evolution

GNOME personal information management application

TLDR

Start Evolution

$ evolution

Start with specific component

$ evolution --component=[mail|calendar|contacts]

Compose new email

$ evolution mailto:[[email protected]]

Import file

$ evolution --import [file.ics]

Force offline mode

$ evolution --force-offline

Evolution is the GNOME personal information management application. It integrates email, calendar, contacts, tasks, and memos into a single application, similar to Microsoft Outlook.Evolution supports multiple email protocols (IMAP, POP, SMTP, Exchange), calendar standards (CalDAV, ICS), and contact formats (CardDAV, LDAP). It includes features like encryption (GPG, S/MIME), spam filtering, and search folders.

PARAMETERS

--component name

Start with specific component: mail, calendar, contacts, tasks, memos.

--import file

Import file (vCard, iCal, etc.).

--force-online

Force online mode.

--force-offline

Force offline mode.

--quit

Request running instance to quit.

--express

Start in express mode.

--help

Display help.

FEATURES

- Multiple email accounts- CalDAV and Exchange calendars- CardDAV and LDAP contacts- Task and memo management- GPG and S/MIME encryption- Spam filtering

INSTALL

sudo apt install evolution

sudo dnf install evolution

sudo pacman -S evolution

sudo apk add evolution

sudo zypper install evolution

nix profile install nixpkgs#evolution

CAVEATS

Heavy resource usage compared to simpler clients. Some Exchange features require additional packages. First-time setup wizard is mandatory. Background processes may continue after closing.

HISTORY

Evolution was originally developed by Ximian starting in 1999, acquired by Novell in 2003, and later became part of the GNOME project. It was one of the first Linux applications to offer comprehensive groupware functionality.