5 ms·

Monolist: working hard to preserve the spirit of Inbox's organizational features

98 points by jakemmarsh 8y ago

kcon 8y ago
I think "Google Inbox Replacement" is misleading if your workflow assumes users will use Gmail in addition to Monolist: > We’re working on a Gmail integration as you read this! To start, the emails you star in Gmail and any threads that you haven’t responded to will become action items in Monolist, but we have plans for much more. Personally I don't think I would use Monolist because I want to replace Google Inbox with a single service, not Gmail plus another service.
- igneo676 8y ago
  It's possible I'm misunderstanding, but it also seems like they're more oriented on being a task list instead of a true email client. Inbox to me was just a much nicer gmail, though I understand a lot of people used it like a email based todo list and monolist might appeal to them
  - thoraces 8y ago
    Yeah, that’s me - I basically use email as a task queue that other people can append to as well as myself, for low time urgency types of tasks, and have separate ways of dealing with the stuff I need to do more urgently.
- akshaynathan 8y ago
  That's fair (cofounder here). Our eventual goal is to replace Gmail for any work/transactional emails. We're taking the approach of doing that one integration at a time, and providing a richer experience. We do think that there's a world in which both of them are useful though. The problem as we see it right now with Gmail is you may receive a notification about a pull request or whatever, but you can't do anything with it and the data gets stale. Monolist will keep it in sync, and let you approve/merge/comment on it inline so you don't have to switch between 10 apps.
  - ybkshaw 8y ago
    akshaynathan, if I am understanding this right the eventual goal of monolist is to be the bucket for all incoming notifications and communications, and the be-all-end-all for quickly replying to or addressing action items. If that is right I am hoping you the best of luck because I've long wanted something like that. Someplace where my todo list, my inbox, my chatbox, my git repo notifications, my slack notifications all live would be awesome!
    - akshaynathan 8y ago
      yeah, thats exactly the goal! In fact we already have git/slack notifications right now. It would be awesome if you could try it out and let us know what you think.
buster 8y ago
What.. I've totally missed this. Inbox will be shut down? What the.... I am a happy user of inbox since its first days and now.. Again.. Google shuts down the next service.. Another point not to invest (time, in this case) into Google products, sadly. :(
- sigzero 8y ago
  Yep, the major features of Inbox will be rolled into gmail at some point.
kingbirdy 8y ago
This seems like a potentially good service, but as 'kcon said, not an Inbox replacement. It doesn't do bundling, snoozing, or pinning for emails, which are the key features of Inbox.
- akshaynathan 8y ago
  We already have snoozing for items that come into Monolist, and bundling is on our radar as well. We're working on a Gmail integration right now so we'll pull in any emails you actually read automatically, and let you label/organize/snooze/bundle/reply all without leaving the feed.
  - thoraces 8y ago
    I want to reiterate that bundling is absolutely essential to me. Specifically I make newsletters come once a week and burn through them batch so that I don’t get distracted; I bundle activism emails together so that I can be engaged but don’t feel spammed all the time; etc. without that I also would feel no strong reason to use Monolist - hope you make something powerful!
    - akshaynathan 8y ago
      Thanks, we'll reach out as we spec out bundling, looking forward to hearing your feedback.
      - flipsticks 8y ago
        It's a real encouragement for those of who are looking for a replacement. While your current feature-set isn't everything we're after, I'm keen to see how you flesh it out! I'll be keeping an eye on this tool, thanks for being responsive to all of our comments!
thoraces 8y ago
In addition to what others said below, an iOS app is a hard requirement for me. Gonna have to pass for now but cheering you on.
- akshaynathan 8y ago
  Thanks! We have an iOS app coming up. If you sign up or message me your email, we can notify you when it's done.
  - thoraces 8y ago
    I signed up so can’t wait to hear back.
    - jakemmarsh 8y ago
      Thanks! Also completely understand the need for an iOS app, but just so you know the mobile experience and full responsiveness are top considerations when we ship new features.
1123581321 8y ago
Can this misleading title be corrected? This isn’t (and can’t be) an Inbox replacement. It seems to have been written this way to self-promote.
- dang 8y ago
  Ok, we replaced the title with a more modest phrase from the article body.
jakemmarsh 8y ago
Looks like the logged-in application is experiencing the "HN hug of death". The blog should still be fully accessible, but we'll have everything else back up soon!
bazeblackwood 8y ago
Would love to see an Outlook/Outlook Calendar integration. Any plans for that?
- jakemmarsh 8y ago
  Not in the immediate future, but we've discussed it and it's definitely on our longer-term roadmap. Requests like yours also help us better prioritize that, so thanks!
alcwng3 8y ago
I can see why this title seems misleading, but I think it really depends on how you use Inbox and what features you care most about. What I'm really going to miss with Inbox is how my e-mails were framed as tasks that I needed to get through each day. I could easily check them off, or snooze them with an implied priority (later today, this weekend, someday, etc.). I found a lot of value in that, so I hope that I'll find a lot of value in Monolist. I haven't found a task management app that successfully incorporates many integrations (that I actually use) in a way that is useful, and intuitive. I think there are a lot of opportunities to add delightful features, looking forward to giving feedback!
djaychela 8y ago
My main use for inbox is snooze - it's allowed me to manage and prioritise emails brilliantly over the last couple of years. I also far prefer the clean interface to Gmail. As a result of the demise of inbox, I'm looking for a replacement, but it will need a native android app for me, alas, so I guess I'll be stuck with Gmail after March 2019...
- jakemmarsh 8y ago
