TalkMail

On this page

• What TalkMail is
• Installing TalkMail
• Adding your email accounts
• Gmail and app passwords
• iCloud mail
• Other email accounts
• The main window
• Reading messages
• Writing messages
• Attachments
• Contacts
• New mail and sounds
• Settings
• Keyboard keys
• Your privacy
• Version history
• Questions and help

What TalkMail is

TalkMail is a desktop email program for blind and visually impaired people who use a screen reader. It was written by Doug Oliver, who is blind and uses JAWS every day, because most email programs are either cluttered, slow to read with speech, or keep changing in ways that break screen reader use.

TalkMail keeps things simple and predictable:

• Three parts, always in the same place. Folders on the left, the message list, and the message text. F6 moves between them.
• One line per message. The list reads like a sentence, for example "Unread, Jane Smith, Lunch on Friday, 9:14 AM", without column names before every part.
• Messages open only when you ask. Arrowing through the list just tells you who each message is from. Press Enter to read one.
• Plain text you can read with the arrow keys. The message is shown in a read-only edit box, so you read it line by line, word by word or letter by letter, the same way in every screen reader.
• Spoken feedback. TalkMail tells you what happened: "Message moved to Trash", "Sorted by date, newest first", "Added to contacts".
• Simple, private Gmail sign-in. Gmail accounts use an app password: a separate password just for TalkMail, so your Google password is never typed into it, and TalkMail walks you through making one.
• Fast. The newest messages show at once, the next messages are read ahead so they open instantly, and new mail arrives the moment the server gets it.

TalkMail works with Gmail, iCloud Mail and any email account that offers IMAP and SMTP, such as most internet providers and web hosts. It reads and sends mail directly with your email provider. There is no TalkMail server in between.

Installing TalkMail

1. Download TalkMail-Setup-0.4.exe.
2. Open the downloaded file. Windows may ask whether to allow it to make changes; choose Yes.
3. Follow the installer. It puts TalkMail in your Start menu, and can add a desktop shortcut if you want one.
4. Start TalkMail. The first time, it welcomes you and offers to add your first email account.

TalkMail includes everything it needs. You don't have to install .NET or anything else first. To remove it, use Settings, Apps in Windows, or Add or remove programs in Control Panel.

If you want to be sure the download wasn't changed on the way, compare its SHA-256 checksum with the one at the top of this page. In PowerShell: Get-FileHash TalkMail-Setup-0.4.exe.

Adding your email accounts

Use the Accounts menu (Alt+A). You can add as many accounts as you like, and each one appears in the folder list with its own folders.

• Add a Gmail account (app password): for Gmail and Google Workspace addresses.
• Add an iCloud account (app-specific password): for icloud.com, me.com and mac.com addresses.
• Add an other email account: for everything else that supports IMAP.

The Accounts menu also has Account properties (change names, servers and the password) and Remove account. Removing an account only removes it from TalkMail on this PC. Your mail stays on your email provider's server.

Gmail and app passwords

TalkMail signs in to Gmail with an app password: a separate 16-letter password that Google makes just for TalkMail. Your real Google password is never typed into TalkMail, and you can cancel the app password at any time without changing anything else.

Google only offers app passwords when 2-Step Verification is turned on for your Google account. Most accounts have it on already; if yours doesn't, you'll turn it on in step 2.

1. In TalkMail, choose Accounts, Add a Gmail account. The window explains these steps and has two buttons: one opens Google's App passwords page, the other Google's 2-Step Verification page.
2. If 2-Step Verification is off, press the 2-Step Verification button and turn it on, following Google's steps (usually a code sent to your phone).
3. Press the App passwords button. Sign in to Google if it asks. In the App name box, type TalkMail and press Create.
4. Google shows the app password: 16 letters in four groups, like abcd efgh ijkl mnop. Copy it.
5. Back in TalkMail, fill in your name and your Gmail address, and paste the app password in the App password box. The spaces don't matter. You don't need to write it down; TalkMail keeps it safely in Windows Credential Manager.
6. Press Add account. TalkMail checks that it can sign in, then your Gmail folders appear and your Inbox opens.

TalkMail fills in Google's servers for you: imap.gmail.com port 993 with SSL to read mail, and smtp.gmail.com port 465 with SSL to send it. Your Gmail labels show as folders, so Inbox, Starred, Important, Sent Mail, Drafts, All Mail, Spam and Trash are all there, along with your own labels. Gmail saves a copy of everything you send in Sent Mail by itself.

