Evolution

What is Evolution?

Evolution has been part of the GNOME ecosystem since the early 2000s and is now a mature, stable tool used by many Linux users. It supports standard protocols like IMAP, POP3, SMTP, CalDAV, and has a dedicated Exchange Web Services extension for Microsoft Exchange integration. The interface is GNOME‑style, with a sidebar for mail folders, calendar views and an address book.

It is aimed at users who want a single application to manage all their personal data, especially those who rely on Exchange or need strong standards compliance. The learning curve is moderate; the layout is similar to Outlook but with more keyboard shortcuts and a focus on privacy.

Compared with Windows Mail or Outlook, Evolution feels more lightweight and integrated with the rest of the desktop. It lacks some of the advanced reporting features of Outlook but offers better open‑source support and no licensing fees.

Best for: Users who need a single, open‑source tool for email, calendar and contacts, especially those on GNOME or other Linux desktops.

Key features of Evolution

• Integrated mail, calendar, contacts and tasks in one window
• Full support for IMAP, POP3, SMTP, CalDAV, and EWS
• Standard data formats (MIME, iCalendar, vCard)
• Built‑in encryption with GnuPG and S/MIME
• Address book with LDAP and local storage
• Calendar sharing and scheduling via CalDAV
• Mail filtering rules and search
• Customizable keyboard shortcuts

Tips for Windows users

When moving from Windows Mail or Outlook, export your contacts as vCard (.vcf) and calendars as iCalendar (.ics). Email settings can be imported via the Import/Export wizard or by copying the .eml files. Evolution uses the same keyboard shortcuts as GNOME Mail (e.g., Ctrl+R to reply, Ctrl+U to mark unread). The workflow is similar but the sidebar replaces the separate panes of Outlook. Remember to enable the EWS extension if you use Exchange.

Recent releases

• 3.62.1 — October 9, 2026

  Evolution Bug Fixes: - eds-I#672 - Calendar: Limit which local files are inlined in components - M!244 - Composer: De-duplicate attachments in a mailto URI (Jaroslav Jindrak) Evolution Miscellaneous: - EWebView: Set CORS allow list on the WebKitWebView for…

• 3.62.0 — September 11, 2026

  Evolution Bug Fixes: - I#3381 - Composer: De-duplicate inline images before send - I#3383 - junk-filters: Do not leak the child stdin pipe into concurrent spawns (Benjamin Herrenschmidt) - I#3386 - Default to not use read-only calendars for reminders and…