{"id":264,"date":"2014-10-29T09:56:43","date_gmt":"2014-10-29T08:56:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/yanado.com\/blog\/?p=264"},"modified":"2016-03-03T12:17:49","modified_gmt":"2016-03-03T11:17:49","slug":"inbox-by-gmail-review-is-this-a-gmail-killer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yanado.com\/blog\/inbox-by-gmail-review-is-this-a-gmail-killer\/","title":{"rendered":"Inbox by Gmail Review – Is this a Gmail killer?"},"content":{"rendered":"

After eagerly waiting for and being disappointed by at least two large Google projects in recent years – Google Wave and Google+ – I was apprehensive about trying Inbox by Google.<\/p>\n

In fact, it was one of the few things I didn\u2019t sign up for as soon as I could. But it\u2019s Google and I couldn\u2019t resist giving it a go, like every early adopter.<\/p>\n

Signing up for Inbox by Gmail is as simple as going to inbox.google.com and sending an email to request an invitation. The time it will take to receive your invite is uncertain and depends on Google\u2019s timing.<\/p>\n

There have been two fairly large rounds of invitations for Inbox sent out and a third is expected soon. In the meantime, Google has started providing some Inbox users with a few invites to send to friends, but apparently not all new users have that privilege yet.<\/p>\n

So, while you wait for your invite, here is my first take on Inbox.<\/p>\n

I love it. And like everything else I love, it\u2019s not perfect but it offers solutions. Solutions that I\u2019ve needed for a long while now.<\/p>\n

Bundling Similar Emails like Social, Updates, Promotions<\/h2>\n

The first of those and my personal favorite is a little thing called bundling. Right now it bundles very basic categories like finance, travel arrangements, and social media notifications and such.<\/p>\n

Sure, I can turn off the notifications for Facebook and Twitter, but if those were the only social networks I had accounts on, I wouldn\u2019t be much of an early adopter, now would I?<\/p>\n

Even with Facebook and Twitter email pings off, there are dozens of social media notifications neatly bundled into one line in my Inbox.<\/p>\n

\"Inbox<\/a>

Inbox by Gmail bundling emails<\/p><\/div>\n

Pinning Important emails – ex Staring<\/h2>\n

I\u2019m assuming pinning is supposed to be a feature that users can mark important emails with, to get to them easily in via a blue pin icon positioned instinctively in the top right-hand corner.<\/p>\n

Because my emails are now already neatly bundled and the important stuff separated from the stuff that can wait, it took me just a day or two of playing with Inbox to start using the pin feature to bookmark stuff that isn\u2019t so important but that I do want to read later.<\/p>\n

News, updates from my industry, and newsletters particularly get pinned often in my Inbox.<\/p>\n

\"Inbox<\/a>

Inbox by Gmail pinned emails<\/p><\/div>\n

Snooze emails for later – Boomerang main feature<\/h2>\n

Yes, I\u2019m the type that needs a snooze button on everything. Not because I procrastinate but because I\u2019m usually doing at least three things at once.<\/p>\n

When a fourth or fifth flies in, I need that precious snooze time to get to it. Now there are several Gmail apps that do that better than Google itself (Boomerang for Gmail<\/a>) and that I won\u2019t stop using anytime soon, but Google finally seems to be going in the right direction (again) with email functionality.<\/p>\n

Reminders For Simple Tasks<\/h2>\n

I hope you\u2019re able to keep up with all of the features I\u2019m listing here. And speaking of keeping up with things, Inbox also includes one of Google Now\u2019s simple yet useful features – reminders.<\/p>\n

This feature doesn\u2019t seem to have been perfected yet and I\u2019m assuming Google will connect it to Google Calendar in the future, but right now it\u2019s basically like adding sticky notes to your Inbox, just so you don\u2019t have to glue Post-It notes to your screen or desk anymore.<\/p>\n

\"Inbox<\/a>

Inbox by Gmail reminders<\/p><\/div>\n

Your Old Folders Are Now Your Own Bundles<\/h2>\n

All those folders and filters you\u2019ve spent years creating and organizing in your classic Gmail are still there. All still neatly packed up in the menu and your Inbox. So you get to keep your folders and your bundles too.<\/p>\n

Done – Marking Emails as Done is The Sexiest Feature So Far<\/h2>\n

This is such a simple and necessary feature that I really can\u2019t understand why Google hasn\u2019t added it to Gmail before. Since emails are like task, by marking those as done (read, executed, whatever) make sense in cleaning your inbox.<\/p>\n

All “done” tasks are not gone for good. You can find them all in the “Done” menu option in the left sidebar and always get to through the left sidebar menu.<\/p>\n

Speaking of the left sidebar menu, it leaves something to be desired in the web version. It\u2019s available right there on the top left side, but as soon as I click on anything else on the page, the menu closes, unlike in classic Gmail.<\/p>\n

Inbox by Gmail has obviously been created for use on smartphones and tablets, in which case the left sidebar being constantly open would block half your screen.<\/p>\n

\"Inbox<\/a>

Inbox by Gmail left menu options<\/p><\/div>\n

Conclusion – To Switch or Not to Switch?<\/h2>\n

In order for me to switch over entirely from classic Gmail to Inbox, I would need the option of keeping the menu in the left sidebar open at all times.<\/p>\n

That one (pretty major, in my case) flaw aside, Inbox by Gmail is a Google product I can finally really be excited about. We\u2019re all looking forward to seeing how far it goes.<\/p>\n

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After eagerly waiting for and being disappointed by at least two large Google projects in recent years – Google Wave and Google+ – I was apprehensive about trying Inbox by Google. In fact, it was one of the few things I didn\u2019t sign up for as soon as I could. But it\u2019s Google and I…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":982,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[138],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-264","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-productivity","hd-dark-blue"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/yanado.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/yanado.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/yanado.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yanado.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yanado.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=264"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/yanado.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":283,"href":"https:\/\/yanado.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264\/revisions\/283"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yanado.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/982"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/yanado.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yanado.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yanado.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}