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."

Comments

AlphaBeta

[nastyphil]

Will remain in beta until discontinued.

Re:AlphaBeta

[Rob Y.]

The main advantage of Outlook is the ability to have multiple messages open in their own windows. Primarily so you can be working on an outgoing email for hours during which time you can also deal with any new incoming stuff.

Gmail is great as an email app for short messages. Outlook invites you to use it in place of a word processor. In fact, I almost never fire up Word at work (or Libre Writer at home) - preferring to do my 'writing' such as it is, in my email client. Gmail is okay for this. Outlook is better, but if it weren't foisted on my by my employer, I'd never actually pay for it...

What are Trello, Wrike and Asana?

[hawguy]

What are Trello, Wrike and Asana and why would I want them (either for business or personal use)?

Re:What are Trello, Wrike and Asana?

[EvilSS]

What are Trello, Wrike and Asana and why would I want them (either for business or personal use)?

If only Google had a service that you could type this into and get more information about it....

Re:What are Trello, Wrike and Asana?

[war4peace]

I would if TFS wouldn't have called them "big-name services".

Re:What are Trello, Wrike and Asana?

[hawguy]

I bring thee from the unexplored land called The Fine Article:

Did you read what you posted? I read TFA before I asked the question -- a recursive definition is not a definition. Saying that the Asana plugin lets you use Asana doesn't really help - what is Asana and why would I want to use it over some other product? Similarly, saying that the Trello plugin lets me use Trello doesn't really help. Are Trello and Asana the same? What about Wrike, which is not mentioned at all?

The company shares a list of the currently available add-ons:

• Asana: Turn communication with clients, customers and teammates into tasks that can be tracked with your team in Asana, all from your inbox.
• Dialpad: Message or call colleagues on your device, any time. Automatically view recent communications or save a new contact straight from Gmail.
• DocuSign (coming soon): Sign and execute contracts, agreements and other documents directly in Gmail using the DocuSign add-on.
• Hire: Add candidates, manage candidate information and upload resumes without leaving Gmail. You can access full job applications from the Hire add-on.
• Intuit QuickBooks Invoicing: Create and send professional invoices directly in Gmail. Let customers pay you online and track invoice status and payments no matter where you are.
• ProsperWorks: Easily access prospect or customer data, and log activities from calls, demos and meetings. You can also scan related opportunities, tasks and events.
• RingCentral: See the online/offline status of RingCentral contacts, review recent call history, make outbound calls (requires RingCentral for Mobile) and view and send SMS messages.
• Smartsheet: Add email content and desired attachments directly to Smartsheet without leaving Gmail.
• Streak: Add email threads to deals, view enriched contact info and quickly respond with snippets directly from Gmail with the Streak add-on.
• Trello: Turn email into actionable tasks in Trello to give your team a shared perspective on the work that needs to be done.

But no S/MIME / GPG / PGP?

[unrtst]

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).

I don't want an interface to quickbooks in my email client. I want an interface to standard email features in my email client.

Re:But no S/MIME / GPG / PGP?

[drinkypoo]

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.

I hope they make a Buzz add-on

[AvitarX]

I really miss Buzz

Google wish list

[Okian Warrior]

What are Trello, Wrike and Asana and why would I want them (either for business or personal use)?

If only Google had a service that you could type this into and get more information about it....

If only Google would spend some time making their UI better.

Delete is a trashcan icon when reading, but different when viewing the inbox. "Select all" means "select the first 50" (have to do that numerous times to actually select/delete *all* messages), "reply" is down at the bottom of "conversation" mode so that you have to scroll down many pages to reach it, "cc" and "bcc" are hidden *until* you click in the "to" line...

Many, many confusing and inconsistent interface choices, there's no overriding theme or standard that can be used to find functions you need, and many useful things are inconveniently positioned and not easy to see. I count 8 dropdown boxes for various functions on the GMail page, normal rules for "selection" (click, and see item highlighted) are different from every other program on my computer, it's just a mess.

You're forced to "guess and look" to do just about anything.

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) and why does (this really common feature) take several steps? For all the bad things we say about Apple, at least they know how to make a good interface.

Re:Google wish list

[swillden]

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.

Re:Google wish list

[Scutter]

Explaining to a user why they're wrong for disliking a user interface is a major problem with UI designers. Maybe spend more time listening and you might be able to design a better interface.

What about Inbox?

[hackel]

I don't understand Google's strategy at all. It pushed us all to move to Google Inbox, and then basically just left it alone, without really expanding its feature set. Now it's adding new features to the old Gmail. What is going on? It's hard to comprehend their strategy, though I shouldn't be surprised with their track record. Google really just needs to combine the two products, perhaps adding an "Inbox" mode to Gmail. Perhaps this is laying the groundwork for that, and Inbox could be coming as a future add-on?

Gmail for business email?

[DogDude]

Why in the hell would anybody use Gmail for work email? Email is absurdly cheap. Why would somebody give away all of their work-related information for $2/month? No matter what line of work somebody is in, it seems like a very very bad idea.

Re:oh boy, lets crap up the interface some more

[wjcofkc]

Right... call me when they have full integration with Sassee, Peloozoid, Looplab, and Minivivi. Not to mention Ploosnar, Roinad, and Luwest. Let's not leave out Cazoova and Johackle. Then I can really increase my bumooxa.