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I feel you, nested labels is the easy answer to this. However, the better answer is teaching people about archiving and search. People used to folder their ema

by jrpt 13y ago

I feel you, nested labels is the easy answer to this. However, the better answer is teaching people about archiving and search. People used to folder their emails because searching was terrible. Gmail's search is pretty good, so the best workflow in my opinion is to archive email once you're done with it, and search if you need something specific. I do use labels too, especially auto-labels, but I've found search to be more useful. Still, some people are reluctant to change, and just want to do things the way they've always done it. So that's why nested labels exist.

graeme 13y ago
My issue with gmail search is that it's incomplete, and I don't know how incomplete. I've downloaded my mail to mac's mail app. With identical search strings, the Mail app finds more messages. This includes searching by sender email, which yields incomplete results in gmail. There have been many occasions where I've only sent someone one email, or vice versa. Gmail often misses these. So for anything I must find (e.g. tax documents) I label them.
- wlesieutre 13y ago
  Are you sure that isn't due to duplicates in Apple Mail? If I'm remembering right, things with labels (including "Inbox") will have copies in All Mail as well as each of their label "folders." IMAP and POP use hierarchical folders and don't understand that a tax email might be marked as both "Government" and "Finances", or whatever your filing system happens to be.
  - graeme 13y ago
    I'm sure that could be an issue as well, but it's not causing the problem in my case. I've found 1-2 emails in mail from a particular sender, where gmail was unable to find any results, even with their exact address. I've likewise found perhaps 7/10 of a set of emails in gmail, and found the remaining 3 in mail (while confirming they had unique information not listed in gmail).
WayneDB 13y ago
No, the better answer is a simple hierarchical folder system. People only use search exclusively in Gmail because they don't have folders.
- rbanffy 13y ago
  Actually, it has. You can nest labels. With the extra benefit a message can be in more than one folder if it pertains to two different subjects. Very powerful.
  - WayneDB 13y ago
    "...a message can be in more than one folder if it pertains to two different subjects" That's not a benefit. It complicates things. Folders are simpler - one location, one parent, one place to go and find it. Average users can understand folders. Heck, expert users can use folders immediately without having to figure anything else out. If nested tags are better than straight hierarchies for storing and finding things...where are all of the nested tag file systems? In a nested tag file system - would I have to go all the way to a settings dialog to create a new label like in Gmail? Also, look at this guy's post about how "Gmail sucks when you have lots of mail" - and his response to someone recommending nested tags (Apparently, you can't just drag an email to nested tag.) - https://plus.google.com/105059362788808645801/posts/3amd9ZMiq3k https://plus.google.com/105059362788808645801/posts/3amd9ZMi... All the web-app loving hipsters jump on his case for not "knowing the tool". I love it. How about just give us a tool that works like we expect? Who wants to invest time figuring out a new email client that has very questionable benefits?

by jrpt 13y ago

graeme 13y ago

My issue with gmail search is that it's incomplete, and I don't know how incomplete. I've downloaded my mail to mac's mail app. With identical search strings, the Mail app finds more messages. This includes searching by sender email, which yields incomplete results in gmail. There have been many occasions where I've only sent someone one email, or vice versa. Gmail often misses these. So for anything I must find (e.g. tax documents) I label them.

wlesieutre 13y ago
Are you sure that isn't due to duplicates in Apple Mail? If I'm remembering right, things with labels (including "Inbox") will have copies in All Mail as well as each of their label "folders." IMAP and POP use hierarchical folders and don't understand that a tax email might be marked as both "Government" and "Finances", or whatever your filing system happens to be.
- graeme 13y ago
  I'm sure that could be an issue as well, but it's not causing the problem in my case. I've found 1-2 emails in mail from a particular sender, where gmail was unable to find any results, even with their exact address. I've likewise found perhaps 7/10 of a set of emails in gmail, and found the remaining 3 in mail (while confirming they had unique information not listed in gmail).

WayneDB 13y ago

No, the better answer is a simple hierarchical folder system. People only use search exclusively in Gmail because they don't have folders.

rbanffy 13y ago
Actually, it has. You can nest labels. With the extra benefit a message can be in more than one folder if it pertains to two different subjects. Very powerful.
- WayneDB 13y ago
  "...a message can be in more than one folder if it pertains to two different subjects" That's not a benefit. It complicates things. Folders are simpler - one location, one parent, one place to go and find it. Average users can understand folders. Heck, expert users can use folders immediately without having to figure anything else out. If nested tags are better than straight hierarchies for storing and finding things...where are all of the nested tag file systems? In a nested tag file system - would I have to go all the way to a settings dialog to create a new label like in Gmail? Also, look at this guy's post about how "Gmail sucks when you have lots of mail" - and his response to someone recommending nested tags (Apparently, you can't just drag an email to nested tag.) - https://plus.google.com/105059362788808645801/posts/3amd9ZMiq3k https://plus.google.com/105059362788808645801/posts/3amd9ZMi... All the web-app loving hipsters jump on his case for not "knowing the tool". I love it. How about just give us a tool that works like we expect? Who wants to invest time figuring out a new email client that has very questionable benefits?