There are several key differences between TMail and email.

Inline Operations vs Forking Operations

In email, the main operations that can be done on an email are reply, forward and reply-all. We refer to all of these as ‘forking’ operations because they always fork or copy the email. TMail additionally supports inline operations which modify a TMail by adding a comment. EMail has no equivalent of inline operations. Examples of inline operations are Add Comment, Update Section, New Section, Update Sections, etc.

In general with TMail you should favor inline operations over forking operations unless there is a good reason to fork. The main reason to fork is to have a new TMail with a different set of users (writers) from the original TMail.

Smart Sections vs Attachments

EMails only support Attachments, whereas TMail supports Smart Sections and Attachments. Both are similar in that they are associated with a comment (strictly speaking it is an update to a Section that is associated with a comment). Sections differ from attachments in two major ways

1) They can be updated

2) They come in a variety of types, viz. Text, Grid, Form and File. The File Section is the closest relative to an attachment.

TMail Tracking Numbers

TMails have auto-generated tracking numbers which can be used to refer to a TMail.

TMails have many additional capabilities, but these are some of the most important differences.