How to Install Geary Email Client on Ubuntu 20.04

Geary is a GTK-based open-source mail app that lets you read, find and send email through a modern user interface replete with GNOME Shell desktop integrations. Conversations allow you to read a complete discussion without having to find and click from message to message. This email client is written in the Vala programming language.

It features full-text search support, a well-organized User Interface, desktop notifications, archive support for Outlook and Yahoo! Mail, and online documentation, among other features. Most Linux and BSD distributions provide packaged versions of Geary, ready to install.

Geary is easy to navigate because the buttons on top have everything you’ll ever need. You don’t even need to configure the User Interface it has everything.One major reason for using Geary over, say, Mozilla Thunderbird or Evolution is that it’s built around “conversations” rather than individual mails.

Key Features of Geary

  • Quick email account setup
  • Support for sending as another identity.
  • Shows related messages together in conversations
  • Support for reading TNEF attachments.
  • Fast, full text and keyword search
  • Fast keyword search with values like from:john, is:read, is:unread and is:starred.
  • Full-featured HTML and plain text message composer
  • Full support for saving remote images
  • Desktop notification of new mail
  • Multiple spell-checker languages when composing messages.
  • Compatible with GMail, Yahoo! Mail, Outlook.com and other IMAP servers

This article explains three methods of installing Geary Email Client on Ubuntu 20.04.

Choose the installation method that is most appropriate for your environment.

Method 1: Installing Geary from Ubuntu apt repository

The Geary Email Client is included in Ubuntu 20.04. Follow the step by step guide to install the application.

Step #1

Type the following command to update the apt sources.

$ sudo apt update

Step #2

Now execute this command to install the Geary package.

$ sudo apt install geary

With the help of && you can write both the commands in a single line. Something like this:

$ sudo apt update && sudo apt install geary

At this step, you have successfully installed Geary Email Client on Ubuntu 20.04 system.

Method 2: Installing Geary Email Client via Flatpak

Before installation let’s understand what is Flatpak.

What is Flatpak?

Flatpak is basically a framework for the applications on Linux. With the different distributions preferring their own package management, Flatpak aims at providing a cross-platform solution with other benefits.

It makes the work for developers even easier. A single application build can be used in almost all the Linux distribution (that support Flatpak) without any modification to the bundle.

Ubuntu has Flatpak supported by default. However, you can verify it by trying to install Flatpak again.

$ sudo apt install flatpak

You can also use the official PPA to install Flatpak. Open a terminal and use the commands below.

$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:alexlarsson/flatpak
$ sudo apt update
$ sudo apt install flatpak

Once Flatpak is installed type the following command to install Geary Email Client.

$ flatpak install flathub org.gnome.Geary

Then execute the below command to run the Geary application.

$ flatpak run org.gnome.Geary

Method 3: Installing Geary via PPA Repository

If you want to install the most recent version of Geary, you can use the PPA repository.

Personal Package Archives (PPA) are software repositories designed for Ubuntu users and are easier to install than other third-party repositories. PPAs are often used to distribute pre-release software so that it can be tested.

Step #1

First of all open the terminal from system application launcher and type the following command to add the Geary Email Client PPA to your system.

$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:geary-team/releases

Step #2

Then, execute the following commands to install Geary package on your Ubuntu system.

$ sudo apt update && sudo apt install geary

Once installed, launch it from your system application menu.

Starting Geary Email Client

In the Activities search bar type “Geary” and click on the icon to launch the application.

Geary User Interface:

How to Uninstall Geary from Ubuntu 20.04

For some reason, If you want to uninstall Geary, refer following methods.

Method #1

If you have installed Geary Email Client from default ubuntu apt respository then uninstall by running the below command:

$ sudo apt remove geary

Method #2

If you have installed the application via Flatpak run the below command:

$ flatpak uninstall org.gnome.Geary

Method #3

If you have installed the Geary Email Client appication through PPA then uninstall it by following one of the below procedures.

Procedure #1

It’s most likely that you added the PPA using add-apt-repository command. You can use the same command to remove the PPA as well. Just give it --remove option in the command.

$ sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:geary-team/releases

Note: Use this procedure only if you need to remove the PPA and not the applications installed by it.

Procedure #2

You must have noticed that in the above procedure we only talked about deleting or removing a PPA. What about the applications installed using these PPAs? Will they be removed as a result of removing the PPA? The answer is NO.

So this is when ppa-purge comes in picture. It not only disables the PPA but also uninstalls all the programs installed by the PPA or revert them to original version provided by your distribution.

So type the following command to install the ppa-purge package and uninstall the Geary package.

$ sudo apt install ppa-purge && sudo ppa-purge ppa:geary-team/releases

Conclusion

I hope that now you have a good understanding of How to Install Geary Email Client on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS Focal Fossa.

If anyone does have any questions about what we covered in this guide then feel free to ask in the comment section below and I will do my best to answer those.

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