Mailplane Blog

Mailplane stopped selling licenses

2021-06-06T00:00:00+00:00

If you’re pressed for time, here’s the short version:

We are no longer selling licenses for Mailplane
Mailplane will continue to function for existing customers and we’ll try our best to keep it running
If you have bought Mailplane in the last 60 days, contact us if you want a refund

Why?

Google has started blocking embedded browsers from its login page. See to read its announcement.

Although there is a solution for apps that work with the Gmail API, unfortunately none are available for specialized browsers like Mailplane which are built on top of Gmail’s web interface.

In the last 6 months, we have tried everything to find an official solution with Google, but without success.

We already have a workaround in place and are trying to keep Mailplane running as long as possible. After all, we are happy users of Mailplane as well. But we can’t make any promises. It is uncertain how long it will last. It may last years or be over tomorrow. Only Google knows …

During the 15 years we’ve been working on Mailplane, we’ve developed many workarounds and hacks to make Gmail more fun on your Mac. But it’s a red flag for us to work around something that Google sees as a security enhancement.

That’s why we came to the painful decision to face the truth and pull the plug. We’ve already started working on the next major version, but we don’t feel we can bury our heads in the sand and happily continue selling licenses and developing new features. It would come back to bite us for sure.

What’s next?

As of now, we are no longer selling licenses for Mailplane.

We will continue trying to work around the blockade and keep Mailplane alive for existing customers as long as possible.

Write to us if you have purchased Mailplane in the last 60 days and want a refund. We completely understand if you no longer want to use an app which has an uncertain future.

Thank you!

We know we have customers who love and rely on Mailplane as much as we do.

It’s extremely hard to say goodbye, especially after working on Mailplane for so long. We’ve been agonizing over this decision for months. It’s hard to imagine using Gmail outside Mailplane and losing touch with our customers. Hopefully, we can keep it going for a while longer yet.

All the best,
Lars & Ruben

PS: Give replies.io a try if you’re interested in what else we’re working on. It’s our secret weapon for customer support. This tool has allowed us to personally handle all your questions. This means that when you contact us, you’re always talking to the developers themselves. In return, we receive your invaluable feedback, unfiltered.

Share availability in Google Calendar

2021-04-12T00:00:00+00:00

Google Calendar has two new options to communicate your work availability.

Create repeating out of office entries

Select “automatically decline meetings” when you create a repeating “out of office” entry. This will send a decline notification if someone tries to schedule a meeting during that “out of office” period.

Split your working hours into multiple segments a day

Use segmentable working hours to let people know when you don’t plan to work during the day. Working hours are visible on your calendar when someone schedules a meeting with you.

Read more here.

Email aliases included in Gmail search

2021-03-08T00:00:00+00:00

When you search for an email address in Gmail, aliases of the searched address will now be considered as well.

That’s pretty neat! For example searching for hello@mailplaneapp.com will now also show emails from support@mailplaneapp.com and vice versa. If you want to retrieve results for that email address only, you can put it in quotes.

Read more here.

Calendar offline mode

2021-02-01T00:00:00+00:00

Mailplane 4.3.1 supports the new Google Calendar offline mode.

You can enable it inside the Google Calendar settings. There is a new ‘Offline’ entry in the sidebar.

When enabled, you can view (read-only) your events from four weeks prior or any time in the future by week, day, or month.

Read more here.

macOS Big Sur

2020-11-12T00:00:00+00:00

Apple released macOS Big Sur (10.16) today.

We tested Mailplane 4.3 with MacOS Big Sur and made corrections to ensure compatibility.

Update 12/03/2020: Mailplane 4 runs well on M1-based Macs. Don’t hesitate to let us know if you run into any issues.

Short event visualization in Google Calendar

2020-10-26T00:00:00+00:00

Events fewer than 25 minutes will now occupy less space in the daily view and better reflect the true duration of the event.

Previously shorter events were displayed the same as 30-minute events. This will also show in the printed version of the calendar.

Read more here.

New agenda print options

2020-09-20T00:00:00+00:00

Google added new options to print your agenda on Google Calendar.

There is a new option to print your calendar in full color and a “View” option to print one day or one week per sheet.

Read more here.

Edit Calendar events from Gmail

2020-08-28T00:00:00+00:00

Edit Google Calendar events directly in the side panel of Gmail.

No need to switch to the Calendar tab anymore. Even ‘Find a Time’ can be used to see others’ calendar availability.

Read more here.

Gmail Quick Settings

2020-07-26T00:00:00+00:00

Gmail introduced a quick settings menu to change easily between different layouts, settings, and themes.

There are no new settings. It’s just an easier way to access a subset of settings and explore them in real time. All settings are still available by clicking the “See all settings” button at the top of the quick settings menu.

Read more here.

Email from Google

2020-07-01T00:00:00+00:00

Yesterday, Google sent an email to some of our customers stating that Mailplane will no longer have access to their Gmail data beginning July 8.

Google responded today, apologized for any confusion and confirmed that Mailplane 4 is still approved.

Their email was referring to an old third-party access entry that goes back to Mailplane 3 and is no longer approved. Google did also tell us that they will be sending a follow up email to make this clear.

This isn’t a problem because Mailplane 3 no longer requires that third-party access. We removed that requirement in Mailplane 3.8.6 in order to get Mailplane 3 through their application review as well.

Our conclusion is that you don’t have to do anything. Mailplane 4 is still approved and the latest version of Mailplane 3 no longer requires the expired third-party access.

We hope it clears things up a bit. We will update this blog post if we get any new insights.

Hide Google Meet in Gmail

2020-05-30T00:00:00+00:00

A while ago, Gmail got a new section in the sidebar to launch Google Meet. Now there is a user setting to hide it when you don’t need it.

Go to “Gmail Settings > Chat and Meet” and select “Hide the Meet section in the main menu”. G-Suite admins can also disable Meet for the whole organization by turning off video calling in the Admin console. This will hide that section as well.

Read more here.

Multiple signatures in Gmail

2020-04-30T00:00:00+00:00

Gmail supports multiple signatures while composing a message or writing a reply.

It is available by default. Go to “Gmail Settings > General”, scroll down to “Signature” and select “Create New” or select “Manage signature” while composing a message.

Read more here.

Gmail search chips

2020-03-13T00:00:00+00:00

Google has introduced search chips in Gmail. They make searching more comfortable and let you find what you are looking for faster.

Search chips are available by default. They appear below the search box when searching in Gmail. Clicking them refines your search results.

Read more here.

Calendar: Propose new meeting time

2020-02-24T00:00:00+00:00

Google Calendar invites in Gmail have a new “More Options” dropdown menu, allowing you to propose a new time or adding a note to your RSVP.

Read more here.

Send emails as attachments

2020-01-25T00:00:00+00:00

Gmail is rolling out a new feature that lets you attach emails to another email.

It is pretty simple. You can either drag and drop them as shown below or select the emails first and select “Forward as attachment” from the three-dot menu.

Read more here.

Mailplane 4.2 is here!

2019-12-22T00:00:00+00:00

Mailplane 4.2 works well with macOS Catalina (10.15), simplifies bookmark handling and integrates with DEVONthink 3.

New “Edit Bookmarks” dialog

Read our release notes for more details.