  We're aiming to achieve that same clean interface, so let us know if you have any feedback =) We do already support snoozing. A native Android app is definitely on our roadmap, but in the short-term we always ensure our app is fully mobile responsive.
  - mkolodny 8y ago
    One Inbox feature I'd love to be pulled into Gmail is attachment previews. It looks like Gmail has quick links to attachments from your inbox, but that doesn't give nearly as much information as a preview - image/video thumbnail, calendar appointment details, shipped order info, etc. In terms of Gmail achieving the same clean interface as Inbox, for me there are two key reasons I think Inbox's interface is much "cleaner" than Gmail: Inbox: - Most of the screen is whitespace - Most features are / can be hidden unless I want them Gmail: - There's text/icons covering nearly every inch of the screen - Most features are always shown on the screen whether or not I want them Here are some changes that I think would give Gmail Inbox's "clean" look: - Add a big margin to the left/right of emails on the desktop (whitespace) - Give me the option to hide: 1. The left bar (unread count / red dots, chat - I don't use those things 99% of the time I use email) 2. The three icons at the left of messages (I never use those) Other (probably less important) things I think make Inbox cleaner than Gmail: - Infinite scroll vs. page turner - Showing sender icons to quickly identify who an email's from - This one might just be me being used to Inbox, but the white background behind emails in the inbox vs. the gray background
    - jakemmarsh 8y ago
      Thanks for this feedback! We'll definitely take it into consideration as the interface evolves.
vvilliam0 8y ago
Show me the finished product. Stop promising to self-promote.
- jakemmarsh 8y ago
  I don't think we'll ever be "finished". All the features that are listed in the blog post other than email (coming later this week), are already implemented, and you can check them out! I know that email is the biggest one considering we're trying to replace Inbox, but I think creating a richer experience around transactional emails you receive from all your apps is already leaps and bounds better than Gmail for that use case.
elliots3 8y ago
This seems like a very promising product. I will be keeping an eye on this.
kdom13 8y ago
Snoozing and bundling are they key features that I love with Inbox.
AJRF 8y ago
Bit of an aside here so sorry, but did any successful clones of Google Reader live longer than a week? If so could someone point me towards it?
- nuclear_eclipse 8y ago
  I use Feedbin with a number of apps that use it for synchronization, and it's run as a paid-for service by a reliable dev. https://feedbin.com https://feedbin.com
- arusahni 8y ago
  I've had really good results with Inoreader: https://inoreader.com https://inoreader.com Ended up appreciating it so much that I became a paid user.
geoah 8y ago
Requiring full google drive access without explaining why or giving an option to opt out is a no go for me. Idea seems interesting but I can't see why they would require access to my files.
- jakemmarsh 8y ago
  We require full Google Drive access for a few reasons: - Creating action items when you're tagged on any file - Creating action items when any comments are left on your files - Allowing you to search your entire Drive from Monolist We never store the contents of your actual files. Those are just the permissions necessary to keep you up to date on any Drive action items.
  - geoah 8y ago
    I would suggest making this an additional permission you ask for when the user has actually seen the product and wants to use this feature.
  - Ajedi32 8y ago
    Any way you can make that permission optional? I suspect there are a lot of people who may not know or care about Drive integration and as a result may not want to grant full Drive access.
    - jakemmarsh 8y ago
      That's definitely possible, and an option we've considered but haven't yet been able to implement. We'll be sure to add it to our list. Thanks for the feedback!
nambit 8y ago
Just a heads up, their planned free version limits you to 500 items per month: https://monolist.co/pricing https://monolist.co/pricing I absolutely despise this kind of 'free' offering since it's more of a demo than an actual offer. Split it by user count, split it by features but the whole purpose of this thing is rendered moot by that limit.
- sheeeep86 8y ago
  Well then pay for it?
- jakemmarsh 8y ago
  Oops, that pricing page was actually left up erroneously (thus why it's not linked anywhere). That was a previous pricing model that is no longer active. Monolist is currently entirely free while we're in this open beta and development phase. We actually abandoned that model because we agree with you. Limiting the number of items per month would be going against the use case of the product.
  - mgalgs 8y ago
    How will you be monetizing it?
    - jakemmarsh 8y ago
      We think a lot of the same problems that Monolist is solving for the individual also exist for cross-functional teams. The plan is to eventually offer paid enterprise and team-based features.
      - nambit 8y ago
        Thanks for that. I'll be giving it a try
owaislone 8y ago
Any Inbox replacement will need to work completely offline. By that I mean it would have to speak to Gmail directly instead of routing my mail through some 3rd party servers.
mbrumlow 8y ago
I just switched to hosting my own server and using mu4e in emcas.
therealmarv 8y ago
Gmail itself will be the Google Inbox replacement. They will integrate some missing Inbox features. Instead of panicking I would use inbox till the end and give Google some time... hopefully they will integrate the bundles in Gmail before shutting Inbox down.
trevoristall 8y ago
Needs Jira to be useful for me, very cool idea though!
- jakemmarsh 8y ago
  We actually do have full Jira Cloud (and Confluence) support! Those just went live in the last week.
octref 8y ago
Now when I see any new product I look for a pledge to not get acquired like PostHaven[0]. Otherwise I simply refuse to use it. Sparrow, Mailbox, Inbox...Have been burnt too many times. [0]: https://posthaven.com https://posthaven.com
dev_parrott 8y ago
For me, the place where inbox mattered was as an email client, not a task manager. I like the task manager metaphor for an email client, and they way that it made me think about my email, but I never wanted to apply that to my other workflows. I just liked the inbox email client.

