One year ago, I experimented with Google Hosted - 5ThirtyOne - Google Hosted Email - and soon moved and began managing all of my email accounts using Google’s services. Why? Because it was convenient, accessible, simple, quick, and everything email should be. Because Gmail provides the option to "Send mail as:" or download mail from other accounts via POP3, there really is no limitation as far as email management is concerned. Couple both of those features with Google’s powerful search algorithm which digs deep into your archived mail, as well as filtering, forwarding, and its own POP access, deciding on your default email service can be difficult.
Desktop clients integrate with your OS & other applications
With no real plans to turn this article into a "my method is better than your method" argument, I’ll get straight to the point. Desktop email clients, like Apple Mail, offer integrated OS features which are difficult to make use of with a web based email service like Gmail. Attempting to do so requires a number of 3rd party software packages or utilities which give the feeling of tight integration.
- Google Notifier - Google’s official OS X menu bar utility. Provides quick access to both Gmail and Google Calendars. Includes a notification pop-up window for new messages. Unfortunately, clicking on notifications will open Gmail in Safari. Disable this option and use Growl notifications in order to open messages in your default browser. Also provides support for
mailto:links. - Gmail + Growl - Provides Growl support for the official Google Notifier. Growl notifies you of new messages; clicking on Growl notifications opens the message in your default browser.
- iPhoto2Gmail - Quickly email images from within iPhoto. Send original images or optimized (resized) versions. Unorthodox method of sending which requires users to Export > iPhoto2Gmail in order to send.
- Gmail Notifier (Firefox) - Notifies you of unread messages in your Gmail account. Automatically composes new messages in Gmail for
mailto:links. Unfortunately, because this is a Firefox extension, no support for other applications.
If you’re hoping to ditch Apple Mail for Gmail, you’ll need to rely on one of the aforementioned utilities. As you can see, no single utility acts as a universal solution. For example, I can install the Google Notifier which in turn makes Gmail my default mail client, but in order to send images directly from iPhoto, I will need to install iPhoto2Gmail. In order to achieve the feeling of having completely integrated Gmail into your daily work flow, chances are high that you will need to make use of at least two options from the list above.
Mailplane - one application, a handful of answers
Mailplane - A special Gmail "browser" which integrates Gmail into your daily OS X work flow & applications
Ruben is hard at work creating what looks to be the solution to answer every Gmail users needs. The solution is a single application known as Mailplane. As of this posting, Mailplane is in a private beta with current users providing developer feedback to ensure that the final release is as polished as can be. To be honest, it’s practically there. Here’s an early beta look at the application which will blur the line between web based and desktop email.
Your initial reaction(s) may be that Mailplane is nothing more than a dedicated "browser" to access Gmail. In its simplest form, that is exactly what it is. The real beauty and usefulness of the application happens behind the scenes. Once installed, the 5MB application provides many of the same features provided by Apple’s Mail + your own POP3 account.
Customize how Gmail & Mailplane interact locally
Screenshots of the current Prefence Pane application options (these may change once the application goes public)
Beyond the standard Gmail Account settings accessible directly from within your Gmail account, Mailplane provides a number of additional preference options which tie the application into your operating system and improve your overall user experience.
A whole new Gmail experience with Mailplane
Gmail users who access their accounts from Safari, Firefox, Camino, or any other browser may be turned off by the fact that Mailplane overrides the default keyboard shortcuts. I was a little disoriented by the change, but like any application, finding shortcuts is a quick process simply by browsing through the available menus (see the Mail related menu to the left). After 5-10 minutes of use, I was well on may way - fully adjusted to the new keyboard shortcuts.
Anyone who uses screenshots to supplement their emails will enjoy the convenience of the ‘Screenshot’ functionality built right into Mailplane. ‘Screenshot’ will automatically open Apple’s Grab utility. Once you’ve made your selection, Mailplane automatically attaches the image to your current email.