Mailplane 4.2 is a free update for Mailplane 4 customers. Mailplane 3 customers are still eligible for an upgrade discount. Simply install Mailplane 4 and get your discount. In any case, you can trial it 15 days for free.

We wish you a great holiday season. See you again in 2020!

macOS Catalina

2019-11-20T00:00:00+00:00

Apple released macOS Catalina (10.15) last month. Mailplane 4.1.4 runs well on it.

You can read a bit about the new features of macOS Catalina here.

Attachment downloads didn’t work in Mailplane 3 off the bat but we did release an update today. Please do check for updates via “Mailplane 3 > Check for Updates…” or grab the latest version from our download page.

Please keep in mind that we don’t actively develop Mailplane 3 anymore and therefore have no plans for further updates. Give Mailplane 4 a try if you want to stay current.

Gmail improved as-you-type spelling and grammar correction

2019-09-25T00:00:00+00:00

Gmail introduced a new spelling and grammar correction. It auto-detects the language, makes smarter spell-check suggestions and detects potential grammar issues.

Read about how grammar suggestions work. It is “on” by default and can be disabled in Gmail settings (General).

The grammar suggestion feature is only available to G-Suite users, not personal Gmail accounts. Read more here.

Mailplane has been verified by Google

2019-07-12T00:00:00+00:00

In October last year, Google announced new guidelines for its Gmail API. Applications accessing data via that API had to be verified by Google to ensure compliance with their new privacy and security requirements.

Mailplane uses the Gmail API for search everywhere functionality, navigation, image annotation, notifier actions, and most save clip options. Everything runs between your Mac and Google and no server of us is involved.

We’re happy to announce that the review was successful and we can continue to provide these functionalities without limitations.

Update 12/17/2019: Google sent an email stating that they will turn off access to less secure apps. Mailplane is already using verified OAuth mechanisms (as mentioned above) and thus you’re already covered.

New Help Videos

2019-05-31T00:00:00+00:00

Learn more about Mailplane by watching our new help videos. It’s an introduction video on the top and four videos about major parts of Mailplane.

Watch them here or from within Mailplane via ‘Help > Videos’. Enjoy!

Google Inbox shut down

2019-04-20T00:00:00+00:00

Google discontinued “Inbox by Gmail” on April 2. We had to say our farewells too and removed support for Google Inbox in Mailplane 4.1.3.

Google launched Inbox by Gmail back in 2014. It was meant to increase productivity, especially for those who had to deal with a lot of emails. It allowed to create bundles, generate replies, and more.

Over the past few months, Google has been bringing some of the Inbox by Gmail features to regular Gmail. It’s sad to see Google Inbox go but we hope that it helps Google to put more focus on Gmail.

Schedule send in Gmail

2019-04-12T00:00:00+00:00

Gmail started to rollout “schedule send”. That’s great news! Previously, you had to use a third-party extension, such as Boomerang or RightInbox, to get this functionality.

Scheduling your emails to be sent at a later date/time gives you greater control, allowing you to shift your work time to whenever is most convenient to you and your recipients.

It will become available to all G Suite editions by the end of this month. Read more about it here.

Mixmax & Mailplane

2019-03-04T00:00:00+00:00

Mailplane 4.1.2 supports Mixmax. It is a very popular Gmail productivity extension used to drive sales and business growth. Install it for free in Mailplane via ‘Preferences… > Extensions’.

Create engaging emails that make it easy for prospects to respond
Schedule meetings in 1 click
Track email opens
Create email templates and sequences
Auto-sync with Salesforce and Pipedrive
Dial your prospects directly from Gmail
Use workflow rules to automate your day
… and much more. Check out the product tour or their website.

Google Calendar: Propose a new meeting time

2019-01-28T00:00:00+00:00

It’s not a new feature anymore but it might not caught everyone’s eye yet since it’s a bit hidden. Each guest can propose a new time when he receives an invitation and the organizer can review and accept time proposals. It makes meeting scheduling more efficient.

There’s an arrow at the bottom (right side) which opens up further possibilities. One of them is ‘Propose a new time’. Doing that allows the guest to send their time proposal along with an optional message.

The organizer can then accept the proposed time with just one click. Read more about it here.

There's more to Mailplane's Dark Mode than you think

2018-11-30T00:00:00+00:00

When I joined Mailplane as a designer nearly a year ago, it was my job to redesign the complete user interface for version 4. With the release of macOS Mojave, I had the pleasure to expand the UI with a dark theme. Now, I am happy to provide you with some insight into the design process and its challenges.

Creating a dark mode

The first step, before designing anything, was to become familiar with Mojave’s dark mode and distinguish between native and non-native parts of Mailplane. This was important, as native parts darken their appearance automatically in Mojave’s dark mode, while non-native parts don’t. By doing this, I could get a proper overview of which parts I simply had to monitor as they darken and which parts I needed to adjust manually from light to dark. With this knowledge, I was ready to start designing.

Setting the mood for the design process

One of the first designs I created was the night sky scenery within the onboarding and tab management screens. This might not be the most urgent part of the app to start with but it was the part I was most eager to try out. The idea of a night sky was not new – it had already come to me during the initial redesign process. Back then, I had an idea similar to Apple’s, which features a dynamic screen background in Mojave. I imagined we could change the background between a daytime and a nighttime scene in real time. In the end, the idea didn’t make it into Mailplane in favour of efficiency.

For dark mode, on the other hand, a night sky scenery felt fitting, and I really loved the results after trying it out. It gave me the motivation to really delve into the project.

New night sky scenery in dark mode

Dark mode and its peculiarities

Dark interfaces are not just inverted WWDC 2018 - Session 210 - macOS

While working on the UI, I discovered that Mojave’s dark mode has quite a few peculiarities to it. At first glance, it appears that dark mode “just” converts all light backgrounds and UI components to dark greys, while dark elements like text or icons become light-coloured. However, that’s not entirely true – there are a few special cases.

One of them affects how icons appear when switching from light to dark. In light mode, we use outline-styled icons which work very well in that mode. However, when switching to dark mode, some of them begin to look ghostly, or hollow, and can become hard to read. This has to do with the way we are used to reading images: on a light background, it is natural to read the empty space of an icon as it’s volume or shape; if we place icons on a dark background, though, this sense of volume and shape can get lost.

Light version of toolbar icons

To give icons in dark mode a sense of shape and volume back, I changed their look from an outline styling to a solid styling. With this new appearance, the icons became recognisable again. And if things still felt a bit off, it helped to tweak a little here and there, like adding or removing lines or details.

Iterations on toolbar icons for dark mode

Solutions for Mailplane-specific UI elements

While I could rely on Mojave’s dark mode as a template for non-native components, there were a few Mailplane-specific cases were a customised solution was necessary. One of those was the selection of colours we offer to colour-code different accounts. Those colours are important when using Mailplane for the first time, opening a new tab or adjusting account settings in the preferences. On light backgrounds, account colours are well-visible and high-contrast but, on a dark background, a few problems appeared.

1. The colour Blueberry, a dark purple, was too low-contrast against dark backgrounds.
2. Small, coloured text (e.g. colour name captions) became hard to read.
3. Tab management buttons were low-contrast and became hard to distinguish from each other.

After testing out a few ideas to solve problem number one, I came to the conclusion that adjusting the Blueberry colour was the most promising solution. This also meant that it would be best to replace the colour in both states, light and dark. Having two versions of the “same” colour could create confusion and, on top of that, it would have made implementation more complicated. To avoid this, I created a replacement that was brighter and shinier while also trying not to diverge too much from the initial colour, as that one was already in use.

