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Google Launches Gmail Add-ons and Brings a Range of Business Tools To the Inbox (betanews.com)
Google today launched Gmail Add-ons after a beta testing period as a developer preview earlier in the year. From a report: Gmail Add-ons are extensions that bring a number of big-name services -- such as Trello, Wrike and Asana -- to your inbox. While there's a definite business and enterprise bias, it's something that available to everyone, starting right now. The arrival of Gmail Add-ons is Google's recognition of the fact that many people now spend a huge amount of time in their inboxes, and the company is trying to make its email service even more useful. Pleasingly, add-ons are available on both the web and on Android, and Google explains that "your inbox can contextually surface your go-to app based on messages you receive to help you get things done faster."
I understand why they don't add these, but come on. Those should be the first add-ons added. There are even browser add-ons that add S/MIME functionality to gmail and other web based clients (ie. it can and has been proven/done).
No sense in trusting google to handle that for you. Try Mailvelope or WebPG.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Delete is a trashcan icon when reading, but different when viewing the inbox.
No, it's a trash can in both cases. When viewing the inbox it's not visible at all unless you select one or more emails.
"Select all" means "select the first 50"
Actually it means select all 50 that are showing.
have to do that numerous times to actually select/delete *all* messages
Well, if "numerous times" means "one more click".
You click "select all" to select all that are visible (50), then you get a little message that says "All 50 conversations on this page are selected", and a link to click to select all conversations, period. So, two clicks to select all if you have more than 50. The alternative is to have "select all" select a bunch of stuff that isn't being displayed, which could well confuse people.
"reply" is down at the bottom of "conversation" mode so that you have to scroll down many pages to reach
But all of the previous messages in the conversation are automatically hidden, so you normally only have to scroll past the part that you should read before replying. Assuming you read your email before replying to it.
Sigh. I typed a screed about the evils of top-posting and the value of proper trimming. But nobody other than oldsters like me even know what any of that means, so I should just give up.
"cc" and "bcc" are hidden *until* you click in the "to" line...
Most people consider that a feature, since it avoids wasting screen space on unneeded fields in the common case. And it's pretty unsurprising that when you want to edit who you're sending the message to, you click in the "to" area, and then the variations in how you're going to include them pop up.
To get a feel for what I mean: deleting an item from the inbox is a very common action, so why is it hidden (until I mark a checkbox)
Well, until Gmail incorporates eye tracking, how is it supposed to know which of the emails in your inbox you want to delete? If you click on one of them, it opens and you can delete it. If you want to delete one without opening it, you mark it (normally this is expected to be used only for bulk actions... where you mark several and then delete them at once).
why does (this really common feature) take several steps?
It takes the minimum possible number of steps: two. This is the minimum possible because you have to tell Gmail which email you want to do something to, and then you have to tell it what to do. The only way to turn that into a single step would be to include a "delete" icon next to every email which would consume a huge amount of screen real-estate to no purpose. The extra click is a better solution.
For all the bad things we say about Apple, at least they know how to make a good interface.
I can think of plenty of bad things to say about Google UIs, and about Gmail in particular, but none of yours make any sense.
BTW, in the spirit of pointing out undiscoverable features, I highly recommend that you type a question mark next time you're looking at your Gmail inbox. A little effort invested in learning the keyboard shortcuts pays huge dividends.
Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.