Inbox from Gmail—is this what the email of the future looks like?
Inbox (inbox.google.com) - new service email from Gmail. It looks like the product is still in beta testing: Google doesn't seem to be trying to promote it; There are no advertisements in the interface at all.
If this is the case, then it’s simply breathtaking to see what the full version will be like. I've been using Inbox for several days now and I'm still in a state of complete admiration. This is the case when the advertising slogan is absolutely true. Inbox is indeed not just a service for sending and receiving messages, but a real assistant in your work.
What's good about Inbox?
The main features are shown in the official video:
However, I know from myself that the video is perceived rather abstractly.
Yeah, seems convenient. So what. The interface is a bit new. Still the same letters. I'm doing pretty well anyway.
To get into it, you have to try it.
The main difference between Inbox is that it is designed taking into account several important facts:
- E-mail, to a much greater extent than other means of communication (social networks, instant messengers), is aimed not only at reading and sending messages. Letters are often related to important matters and require an offline response. E-tickets, notifications from online stores, requests from clients, bank statements - you can go on for a long time. Action may not be required immediately after reading, but a little later, which forces you to keep in your head (or somewhere else) a newly emerging task.
- A person may receive many letters every day. So many. They threaten to stick together into a big lump and suppress the desire to do something.
- Different messages have different degrees of urgency and importance. Some things can be safely ignored without even reading. And others should not be missed under any circumstances.
For every point, Inbox does everything to make life as easy as possible for the user.
Instead of a lump of stuck together letters - an inbox for incoming cases
Each email is by default considered a task that needs to be responded to. If in “regular” mail a letter has two main states: “read/unread,” then in Inbox de facto there is also a status “all related tasks have been completed/the letter is awaiting a response.”
Of course, any mail has the ability to delete/archive, which can be considered an analogue of this status. But let’s remember! - We receive a lot of letters. And to remove each one that does not require attention, you need to perform quite a lot of physical movements.
And in Inbox, thanks to “smart” grouping and a well-thought-out interface, archiving letters is very simple and even pleasant!
As a reward we get a pristinely clean to-do box:
This view already makes me happy - all the tasks for today are completed and I can relax.
Making to-do lists and plans on the fly
We often receive emails notifying us of events that we need to take into account in our schedule. If you use services for creating to-do lists, then you simply need to enter such letters into your schedule - manually.
Inbox, which itself is the source of such notifications, takes care of all the routine:
I simply postpone the letter according to the time of the event - and in right moment it will pop up in my inbox. You don’t need to leave the interface anywhere, you don’t need to interrupt reading your email - not only time is saved, but also attention.
You can do the same with tasks that you don’t want/can’t do right now. As a result, a complete to-do list is formed, which can be supplemented with regular events. There is a minimum of body movements, there is no feeling that you are planning more than working.
This list can be viewed not only in the corresponding section of Inbox, reminders are also pulled up in Google Calendar:
And dozens of other little things that make life easier
For example:
1. You can choose which folders will be shown in your inbox and when. For example, lower the priority of the “Promotions” tab so as not to be distracted by advertising in work time. Or filter the “Social networks” tab. This will make what I recently described even more effective.
2. New interface work with files - you can comfortably download them without opening a message; when you attach something to a letter, the system unobtrusively offers options from recent attachments, photos from your phone, new files on Google Drive, often guessing needs.
3. Using the Chrome extension, it is convenient to make bookmarks - save articles that you want to read later.
How is this better than any other bookmarks? Because these links obscure my favorite pristine screen!! This means that I will either read them, or understand that it’s not worth wasting time after all and delete them. Ordinary bookmarks for “read later” tend to accumulate and turn into fossils.
Should I use it? Still asking!
Inbox is imbued with GTD ideology and healthy minimalism. He knows how to guess your next step and helps you sort things out in every possible way. Moreover, it remains a thing in itself, just a working tool. It even seems a little old-fashioned in this era of personalized news feeds and ads that track your every sneeze.