Colour adjustment: old dull vs. new bright blueberry colour

For problem number two, I decided to forgo colouring small text in dark mode altogether. Having coloured text was less important than legibility, so I defined a neutral light grey for all small texts sizes.

Problem number three – distinguishing tab management buttons – took a few iterations to determine the best solution. The goal was to find a solution that made the colour more prominent. In contrast to problem number two, colour is important here, as it helps users to distinguish instantly between different accounts. Changing the background of the button from dark to the corresponding account colour worked best. Now, accounts can be easily distinguished by their colour at a glance.

Account colour-coded buttons and light grey colour for button captions

Mailplane’s character icons

While most of Mailplane’s UI worked quite well in Mojave’s dark version, Mailplane’s character icons were troublemakers. Originally designed for a white background, they didn’t adapt well to a dark one. Although still well-visible, they somehow looked odd.

Light mode version

First dark mode version

First, I tried a workaround. I added a white shape as an additional background element so the icon wouldn’t lie directly on the dark background. However, that didn’t work well with the rest of the layout. The white shape was ultimately just an additional element that didn’t have any real purpose.

Trying out a white background shape

I also tried changing the icon colors. I inverted the design, colouring the outline white instead of blue and the body blue instead of white. I hoped that, by increasing the contrast between outline and background, the icon would become bolder and self-sufficient; instead, it was shaped like a ghost and became even harder to recognise.

Changing the icons colours

At this point in the project, we still had a few other UI issues in which design elements remained on a white background and, as most of the icons were placed on a card-like design, I considered just leaving those areas white as well.

Leaving the card white

However, the farther we progressed in the design, the more we darkened those white components. We finally reached a point where character icons on a white background didn’t work anymore.

I looked into the matter once again and quickly realised that there was a problem with the light blue, oval drop shadow. On a white background, this shape is darker than that background and therefore works as shadow or base that the icon can stand on. This helps to position it within the layout. On dark background, on the other hand, this light blue area is not recognisable as a shadow or base element anymore – it looked more like the icon was floating through space on a blue surfboard. I started to experiment by darkening the oval shape’s blue and grey shades. I eventually found that a slightly lighter grey than the background did the trick, turning this element into a base element again.

Solution: grey oval

With this modification, I was able to successfully place all character icons on a dark background. I’m still not 100% happy with it, though. Although a few icons still feel off, so far, I couldn’t say with certainty why that is. Maybe I will stumble on an even better solution at some point in the future.

A dark theme for Gmail’s UI

Gmail has been offering different background themes for their UI for quite some time. I hoped we would find an appropriate dark theme among their background choices that we could use to turn Gmail’s UI dark as well. To my surprise, there was only one dark theme available. When I added it to one of my first mock-ups, it didn’t fit well with Mailplane’s dark version: Gmail uses nearly 100% black for their background, which is too far away form the dark greys I use for Mailplane. The two didn’t go together, so we decided early on to leave Gmail white.

Thanks to this initial mock-up, however, engineering never forgot about the idea. They eventually came up with a solution to turn Gmail’s UI dark and match it with the grey shades we use for Mailplane. Now, Mailplane comes with a complete dark mode on default. If necessary, there is even an option to turn Gmail’s UI back to white. (Check under ‘Style’ within ‘Preferences’)

Mailplane dark Gmail UI

After spending several weeks in dark mode, it really grew on me. I’m currently a much bigger fan of Mailplane’s dark mode than its light counterpart. So, for everyone who is interested, I can recommend giving it a try! Just beware – the dark side is powerful.

Mailplane in my world

2018-10-31T00:00:00+00:00

I’m David Kravets and a satisfied, long-time customer of Mailplane. Devs Ruben and Lars asked me to write a brief review of their Mac email client, and to offer a few examples of how I use some of its unique features as part of my consultancy business.

I stumbled on Mailplane years ago while searching for an alternative to the native Mac client. I haven’t looked back, despite wasting my money on an untold number of other Mac clients. Along the way, I have been evangelising for the Gmail and G Suite centric app to whomever would listen.

When I was the senior editor at Ars Technica, for example, the site’s staff migrated from Microsoft Office 365 to G Suite. A ton of IRC chat among the staff about which email client would work well with Google had ensued. I recommended that my Mac-using cohorts try Mailplane. They could even expense the $30 tab. I was met with initial resistance. “This is just a web browser wrapper, so what’s the point?”

Powerful desktop application

It’s so much more than a web wrapper. Initial looks can be deceiving.

If you take the free 15-day trial, you’ll understand that there are many good reasons to partake in the app Ruben and Lars have created. It’s a native Mac email desktop client experience for users who want the best of both worlds—a powerful and modern desktop application packaged in a web interface.

With Mailplane, say goodbye to downloading gigabytes of emails. There’s much better search than with a desktop client, too. There’s best-of-class email threads, labels instead of folders in addition to all the other good stuff provided by Google.

Let’s not forget “Google quick compose,” one of Google’s latest features that finishes the writing of your sentences as if the mail-compose window was reading your mind. Use any Google-supplied theme you want, or create your own.

Sure, you could use your Gmail or G Suite accounts right in the browser. But you won’t get the desktop experience. Try managing multiple business and personal accounts in the browser. It goes without saying: having multiple session logins in different browser tabs often results in a hair-pulling nightmare.

Third-party apps

With Mailplane, I can seamlessly integrate with third-party apps like DevonThink, Omnifocus, Todoist, Receipts, Evernote and more.

As part of my workflow, I regularly use the task manager Omnifocus. When I need to create a task with an important email, I hit Mailplane’s “clips” button in the Mailplane toolbar. It automatically saves the email’s contents, and allows me to create a title and send it to whichever Omnifocus project I want. The text of the email, in addition to a link to the email, is now a task in that project. Now, when I open Omnifocus on any of my Macs, I can click the Mailplane link in the task, and it will take me back to the email in Mailplane. I use this feature multiple times daily. It’s one of my favorites. In my judgement, this feature alone is worth the $30 price tag.

I have not encountered another Mac email client that seamlessly integrates this well with Omnifocus to enhance my productivity.

There are eight new integrated Chrome extensions including: Grammarly, FullContact, LinkedIn, Gmelius, Mixmax, Hiver, Salesforce, and Zoom Scheduler. That’s on top of the already supported extension for RightInbox, Streak, Boomerang, and Clearbit Connect. Thank goodness that Grammarly is included. Grammarly ensures that my messages are clear, mistake-free, and impactful. I’d feel naked without it when composing email.

You have mail

Another favorite feature of mine is the Mailplane menu bar icon. It shows me how many unread emails I have. I can click on it to read my messages, in addition to creating one right from the menu bar. I use this all day long.

And of course there is mailto support, too. And as I already mentioned, you can reply to email from Mailplane’s desktop notifications. I use this feature all day long, too.

Mailplane has deep macOS integration with AppleScript, too. Among other things, you can compose messages with AppleScript. I have not found a need for this, however. Maybe that’s because I’m a Luddite at heart.

Google calendar integration

If your like me, the best tool for accepting Google calendar invites is in the body of an email in Gmail or G Suite. Many other email clients are clunky at best when it comes to this. This key feature alone is one factor why I choose Mailplane.