The simplicity of sending attachments does not stop there. Attach images, archives, or other files simply by dragging the item directly into an open Mailplane window. If you you are not composing a message, Maiplane will begin one for you. If you have an existing email open, the file is immediately added as an attachment. See the added benefits of accessing Gmail through Mailplane below.
What’s integrated, and how will I benefit?
Click above for a 5 min. (29MB) live demo of the application as I showcase some of the benefits of accessing and managing your Gmail account through Mailplane. Quicktime is required. Alternatively, view the low quality YouTube version.
- Address Book - Use Apple’s Address Book to manage your contacts? Because of Mailplane’s integration, sending email to contacts is as simple as locating an email address and toggling the drop down menu next to each. Selecting ‘Send Email’ will open a new Gmail compose screen so you can begin your message right away.
- Safari - Enjoy sending archived views or URLs to contacts via email? Mailplane lets you do just that. If you’re viewing a website that you want to share via email, simply select ‘Mail Contents of This Page’ or CMD+I to download an archived view which is attached to a new email. Your other option is to select ‘Mail Link of This Page’ or Shift+CMD+I to send the title of the page as the Subject line and the URL as the body.
- iPhoto - Want to send photographs to family and friends from within iPhoto? Simply highlight the photographs of your choice and select the ‘Email’ icon at the bottom of the window. Photos are automatically resized (based on your Mailplane preference settings) and attached to a new email. Realize that you forgot to add some images? Simply drag images directly into your current compose window to have them automatically attached.
- Firefox - Similar to the send link as email integration with Safari, Mailplane will also detect and compose a new email for any pages you designate to be sent [via email]. The page title is added as the Subject Line and the URL as the body content.
- Global mailto: - Any applications with email requirements are handled by Mailplane.
For a better idea of how integrated Gmail becomes when accessed with Gmail, make sure to check out the 5 min. video demo (29MB - Quicktime required).
Whether or not your current work flow would benefit from a dedicated Gmail application is something you will need to experiment with when the private beta is released to the public. Feel free to address any questions or concerns in the comments below or visit the Mailplane website for more information. Now that you are aware of the added benefits of using Mailplane with Gmail, are you more inclined to make the transition to Gmail as your main email solution? Or, are you going to stick with your existing email solution? If this was helpful, consider a digg!
Business Email Solutions
If you need to set up small business email accounts you know just how hard it can be to get good email hosting. Many small businesses use outlook exchange to get their essential email responsibilities taken care of, but there are many other email options out there as well.
56 Comments
Quote
The “killer app” of mail management is ubiquity. Will Mailplane let me search my mail archive for the address of the meeting I’m late for while sitting on the train in the middle of Scotland without wifi?
Kinda ironic if an aeroplane is one of the situations this app falls over…
Quote
Jonathan, offline support is a requested feature that the developer has been made aware of. You raise a good point concerning the availability of Wifi, or lack thereof. Out of curiosity, is wireless (mobile) internet coverage available where Wifi is not? I forget that Seattle is spoiled with coffee / tea shop hotspots and EVDO / 3G coverage.
You’ve reminded me of how I actually prefer using moments of disconnectivity to relax and forget all about work.
Quote
Very interessting. Nice work, Derek.
Hope, i’ll get a private beta soon.
Quote
Looks very nice! I use Gmail as my primary email account (Google Hosted Solution). I’m still waiting for my prvate beta invite though…
Quote
>>’
We Windows users are still here too!
Quote
It looks really nice, but what do you think about the new features of Apple Mail in Leopard? Can Mailplane still take the place of it? Sorry if the question is silly.
Quote
I imagine offline support is a fairly involved addition, but it would be nice.
Thanks for letting me know about this, looking forward to trying it.
Quote
GMail is great, I’ve been using it since my beta invite
Two big questions: Can mailplane be installed on a thumb drive? Also, is it ever going to be available for Windows?
Quote
Was wondering if doing attachments through quicksilver work with this? Currently, if you try to attach file to an email via quicksilver (if you use gmail as your default mail client), it won’t attach the file. Just wondering if this ability has been added, or if it is coming in the near future?