98 points by jakemmarsh 8y ago

kcon 8y ago

I think "Google Inbox Replacement" is misleading if your workflow assumes users will use Gmail in addition to Monolist: > We’re working on a Gmail integration as you read this! To start, the emails you star in Gmail and any threads that you haven’t responded to will become action items in Monolist, but we have plans for much more. Personally I don't think I would use Monolist because I want to replace Google Inbox with a single service, not Gmail plus another service.

igneo676 8y ago
It's possible I'm misunderstanding, but it also seems like they're more oriented on being a task list instead of a true email client. Inbox to me was just a much nicer gmail, though I understand a lot of people used it like a email based todo list and monolist might appeal to them
- thoraces 8y ago
  Yeah, that’s me - I basically use email as a task queue that other people can append to as well as myself, for low time urgency types of tasks, and have separate ways of dealing with the stuff I need to do more urgently.
akshaynathan 8y ago
That's fair (cofounder here). Our eventual goal is to replace Gmail for any work/transactional emails. We're taking the approach of doing that one integration at a time, and providing a richer experience. We do think that there's a world in which both of them are useful though. The problem as we see it right now with Gmail is you may receive a notification about a pull request or whatever, but you can't do anything with it and the data gets stale. Monolist will keep it in sync, and let you approve/merge/comment on it inline so you don't have to switch between 10 apps.
- ybkshaw 8y ago
  akshaynathan, if I am understanding this right the eventual goal of monolist is to be the bucket for all incoming notifications and communications, and the be-all-end-all for quickly replying to or addressing action items. If that is right I am hoping you the best of luck because I've long wanted something like that. Someplace where my todo list, my inbox, my chatbox, my git repo notifications, my slack notifications all live would be awesome!
  - akshaynathan 8y ago
    yeah, thats exactly the goal! In fact we already have git/slack notifications right now. It would be awesome if you could try it out and let us know what you think.

buster 8y ago

What.. I've totally missed this. Inbox will be shut down? What the.... I am a happy user of inbox since its first days and now.. Again.. Google shuts down the next service.. Another point not to invest (time, in this case) into Google products, sadly. :(

sigzero 8y ago
Yep, the major features of Inbox will be rolled into gmail at some point.

