3 ms·

> concepts such as embracing the fact that it is not truly productive to file every single e-mail into a purposeful folder, embracing that tagging is better tha

by irahul 14y ago

> concepts such as embracing the fact that it is not truly productive to file every single e-mail into a purposeful folder, embracing that tagging is better than folders. I don't know if it was there from the beginning, but I have always used rules which say "apply filter and skip inbox" effectively giving me separate folders. To each his own; I don't like kitchen-sink inbox, and like separate folders to just tagging.

nailer 14y ago
Sure, re: skipping inbox, me too. But tagging allows you to have a folder-like appearance but removes to 1:1 relationship. I can have a folder of 'emails sent to me specifically' and an 'emails from my accountant' that happens to have the same message. This is super useful.
- jfb 14y ago
  GMail freed us from the tyranny of trying to build a single ontology for organizing email. To me it's the most radical and admirable thing Google has done by some measure. I would very much like to see this approach applied to other areas of HCI. The fewer flawed assumptions baked into semantics, te better.
- charltones 14y ago
  This is a great feature but is older than GMail. Lotus Notes mail for instance allowed the same mail to appear in different views, including an "all documents" view that had, as you might expect, everything in it. This advance was rather let down by the rest of the Notes client interface however: http://hallofshame.gp.co.at/lotus.htm http://hallofshame.gp.co.at/lotus.htm
  - drumdance 14y ago
    Wow, blast from the past. My first serious use of email was Lotus Notes. It had some really cool features but also really strange ones, such as using the escape key to send a message.
- hboon 14y ago
  Tagging also existed in Opera's email client as virtual folders, back when it was known as M2.
  - chmike 14y ago
    And zimbra
pyre 14y ago
The issue with Gmail is that you can't affect the order in which the filters are applied. For example: A error email gets sent to a development mailing list. Normally I tag all of the mailing list emails, and skip the inbox. - What if I want the error email to stay in my inbox, but only if it's an error email? - What if I want that email to get tagged as "ERRORS" and "DEV_LIST" and skip the Inbox? I have to do weird filters like: filter #1 - if list:DEV_LIST and not subject:ERROR then tag w/ DEV_LIST and skip Inbox filter #2 - if list:DEV_LIST and subject:ERROR then tag w/ DEV_LIST and tag w/ ERROR or: filter #1 - if list:DEV_LIST and not subject:ERROR then tag w/ DEV_LIST and skip Inbox filter #2 - if list:DEV_LIST and subject:ERROR then tag w/ DEV_LIST and tag w/ ERROR and skip Inbox As you can imagine that these can get quite unwieldy.
- mike-cardwell 14y ago
  I don't use GMail so I've never come across their filtering before, but that looks crap. Sieve is much more flexible. And they could have also implemented ManageSieve so people with mail clients which support the protocol could configure their filtering rules directly from their mta.

by irahul 14y ago

nailer 14y ago

Sure, re: skipping inbox, me too. But tagging allows you to have a folder-like appearance but removes to 1:1 relationship. I can have a folder of 'emails sent to me specifically' and an 'emails from my accountant' that happens to have the same message. This is super useful.

jfb 14y ago
GMail freed us from the tyranny of trying to build a single ontology for organizing email. To me it's the most radical and admirable thing Google has done by some measure. I would very much like to see this approach applied to other areas of HCI. The fewer flawed assumptions baked into semantics, te better.
charltones 14y ago
This is a great feature but is older than GMail. Lotus Notes mail for instance allowed the same mail to appear in different views, including an "all documents" view that had, as you might expect, everything in it. This advance was rather let down by the rest of the Notes client interface however: http://hallofshame.gp.co.at/lotus.htm http://hallofshame.gp.co.at/lotus.htm
- drumdance 14y ago
  Wow, blast from the past. My first serious use of email was Lotus Notes. It had some really cool features but also really strange ones, such as using the escape key to send a message.
hboon 14y ago
Tagging also existed in Opera's email client as virtual folders, back when it was known as M2.
- chmike 14y ago
  And zimbra

pyre 14y ago

The issue with Gmail is that you can't affect the order in which the filters are applied. For example: A error email gets sent to a development mailing list. Normally I tag all of the mailing list emails, and skip the inbox. - What if I want the error email to stay in my inbox, but only if it's an error email? - What if I want that email to get tagged as "ERRORS" and "DEV_LIST" and skip the Inbox? I have to do weird filters like: filter #1 - if list:DEV_LIST and not subject:ERROR then tag w/ DEV_LIST and skip Inbox filter #2 - if list:DEV_LIST and subject:ERROR then tag w/ DEV_LIST and tag w/ ERROR or: filter #1 - if list:DEV_LIST and not subject:ERROR then tag w/ DEV_LIST and skip Inbox filter #2 - if list:DEV_LIST and subject:ERROR then tag w/ DEV_LIST and tag w/ ERROR and skip Inbox As you can imagine that these can get quite unwieldy.

mike-cardwell 14y ago
I don't use GMail so I've never come across their filtering before, but that looks crap. Sieve is much more flexible. And they could have also implemented ManageSieve so people with mail clients which support the protocol could configure their filtering rules directly from their mta.