Dealing with email is such a bothersome proposition nowadays. We are buried in reminders, email from friends that have remained unopened for weeks and newsletter updates of unknown provenance.
For most of us, there's even an attempt to compartmentalize our digital correspondences. We usually divide our obsessive checking of messages between our work account and our personal account.
The border between the two accounts vary. However, the long-standing demarcation is cat photos for personal, cake alerts at the pantry for work.
This has resulted in congestion in our inboxes. The constant updates bury important messages and make it harder to keep all our communications organized. There are many apps that have tried to provide a fix, most popular of which is Mailbox, but each come with its own set of shortcomings.
Gmail, the main enabler of this conundrum, has come forward with a solution "designed to focus on what really matters."
In a blog post, Sundar Pichai, Google's senior vice president for Android, Chrome & Apps, announced Inbox, a new email tool that is separate from the Gmail service itself.
"We get more email now than ever, important information is buried inside messages, and our most important tasks can slip through the cracks -- especially when we're working on our phones. For many of us, dealing with email has become a daily chore that distracts from what we really need to do -- rather than helping us get those things done. If this all sounds familiar, then Inbox is for you. Or more accurately, Inbox works for you," he said.
Inbox comes with a number of improvements from the Gmail app. It has a feature called Bundles, which basically expands the categories to segregate certain types of mail. For instance, the Inbox app can group together receipts and bank statements so that you can quickly decide to delete or keep the messages. According to Gmail, you can also "teach" the app to collect certain kinds of mail and put them in one category.
Another new feature is Highlights, which is meant to make it easier to access important information. The new tool highlights vital messages such as flight itineraries and photos sent by family members. It also adds useful information to the original message such as updates on flight delays.
Aside from Bundles and Highlights, the new app also has other useful features that are already integrated into other email productivity tools. The Inbox app allows users to create reminders and snooze messages.
Inbox works on Chrome, Android and iOS. For now, the app is invite-only. If you don't want to wait around for an invite, you can email the Gmail team at inbox@google.com.
