User Experience Report: Nextcloud Mail as a Web-First Email Client

[wprauchholz]

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.

I hope this is the right place for this post:
Context and intent

First, credit where it is due. Nextcloud as a platform is excellent.
Files, sharing, permissions, calendars, contacts, and the overall ecosystem are strong and strategically important.
This report is written in a constructive spirit. The goal is not to criticize, but to explain why, today, the Mail app is difficult to adopt as a primary, web-based email client for professional users who intentionally avoid thick desktop clients such as Thunderbird or Outlook and rely instead on browser access.

Usage model assumed in this report

• Web browser is the primary email interface, not a fallback
• Desktop mail clients are intentionally avoided
• Heavy reliance on Nextclouds integration:
  • Mail
  • Calendars
  • Contacts
  • Tasks
• Mailbox sizes are realistic for professionals:
  • 20k to 50k+ messages
  • Multiple folders
  • Several GB of mail history
    This is a common setup in modern, security-conscious and platform-agnostic environments.

Observed UX and usability limitations

1. Large inbox usability degrades quickly with larger inboxes:

• Initial loading becomes slow or unreliable
• Scrolling and navigation feel fragile
• Search and folder switching can block or freeze the UI

The practical result is that the Mail app feels optimized for light or secondary usage, not as a daily driver for large mailboxes.

2. Mail composer UX is restrictive

• Composer window is too small for serious writing: Composer is too narrow #6589
• Limited resizing and poor use of screen real estate: Compact view mode #9713
• This is especially painful in browser-only workflows

For users replacing a desktop client, this alone is a deal-breaker.

3. Encryption and advanced mail workflows remain brittle

• Mailvelope and PGP workflows are unreliable in practice
• Encrypted compose and reply flows break or fail silently
• This blocks adoption in security-focused environments

4. Folder behavior and predictability

• Messages sometimes disappear and move to Archive
• Archive behavior is not always intuitive
• IMAP folder mapping and sync edge cases create uncertainty

Even if technically correct, perceived unpredictability kills trust in a mail client.

Why this matters
For many users, email is still the system of record:

• Legal communication
• Customer and supplier interactions
• Executive workflows

If users cannot fully trust the web interface, they will fall back to desktop clients. At that point, the value of tight Nextcloud integration with calendars, contacts, tasks, and files is significantly reduced.

Core question to the Nextcloud team
This is the key point of this report:

What is the intended development path for Nextcloud Mail?

Specifically:

• Is the Mail app meant to become a first-class, web-based email client, comparable in reliability and usability to dedicated clients?
• Or is it intentionally positioned as a lightweight companion, with desktop clients expected for heavy use?

If the second option is the reality, that is a valid strategic choice.
But if the first option is the ambition, then the current UX gaps around large inboxes, composing, and predictability need focused attention.

Constructive suggestions
Not feature requests, but focus areas:

• Explicit UX targets for large mailboxes
  Example: “Designed and tested up to 50k messages per folder”
• Composer redesign
  Full-width, resizable, distraction-free writing mode
• Clear stance on encryption support
  Reliable integration
• Transparency on Mail app roadmap
  Even a short positioning statement would help users decide

Closing
Nextcloud is one of the most important open platforms in this space.
Many users want to rely on it fully, including for email.
Today, however, for web-first professional workflows, the Mail app still feels just short of that goal.
This report is shared in the hope of constructive discussion and clearer direction.

Describe the solution you'd like

No response

Describe alternatives you've considered

No response

Additional context

No response

[stejax0100]

We have had the same experience!
We fully support this request.

[ChristophWurst]

Thank you for the lengthy report @wprauchholz

Is the Mail app meant to become a first-class, web-based email client, comparable in reliability and usability to dedicated clients?

This is a definitive yes.

Transparency on Mail app roadmap

You can find it at 💌 📅 👥 Groupware team (view). You can filter for the Mail repo specifically if you like.

I prefer to have actionable tickets. E.g. feature requests for missing features, and bug reports for specific problem. Would you mind submitting the actionable items of your report as individual tickets? This will help us organize the work.

Thank you

[or-commits]

We have the same experience!
We fully support this request.
We are fans of NEXTCLOUD and email is very important to us too.
We also really miss the feature when I am in the file manager and I can't (right click) send a file by email :-)

[ChristophWurst]

We also really miss the feature when I am in the file manager and I can't (right click) send a file by email :-)

Please open a feature request for it.