Result: incredibly cool service. Just what the doctor ordered - for those who works with mail.
Send
The mail service site can be used by all owners of registered domains, regardless of the place of its registration.
We offer free and "Premium" versions. Try it! Nothing could be more convincing than personal acquaintance with the product.
3 free user. Price paid version 1 Euro per user per month with a 20 Gb mailbox.
Find out more about the benefits of the “Premium” version
Your benefits
1. Quick installation, no maintenance required
Focus on achieving your goals and let us solve those technical issues like server support, software, backup data and more. Forget about maintenance mail servers, administrative costs and space savings.
2. Guaranteed safety and reliability
All information has backup copy and is encrypted. We protect your data and at the same time ensure that it is accessible only to you. Rest assured - everything is confidential.
3. Experience in mobile applications
The mobile application is available on Google Play and apple iTunes store is absolutely free. Just install the application and enjoy the convenience mobile version Email.
4. Easy document management
Use the Files website service to store and exchange documents at any time and place convenient for you. Simply create a link to the file and send it to anyone inside or outside the company. Supports any file type, without time restrictions on storage and sharing.
5. Continuous updates
Our Email does not require installations from you latest versions or downloads latest updates. Forget about this headache - we will do everything for you.
6. Significant savings in IT costs
Save up to 90% of your costs on IT infrastructure, maintenance of email systems and free up IT resources for other more important purposes.
For a long time, Gmail considered Gmail the most advanced product for working with email, until Google itself suggested trying the new product Inbox by Gmail.
People have a hard time accepting new things and don’t want to undergo additional training or understand something. I was once like that myself. Now I’m trying to approach new products from an objective perspective, consider the pros and cons, and then draw conclusions.
Fifteen minutes were enough to understand and make a decision - Inbox by Gmail will forever replace the old Google mail. For the modern rhythm of life, simply correspondence and filtering are no longer enough. You can get confused when figuring out which applications and settings to expand the functionality of Gmail. What Inbox offers is how mail should look like modern man.
Inbox by Gmail features that can make the modern person more productive
Convenient format for reading letters
Realities of modern digital world- we no longer want to waste time on extra click opening mail. Before we open an email, we want to know if it's worth our extra click.
In Inbox, letters are displayed in such a way that you can see:
- author of the letter
- subject of the letter
- summary
- files attached to the letter
If the first two points are standard types of any mail, then the last two open up new opportunities for us to perform the actions we need without opening the letter:
- complete
- postpone
- delete
- etc.
The letter can be completed as a task
Gmail called this "archiving tasks." In the new service, letters can be completed as tasks using the “complete checkbox”. As a result, the letters are not deleted, but are moved from the inbox to the “Completed” folder.
If you develop a clear algorithm for working with mail, then you will no longer have to clear away piles of letters or lose sight of an order sent to you by mail.
For example, my algorithm for working with mail based on standard GTD:
- Do I need this letter? If not - immediately FUCK! Sorry, DEL!
- If I need this letter: is action required?
- If so, I used to forward all letters to MyLifeOrganized and process them there. Now I have a choice - either I forward it to MLO, or I set a reminder (postponed) immediately in the mail service for the required date (tasks related to replies, sending letters and other work with mail)
- If no action is required, but the information may be useful, I used to send everything to Evernote. Now there is additional option Leave the letter in Inbox with a mark for reading.
The most important thing is not to leave read letters in your inbox that you “don’t know what to do with.”
You can snooze an email in Inbox by Gmail or set a reminder
To do this, we set the parameters in the settings, which days are days off for us and what time we count in the morning, afternoon or evening.
By setting up these functions, we can postpone (schedule) any letter until “next week morning” or “tomorrow evening”. The deferred email is removed from the inbox. At the appointed time, it appears in your inbox as new. On mobile gadget a notification is triggered.
The deferred emails feature allows you not to forget about the issues mentioned and postpone the decision (answer) until a convenient time.
No need to create another task list from email! Always strive for Zero Inbox - a completely empty inbox!
