Compared to some other email clients, Mailsmith is a bit slow and the reason for this is the implementation of the database. However, for each new release Mailsmith has become a bit faster so I would recommend that you get the latest release.

• First, get the latest release
• Increase the memory from the default values
• While downloading emails, try turning filtering off
• Use the "Pop monitor" to download the email and then start the filtering manually

Here is the answer from BBSW

Some of the delay is indeed caused by Mailsmith's needing to synchronise deleting messages from the server after storingthem locally.

However, this is only a small part of the picture. The Pop Monitor downloads messages in a continuous stream in the primary thread. It doesn't allow you to perform other tasks in Mailsmith and so it yeilds less. It also yeilds less to back ground apps. Since Mailsmith is focusing all its energy on downloading and storing the messages it is substantially faster.

If you have a large number of messages which need to be downloaded and deleted from a pop account, using the Pop Monitor to "Get" and then "Delete" the messages will be -much- faster than letting the normal connect process handle them. Once you've downloaded and deleted the messages from the server manually you can use "Re-Apply Filters" in (incoming mail) to sort the mail.

Hope you find this illuminating.