Also, with Mailplane, I can view multiple calendars with a click of a tab, too. And I can create calendar entries, events and invites just as seamlessly. A Google Meet dial-in number and video-conferencing link automatically will always be created, too. And when I know one of my clients isn’t using Google, I can use Mailplane’s Zoom calendar add-on to send Zoom calendar invites. It’s ridiculously easy.

Shortcuts galore

What’s more, I have assigned global keyboard shortcuts in Mailplane to email like a pro and to create calendar events. Not only can I boost my game with shortcuts, there’s quick navigation features allowing me to instantly click to a label, tab, account or even a bookmark. All day long I search messages across multiple accounts, too.

When it comes time to sharing files, like invoices or projects for example, I use Mailplane’s drag-and-drop feature. What’s more, Mailplane allows me to annotate and shape screenshots right in the app.

Let’s not forget that Ruben and Lars offer great customer service, too. They would always answer any of my emailed questions. That’s how I met them.

Ruben talks at MacVoices about Mailplane 4

2018-09-20T00:00:00+00:00

Ruben discusses the new features of Mailplane 4 at MacVoices.

Tidbits article about Mailplane 4

2018-08-28T00:00:00+00:00

The last few weeks were pretty exciting. We received a lot of great responses and already released several updates. Thanks to all of you for your feedback and patience if our support responses took a bit longer than usual.

Thanks to Titbits for their very informative article. Read it here.

Mailplane 4 has landed!

2018-08-04T00:00:00+00:00

We hope you’ve been enjoying Mailplane over the past few years. We’re happy to officially announce the release of Mailplane 4 today. It is a major update to our popular macOS application for Gmail, Calendar, Contacts & Google Inbox.

Mailplane 4 is packed with new features and looks better than ever. Check out some of its new features here!

If you bought Mailplane 3 in 2018, you’ll get a free upgrade. All existing customers are eligible for an upgrade discount.

The upgrade fee is $19.95 for a personal license and $24.95 for a family license. For site licenses, the fee is $19.95 per seat; benefit from a volume discount starting at three seats.

Make sure you run at least macOS Sierra (10.12). Update via Mailplane 3 (3.8.0 or higher) or download Mailplane 4 and enter your Mailplane 3 license to get the upgrade discount.

Thanks again for your support over the years. We’re grateful to be able to continue doing what we love - and that’s only possible thanks to our loyal customer base.

Ruben & Lars

Mailplane 4 is approaching

2018-06-27T00:00:00+00:00

How time flies! It’s been more than five years since we published Mailplane 3. A lot has been happening since then.

We published 47 Mailplane updates during that period and released https://replies.io – our secret weapon for customer support.

Replies enables our small developer team to personally handle all your questions. This means that when you contact us, you are always talking directly to the developers themselves. In return, we receive your invaluable feedback, unfiltered.

More than a year ago, we took all that feedback and started working on Mailplane 4. It supports highly-requested Chrome extensions, adds plenty of new features, and looks better than ever.

Hold on for just a few more weeks - join our newsletter below and we’ll email you the moment Mailplane 4 is available!

While we’re at it, here are the answers to some of your questions in advance.

If you bought Mailplane 3 in 2018, you’ll get a free upgrade.
All existing Mailplane 3 customers are eligible for an upgrade discount.
Mailplane 4 will only be available directly from us.

New Gmail UI

2018-06-24T00:00:00+00:00

Google started rolling-out a new face for Gmail last month.

The new Gmail UI allows you to organize emails directly from your inbox, snooze emails until later, use suggested replies and work offline in Gmail. If you’re interested, read about their timeline here.

With the exception of “offline work”, Mailplane supports the new UI. Make sure to use at least Mailplane 3.8.0 before you make the switch.

“Offline work” requires a Chrome browser and thus, Mailplane 3 won’t be able to support it because it is Safari WebKit based. But hold on a few weeks. We’re working on it.

Clearbit Connect & Mailplane

2018-01-21T00:00:00+00:00

Mailplane 3.7.2 supports Clearbit Connect as plug-in. It helps you to find employee email addresses for any company and displays useful contextual data for anyone who emails you. The perfect alternative to Rapportive.

To enable it, go to “Preferences… > Accounts > Plug-Ins” and check “Clearbit Connect”.

New Google Calendar

2017-11-27T00:00:00+00:00

Google started rolling-out a new Google Calendar last month. It has a fresh look and new features.

You should see a “Use new Calendar” button at the top of your Calendar screen if your account supports the switch. Click that button and Google Calendar will switch to the new mode. You can always switch back if you don’t like it.

Make sure to use at least Mailplane 3.7.1 before you make the switch.

Macoun 2017

2017-10-05T00:00:00+00:00

You’ll find us this weekend at Macoun in Frankfurt, Germany. It is the largest iOS & macOS developer conference in Europe.

Happy to meet you there!

ScreenCastsOnline Tutorial

2017-09-29T00:00:00+00:00

ScreenCastsOnline published a video tutorial. It takes a look at alternative email clients for Mac if Apple Mail isn’t going to cut it for you anymore. One of them is Mailplane.

ScreenCastsOnline is a membership based service. Their video can be accessed by anyone who has signed up for a no-obligation free trial membership. Or you can also download SCO Showcase for iOS if you like to purchase a copy of the full tutorial without having to take out a membership.

End of "Quick Links" and "Quote Selected Text"

2017-08-25T00:00:00+00:00

Google retired the “Quick Links” and “Quote Selected Text” lab features in Gmail.

We heard a lot of customers complaining and so we went ahead and implemented both features in Mailplane 3.7.0.

Quick Links: We call it Bookmarks in Mailplane. Use “Mail > Go to > Add Bookmark…” (⇧-⌘-B) to save frequent searches or links to individual messages in Gmail and navigate to them via “Mail > Go to > Navigate…” (⌥-⌘-G).

Quote Selected Text: Simply select some text in Mailplane and press either “Mail > Reply” (⌘-R) or “Mail > Reply All” (⌥-⌘-R).

Manage large events in Google Calendar

2017-08-10T00:00:00+00:00

Organizers working on large Google Calendar events (200 or more guests) can use Google Sheets to see who is attending and large group mailing lists are now updating if memberships are changing.

Read their full blog post here.

Google will stop reading your emails for ads

2017-06-24T00:00:00+00:00

Google will stop reading your email contents for ads inside Gmail. While this is definitively good news, ads will continue to appear inside the free version of Gmail based on information Google already pulls from sources as search and YouTube.

Paying Gmail users never received the email-scanning ads like the free version of the program, but some business customers were confused by the distinction and its privacy implications, said Diane Greene, Google’s senior vice president of cloud. “What we’re going to do is make it unambiguous,” she said based on this Bloomberg article.

Read her post here.

Gmail Blocks JavaScript Attachments

2017-05-15T00:00:00+00:00

.js has been added to the list of file type that are blocked by Gmail for security reason.

You’ll find the full list of blocked file types here: full list

Tips:

1) Change the file extension if you still want to send JavaScript.

2) Unfortunately it’s not so easy if you receive a JavaScript file from someone else. You need to use a native email client like Apple Mail. Gmail disables the download and the “Save to Drive” button.

