Time for a little status update on GTDInbox v2.
For a quick recap, GTDInbox v2 was always going to be a complete re-write to resolve the fundamental problems v1 has (speed/ui-glitches), and it was going to be relatively straight forward (!). For I had done my research on the inner-workings of Gmail 1.0…
And then Gmail 2.0 arrived :/
The surface changes may seem rather small; but behind the scenes it is a complete rewrite. I think it’s best summed up by a kindly response I got from Gmail engineer, who, when asked for some insight into the technical details of Gmail 2.0 said something to the effect of, “Andy, not even we’d like to contemplate having to tackle Gmail’s new codebase from the outside… it’s far more complex than it ever was”.
Happily I can report that after an extremely long week, it’s starting to make some progress. The improvements to Gmail mean we can do some much-requested features (like pre-labelling emails/actions when you compose them); the UI is less ‘jumpy’ and everything is very noticeably faster (ironically to be the point of being unnoticeable).
As forewarning, the very first release (GTDInbox 2.0) may have some features cut; but if there is enough demand they will come back. I’m conscious that if features can be dropped, and GTDInbox simplified, it will be better for new users & it will help make GTDInbox more maintainable. Things currently dropped are: Custom-Search and Hipster Print; and Custom-Search is probably gone for good (other extensions do this better).
I’ve also taken some liberties with the Options, essentially creating less choice (and thus less confusion). So, now a ‘Finished’ item will be automatically archived, a starred-items can no longer be used to denote Next Actions. Another advantage to reduced choice is I can focus on making the ’standard’ way of doing things much more efficient - in usability terms - so your regular GTD processes are more intuitive.
I’m not sure when the first test version will roll; but something will probably go out to existing testers/donators early next week; and then a public beta shortly after.
borderguy519 Says:
November 3rd, 2007 at 8:58 am
FWIW, adding/deleting labels on an email w/o resorting to the label drop-down and some light automation are welcome. It seems that the new Gmail has a “filter these kinds of messages” feature built-in to assist in making new filters from the inbox.
Thanks for the work, Andy. Cheers!
Andy Says:
November 3rd, 2007 at 9:05 am
@borderguy519
I hadn’t spotted that Kristian - that’s kind of cool (the filter).
Can you elaborate on what you’d like to see?
Right now there is a very quick visual layout for adding/removing labels on a conversation/thread, without using a drop down.
I’m going to try and make it easy to create new labels too (e.g. new projects).
But, what kind of light weight automation did you have in mind?
I might be able to do some kind of label suggestions, based on the content of the email… but I’d need to know some concrete examples for automation that is actually useful to people.
Tiago Silveira Says:
November 3rd, 2007 at 9:29 am
That’s great news, Andy. When suddenly the whole GTD UI was broken, I was very scared.
I currently use the star for next actions, mainly because the control is available in every screen and it takes a single click to mark them as actions. Is it going to be THAT easy in the next version too?
Overall, I applaud your decision for a leaner extension. Many thanks to you and everybody at ProductiveFirefox for the amazing work.
Andy Says:
November 3rd, 2007 at 9:32 am
@Tiago
I’ll try and make it that easy
But if I fail, then I’m open to reintroducing some kind of Star/Next-Action relationship. It’s just that it presents me with a decision (as a user) that I find unsettling - and GTD is supposed to be all about reducing stress!
Luis Domingues Says:
November 5th, 2007 at 5:17 am
When can we test V2 as beta testers? Don’t forget seamonkey, the browser i’m using.
Andy Says:
November 5th, 2007 at 5:24 am
@Luis
I’m not 100% sure on the exact time it will go to testing; as development has been more complex than expected. I think by end of Wednesday (UK time), something will be ready; even if it’s a bit rough & ready!
And thanks for the SeaMonkey reminder!
Kay Kim Says:
November 6th, 2007 at 10:55 am
I was also very scared, when GTD didn’t work with Gmail 2.0.
By the way, is the localization-able feature comes up with GTDInbox 2.0?
Andy Says:
November 6th, 2007 at 11:02 am
@Kay - Yep, I’ll try & get proper Firefox localisation into this!
Cori Says:
November 6th, 2007 at 6:49 pm
Oh my gosh, I am bereft without GTD inbox up and running. I only discovered you last week and I spent all day one day setting up everything and plowing through 978 emails to get my inbox sparkling clean. I was totally productive for a few days - until I lost you!
As soon as some cash rolls in, I’m sending it to you guys!! THANKS FOR THE GREAT WORK!
Alex Says:
November 6th, 2007 at 8:28 pm
I think the features cut you mentioned are good. The most useful feature of GTDInbox to me has been the clickable labels as I can use them instead of the drop down menu to label an email. As long as that’s still there, I’m fine
Keep up with the good work Andy!
Stephen Says:
November 7th, 2007 at 11:30 am
Andy,
Thanks for the updates. GTD trumps all my other FF plugins so even though I read there is a new gmail macros out as of this week, I will be holding off until I can use GTD. That said, one of the only things that has bothered me is that GTDInbox and gmail macros (a greasemonkey script, but I am sure you know that) are not 100% compatible. I am not sure, as I am in no way a developer–that is my brother’s realm–as to which side of that pair is the cause, but I am unable to, for example: jump to a GTD prefixed label (c:computer, p;financial, etc) with gmail macros. It only respons to lables without the colon “:” in it.
