I think I might be in (using Vivaldi) over my head

Claptonfan

I am an ‘older’ programmer from the days COBOL and mostly Interactive Basic---Words such as ‘Mail’ M2 or M3 have lost me. I am not dumb but I think pointing me in some direction for assistance would relieve me of the pressure I create for myself in terms of my using/staying with Vivaldi Webmail. I don’t think I need fancy, I just want all my emails to go and get all replies back in a timely fashion.

Pesala

@Claptonfan Vivaldi has a built-in email client, which can be used to fetch your emails from one or many email accounts. It keeps a local copy of your emails and allows you to read them offline. Also, you no longer need to log in to your web mail server to read and reply to emails.

M2 was the email client built in to Opera 12.18, which is one of very few browsers to have a built-in email client.
M3 is the unofficial name of the built-in email client for Vivaldi. It has been under development since the early days of Vivaldi, but only recently released in the Snapshot builds as an experimental feature.

Snapshot vs Stable

Install the Snapshot as a Standalone Version so that it does not interfere with your settings for the Stable release.

To enable the experimental email client, go to vivaldi://experiments to enable it, and restart the browser.
In Settings, Mail, you can then add each of your email addresses. If all goes well, Vivaldi will automatically set them up for you and import your emails.

I am happily using the email client, but be aware that it is still unpolished.

LonM

@Claptonfan said in I think I might be in (using Vivaldi) over my head:

Words such as ‘Mail’ M2 or M3 have lost me. [...] my using/staying with Vivaldi Webmail

Vivaldi has perhaps not done a very good job of this, but the "webmail" is totally separate from M2/M3.

M2/M3 are (as pesala mentioned above) clients. M2 was the old opera one, and M3 is the new vivaldi replacement
M2/M3 run as programs on the PC, and can interact with any mail server
Vivaldi.net mail is an email service, where you can send/receive email from a username@vivaldi.net account
Vivaldi webmail is a webmail interface for the vivaldi mail server - it lets you access your vivaldi.net mail online without needing a program
the vivaldi.net email service, Vivaldi webmail and M3 are distinct

It is a bit confusing, as I type this I'm still not 100% sure if I've got my terminology right.

Claptonfan

@Pesala Thank you. One more thing, how do I install as a Standalone Version??

Dancer18

@Claptonfan Have you studied this page and the official help page already?
There you find the basic information and assistance you need.

If there are an unanswered question left don't hesitate to ask it here in the forum.

Concerning M2 and M3:

M2 is the name of Opera-mail-client while M3 is the successor within Vivaldi. They are inbuilt email-clients for any email-accounts you have. To achieve it you have to activate it as it is described here.

Vivaldi Webmail is only for use of your xxx@vivaldi.net mail-account.

Claptonfan

@Dancer18 Will read immediately. Tack

LonM

@Claptonfan There currently isn't a standalone (only the mail client) version of vivaldi. You could install a standalone copy of the browser and do all of your mail in that, if you wished.

Dancer18

@Claptonfan said in I think I might be in (using Vivaldi) over my head:

@Pesala Thank you. One more thing, how do I install as a Standalone Version??

@Pesala meant the Standalone snapshot version of Vivaldi browser, if you want to look for recent changes that are not available yet in the newest stable version.

As @LonM already claryfied just use the mail-client inside of your Vivaldi-browser (after activating its feature).

Pesala

@Claptonfan The Standalone version of the Snapshot version of the browser 3.7x won't interfere with your default installation of the Stable version 3.6x.

This allows you to try out experimental features while having a Stable browser to fall back on if anything goes belly-up, or if you cannot get on with the latest features.

Claptonfan

@LonM Thanks. very helpful.

Ayespy

@Claptonfan Please don't hesitate to ask questions.

I scanned the thread and didn't see it, so I will fill in a bit of a vacuum here. "What's with this term 'M2' or 'M3?'"

Well, the original developer (with a friend, Geri Iversoy, since deceased) of the browser Opera, 'way back in the early '90's, was a guy named Jon Stephenson von Tetzchner. He and his team built the most innovative and flexible browser anywhere, and it gained some real popularity. Not too long after he started it, he and the team built an email client into it. Later, that client was revised, and gained the name M2 (for "mail version 2") and M2 was the built-in email client for Opera right up until Jon parted ways with corporate types who bought into Opera, took it over, and changed its direction. Jon left, the new corporate owners of Opera abandoned the unique browser engine Jon and his team had developed, and began building a new kind of Opera on the Chromium web engine. They split off Opera Mail to a stand-alone app and quit having a browser with a built-in mail client.

Jon soon after decided to build a very configurable browser with a built-in mail client again, and many of the original team who had built the classic version of Opera had left or been fired from the new Opera, and Jon hired several of these guys on. So now there is again a browser with a built-in email client, and Jon and the team nicknamed that client "M3" for "mail, version 3" and so there's now the old M2 split off from Opera and the new M3 built in to Vivaldi.

End of story.

greybeard

@Claptonfan @Pesala To add to the confusion... There was a standalone version of M2 created by Opera way back. It did not seem to get off the ground as the browser version was more popular and efficient.
The browser version of M2 also got great reviews in the Tech press at the time.
It

Regarding Mail and Webmail for Vivaldi, I'm totally confused.