kingbirdy 8y ago

This seems like a potentially good service, but as 'kcon said, not an Inbox replacement. It doesn't do bundling, snoozing, or pinning for emails, which are the key features of Inbox.

akshaynathan 8y ago
We already have snoozing for items that come into Monolist, and bundling is on our radar as well. We're working on a Gmail integration right now so we'll pull in any emails you actually read automatically, and let you label/organize/snooze/bundle/reply all without leaving the feed.
- thoraces 8y ago
  I want to reiterate that bundling is absolutely essential to me. Specifically I make newsletters come once a week and burn through them batch so that I don’t get distracted; I bundle activism emails together so that I can be engaged but don’t feel spammed all the time; etc. without that I also would feel no strong reason to use Monolist - hope you make something powerful!
  - akshaynathan 8y ago
    Thanks, we'll reach out as we spec out bundling, looking forward to hearing your feedback.
    - flipsticks 8y ago
      It's a real encouragement for those of who are looking for a replacement. While your current feature-set isn't everything we're after, I'm keen to see how you flesh it out! I'll be keeping an eye on this tool, thanks for being responsive to all of our comments!

thoraces 8y ago

In addition to what others said below, an iOS app is a hard requirement for me. Gonna have to pass for now but cheering you on.

akshaynathan 8y ago
Thanks! We have an iOS app coming up. If you sign up or message me your email, we can notify you when it's done.
- thoraces 8y ago
  I signed up so can’t wait to hear back.
  - jakemmarsh 8y ago
    Thanks! Also completely understand the need for an iOS app, but just so you know the mobile experience and full responsiveness are top considerations when we ship new features.

1123581321 8y ago

Can this misleading title be corrected? This isn’t (and can’t be) an Inbox replacement. It seems to have been written this way to self-promote.

dang 8y ago
Ok, we replaced the title with a more modest phrase from the article body.

jakemmarsh 8y ago

Looks like the logged-in application is experiencing the "HN hug of death". The blog should still be fully accessible, but we'll have everything else back up soon!

bazeblackwood 8y ago

Would love to see an Outlook/Outlook Calendar integration. Any plans for that?

jakemmarsh 8y ago
Not in the immediate future, but we've discussed it and it's definitely on our longer-term roadmap. Requests like yours also help us better prioritize that, so thanks!

alcwng3 8y ago

I can see why this title seems misleading, but I think it really depends on how you use Inbox and what features you care most about. What I'm really going to miss with Inbox is how my e-mails were framed as tasks that I needed to get through each day. I could easily check them off, or snooze them with an implied priority (later today, this weekend, someday, etc.). I found a lot of value in that, so I hope that I'll find a lot of value in Monolist. I haven't found a task management app that successfully incorporates many integrations (that I actually use) in a way that is useful, and intuitive. I think there are a lot of opportunities to add delightful features, looking forward to giving feedback!

djaychela 8y ago

My main use for inbox is snooze - it's allowed me to manage and prioritise emails brilliantly over the last couple of years. I also far prefer the clean interface to Gmail. As a result of the demise of inbox, I'm looking for a replacement, but it will need a native android app for me, alas, so I guess I'll be stuck with Gmail after March 2019...

jakemmarsh 8y ago
We're aiming to achieve that same clean interface, so let us know if you have any feedback =) We do already support snoozing. A native Android app is definitely on our roadmap, but in the short-term we always ensure our app is fully mobile responsive.
- mkolodny 8y ago
  One Inbox feature I'd love to be pulled into Gmail is attachment previews. It looks like Gmail has quick links to attachments from your inbox, but that doesn't give nearly as much information as a preview - image/video thumbnail, calendar appointment details, shipped order info, etc. In terms of Gmail achieving the same clean interface as Inbox, for me there are two key reasons I think Inbox's interface is much "cleaner" than Gmail: Inbox: - Most of the screen is whitespace - Most features are / can be hidden unless I want them Gmail: - There's text/icons covering nearly every inch of the screen - Most features are always shown on the screen whether or not I want them Here are some changes that I think would give Gmail Inbox's "clean" look: - Add a big margin to the left/right of emails on the desktop (whitespace) - Give me the option to hide: 1. The left bar (unread count / red dots, chat - I don't use those things 99% of the time I use email) 2. The three icons at the left of messages (I never use those) Other (probably less important) things I think make Inbox cleaner than Gmail: - Infinite scroll vs. page turner - Showing sender icons to quickly identify who an email's from - This one might just be me being used to Inbox, but the white background behind emails in the inbox vs. the gray background
  - jakemmarsh 8y ago
    Thanks for this feedback! We'll definitely take it into consideration as the interface evolves.