To take away TalkMail's access to your Gmail, remove the account in TalkMail, and delete the TalkMail app password on Google's App passwords page. Changing your Google password also cancels every app password.

iCloud mail

Apple doesn't let other email programs use your Apple ID password. Instead you make an app-specific password once:

1. In TalkMail, choose Accounts, Add an iCloud account. The window has a button that opens your Apple Account page in the browser.
2. On account.apple.com, sign in, go to Sign-In and Security, then App-Specific Passwords, and make a new one called TalkMail.
3. Copy the password Apple shows you (it looks like four groups of four letters) and paste it into TalkMail, with your iCloud email address.

TalkMail fills in Apple's servers for you: imap.mail.me.com port 993 with SSL, and smtp.mail.me.com port 587 with STARTTLS.

Other email accounts

For any other address, choose Accounts, Add an other email account, and fill in:

• Account name: what the account is called in the folder list.
• Your name: the name people see on mail you send.
• Email address and user name (usually the full email address) and password.
• Incoming server (IMAP) and port, usually 993 with SSL.
• Outgoing server (SMTP), port and security: usually 465 with SSL, or 587 with STARTTLS.

When you type your email address, TalkMail suggests mail. followed by your domain for both servers, which is right for most web hosts. Your email provider's help pages list the exact settings if those don't work.

The main window

Folders

Each account is a branch in the folder tree, with its folders underneath. The Inbox comes first, then Starred and Important (Gmail), Drafts, Sent, All Mail, Archive, Spam and Trash, then your own folders in alphabetical order. A folder with unread mail says how many. Press Enter on a folder to go to its messages.

The message list

Each message is one line: whether it's unread, who it's from (or who it went to, in Sent and Drafts), the subject and the date. Unread messages are also shown in bold. The newest 40 messages appear straight away and older ones keep loading in the background, up to the number you choose in Settings (300 at first).

Sort with Ctrl+1 (date), Ctrl+2 (who it's from), Ctrl+3 (subject, ignoring "Re:" and "Fwd:") or Ctrl+4 (unread first). Press the same key again, or Ctrl+0, to reverse the order. TalkMail says the new order, and remembers it.

The Applications key (or Shift+F10) on a message opens a menu: Reply, Reply all, Forward, Attachments, Add the sender to contacts, Mark as read, Mark as unread and Delete. Ctrl+A selects every message, and Shift or Ctrl with the arrow keys and Space selects several, so you can mark or delete them together.

The message text

Under the list is a read-only edit box with the message. While you arrow through the list it only says who the selected message is from. Press Tab or F6 to go there.

The status bar at the bottom says what TalkMail is doing, such as "Opening Inbox..." or how many messages a folder has.

Reading messages

Press Enter on a message in the list. TalkMail puts the whole message in the message text box and moves you to its first line. It reads like this:

• From: the sender's name and address
• To and Cc (can be turned off in Settings)
• Date
• Subject
• Attachments, if there are any, with their names
• a blank line, then the message itself

Read it with the arrow keys and your screen reader's usual reading commands. Messages written in HTML (most newsletters and messages from big companies) are turned into clean plain text; links show as their text followed by the web address in brackets. Lines quoted from earlier messages lose their ">" signs, so they read naturally (Settings can keep them).

• Enter on a line with a web link opens the link in your web browser. If a line has more than one link, put the cursor on the one you want first.
• Escape goes back to the message list, on the same message.
• Ctrl+R, Ctrl+F, Delete and the other message keys work here too.

Opening a message with Enter marks it as read. Settings can change that to marking messages read as soon as you arrow onto them, or never (you mark them yourself with Ctrl+Q). Just arrowing through the list never marks anything as read, and neither does TalkMail's reading ahead.

Big messages (over 150 KB, usually because of attachments) open quickly because TalkMail only fetches their text. The rest is fetched only when you reply, forward or open the attachments.

Writing messages

Ctrl+N starts a new message. Ctrl+R replies, Ctrl+Shift+R replies to everyone, and Ctrl+F forwards the selected message.