The service allows you to quickly create reminders
Quick creation reminders that were previously all recorded in MyLifeOrganized.
Which reminders do I put in MLO and which do I record in Inbox?
I have determined for myself that if I work with mail and I need to “just remind you of something” right time"- there is no point in making a lot of movements to go and record a reminder in the MLO.
Examples of reminders that consist of one action and which I record directly in Inbox:
- answer the letter
- call to clarify
- forward data
- to write an answer
What I especially like about Inbox reminders is that if I create a “Call someone” reminder, the person’s number from the phone book is linked and you can call directly from the reminder window. It's a small thing, but it's nice!
You can save your favorite pages to Inbox
What I used to send to Evernote or Pocket can now be saved in Inbox and read when I have time.
Again, the question is - what information should be sent to Evernote and what to Inbox?
With one click we send by email a link to the page you like
I implemented the function of sending liked links by mail in Gmail using third party applications.
In Inbox, this can be solved with one keystroke on the service extension icon.
Impression of the new Inbox by Gmail
This is definitely an email option that expands my capabilities and matches the rhythm of life.
I remember a story from an audiobook I listened to about basketball players, when the coach set each player the task of improving their performance in all areas by 1%. It was real! As a result, the team began to work 40-60% more efficiently.
A similar situation exists with postal service Inbox:
- new features have been added
- somewhere it became a little more convenient
- somewhere you need to click the mouse less times
- etc.
In the overall result, Inbox turned out to be more effective than the old Gmail.
Thank you, Gmail! You were reliable, like Nokia 3310, but the era of new technologies has come...
Hello, Habr!
Brief background: I’ve been using mail for a long time and a lot - there are a dozen mailboxes - Gmail, Yandex, Mail.ru, on hosting and even on Rambler. Each mail has its own purposes and each is used daily. Keeping applications of all services on your phone at once is madness and battery death, so I chose a universal client that works on both a tablet and a phone (iPhone and iPad in my case). I tested Boxer and Cloudmagic - they seemed buggy, I settled on myMail, but the interest remained: I keep an eye on new email applications and hope for the perfect one. Immediately after the release, I got an invite and tried out Inbox, and last week I tested the new Yandex iPhone mail.
Below the cut is a comparison of Yandex.Mail, Google Inbox and myMail. Go!
INBOX
Inbox is a GTD alternative to Gmail, tabs taken to the absolute level. It promises to sort out emails for the user by category (“Promotions”, “Forums”, “Social Networks”, etc.), separate the wheat from the chaff and lead to the zen of “zero inbox”.From the interesting point: it pulls out attachment previews and other information into the list of letters. For example, you can immediately see that the eBay seller has already sent a package with connectors.
Emails are treated like tasks: you can put them off until later and turn on a reminder. This is where the to-do list came in: just put the “Feed the cat” reminder in the Inbox.
Initially, the application was launched only for the iPhone, but in February our prayers were heard - an iPad version appeared.
On practice
The list of emails with previews looks cool - at first you can have fun just scrolling through it and admiring the animation. For me personally, the interface seems a little overloaded: I prefer more concise and clean solutions. Sorting by category is a useful thing - I’m waiting for it to answer letters for me.But despite all the advantages of Inbox, life together with it did not work out for me:
- Works only with Gmail - can't add all mailboxes.
- Previews take up a lot of space on the screen and are not always needed. It doesn’t matter when the seller sent the connectors, they will still arrive no earlier than in a couple of weeks, and I will learn about this from the Russian Post.
- Mail + task manager is a dubious idea. Most of what I want to put in to-dos doesn't come through email. Yes, you can enter tasks separately, but it’s unusual and weird for me to open email for this. There are people who only receive tasks by mail, and Inbox will come in handy for them, but for me Timeful is enough for planning things.
- You cannot attach files from cloud storage, even from Google Drive! Only photos from the gallery, choosing one at a time. I’m sure this will be fixed (Drive is supported in its sister Gmail), but right now I can’t wrap my head around it.