vvilliam0 8y ago

Show me the finished product. Stop promising to self-promote.

jakemmarsh 8y ago
I don't think we'll ever be "finished". All the features that are listed in the blog post other than email (coming later this week), are already implemented, and you can check them out! I know that email is the biggest one considering we're trying to replace Inbox, but I think creating a richer experience around transactional emails you receive from all your apps is already leaps and bounds better than Gmail for that use case.

elliots3 8y ago

This seems like a very promising product. I will be keeping an eye on this.

kdom13 8y ago

Snoozing and bundling are they key features that I love with Inbox.

AJRF 8y ago

Bit of an aside here so sorry, but did any successful clones of Google Reader live longer than a week? If so could someone point me towards it?

nuclear_eclipse 8y ago
I use Feedbin with a number of apps that use it for synchronization, and it's run as a paid-for service by a reliable dev. https://feedbin.com https://feedbin.com
arusahni 8y ago
I've had really good results with Inoreader: https://inoreader.com https://inoreader.com Ended up appreciating it so much that I became a paid user.

geoah 8y ago

Requiring full google drive access without explaining why or giving an option to opt out is a no go for me. Idea seems interesting but I can't see why they would require access to my files.

jakemmarsh 8y ago
We require full Google Drive access for a few reasons: - Creating action items when you're tagged on any file - Creating action items when any comments are left on your files - Allowing you to search your entire Drive from Monolist We never store the contents of your actual files. Those are just the permissions necessary to keep you up to date on any Drive action items.
- geoah 8y ago
  I would suggest making this an additional permission you ask for when the user has actually seen the product and wants to use this feature.
- Ajedi32 8y ago
  Any way you can make that permission optional? I suspect there are a lot of people who may not know or care about Drive integration and as a result may not want to grant full Drive access.
  - jakemmarsh 8y ago
    That's definitely possible, and an option we've considered but haven't yet been able to implement. We'll be sure to add it to our list. Thanks for the feedback!

nambit 8y ago

Just a heads up, their planned free version limits you to 500 items per month: https://monolist.co/pricing https://monolist.co/pricing I absolutely despise this kind of 'free' offering since it's more of a demo than an actual offer. Split it by user count, split it by features but the whole purpose of this thing is rendered moot by that limit.

sheeeep86 8y ago
Well then pay for it?
jakemmarsh 8y ago
Oops, that pricing page was actually left up erroneously (thus why it's not linked anywhere). That was a previous pricing model that is no longer active. Monolist is currently entirely free while we're in this open beta and development phase. We actually abandoned that model because we agree with you. Limiting the number of items per month would be going against the use case of the product.
- mgalgs 8y ago
  How will you be monetizing it?
  - jakemmarsh 8y ago
    We think a lot of the same problems that Monolist is solving for the individual also exist for cross-functional teams. The plan is to eventually offer paid enterprise and team-based features.
    - nambit 8y ago
      Thanks for that. I'll be giving it a try

owaislone 8y ago

Any Inbox replacement will need to work completely offline. By that I mean it would have to speak to Gmail directly instead of routing my mail through some 3rd party servers.

mbrumlow 8y ago

I just switched to hosting my own server and using mu4e in emcas.

therealmarv 8y ago

Gmail itself will be the Google Inbox replacement. They will integrate some missing Inbox features. Instead of panicking I would use inbox till the end and give Google some time... hopefully they will integrate the bundles in Gmail before shutting Inbox down.

trevoristall 8y ago

Needs Jira to be useful for me, very cool idea though!

jakemmarsh 8y ago
We actually do have full Jira Cloud (and Confluence) support! Those just went live in the last week.

octref 8y ago

Now when I see any new product I look for a pledge to not get acquired like PostHaven[0]. Otherwise I simply refuse to use it. Sparrow, Mailbox, Inbox...Have been burnt too many times. [0]: https://posthaven.com https://posthaven.com

dev_parrott 8y ago

For me, the place where inbox mattered was as an email client, not a task manager. I like the task manager metaphor for an email client, and they way that it made me think about my email, but I never wanted to apply that to my other workflows. I just liked the inbox email client.