Thanks!
Quote
Wow! This would be the only reason I’d finally switch to using Gmail and say goodbye to Mail.app.
Thanks for the sneak peak and the heads up that such an app is in the works. I look forward to using it in the real world!
Quote
I can’t comment on the new features being introduced in Leopard. I haven’t paid much attention to the latest news and hope that when the operating system eventually ships, it has some real "wow".
Building a portable version would definitely be a great request. I’ll make sure to that that is known. I’ll have to see what happens when I run it off a thumbdrive when I get home. I doubt an port will be made for Windows. Not sure if there is something comparable for that platform.
What command / plugin are you using for attaching files via Quicksilver. I’ll definitely have to give this a try.
Quote
Yeah, you feel good about moving everything to gmail. Now the US government has a copy of everything you send and receive.
Isn’t it great to live in a police state?
Quote
I have used gmail since its inception and have never looked back. There is no better email solution as far as I am concerned. It doesn’t mean there won’t be in the future though.
Quote
Ah, now you’ve gone and thrown another spanner in my email woes. I can’t settle on anything atm, I want to be able to view my mail everywhere and like the GMail interface but like being able to use a client (mail.app) which gives integration with my desktop. I just started trying MailTags after trying Gmail for a while and liking the tags, now I might have to try this out! rrr!
Quote
Very interesting application - I returned to Mail.app (plus the essential MailTags/MailActOn plugin combo) after a lengthy stint using GMail, but if Mailplane ever includes offline support, I could be tempted back.
Also, I feel a bit rude saying this after you went to all that trouble, but what’s the point of a screencast if it’s made in such a motion-sickness inducing way? I honestly couldn’t follow what was going on - surely it’s better just to show the whole application rather than zooming around following the mouse pointer.
Quote
Not at all rude. I actually find the task of creating a screencast a daunting challenge. I work on a 30″ monitor and, at the time, thought that having the recoding area follow the mouse would be a good one. After a few viewings, I realized that it actually made following the clip a challenge. Being as that may, I was too frustrated with the whole process of creating the damn thing that I gave up. I’m definitely open to listen for any tips on creating a proper screencast. I may go home and try to create a much easier version [to view] seeing as though the general consensus is that the video created feelings of sea-sickness. :p
I’ll resize the resolution on my monitor from 2560×1920 to 1024×768 and do a full screen recording and re-upload later.
Quote
I use MacFreePOPs.app which allows me to treat my gmail email addresses EXACTLY like POP email address. It’s completely seamless. Comcast right next to gmail and yahoo addresses right there in the Mail.app sidebar.
Is it just me or are programs like MacFreePOPs by far more elegant than a weird webmail-only semi-safari thingy? These programs aren’t mentioned as an option in this article (even though several in my immediate circle of Mac users use them) so perhaps there are reasons people want to free themselves from email clients. ??
Quote
MacFreePOPs looks like a pretty slick solution. I have never actually heard of that before so thanks for bringing that to attention. Link for anyone interested.
And for those that felt a little nauseated watching the first screencast, I updated the video with a 800×600 resolution static capture.
Quote
You can also use gmail with apple’s mail.app.
Make sure POP is selected under Account Type.
Enter “pop.gmail.com” under Incoming Mail Server.
Make sure Use Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) is checked.
Type “smtp.gmail.com” under Outgoing Mail Server.
Make sure Use Authentication is checked and type “465″ under Server port.
If you want you can also put in your ISP’s smtp server instead if you are only at home. Then you can send bigger files (more than 5MB) and it goes quicker to send.
Remember that apple’s mail.app works “offline” when you are not connected to the internet.
Quote
too bad it’s only for OSX as I’m on Windo$. I’ve been using gmail as my primary mail application but haven’t yet considered any desktop client like Thunderbird. I prefer leaving the mails safely in my gmail inbox since things can get wrong easily with an application. My Firefox recently crashed, taking with it all my bookmarks and bookmark folders. That would teach me to leave them on del.cio.us from now on.
