Review: Master Gmail shortcut keys with KeyRocket

Engineers love keyboard shortcuts. So, the ability offers like most Google products, Google mail, all with a touch of a button, by creating a new message (c for compose) pretty much goes back to the main list of emails (u for themselves). These shortcuts are one of the best features of Gmail: you can compose, archive, forwards and replies to messages, switch labels, search, and more all without reaching for the mouse,.

Oh, they are also difficult to learn. After you enable keyboard shortcuts in the settings screen, press the "?", a semi-transparent overlay to get list of all links. For some people not look at a long list of the best way to learn-and that the KeyRocket thinks that it can do better.

Every time when you use the mouse to do something that can do your keyboard, you let know, KeyRocket.

Veodin's KeyRocket for Gmail sits in the background and quietly watches as you use Gmail your every move. Once (to select it), click the checkbox next to a message, it opens a discreet notification let you know, you could've made just "X" on your keyboard, to do the same. If you had used the reply button, DaaŸ KeyRocket 'R' as well.

Because the messages are contextual, much more useful than a help sheet: you learn in bite-sized pieces, and only the functions that you can actually use.

KeyRocket makes it easy to understand key combinations.

KeyRocket is not perfect: it should ideally able to say, if you already know a shortcut and just prefers using the mouse out and again for the same function. KeyRocket should not tell me about the "#" shortcut at a time when I use the mouse-clicking the button only the first couple of times.

But despite this minor flaw, KeyRocket is an excellent learning tool for Gmail.

Note: The download button you get to the chrome Web store, where you can install the latest version directly into the chrome browser.

Endless tweaking his workflow for comfort and efficiency, Erez is a freelance writer on a mission, the simplest, coolest, and most effective software and websites to discover, make happen this morning.
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Review: Google Mail Lite brings Gmail to your desktop about Pokki

Gmail client Google Mail Lite takes email out of your browser and brings it with a twist to your desktop. This Pokki-based app is incredibly easy.

Gmail lites clear interface makes supports Gmail user friendly desktop, provided all Google mail features that you need at the moment.

The best part of having Gmail on your desktop is the real time notifications; These are in Pop-Up banners and small specialist badges, and to ensure that no e-Mail is going unnoticed. Google Mail Lite is located in the Windows system tray and click, you have access to all emails, including labels, played and sent emails. Several Gmail actions such as assigning labels, actor and unstarring, archiving, and, of course, read and write emails can be performed easily.

Google Mail Lite is almost perfect, but it is missing some important features: you can not attach files; There is no email spell checker; You cannot select which email address to send if you have several, and (the most painful) the search function does not work. However, Google Mail Lite is an excellent client for most of the features of Gmail and supports multiple users really sealed the deal.

Note: The download button on the product information page will download the software on your system.

Yaara is a foodie and horse lover biologist who enjoys as a geek as a full-time job.
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Review: Postbox is a slick, affordable desktop email client that plays nice with Gmail

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

If you're after a desktop email client that isn't Outlook, you may discover you don't have very many options. Mozilla Thunderbird is no longer actively developed; Eudora is a distant memory; The Bat! is still around, but costs $35 (or $45 for the Professional edition). One of the more appealing options available is Postbox, a slick, modern-looking desktop email client that plays nice with Gmail and will set you back just $10 after the 30-day free trial.

With all panes shown, the Postbox interface feels powerful almost to the point of being overwhelming.

Postbox v3.0.7 is actually based on Thunderbird: If you go to Tools > Options, you'll find a very familiar looking Options dialog. The rest of the interface, however, looks different. Gone is the traditional horizontally-split layout, replaced by a vertical split that puts your message headers on the left, with the message body on the right, much like the Gmail Offline Chrome extension. You can still bring the Classic View back, though.

By default, the leftmost part of the window is populated by a nested list of folders based on your Gmail labels. Almost all of my labels synced correctly, except for one: the Bulk label, which I automatically filter incoming "gray mail" into. That label never made it all the way to Postbox due to a configuration error on my Gmail account: I had to make it available via IMAP (as all other labels were set), after which it synced to Postbox without a hitch.

In the past, each email was its own little island of text. Modern clients such as Gmail changed this by showing threaded conversations, which cleverly group related emails into one cohesive view. Postbox uses the same concept, and adds a few desktop interface niceties such as being able to pop open the conversation and access a specific email directly from the list of message headers.

Postbox makes it easy to individually collapse every pane, so that you can end up with a minimalistic list of conversations if you prefer.

As much as Postbox strives to play nice with Gmail, some of the visual differences are disorienting: For example, the message list shows senders' names in bold, even for messages you've already read. The "unread" marker is a small blue dot, quite elegant, but not as obvious as bold/non-bold text. There is a way to change this, but only by manually editing the configuration (or switching to the Classic, horizontally-split, view). Another point that kept me from seriously using Postbox is the lack of support for RTL languages, such as Hebrew and Arabic. If you write even the occasional email in such a language, Postbox is out of the question.