MYMAIL
Initially attracted by the nice interface and support different mails(Yandex, Mail.ru, Gmail, Rambler). Fast and clean application - does not slow down even when opening heavy emails.Sends push notifications even for my IMAP mailbox on the hosting. Push notifications are turned on/off by mailbox, folder, service ( popular social. networks, couponers) and by time.
Works on iPad.
On practice
Maybe a popular cognitive bias is at work here, but for me myMail is optimal choice. Looks good, works flawlessly, supports all my boxes. Convenient setup push: enabled from 10 to 18 for the Inbox folder in work email, and for the rest of the boxes I cut it out. Sending files has been thought out: if you want, click Share in Dropbox or photo stream and create a new letter with attachments; if you want, add it when writing. Multi-select works in the built-in gallery, and compression works when sending.
Of the minuses: there is no support for Gmail categories (“Social networks”, “Promo”, “Alerts”, etc.) - I would like to have them as an option. Before the New Year, push notifications were botched. Then they seemed to fix it, but a residue remained. And this is the only client reviewed that has no threads.
YANDEX MAIL
Before the update, I wanted to close the Yandex application as quickly as possible and forget about it. The new one is much better - it looks modern, works with several mailboxes, uses convenient, proven interface features: selecting a letter by tapping on an avatar, swiping for quick action with a message.
There is no version for iPad yet.
On practice
In terms of the intuitiveness of the interface, everything is done well and smoothly, there are no complaints. It is possible to attach documents from Yandex.Disk, others cloud services(yet?) are not supported. Photos from the gallery, as in Inbox, can only be attached one at a time.What's really missing is some way to sort notifications. Since Yandex does not have smart sorting like in Inbox, or push settings like in myMail, you have to choose the lesser of two evils: either receive notifications about every single letter, or disable them completely.
In general, while the application is a little damp, compare the display of letters in Yandex.Mail with Inbox and myMail:
Yandex.Mail and Yandex.SDA are supported, you can work with several mailboxes at once.
In general, I think the application may be of interest to those who use exclusively Yandex mail and a) have not yet found their ideal application and b) are ready to put up with the shortcomings for a while and wait for the application to be completed.
CONCLUSION
In the review, I tried to describe the applications of three large services. The result is a story about three different approaches. I hope it will be useful to someone and help them choose what is closer and more convenient.Inbox.ru - domain name postal service Mail.ru company. This space email addresses is provided to all interested network users free of charge. @inbox mail, like @mail, supports POP/SMPT protocols, has a spam filter and autonomous virus protection.
Login and registration to inbox.ru is carried out on the official website of the company - mail.ru. When you try to navigate to this URL, your browser automatically redirects to mail.ru.
Registration
To create an email with an inbox address, follow these steps:
1. On home page mail.ru, under the login fields, click on the link “Registration in mail”.
2. In the form that opens, enter your first and last name, date of birth (use the values in the drop-down lists), city and country, and gender.
3. In the line " Mailbox"Click the second field "@... ". In the drop-down list, click “@inbox.ru”.
4. Click the first field (on the same line) and select one of the addresses generated by the service. If they do not suit you, type your own unique option.
5. Compose complex key 10-14 characters long. Enter it 2 times in the appropriate fields of the form.
Attention! Use passwords with numbers and English letters.
6. Specify one of the proposed means of profile verification:
- Mobile: set your country code (select the national flag from the list), enter the number, and then the received code from SMS;
- Additional email: click the option “I don’t have a mobile...”, type the address of the backup mailbox.
7. Click "Register".
8. Enter the captcha (sequence of characters from the picture). Click "Done."
Page design
After creation account the service will prompt you to perform quick settings profile:
1. Click “Upload photo” to upload an avatar from your computer. Click "Save".
2. Click to select a profile theme and then save the setting.
3. If you don't want to install mobile app, select Finish. To go to App Store or Google Play, follow the appropriate link.
Access to settings and account data in inbox.ru is carried out through the control panel: click on the right top corner your email address and select the required option.