Beware since as you said it’s still in beta…. better not consider a total shift to it.. don’t you think so?
Thanks for the great read
Quote
I have Gmail set up as a pop account into .Mail and it works great!! Please read the tutorial on GMail page:
http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=13275
No need of extra software for it and the integration is complete…
Quote
On FireFox, I like Gmail Manager better.It’s here,have a try:
http://www.longfocus.com/firefox/gmanager/
Quote
My boss started using gmail extensively at work; I have now set my pop3 account up at work and also at home. I have several emails at home since I do have a website. It is wonderful! I love the label system they have, as well as archiving emails. It is good to know it is there if I want to search by label or a key word.
We also utilize Google calendar and docs and spreadsheets at work. My work and personal calendar I have “shared” so that I can see both calendars at any time.
I can’t wait to see what Google comes up with next.
Quote
What Google comes out with next is an online Presentation creation service. Think web-based PowerPoint. This was confirmed on TechCrunch today.
Quote
I still use Apple Mail, but I have to say Mailplane looks sweet! But I don’t use Gmail all that much. Agree with Dupola though: Gmail Manager is the best Gmail-add-on for Firefox. Supports multiple accounts and so forth.
Quote
I use gmail with mail.app using pop3 and it works seamlessly. I also use address book and iphoto which integrate perfectly. There’s no need for a third party anything. Am I missing something here?
Quote
They key issue, as I see it, is that for people who uses a lot of different computers, POP3 just won’t cut it… I currently use IMAP and Gmail for that exact reason, no matter where I am and more impotantly, no matter at which of my Mac’s I use I have access to my mail (without having to use a tedious syncronization feature!), granted there is internet of course, but there is 95 percent of the places I use my computer and for the rest i have the Gmail mobile app for my Sony Ericsson K800i Mobile… Mail Plane would just make Gmail a little more userfriendly when accessing my mail on a Mac I use regularly, wheter it is at home or at work…
Quote
Re: Gary:
Applications like Mailplane would be appropriate for individuals who wish to utilize their Gmail account without necessarily having to setup an application which actually downloads their email to their desktop. Although I agree, Mail could be configured to use Gmail via POP3, there are some drawbacks which I don’t necessarily believe benefit me (others may share the same views).
* I have no need to have a local indexed mirror of my Gmail inbox.
* I access email from my desktop, any one of my laptops, and my cellphone - POP just doesn’t cut it when it comes to syncing read / unread statuses.
* If I were to manage Gmail via POP, deleting messages on my computer does not delete messages online.
* No support for labels
Everyone has their own method of managing email. Gmail’s web interface may be better suited for some, while POP access may be suitable for others.
Quote
Mads and Derek, thanks for the quick responses. You’re correct, it’s simply a case of my email needs being different, but you bring up some good points and a few for me to think about.
Quote
Perhaps it’s a bit strange to say it like this, but I never got the point of GMail. Especially if people have their own webspace (or even a own server …). There are just so many really good webmail-solutions out there - free and open source. My favorite one is roundcube. Same features as GMail (several accounts, ajaxified ^^, etc - ok you won’t have the chat, but i don’t use this anyway), with an installation as easy as one can imagine, and perhaps a really important thing: it feels as good as gmail and it looks far better.
Roundcube works as imap client, so there are no problems using your own favourite eMail-Client (let it be Thunderbird, any M$-Software, any O$-Software or Evolution, Kontakt or whatever …) if you want to parallel to roundcube webmailer …
Of course, GMail is a great piece of software. But I just don’t see the point in using it, if i can have the same functionality with a better look for free WITHOUT giving my private information to a corp. …
Quote
I’m attempting to set up my google hosted account, but I’ve run into a tiny problem where it comes to updating my MX records.
my domains are hosted by 123-reg.co.uk
my hosting is by lunarpages
Where do I change the records? I’m confused.
Quote
Jet. I’m not familiar with Lunar Pages, but I did a quick Google search and found this - how to change your MX records.
