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Google is discontinuing Inbox

fastcompany.com

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Re: Google is discontinuing Inbox

#321

Post by tssva »

noja wrote: post #117
klandergren wrote: post #110

Inbox changed my relationship with email and it is unbelievably frustrating to hear it is being shuttered. I was a better digital person because of the app: I never forgot to reply, I kept years of ideas and small notes in reminders, and I could quickly triage and clear all incoming mail. These things in particular made Inbox stand out: * UI - simple, uncluttered mobile and desktop experience with uncomplicated keybo…

Trips was the killer feature. I hope they port it. The ability to collect all my related information (a particular trip for example) into a single view was genius.

The Google Trips app accomplishes the same.

Re: Google is discontinuing Inbox

#322

Post by stormbeta »

tdfx wrote: post #157

I don't mean to throw out the same old "you can't get attached to Google products because they kill them at any time" thing, but holy shit, this one feels like a real kick in the balls. Email is one of my most important workflows and I've spent a great deal of time over the past few years attaching myself to the zero inbox mindset through the bundles feature and having my reminders as first class citizens in the inbo…

Yeah, I thought Inbox would actually be safe to use since it was tied to email, but nope.

Gmail doesn't have the automated bundling features that Inbox does, and like you, losing Inbox will be a pretty significant blow to my ability to manage email.

I've been slowly migrating away from Google's services for a long time now because they keep pulling stunts like this - it's like they're completely unable to keep their engineers focused on maintaining any kind of product consistency or long-term support.

Android Pie's awful UI/UX changes and discontinuing Inbox are very nearly the last straw for me. I can't avoid Gmail entirely as I'm too attached to the address, but worst case I can always just forward to a new one.

Re: Google is discontinuing Inbox

#323

Post by fluidcruft »

jamesjyu wrote: post #209
__sr__ wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I like the way Inbox handles certain kind emails differently —- e.g. it extracts relevant data from newsletters, tickets, receipts, order confirmations, package tracking emails etc. so they are available at a quick glance. A quick glance tells me that is not the case with Gmail — correct me if I am mistaken.

Ah yes, I don't think those features made it, but I never found that to be the killer feature anyway. Perhaps someone can remake those, now that Gmail has a proper marketplace for add-ons.

Do the addons work in the mobile apps or is it just browser things?

Re: Google is discontinuing Inbox

#324

Post by tssva »

collinmanderson wrote: post #305
verelo wrote: post #278

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the hope there is a google employee reading this, i want to shout a big plus one here! The next time the chance to look at the latest Microsoft offering comes up, I’ll do it, using vanilla gmail is just so clunky compared to inbox and i don’t want to go back to it.

Yes. Thank you! Snoozing emails changed my life. The one thing I miss from Inbox is being able to see my Done/Archived emails in the order archived. (So I can see recently archived emails, even if they're old emails.) Swipe to snooze would also be nice.

The Gmail client supports email snoozing including the ability to swipe to snooze. Under general settings swipe actions can be configured with Snooze being an option.

Re: Google is discontinuing Inbox

#325

Post by Ajedi32 »

kaushalmodi wrote: post #236
samirm wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

what's wrong with leaving emails unread?

I don't like incorrect unread counts lying around. I then cannot distinguish between truly unread emails and the emails that I swiped as Done in Inbox, but still left unread in Gmail.

The unread count is correct; you didn't really _read_ those emails. The problem is that the UI is placing undue emphasis on the number of emails you didn't read; that's a pretty irrelevant statistic. Half of the emails I receive don't need to be read; just glancing at the subject is enough.

Inbox got it right by not showing unread counts and just letting you mark emails as done when they're no longer needed.

Re: Google is discontinuing Inbox

#326

Post by rrcaptain »

cle wrote: post #16
DannyBee wrote: post #13

It's really interesting to see the super-knee jerk reaction here when the article itself even says that most of the features made their way into gmail. (I was a heavy inbox user, and i am happy with the stuff that made it's way into gmail). Outside of some of the bundling features, i'm curious what actual difference people are complaining about here.

People are complaining about having to switch apps. Users have found something that works and they've gotten used to it. Now they'll be forced to switch for no apparent value add. Why do you think people would be okay with that?

Once again Stallman shows that he was right all along.

Re: Google is discontinuing Inbox

#327

Post by stevesearer »

thieving_magpie wrote: post #150
pishpash wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Never used Inbox after an initial look, mainly due to trust issues. How did this work? What if bundles missed an email related to a trip, did you then have to (1) know it went missing, and (2) find it from some hidden place and expend extra time? With these products I get the feeling that it may be amortizing rare occurrences over the most mundane usage.

Emails relating to a trip would get categorized into it automatically. You still had to pay attention. If an email wasn't detected as part of a trip, you dragged it over to the trip and then it was associated correctly. Maybe it felt mundane to you but I found it extremely handy when landing in a new place, trying to rent a car, and get to my hotel. Just referencing the same little spot in the app was super helpful.

I also found the flight status information helpful. On our last trip, I found out our flight was delayed via Inbox an hour or two before I heard about it from United and was able to make necessary schedule adjustment with the updates.

Re: Google is discontinuing Inbox

#328

Post by Nition »

klandergren wrote: post #110

Inbox changed my relationship with email and it is unbelievably frustrating to hear it is being shuttered. I was a better digital person because of the app: I never forgot to reply, I kept years of ideas and small notes in reminders, and I could quickly triage and clear all incoming mail. These things in particular made Inbox stand out: * UI - simple, uncluttered mobile and desktop experience with uncomplicated keybo…

> UI - simple, uncluttered mobile and desktop experience with uncomplicated keyboard shortcuts. It even had the little things like a satisfying sun animation when your inbox was empty! Desktop Gmail has a surfeit of widgets and add-on icons that perplex, distract, and confuse.

Just for this one in particular, you could try basic HTML mode for GMail: https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/h/1pq68r75kzvdr/?v%3Dlui

But then of course you get even less features.

Re: Google is discontinuing Inbox

#329

Post by fluidcruft »

o_____________o wrote: post #17
DannyBee wrote: post #13

It's really interesting to see the super-knee jerk reaction here when the article itself even says that most of the features made their way into gmail. (I was a heavy inbox user, and i am happy with the stuff that made it's way into gmail). Outside of some of the bundling features, i'm curious what actual difference people are complaining about here.

Deleting/sweeping a section of emails away on mobile is a huge productivity boost for me. The Gmail app on Android doesn't have this feature from what I can tell. Snooze was a big one too, but that got crippled in Inbox a while ago as well.

I was bothered about the same thing but it looks like in the Gmail app you can configure the left/right swipes separately to "Archive", "Delete", "Mark as read/unread", "Move to", "Snooze" and "None". The default seems to be both set to "Archive".
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