Mailplane

Mailplane, WebKit, and Safari 3 beta

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Last week, Apple released Safari 3 beta. This is great news for Mac and now even Windows users.

However, for a WebKit based application like Mailplane there are way too many options. Some users still use the old WebKit provided by Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger). Some have installed and configured WebKit nightly to be used in Mailplane. And now there is the new Safari 3 beta WebKit that causes Mailplane trouble. This leads to unnecessary confusion.

I like to provide a running solution out of the box, and I have decided to bundle a tested and preconfigured WebKit nightly with Mailplane. It will work despite your system configuration, or if you have installed Safari 3 beta. "Rich text editing" will be enabled by default and the option to configure the WebKit path will be gone.

Meanwhile, there is a workaround if you would like to use Safari 3 and Mailplane on the same system:
1. Download WebKit nightly from here.
2. Enable rich text editing and configure the WebKit path in Advanced preferences

German translation

Wednesday, June 06, 2007

Mailplane can now be used in German, too! Many thanks to Patrick Scheips, who provided the translation.

Support for multiple Gmail accounts

Monday, May 28, 2007

Add as many account as you want, switch between accounts without restarting Mailplane or entering a password and see all unread message counters at a glance. Accounts can be switched either from the new drawer attached to the main window, the authentication window, or the new status item showed in the menu bar.

New status item keeps you informed

Many users missed a status item, now Mailplane provides it: Use it to get notified, open unread messages, compose new message (with or without screenshot), or switch to another Gmail account. Below each account you can see the most recent unread messages.

For those who like to preserve menu bar space, there is a "General" preference to turn it off.

Text snippets make you more productive

Store frequently typed text snippets in your account preferences and then use the "Edit/Insert Text Snippet..." menu item (or Command-I) to quickly insert greetings, signatures, instructions, jokes, and more at the current message cursor position.

Uninstall Mailplane cleanly

Mailplane needs no AppZapper: If you ever need to remove Mailplane from a Mac, there is the handy "Uninstall..." menu item. It removes all Mailplane related data like keychain entries, preferences, account information, text snippets, iPhoto plugin, PDF service item.

New application icon!

Monday, April 30, 2007

Mailplane has a new application icon! The unread message count badge has been improved, too.

Many kudos to professional icon designer Jonas Rask. He created the icon and badge. I hope you like it as much as I do!

New Google Talk window

Saturday, April 28, 2007

Since last update, Mailplane includes a Google Talk window for an easy chat. Never miss a call again: If somebody wants to talk, Mailplane shows a Growl notification. The brand-new Google Talk Gadget (displayed inside the window) offers some nice features like video and photo preview. See the this blog for more information.

Currently the Google Talk window works with "normal" Google accounts. Support for "Google Apps for your Domain" accounts will be added as soon as the Gadget is ready for it.

Open Word attachments as Google Documents

Friday, April 13, 2007

Many people send Word document as attachments, though not everybody has Microsoft Word installed. Sure: They can be viewed as HTML, but now Mailplane integrates with Google documents: Directly import attachments as Google documents and edit them in your preferred browser.

Thanks Tim B

100 beta invitations each day

Thursday, April 05, 2007

Over the past two to three weeks, 700 beta users were invited to the beta. But, the waiting list is growing rapidly, and to speed things up, I have decided to send out 100 invitations each day. The waiting list will be processed in chronological order, with the first 100 getting notified today. If you with to join the invitation waiting list, sign up here.

Webkit nightly enables rich text editing in Mailplane

With the latest and greatest Webkit version, rich text editing is now available in Mailplane. By default, Mailplane uses Webkit that comes with your Mac OS X. In Tiger this is limited to plain text editing. But now, you can download the latest Webkit build and tell Mailplane about it by setting a preference.

BTW: How do you like the line "Invite Apple to Gmail" in the screenshot - sweet isn't it?

Print from any application to Mailplane

Tuesday, April 03, 2007

Did you ever want to mail that nice looking Pages, Keynote or "you name it" document to other users? Well, chances are they cannot open your jewel if they have no Mac or the required software. In such situations, PDF fits the bill. It preserves all visual attributes of your document and can be viewed and printed on virtually any Windows, Linux or Mac computer.

With the latest Mailplane update, you will find a "Mail PDF with Mailplane" action in the print dialog of any application that supports printing. Select that action and the document is automatically converted to a PDF file and attached to a Mailplane message.

BTW: This feature is additionally to the already implemented "Mail link to this page" and "Mail contents of this page" menu items available in Safari (or "Send Link..." in Firefox).

Thanks Josh R

500 new users invited to Mailplane beta

Saturday, March 31, 2007

In the past two and half weeks many bugs got fixed and new features were added. The beta users were really terrific and sent valuable feedback, ideas and bug reports.

So it became time to invite more users to the beta program: The first 500 people on the waiting list have now been invited to test Mailplane.

If you don't have registered yet but would like to: the waiting list is here. You will get an invitation as soon as your number is called.

Mailplane talks https

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

How do like to connect to your Gmail account? Choose with the new "Use secure connection (https)" option: Either http for super fast communication or https for maximum security.

Mailplane supports “Google apps for your domain”

Sunday, March 18, 2007

I like to keep everyone informed about the progress we make in the private beta. When something major is accomplished, I will publish it on this blog.

As many people have asked for it, I feel this improvement needs to be mentioned: Mailplane now works successfully with both regular Gmail and "Google apps for your domain" accounts.