Quote
ChristianK: I’ve just moved all my emails from my IMAP account hosted on my own mail server to GMail. Personally, I feel there’s more to GMail than several accounts and ajaxification (!). Gmails Tags are, in my opinion, far superior to storing emails in folders. They operate in a similar way, but you can add as many tags as you wish to an email in GMail, whereas you can’t store an email in two folders (unless you copy the email, which just makes the clutter worse). I’m sure MailTags is a great plugin, I used it for a while, but it didn’t seem to work as well for me across several machines.
Additionally, while Mail.app offers thread view, I much prefer the idea of ‘conversations’ in GMail, it seems to work much better than threading by including all the sent messages in a thread. It makes it so much easier to read the one ‘conversation’ and get the complete thread without having to duck off to the sent box etc.
They’d be the main two advantages for me at the moment, aside from the ‘access mail from everywhere’ aspect. I have a .Mac account too, but I find the new web based Mail so slow and cumbersome, I haven’t used it since the change.
With regards to the train trip across Scotland, and no WiFi… is there any mobile phone coverage? Because Google provide an app for the mobile phone that is quick and easy to use, and you’d soon have that address ;^)
Quote
@Nick: For the Conversation view: That’s also included in several mailclients like thunderbird. But for the tags: that’s really a point. When I was using gmail i never really used the tags - I never got used to them. Perhaps I should give gmail another try …
Actually the only reason for me to quit gmail was just the fact, that I don’t like their data privacy guidelines (Do you call it like this in english?). Call me paranoid, but I’m not very comfortable with the idea, that they are storing and “analyzing” my private mails …
And that’s maybe the reason why I won’t use gmail, even if I start to like the tags.
Quote
I was very dubious about the privacy too. I wasn’t going to risk it at all. But I got thinking, I use 4 different computers, and therefore want to access my mail everywhere, I had an IMAP account, and also a .Mac account. .Mac is a shocker if you want to retain a non-.mac email address, you just can’t. Emails have to be sent with your @mac.com address. You could use reply-to’s, but you have to fill it in every time you use it. Is the privacy with GMail any different to .Mac? Surely they are at a similar level of risk? And IMAP still has limitations. Upon further checking into the privacy topics on the Google site, it does appear that the only time Google acceses our data is in order to provide tailored google ads to gmail. Google are in a great position at the moment, they own the Search Engine world, and are doing some great things. The moment there is any kind of breach of privacy, it’ll get out and the Google world will collapse. I don’t think they’d risk that. Besides… what the hell would they want from my data… there isn’t anything I have to hide! :^)
I don’t recall seeing anything in Thunderbird about conversations. That’s not to say it doesn’t exist, I may not have dug deep enough, it just seemed to work the same as threads in Mail.app. Besides, Thunderbird is not an option for me. I would need Address Book integration before I ever started using it.
Quote
This looks great. I’m waiting for my beta invite like an excited nerd.
Quote
This looks amazing! I want to try it on our google-hosted-solution immediately. Is there anyway we kan get to try out the beta?
really great work. i wanna buy it now =)
Quote
I have been using gmail for about 9 months, and am very frustrated that a few basic functions are not provided. In all the other email clients I have used, going back about 9 years, I have always been able to reorder my inbox by sender or by subject (alpha), and in the best of them one can search for a particular message of thread by using and/or. E.G. “email containing jbrown and afinklestein in recipients, but not holiday in the text” . Gmail seems only to list chronologically - huge pain, in my opinion.
Also - messages in conversations show up stacked maybe deep - I have come back for a day away and failed to see a message buried in the list of senders, which can get embarrassing if you think you were not notified of something. Seems to me that should be an option, nit the only way to display a series of messages that share a subject.
How hard could it be to fix these, and why doesn’t Google care?
Back to Thunderbird, I guess…
Quote
Thanks for sharing. Something I am going to bookmark when I get my Mac a little later. The reviews for Mailplane are all singularly good.
moserw
http://www.nela.in
Incoming Links
Leave a Reply