Any ideas on how to tackle that issue, if it can be done from the GTD side, would be great!
Much thanks for your outstanding product!
Stephen Murphy
Andy Says:
November 7th, 2007 at 11:35 am
@Stephen,
The problem with Gmail Macros is neither of us, really, just an unfortunate combination
As you know, GTDInbox prefers to use “P:”/”S:”/etc., and the colon is presumably an important character in Gmail Macros.
However, for greater compatibility with the new IMAP system; GTDInbox will be, as of v2, recommending (but not forcing) you switch to a format like “P/” or “Projects/”, which presumably will work with Gmail Macros.
k Says:
November 7th, 2007 at 6:12 pm
It works great with iPhone though. With IMAP all the labels showed up on the iphone as folders. So I can check my list by context or status. No need for hipster cards anymore.
Mike Says:
November 7th, 2007 at 8:24 pm
Andy, this is all great news. All the features you are thinking of dropping were great… at first. But it didn’t take long for better solution to arise for searches. And Hipster print never worked well. If I had more than a page of to do items, it just seemed to pick random ones, not the most important ones to me.
I like the idea of a better way to add labels to emails. The GTD icon on the right was always hard to use. Often when I moved the mouse to click on a label, the layer disappeared. And drop downs were a pain too. I use the labels at the view email level, but then I have to actually be reading the email (which as we know was slow before in gmail).
What I would love to see in Gmail (maybe you can make it happen), is a Send and Archive button. If I’ve sent it, I don’t need it in my inbox anymore, and it always seemed silly to have to click two buttons to “move on” from an email.
Habeela Says:
November 8th, 2007 at 8:39 am
Hey Andy,
Thanks for all of your hard work and for trying to figure out Gmail 2.0 Have you thought about pitching the benefit of this to Google directly and trying to get them to either contribute collaboration or money towards making this a mainstream plug-in? Just a thought.
In the meantime, I’ll be making a donation soon because really - I can’t live without my GTDInbox!
Habeela Says:
November 8th, 2007 at 8:48 am
One other thing. Would it be possible to include the “Compose myself an action” link when you reply to an email? That way, the action gets attached to the original email that needs to be acted on? (kind of like putting a sticky note on a piece of paper that needs to be dealt with).
pagalmes Says:
November 8th, 2007 at 11:42 am
Thanks for your Work Andy. GTDInbox is really cool.
To me, Hipster PDA are the most useful feature of GTDInbox… I will miss the feature :-\
Regards
Andrew Says:
November 8th, 2007 at 3:47 pm
Great work, Andy! I didn’t realize how much I had come to rely on GTDInbox until it was gone. I’ll be leaving a donation today (hopefully it will help and also get me on the beta list!)
Best,
Andrew
aprigliano Says:
November 8th, 2007 at 7:41 pm
I just want to thank you for GTDInbox. It has changed my life. I no longer envision email as this unmanageable nightmare.
And thank you, also, for working to wedge it into Gmail 2.0. I happily flip back to version 1 just so GTDInbox works, and will continue to do so, until your new version is ready.
PULVERMULLER Says:
November 9th, 2007 at 5:07 pm
please please : Hipster Print in GTDInbox V2 !!!!!
I use it everyday (my friends yoo !)
Thanks
Andy Says:
November 10th, 2007 at 9:04 am
@k
I’m really excited about the possibility of taking GTD on the road by using IMAP to link to the iPhone (and other devices). That would be huge!
@Mike & @Pulvermuller & @pagalmes
I agree, Hipster Print certainly has it’s place. But right now it’s pretty fundamentally broken (locked-layout & unable to access all the data it needs)… so I want to leave it for a while until these things can be addressed. Perhaps in a few releases time?
@Mike again - that Send & Archive idea is a good one. If I forget in the first release, be sure to badger me about it!
@Habeela
Yeah, I will try and promote GTDInbox more this time around. I feel it’s really coming of age; and I’m much happier to recommend it to a wider audience.
And, as with Mike, if you don’t see that feature when the beta comes out, drop me an email!
@Andrew & @aprigliano
Huge thanks!
Manoel Neto Says:
November 10th, 2007 at 11:57 am
Just an idea. It is possible to establish a correlation between labels gmail (gtdinbox) and thunderbird?
Andy Says:
November 12th, 2007 at 6:31 am
@Manoel
This is the beauty of IMAP! You’ll be able to pull in your folders from Gmail; and manage tasks by moving items between project/status folders.
So, in the S:Next Action folder you’ll see all your next actions; and in P:GTDInbox you’d see all your project tasks for the GTDInbox project.
It’s for this reason in v2 I’ll be recommending changing the GTD prefix from S: and P: to S/ and P/, as the ‘/’ is used to denote sub folders in IMAP.
There is a bit of a question over the role of S:Finished and/or Archiving - will have to investigate that further (I’m not sure how IMAP handles archived items). That will take some investigation.
solarwheels Says:
February 15th, 2008 at 10:04 pm
The gTDinbox is a great addon to GMail
Noticed something missing
3×5 hipster PDA Print & Layout.
This was great!
will it be included in any future updates?
Andy Says:
February 16th, 2008 at 5:15 am
@solarwheels
It will be back, perhaps in 2.1 or 2.2 (in a month or so!).