One of the challenges of managing email is quickly getting to the messages you care about within a cluttered folder. Gmail lets you do this with blazing-fast searches and clever operators like "is:unread." Postbox offers a more visual way, in the form of the Focus Pane. This collapsible pane lets you quickly slice and dice the current folder: Show only unread messages, show only messages that have attachments, only messages from today, yesterday, the past week, or the past month, and more. Postbox even lets you assign "topics" to your emails, which are another layer of classification, distinct from labels. You can assign any email to a topic such as Work, Home, or Personal. The Focus Bar lets you quickly filter these, as well.

With the folder pane, the focus pane, the vertical conversations list, and the email preview pane, the Postbox interface feels busy. Fortunately, Postbox allows you to eliminate the folder pane by setting up a handful of favorite folders, which you can then access via a toolbar at the top of the window. You can also collapse and expand the focus pane with a single click, and even hide the email preview pane, so that you're left with just a minimalistic list of message headers.

Threaded conversations, familiar to every Gmail user, are fully supported in Postbox.

Postbox isn't perfect, but then again, the same can be said about email itself as a communication medium. Still, if you're not happy with Gmail's browser interface and yearn for the comfort of the desktop clients of yore, you would do well to try it out. Be sure to allow for an adjustment period. Slick as it may be, it's still an acquired taste.

Note: The Download button on the Product Information page takes you to the vendor's site, where you can download the latest version of the software.

Endlessly tweaking his workflow for comfort and efficiency, Erez is a freelance writer on a mission to discover the simplest, coolest, and most effective software and websites to make tomorrow happen today.
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Over 25 million active Outlook.com users, and today we’re making it even easier for Gmail users to switch

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

"The best reason yet to ditch Gmail" - Farhad Manjoo, Slate.com

Since the new Outlook.com launched in July, the positive feedback has been overwhelming.  Outlook.com was recently named one of Time Magazine's "50 Best Websites of 2012", won PC Magazine's Best Software and Internet Web App awards and has received a number of other accolades around the world.  To date, over 25 million of you are already actively using the new Outlook.com:

We found that about a third of Outlook.com users are active Gmail users trying Outlook.com for the first time.  We wanted to learn more, so we hired a research firm to recruit hundreds of Gmail users - people that use Gmail as their primary email service - and asked them to try Outlook.com.  We asked the Gmail users to sign-up for Outlook.com addresses, forward email from Gmail to Outlook.com, and try Outlook.com's best features.  The Gmail users loved it.  Specifically, they shared the following opinions with us:

They prefer Outlook.com's clean user designOutlook.com does a better job of blocking spam and it outperforms Gmail when it comes to helping manage unwanted messages like newsletters and daily dealsOutlook.com makes it easier to share photos and Office documents

The best part was, after spending just five days with it, 4 out of 5 of these Gmail users said they would switch to Outlook.com.

As millions of people have made the switch to Outlook.com, they've told us about the features that made the transition easier:

Keyboard Shortcuts: customers can choose to set up keyboard shortcuts in Outlook.com to mirror the shortcuts in the Outlook desktop app, Gmail and others.Quick access to search operators: quickly find mail by clicking "/" and then using "To:", "Subj:", etc. Tab/Send: rapidly send messages by clicking the "tab" key from the compose window to automatically shifts focus to the "Send" button Conversation threading: you can also optionally turn on conversation threading (i.e. the ability to see all responses in a conversation via just one view).

But it's still early days.  We continue to listen to feedback on what enthusiasts want next - including making the switch from Gmail even easier - and build those features.  So over the next few weeks, Outlook.com users will start to see these new features in their inboxes:

One-click Archive: from the inbox, select messages and click the Archive button to move the selected messages to the Archive folder (or any other folder of your choice). It's a fast and simple way to move messages out of your inbox to find later.

More and more keyboard shortcuts: Outlook.com has dozens of keyboard shortcuts and we're adding even more. And better yet, we don't need to list them all in this post because you can now find all available keyboard shortcuts by simply typing a question mark when you're in your inbox.

More customization of your inbox: we added several new ways to make your inbox look and work the way you want.

   We added more color themes:

 

We added the ability to toggle between "Reply" and "Reply All" as the default option.  We also heard that, after deleting a message, some people want to return to their inbox and others want to see the next     message. Now you can set that default option, too.  Both options are available via the Options page. 

Outlook app for Android: Many of us use Outlook.com as much on our phones as we do on a PC. For devices like Windows Phone and iPhone that support Exchange ActiveSync, you have built-in support for Outlook.com - no download necessary. Android devices aren't consistent in their native support for Exchange ActiveSync, so starting today you can install an Outlook.com for Android on your mobile phone. The new app is free and works on all Android 2.x devices and higher.

If you're one of the tens of millions of people that have made the switch to Outlook.com, we thank you.  We're committed to making Outlook.com the best email service and we appreciate the feedback you continue to provide. 

If you are a Gmail user and are still on the fence, take a look at our new features and give Outlook.com a try with just a few simple steps. 

Thanks again for using Outlook and, as always, keep the feedback coming.

David Law--Director, Product Management, Outlook.com

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