Mailplane's 10th Birthday

2017-03-08T00:00:00+00:00

Ten years ago, Ruben published his very first blog post hoping to get a handful of test pilots for Mailplane. He started it a few months earlier on the beautiful Island of Corsica as an iPhoto plugin for himself to attach pictures to a Gmail message. From there, Mailplane grew to a site-specific browser for Gmail.

To his surprise the first 100 seats were filled within an hour and the website went under heavy load, filling up his waiting list. MacNN was the first blog back then which spread the news and other blogs were hot on their heels. At the end of 2007, Ruben was able to end the beta phase and officially release Mailplane.

In 2010, Lars joined Ruben to build Mailplane 3. It was a complete rewrite but still based on the same core values. Gmail should be a pleasure to use on the Mac. In 2013, we released Mailplane 3 and to our astonishment it is still around.

We want to say thank you! Ten years and 167 updates sound like incredible numbers to us. We wouldn’t have been able to do it without the support from our loyal customer base.

Looking ahead, 2017 will become an exciting year. We’re working hard to come up with some surprises for you. Stay tuned and join our newsletter if you haven’t done it already.

Lars & Ruben

Receive emails of up to 50MB

2017-03-02T00:00:00+00:00

Google just announced that Gmail is now able to receive emails of up to 50MB. Unfortunately, sending size limits will remain the same at 25MB. You still need to use services like Google Drive or Dropbox to send larger attachments.

Read their announcement here.

Smart scheduling in Google Calendar

2016-11-07T00:00:00+00:00

“Find a time” makes it easier to find a free time slot and room if you’re scheduling a meeting.

It is already available on iOS and Android and should come to the web (and thus Mailplane) by the end of the year. See it in action here.

New original message UI

2016-10-20T00:00:00+00:00

Gmail shows now a list of headers and the actual text of the message in the new original message UI.

Until now, Gmail only displayed the text of the message. The new UI makes it easier to check the headers (e.g. for spoofed email messages) and to download the original message.

Fantastical & Mailplane

2016-08-23T00:00:00+00:00

Fantastical 2.2.5 uses Mailplane to send calendar events when Mailplane is set as your default email application.

Simply go to “Preferences… > General” and enable “Make Mailplane default Mail Application”. And make sure to use at least Mailplane 3.6.5 and Fantastical 2.2.5.

Security warnings in Gmail

2016-08-18T00:00:00+00:00

Gmail started to introduce two new security warnings. Not all affected emails will be dangerous but it helps to decide if replying to or clicking on links in messages is safe.

You’ll see a question mark in place of the sender’s profile photo if a message can’t be authenticated.
If you receive a message with a link to a dangerous site, you’ll see warnings when you click on the link.

Read the full blog post here.

The Verge Review

2016-06-15T00:00:00+00:00

Mailplane has had the pleasure of being reviewed by Thomas Ricker from The Verge last month. It’s about the plainness of Mailplane in the sense that it gives you an unadulterated Gmail experience.

We’re very glad for that review because it perfectly resembles our main motivation behind Mailplane. We try to stay pragmatic and provide an app which makes plain Gmail as convenient as possible. Gmail isn’t the most beautiful thing in the world and so isn’t Mailplane. But we’ve been using Gmail since more than a decade and it still works for us without any major flaws. The ‘archive instead of delete’ approach was revolutionary back then and still is to a certain degree. Search works flawlessly and you can simply sign in without having to fiddle around with IMAP/POP/SMTP settings.

You can read the full review here.

Gentle notifications lab feature graduated

2016-05-29T00:00:00+00:00

Gentle Notifications lab became a fully supported feature. Enabling it in Google Calendar lets event notifications appear as desktop notifications instead of interruptive dialog boxes.

See our help article and read the full article here.

Reminders come to Google Calendar

2016-04-19T00:00:00+00:00

Google is adding the option to give yourself a reminder for your Calendar events! This new functionality will work on both your mobile device and your web based version of Gmail.

Google says:

Reminders stick around - If a reminder isn’t completed, it will appear at the top of your calendar until you mark it done.

Reminders work across Google - Reminders you create in Inbox, Keep, and the Google app will also show in Google Calendar.

Of course, you can use this feature within Mailplane as well.

Read the full article here.

Mailplane Gets Reviewed

2016-02-09T00:00:00+00:00

Mailplane has had the pleasure of being reviewed on quite a few sites since our last post and here’s the short and sweet of it!

MacStories says: “If you want a separate app for email but still want to use the Gmail web interface, look at Mailplane which offers that, plus the ability to use multiple Gmail accounts. If you need to be logged in to several Google accounts during the day for email, calendar, etc. then I think Mailplane is, by far, your best option. The other nice thing is that you can set Mailplane to be your default mail application, so it will respond to mailto links and email addresses from other applications.”

ChurchMag ran their “Best Email Clients of 2016” blog post and we made the cut!

In a post on Lifehacker, David gives Mailplane kudos as the Apps/software/tool he can’t live without, saying, “I have a ton of Google-based accounts, so Mailplane lets me check them all at once. For all my work at Lifehacker, Pocket tracks all my articles. As I read, I can email articles directly to Pocket and tag them for Lifehacker. If I don’t write about them immediately, I can send them directly to Evernote. Evernote keeps my Pocket tags, so I can easily track my article ideas when I’m stuck.”

In another “Best Email Clients” post, Six Colors says, “Mailplane puts my mail in a separate app, so I don’t have to manage it when I’m in my web browser, and it adds a bunch of Mac-specific features that the web-based version of Gmail can’t or won’t.”

Digital Trends ran an “Outlook alternatives” blog post and gave Mailplane a nice review: “Mailplane was specifically designed to run the popular email service, allowing users to sign in and switch between up to three Gmail accounts using a handful of streamlined tabs located at the top of the window. It’s a minimalist feature, but a welcome one, providing a simple means of transferring copy between personal and work accounts within seconds.”

The AppleInsider also rounded up the best Mac email clients and wrote fondly of Mailplane, mentioning one of his favourite features, “For example, I really liked the menu bar icon — a black M in the Mac menu bar that turns red when you have new mail. You can click on this M to get new mail, compose mail, or set do not disturb. When you select do not disturb, the M turns upside to look like a W.”

Other notable mentions: The Sweet Setup and OSW48.

Learning Series: Tips

2015-12-15T00:00:00+00:00

A little post about some features that perhaps you are not aware of.

Reset Mailplane: Did you know that clicking Mailplane > Reset Mailplane can help cure a lot of smaller hiccups? It’s a magical little feature that does not cause any change on the forefront of your Mailplane account, but can help re-sync Mailplane to Gmail and correct any off behaviour.

See the URL if you mouse over a hyperlink: You get a pop up similar to the browser experience, if you’ve got View > Show Status Bar enabled.

Trackpad Gestures: Use the two-finger slide gesture to go back or forward in the browsing history.

Do you send a lot of emails to yourself? We have a Hotkey feature to do so easily. Go to Preferences > Shortcuts to set up “Compose Note to Self”.

Close the main window: You can close the main window with File > Close Window (or Command-W) and bring it back with Window > Main Window (or Command-0). Closing helps to save resources, get your inbox out of sight but it’s still quick to bring it back again.

Custom Sounds: Would you like to add custom sounds into Mailplane? Read our tutorial here.

Gentle Reminders: Instead of the reminder interrupting your workflow, Gentle Reminders will blink in the background or you can choose a sound notification. Read our tutorial here

Happy Holidays!