The message window has:

• From: which of your accounts sends it. Replies and forwards come from the account the original arrived in; new messages from the account you choose in Settings, or the one you're looking at.
• To, Cc and Bcc: separate several addresses with semicolons or commas. As you type, TalkMail suggests matching contacts.
• Subject.
• The message. Your signature, if you have one, is already at the end.
• Attachments: a list of attached files, with Attach a file and Remove attachment buttons (Delete in the list removes one too).
• Send, Add from contacts and Cancel buttons.

Ctrl+Enter or Alt+S sends. Escape closes the window, and asks first if you have written anything. TalkMail can ask before sending a message with no subject. Sent messages are saved in your Sent folder (Gmail does this by itself).

Replies quote the original message underneath, with a line saying who wrote it and when. Settings can turn quoting off, or put ">" before each quoted line as older email programs do. Forwards include the original's From, Date, Subject, To and Cc, and its attachments.

Messages are sent as plain text.

Attachments

When a message has attachments, the message text lists them. Ctrl+S opens the Attachments window, with every attachment in a list and three buttons:

• Open: opens the attachment in the program Windows uses for that kind of file. TalkMail saves it to a temporary folder first.
• Save: saves the selected attachment where you choose.
• Save all to a folder: saves every attachment into a folder you pick.

Be careful opening attachments you weren't expecting, just as in any email program.

Contacts

File, Contacts (Ctrl+Shift+B) opens your contacts, with New contact, Delete contact and Write a message buttons. To add the sender of a message, press the Applications key on it in the list and choose Add the sender to contacts. TalkMail tells you if they're already there.

In a new message, Add from contacts lets you pick people for To, Cc and Bcc, and the address boxes suggest contacts as you type. Contacts are kept on your PC only.

New mail and sounds

TalkMail keeps a second connection open to each account's Inbox and waits there (this is called IMAP IDLE), so the server tells TalkMail the moment new mail arrives. TalkMail plays a sound and, if you like, says how many new messages came in and for which account. As a backup it also checks every few minutes, and F5 checks all accounts at once. Ctrl+F5 reloads the folder you're in.

TalkMail's sounds are ordinary Windows sound events, listed under "TalkMail" in Control Panel, Sound, Sounds tab, so you can change any of them:

• New mail arrived (Windows Notify Email at first)
• Checking for mail (Windows Navigation Start)
• Mail check finished, no new mail (silent at first)
• Message sent (Windows Notify Messaging)
• Mail problem (Windows Exclamation)

The checking sounds play when you press F5; automatic checks are quiet unless you turn that on.

Settings

File, Settings has five tabs. Ctrl+Tab and Ctrl+Shift+Tab move between tabs.

Message list

• Say "Read" before messages you've read (unread ones always say "Unread").
• Say the date at the end of each message.
• Show the list in columns with names (From, Subject, Date), if you prefer.
• Sort by, and reverse the order.
• How many messages to show in each folder (50 to 5000).

Reading messages

• Mark a message as read: when you open it with Enter, as soon as you arrow onto it, or never.
• Hide the ">" signs before quoted lines.
• Show who a message was sent to (To and Cc).

New mail

• Get new mail instantly.
• Also check every so many minutes (0 for never).
• Speak when new mail comes in.

Sounds

• Play sounds, and play the checking sounds on automatic checks too.
• A button that opens the Windows Sounds settings.

Writing messages

• Which account new messages come from.
• Quote the original in replies, and put ">" before each quoted line.
• Ask before sending a message with no subject.
• Your signature.

Keyboard keys

F1 in TalkMail shows this list too.

Your privacy

TalkMail runs entirely on your own PC. It talks only to your email providers' servers. Your mail, contacts and passwords never go to Doug Oliver or anyone else. There are no ads, no tracking and no analytics.

Passwords are kept in Windows Credential Manager, protected by your Windows account. TalkMail's log file never contains passwords or message text.

The full details are in the TalkMail privacy policy. Using TalkMail also means agreeing to the TalkMail terms of use.

Version history

Coming later: Microsoft and Outlook.com sign-in, drafts, searching mail, and moving messages between folders.

Questions and help

TalkMail is new and still growing. If something doesn't work well with your screen reader, or you'd like a feature, please contact me or email support@dougoliver.net. If something goes wrong, the log file at %APPDATA%\TalkMail\logs\talkmail.log helps me find out why; it holds no passwords or message text.