#FreeSoftwareAdvent day 13: Thunderbird

I've used various open source email clients over the years, but right now, my email client of choice is Thunderbird, on desktop and mobile. When I installed the mobile app, I was pleased to find that I could create a QR code on the desktop that my phone could scan to set up my accounts there. Much simpler and quicker than manually entering all the account details.

One of Thunderbird's killer features for me is the Send Later add-on. I have it configured so that when I click "Send" on an email, it delays sending by five minutes. That gives me a chance to realise that I'd missed something, and edit the email before sending.

But it can also set a much longer delay. Sometimes I work in the evening, but any emails that I write then are scheduled to be sent the next morning at a more sensible time.

thunderbird.net/

@thunderbird

Send Later

True "Send Later" functionality to schedule the time for sending an email.

^{addons.thunderbird.net}

Today's #FreeSoftwareAdvent is LibreOffice, the amazing free office suit (document editor, spreadsheet, presentation tool, etc).

I know that I've included this in previous #FreeSoftwareAdvent toots, but I use LibreOffice, particularly Writer, every day.

Better still, this one isn't just for Linux users, so if you are thinking about moving away from your Microsoft or Apple office suite, you can give LibreOffice a try, for free, alongside whatever you use currently, and give it a good go before you made a decision.

#LibreOffice

#FreeSoftwareAdvent for today: Hammerspoon. Another macOS tool that makes the platform usable.

Script the OS, add hotkeys, all from Lua, a not wholly unpleasant programming language. One thing that it desperately needs is good documentation, and if I had a few weeks of uninterrupted time and no responsibility, I'd write said documentation. Otherwise, you need to do a lot of googling to find blog posts and code samples because the API docs are a bit mystical.

hammerspoon.org/

#LibreOffice (@libreoffice) has been my go-to document creation software for over a year now, and I've been thrilled by just how good Writer is. (I'm less of a fan of Impress, the presentation software, but that's for another day.)

Whether it's "good enough" to replace Microsoft Word is a matter of personal choice but, for me, it has done exactly that.

libreoffice.org/

#FreeSoftwareAdvent