Learning Series: Share Extension

2015-09-04T00:00:00+00:00

Do you find yourself struggling to share files and photos easily within Mailplane?

You can now use the OS X’s new ‘Share’ button within Mailplane directly.

See our tutorial on how to do so here.

Undo Send graduates out of Gmail Labs

2015-06-26T00:00:00+00:00

After spending an eternity as a Google Lab feature, Google finally added the ‘undo send’ option to the regular settings menu.

Click Settings, and scroll down to the ‘Send and Archive’ option. You can select from a few different time settings. What this means is that you have the selected amount of seconds to click ‘undo’ without the email making it to the recipient. It’s a very handy feature. Sometimes you catch a last minute spelling error or realize you forgot to add something, etc.

When using this feature in Mailplane, please note that while composing in a separate window, that window will not close until the allotted ‘undo’ time is past. So if you choose the 30 seconds option, that Mailplane window will close just after 30 seconds.

You can check out the Google article here.

Learning Series: Switch to Account

2015-05-02T00:00:00+00:00

Have you ever wondered what features you are missing in Mailplane? Well, we’re here to help you with that. We have a short series of blog posts that will introduce you to some features you might have been missing.

Firstly, our ‘Switch to Account’ feature. This is a nice way to manage your accounts when you run more than 3 or 4 tabs within a Mailplane window. It lets you organize your accounts to your preference and also keeps Mailplane running quick and smooth.

Give it a try by pressing Control-Command-A or by going to ‘Mailplane 3 > Switch to account…’.

We have three cases in the example above:

1) Dettel Inc., Hunch & Son and Fries Bros. are single tabs in separate workspaces. Switching between them is fast because it loads only a single tab. If you’d like to save space, you can also hide the tab bar via View > Hide Tab Bar.

2) Ruben (Email), Ruben (Calendar) and Lars are three tabs in the same workspace. Switching to one of them might take a bit longer because it opens all three tabs. But afterwards it’s very quick to switch between those tabs.

3) Girs Inc. is colored in gray and represents an account which hasn’t been loaded so far. Switching to such an account opens one Gmail tab and performs a sign-in.

My favorite stuff from 2014 by brettterpstra.com

2015-02-18T00:00:00+00:00

Mailplane got a nice little shout out on brettterpstra.com in his article called “My favorite stuff of 2014”.

The quote says: “Mailplane 3 is the only other app I’ve used recently, and it’s an excellent interface directly to Gmail when you want to use more Gmail-style searches.”

We also enjoyed reading in that article, the nice words to the Smile team who are behind the wonderful PDFPen app, which integrates so nicely with Mailplane. Read more about our PDFPen integration here.

End of the year Mailplane reviews

2014-12-26T00:00:00+00:00

“Try The Mac App For Google-holics” is the headline of this witty, easily read blog review. Tera highlights Mailplane’s Calendar integration, which sends notifications and allows you to easily accept invites and manage your Calendar, as well as the ability to hide Gmail ads. You can check out her full review here.

The popular site thesweetsetup.com also released a review of their top 3rd party email apps, and Mailplane made the ‘if you love Gmail’s web interface’ list. Saying, “At its core, Mailplane is a web browser that just displays the Gmail web interface, but wrapped around that are numerous niceties that connect everything you expect out of a Mac app to that interface.” They highlight the ability to use Mac-style shortcuts and some of our great integrations including Evernote and Omnifocus. You can check out their full review here.

Happy Holidays!

OS X Yosemite

2014-11-18T00:00:00+00:00

If you haven’t yet heard, Apple released another new OS X recently called Yosemite. It has a nice, sleek, sort of old style feel to it. You can read a bit about the new features here.

Mailplane 3 runs well on Yosemite with the latest update. We did try to adopt Yosemite’s new dark mode into Mailplane’s notifier icon but found many people missed the red notifier so we quickly brought it back. (We listen!)

Mailplane 2 didn’t function on Yosemite off the bat but we did release an update recently so that it would be able to open if you are running Yosemite. If you are getting an error that Mailplane 2 will not open on your machine, please do check for updates (Mailplane > Check for Updates...) or grab the new version via our download page directly.

Although Mailplane 2 does now open and run on Yosemite, this will be the last forecasted update to Mailplane 2. With the reduced support to older OS X versions on Apple’s and Google’s end it’s time to let it run it’s course. Thank you for your understanding.

Gmail Themes

2014-10-04T00:00:00+00:00

If you hadn’t taken notice yet, Gmail really updated the ‘Themes’ section within their Settings menu. There were approximately 35 Themes to choose from before and now the possibilities are unlimited. You can choose from one of their Themes, your own photos or even awesome Themes that have been created and shared by other users.

One of the coolest options is choosing a Theme that changes along with your city’s time of day. You can choose the sunrise/sunset option or seeing the weather change along with what’s outside your window, as an example. Pretty cool if you ask me!

Can’t decide what you want your Theme to be? They’ve got that solved too! Simply select the ‘Random’ option to get a surprise in your inbox each day.

To modify your Theme, select the Google Gear > Themes.

Read the full Gmail article here. Another, more techy option to modify your inbox is to use CSS. You can learn more about that here.

Help Page

2014-08-21T00:00:00+00:00

We hope you are enjoying your summer so far!

In case you hadn’t noticed it, we updated the way you can search for help on our help page. Our search box failed to pull up related entries some of the time so we’ve simplified and now you can see them by category, for easy finding.

If you find anything missing, wish there was a tutorial/guide on how to use a specific function or find yourself using a feature that we may not have highlighted before, let us know!

Tip: Did you know that you can see what features have been added to the newest updates? There’s a simple way to access that information so you can stay up to date with the features as you update. The easiest way is by clicking on the Mailplane menu, Help > Release Notes. You can also use this link to read all the latest details.

iLegalPad Review

2014-06-17T00:00:00+00:00

Mailplane recently had the opportunity to be reviewed by Ronald Schoedel of iLegalPad and Alaska User Group. He wrote up wonderful review and it’s well worth the read. I have a feeling you may learn a couple Mailplane related tricks from his write up, as he didn’t miss a thing!

Ronald even caught up with our newly revamped PDF attachment editing process. He wrote:

“One of Mailplane’s cleverest features is the ability to edit attachments you’ve received (such as PDFs for signature) and then turn around and email the edited version back, with just a few mouse clicks. This can be a real workflow time saver, freeing you from first saving a file, opening it, editing it, saving it again, locating it on your hard drive, and sending it back. As with OS X’s Mail.app, you can also drag and drop a file icon on the Mailplane app icon in your dock to attach a file to a new message, something that is impossible with the web client.”

Much thanks to Ronald for taking the time to write such a great, informative review. You can read the full review here.

Mailplane 3.2 and PDFpen discount

2014-05-27T00:00:00+00:00

Frustrated when you want to annotate a simple document you’ve received via Gmail? Us too!

You know the steps; Download the document, decide where to store it, open it with your favorite Mac app, go back to the email client, compose a reply, find the document again, attach it and finally send. What a waste of time!

Now it’s much easier with Mailplane 3.2. Right click to open the context menu, choose ‘Edit’, edit it as needed and then ‘Attach’. That’s it, you’re done!

