking pixels - invisible images that let the sender know when
and where you opened a message - and can also link out to external content or images stored
on remote servers which could be harmful if you ran them on your device. This step lets you decide how eM Client handles that content, as well as
whether contact avatars are fetched automatically from external sources.
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Convenience
All external content and contact avatars are downloaded automatically, so
messages and contacts display fully formatted the moment you open them. Tracking
pixels are still shown only after you confirm, so senders can't silently detect
when you've read a message.
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Balanced
External content - such as remotely hosted images inside a message - is only
downloaded once you choose to load it, while contact avatars still download
automatically for convenience. Tracking pixels are shown only after confirmation.
This is the option we recommend, as it balances a familiar-looking Inbox with
protection from silent tracking.
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Maximum Privacy
External content is only downloaded on demand, contact avatars are not fetched
from external sources at all, and tracking pixels are blocked outright rather
than merely flagged. The most locked-down option, best if you'd rather approve
every piece of remote content yourself.
You can change these options anytime later via menu icon > Settings > Mail > Privacy. Please keep in mind that after the trial period passes, the separate Tracking pixel setting is available only with paid licenses.
Import
This step only appears if eM Client detects another email application already installed on
your device. When it does, the wizard offers to import your existing mail data and settings
from that application straight into eM Client, so you don't have to set everything up from
scratch.
If you'd rather skip this for now, that's no problem. You can run the import at any time
later via menu > File > Import.
eM Sync
eM Sync is a new service for synchronizing your settings and accounts. After you've set up
your account or accounts in the previous step, the wizard offers to register and sync them
via eM Sync, so the same accounts and settings can be quickly set up on any other device you
use eM Client on.
Read more about
The eM Sync service.