As 2025 comes to an end, we celebrate two milestones. A quarter of this century is behind us (the Year 2000 frenzy was 25 years ago!), and EssentialPIM reached its 20th anniversary.
Preceded by several beta versions beginning in December 2004, EssentialPIM v1.0 rolled out on February 28, 2005 (Figure 1).
Figure 1. EssentialPIM as it looked in the first official release, v1.0.
Twenty years later, we end 2025 at v12.5.4, and there have been significant developments. Let's review them, summarize this year's software changes, and then preview a few changes in the next major release, EPIM v26.0.
EssentialPIM rebrands as EPIM
It was natural when writing or talking about EssentialPIM to shorten it to EPIM. This became the product's official name as of v12.5.1 in September.
The suite now goes by EPIM Mail, EPIM Pro, and EPIM Pro Business.
EPIM Mail is the free program and features “Mail” in the name because this module has been upgraded to match EPIM Pro, making it “a premier email management solution.” Features include full Exchange support, message translation, PGP encryption, canned responses, and flagging messages for follow-up.
While EPIM Mail enters the market as a robust free email manager, it still supports tasks, appointments, contacts, and notes, with some limitations. See the comparison at Mail vs. Pro.
Rebranding introduced another significant development: the Passwords module has been spun off as a separate free utility, EPIM Vault. The Passwords module remains available in EPIM for current users, but new customers will need EPIM Vault for password management.
Stability earns commendations
I have observed a trend in the Support Forum this year: more users are commending EPIM for its stability, due in large part to the upgrade to 64-bit architecture.
Another said, “It doesn’t try to be everything, but what it does, it does well.”
This trend affirms why the team upgraded to 64-bit architecture. The expanded capability of 64-bit processing offers “improved performance, enhanced memory management, stronger security, and greater scalability.”
Besides this upgrade, EPIM added full support for Windows on Arm devices, added the option to match the system theme automatically, and enhanced the display of EPIM across multiple screens.
2 major releases, 69 enhancements
Sixty-nine enhancements were produced in 10 releases, two of them major: v12.2 in April and v12.5 in August. (This is in addition to the numerous updates in the generic category, “various other technical improvements”). EPIM began the year at v12.1.3 and ended at v12.5.4.
Features that were enhanced in 2025 include:
- Copy existing email rules and enable applying certain actions (Copy message to, Save attachments to) multiple times within a single rule.
- Group messages by their unread status.
- Synchronization improved for IMAP accounts.
- Filter emails marked for follow-up using the new button on the quick filter bar.
Passwords
- Add Filter and Layout buttons to the toolbar.
- Add the ability to fetch website icons.
- Password management migrated to the free utility, EPIM Vault, for new users.
Synchronization
Synchronization with EPIM Cloud and Microsoft To Do has been enhanced.
When EPIM is synchronizing, the process window has been suppressed in favor of showing progress in the status bar. Users can open the window by clicking on the description in the status window (Figure 2).
Figure 2. Synchronization notifications have been moved to the status bar. Click on the synchronization status to open the progress window.
Productivity
- Revamped the Tags Explorer and added an option to display tags in lists beside the titles.
- Modified the process for inserting the date/time.
- Added support for setting a default calendar.
2026: A peek at what's ahead
Versions will be renumbered in 2026 to reflect the year they are released. Accordingly, the developers are working on v26.0, scheduled for release this winter.
Enhancements to look forward to include:
- Support for PGP/MIME in Mail. This allows users to encrypt and send rich text messages with attachments.
- Add the ability to add and manage tags when selecting tags for an item.
- Add Layout and Filter buttons to the main toolbars in Mail, Tasks, and Contacts, and restructure the View menu to be consistent with the Calendar, Notes, and Passwords modules.
- Support assigning and accessing favorite contacts.
- Support making changes to future recurring events in Calendar.
- Support customizing the Today module.
- Introduce support for Markdown in Notes. Markdown is a lightweight markup language for formatting plain text documents.
- Add checkboxes to the numbered and bulleted lists in notes for all item types.
A date for these often-requested items has not been scheduled, but they remain on the development list:
- Upgrade the Android version.
- Add spreadsheet functionality to Notes.
Reviews & Comments
Here is an App managed by people who listen, and which has become steadily more stable, more comprehensive and more useful as time has passed and feedback was noted. I have been helped often by Anton or a colleague and the responses are usually very rapid.
Aside from browsing, 90% of my tasks at the computer are completed within EPIM and it has become a constant companion. A bit like having a Personal Assistant.
Thank you Anton and the rest of the team - may you continue to flourish :)
We truly appreciate your trust and kind words. And we wish you continued productivity with EPIM!