Find out more about Mailplane 3.2

PDFpen
Need a great app for editing PDF documents? Our friends from Smile are offering a 20% discount until the end of May. Give it a try!

Gmail's New Inserting Interface

2014-04-21T00:00:00+00:00

Gmail has introduced a new interface for users to add inline images to messages. Now, when you click the ‘Insert Images’ icon, Gmail will show all the photos highlighted by Google+. The highlighted photos will be chosen by Google (using “clever algorithms”). These will be displayed by default when you visit your Google+ Photos.

You’ll see all of the photos displayed here, which include the auto backup photos from your desktop and mobile devices. You can choose photos that are not in the highlights section as well.

After choosing a photo, you can resize it easily by dragging on any of the corners. You can also include links to your albums, which allows for simple photo sharing.

If you want to add a photo as an attachment, simply choose the ‘as attachment’ option next to the ‘insert images’ button.

See the full article here.

Gmail Updates Security

2014-03-25T00:00:00+00:00

Starting last week, Gmail has made your email even more secure. Although Gmail has already used a secure HTTPS connection, the new update makes sure your emails are also encrypted when traveling directly within Google’s data centers.

What does it all mean? Well, it means that you don’t have to worry about anyone listening in on your messages no matter where you are (home, work, public wifi…) or what you’re on (computer, phone, tablet…). Of course, this will not protect you from Google itself and will not hold law enforcement agencies back from requesting access to your data. But encrypting while traveling within Google’s data centers makes it harder for anyone outside of Google to intercept information on their servers.

Other ways to stay safe is to ensure you are using a strong password and you can use 2-step-verification log in directly within Mailplane.

See the full article here.

Google Contacts Made Easier

2014-02-12T00:00:00+00:00

Google has added some new features that will make finding and handling your contacts much easier; the ability to star your contacts and a simple way to email your Google+ circles.

Starring Google Contacts

If you go into your Gmail Contacts, you’ll see the option to star your contacts just as you do with your inbox. The contacts selected here will be added to the Starred Group.

Google says that starring a contact will sync across to your Android Favorite Contacts as well. See the full Article.

Sending Emails to Your Google+ Contacts

Google has made it even easier to send emails to your Google+ Circles, even if you don’t have their email address.

When filling in a name in the ‘To’ field, Google will now show suggestions from your Google+ Circles. The neat thing is that Google will not show you their actual email address (see photo below). You will only be able to see their email address if they respond.

Photo taken from googlesystem.blogspot.ch

Since anyone can add anyone to a Circle, the security measures they have taken are pretty neat and should help prevent unwanted contact. When you send an email, if you are in that person’s Circle, the email will go to their Personal inbox tab. If you are not in their circle, the message will be sent to their Social tab and you aren’t able to send another message to that person until s/he responds or until they add you to their circle.

Anyone who Circles you can send you an email in Gmail. If you have a lot of followers, the default setting will limit the messages to your Circles. You can always edit your settings within Gmail’s Settings, under ‘Email via Google+’. View the entire article.

Apple Insider Review

2013-12-29T00:00:00+00:00

We received yet another fabulous review from Apple Insider for their Apps for your Mac; Best Email Clients article.

The article highlights Mailplane’s “easy-to-understand user interface” and raves about the ability to switch between multiple accounts easily. They also mention how easy it is to set up accounts, even those using two factor authentication. We try to keep things simple, so we appreciate the comments!

If you haven’t tried Mailplane 3 yet, feel free to take advantage of our free trial directly on https://mailplaneapp.com.

Check out the full article here.

Always show images

2013-12-16T00:00:00+00:00

Gmail is now handling inline images a little differently. Instead of being asked if you want to display the images within a message (which can sometimes contain malware from unknown senders), Gmail will now handle the images on their own secure proxy servers.

This means that images will be checked for known viruses and malware and you will never be asked if you want to “display images” again. Unless you want to, of course. Users can choose the option “Ask before displaying external images” under the General tab in Settings.

So you will see more of this:

And less of this:

Images courtesy of Gmail’s blog post. See the full article here.

Export Gmail and Calendar

2013-12-15T00:00:00+00:00

Gmail is adding another feature, which will be rolling out over the next couple months. This one should give users a bit of peace of mind.

With Google Takeout, you will be able to export your Calendar (which is not a new feature) and your entire mailbox (or selectively via labels) for access later.

I’ve had quite a few people write in asking if there was a simple way to do this, and unfortunately at the time, there was not. So this is a fantastic solution! If you ever needed to close a Gmail account, you wouldn’t have to lose access to your messages.

Gmail says, “You can download all of your mail and calendars or choose a subset of labels and calendars. You can also download a single archive file for multiple products with a copy of your Gmail, Calendar, Google+, YouTube, Drive, and other Google data.”

MacNews Mailplane Review

2013-11-29T00:00:00+00:00

We came across an awesome article written on macnews.com reviewing our most recent release of Mailplane 3 which includes an update to use Google’s new attachment experience.

The writer at Macnews summarizes by saying “MacTech uses Mailplane internally — and wholeheartedly recommends it for your Gmail and Google Calendar experience.”

We really appreciate the great review! You can check out the whole article here.

Love Gmail, Use Mailplane

2013-11-20T00:00:00+00:00

Today Wil Gomex from Mac360.com released a great little review article about Mailplane. We always love reading from our customers’ perspective!

Wil Says, “MailPlane makes using Gmail a more unified experience.”

He appreciates the ability to open Calendar directly within Mailplane in a tab, being able to attach screenshots directly from within Mailplane and having the option of enabling ‘Do not disturb mode’ to name a few of his points!

Check out the full article here.

OS X Mavericks

2013-11-14T00:00:00+00:00

How time flies! OS X Mavericks has already been in the wild for three weeks.

We are really excited about this release. It received some nice additional features but most importantly it is much more efficient when it comes to memory and CPU usage.

One pretty cool addition is their new ‘App Nap’ feature. If you have an app that isn’t doing something for you in that moment and hidden by another app (or all windows closed), App Nap will slow that app down. This conserves battery life and reduces CPU up to 23 percent. As soon as you click on that app again, it returns to full speed without skipping a beat. It’s a pretty genius idea!

And yes, Mailplane is ready for Mavericks. Get the latest version via Check for Updates... or download it from our download page.

We hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

The Idea Behind the New Compose

2013-09-16T00:00:00+00:00

We have had many emails to us regarding Gmail’s new compose window, so I figured I’d take a minute to explain the idea behind Google’s change.

Google says they are trying to make email “less fussy and formal”. They are trying to make the experience a little more like instant messaging. Jason Cornwell (Gmail’s lead designer) explains that one of the ways to do that is to simply “Give you permission to write shorter messages”.

He also says that “a very small percentage of emails involve a formatting action”. That’s the reason why it needs one more click to open the formatting options. Co.Design argues that Gmail now competes with SMS, instant messaging and social networks, so Google had to simplify the interface “to keep up with the times”.

While this seems like a neat option to the younger generation, I think that there are a ton of people that use GMail for work and do not want to compose in an instant message type boxes. Luckily Gmail has recently added the option to use the maximized compose box, which gives you back the “writing an email” experience. See also our recent blog post.

I prefer to compose emails this way, personally. Though the even better option is holding Shift and clicking to compose, which opens a moveable compose window within Mailplane. This allows you to refer back to the email while composing, a feature that this forgetful Mailplane/Gmail user really appreciates.

See here for the full article.

Adding events to Google Calendar

2013-09-16T00:00:00+00:00

Google has made it even easier to add events to your Calendar directly from your Gmail. You can now see that dates and times are lightly underlined within an email. Please note that the email won’t be underlined if you send it to yourself from your own account.

Here is a screenshot to show you this handy feature:

When you click on the underline, you’ll be able to preview the schedule and make any changes and simply add the item to your Calendar. The scheduled event will even include a nice link back to the original email.

This feature is currently only available in (US) English, but Google is working on adding it to other languages.

Old compose mode is no longer available

2013-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

Google has started dropping the old compose mode. Thus, you’re no longer able to switch back to the old compose mode. Luckily Mailplane 2.5.12 and Mailplane 3 are already supporting the new compose mode.

The new compose mode has been launched at the end of last year and Google improved it on a continuous basis since then. Check out their sum up to learn everything that’s important about that new compose mode.

Using the Full Screen Option with New Compose

2013-08-06T00:00:00+00:00

The new compose window just got better! Google released a nice little update allowing users to open a larger compose window instead of having to use the tiny chat-like box! You can open the full screen box by clicking the arrow on the inline compose box.

The nice thing is that it’s not ‘full screen’ really, but a maximized box that allows for you to see your labels, chat contacts, but still gives you the feel of writing an email and not writing in a tiny chat box!

You can manually enter the full screen mode as mentioned above manually when needed or you can also set the maximized window to be your default by clicking the arrow beside the trash can and clicking ‘Default to Full Screen’.

This could quite likely be that little something extra to get those inline compose box haters like me to start using and loving the new compose feature! :)

Mailplane 2.5.12

2013-07-28T00:00:00+00:00

Google introduced a new compose mode in Gmail at the end of last year. Mailplane 3 supported it from the beginning but Mailplane 2 required you to revert back to the old compose mode. We promised to not let Mailplane 2 ‘die’ if Google drops the old compose mode permanently.

We don’t make many promises, but we do we try our best to keep up with them. Our latest Mailplane update 2.5.12 does now support it. It isn’t up to the same level as in Mailplane 3 but you don’t need to worry anymore losing Mailplane if Google drops the old compose mode.

You can get it via Mailplane > Check for Updates... or our download page.

Thanks for your patience!

Mailplane 3 MacWorld Review

2013-06-27T00:00:00+00:00

We recently received an amazing review from MacWorld. You can check out the full article, though here is a little tidbit from their article:

"I briefly used Mailplane 2.5 a few months back, and Mailplane 3 represents a huge, applause-worthy improvement. Not only does it work flawlessly with Gmail’s recent interface updates, but it’s also considerably more polished in its look and feel than previous Mailplane versions. Big, friendly icons highlight the program’s sleek, silver look, and Mailplane 3 boasts numerous improvements beyond its surface appeal."

"I liked working with Mailplane 3, and I admire the hard work its creators put into the new version—it’s definitely the most polished and useful Gmail client I’ve yet tested."

As per usual, please don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any questions or comments!

Gmail Begins Year 10!

2013-06-27T00:00:00+00:00

Gmail is heading into it’s 10th year! How fast time flies! The Gmail blog posted an interesting article about the evolution of Gmail over the last 9 years!

Here is their posted ‘Evolution of Gmail’ flow chart for the last 9 years!

On that note, it has been 6 years since Ruben came out with Mailplane, looking for beta testers! We have gone through countless updates, added features and our latest baby, Mailplane 3!

Our Mailplane ‘Family’ has expanded as well, starting all the way out in Switzerland with Ruben, traveling the globe with Lars, and ending over here in chilly Canada with me, Jessica!

We truly hope (and believe!) that Gmail will survive the test of time so that we can continue to improve and grow Mailplane! We wouldn’t be able to do it without the support and feedback from the world’s best customers!

Congrats to Google and here’s to another 10 years of success! :)

Mailplane 3 in the Press

2013-04-26T00:00:00+00:00

The last two weeks were pretty exciting and we received a lot of great responses and we already released an update. Thanks to all of you for your support and patience if our support responses took a bit longer than usual.

Here are some articles about Mailplane 3:

Lars, Ruben & Jessica

Mailplane 3 Has Arrived!

2013-04-16T00:00:00+00:00

We’re very happy to officially announce Mailplane 3 today. This is a major update to our popular Mac OSX application for Gmail.

It’s completely new. After six years in service, it was time to re-think Mailplane. Mailplane 3 is still based on the same core values, but we redesigned and reconsidered it from the ground up.

In addition to the features of Mailplane 2, it supports Gmail’s new compose mode, previews attachments in QuickLook, integrates with Mountain Lion’s Notification Center and looks gorgeous on Retina screens.

And with AwayFind and RightInbox, we have two new plugins on board. Both were kind enough to give Mailplane users a 30% discount until May 15th. Click here for AwayFind and here for RightInbox. We urge you to check them out!

Last but not least, Mailplane 3 integrates Google Calendar and features tabs to switch between accounts in a blink of an eye. Visit our site to learn more.

If you’re ready to buy, you can purchase Mailplane directly from us. At the moment, we don’t have plans to sell Mailplane via the Mac App Store. See our FAQ for more details.

Our previous customers are eligible for a 20% upgrade discount and all customers who bought it on or after October 1 2012 will get the upgrade for free. Simply download Mailplane 3 and go to ‘Mailplane 3 > License…’.

Thank you again for your support over the years. We’re very grateful to be able to do what we love. And that’s only possible thanks to our loyal customer base.

Lars, Ruben & Jessica

How to remove Google Plus from your account

2013-02-28T00:00:00+00:00

We know some users with Google Accounts have Google Plus attached and do not like it that way. Well, keep reading to see how to remove Google Plus from your account!
All credit goes to Rob Griffiths @rgriff on Twitter (Thanks Rob!)

If you have an account with Google Plus attached, visit this site and disable Google plus: Downgrade Google Plus
After you sign in again, you should look like this:

We hope this helps some of you! :)

-Cheers
Jessica

http://freerksmit.com : ‘Mailplane - The best of both worlds?’ - A great review!

2013-02-24T00:00:00+00:00

Read a great Mailplane review this week on freerksmit.com! Thought I would pass it along!

Mailplane Review on Freerksmit.com

Mailplane - the best of both worlds?

... Conclusion: I have grown quite fond of the app. To me it provides a nice crossover between having the benefits of a stand-alone mail application and being able to use all (most) of Gmail's awesome features. Mailplane is probably not for everyone, but if you are a big time Gmail user I definitely recommend it.

Hello from Mailplane Support!

2013-02-13T00:00:00+00:00

I thought I'd finally 'drop in' and officially say "Hello" to all our fantastic Mailplane customers! I've spoken to many of you via our customer support and it's been a lot of fun learning new things and occasionally, teaching you new things! ;-)

My name is Jessica and I've been Mailplane's customer support gal for a year now. I'm actually out in Chilly Northern Canada, while the masterminds behind Mailplane originate up in Switzerland! We're quite world wide!!

Things have been pretty exciting learning Mailplane 2, dealing with all of the challenges that Apple's most recent OS X Mountain Lion brought along and now preparing for the big release of Mailplane 3! I have really enjoyed getting to know some of you as well as I feel I have, and I truly appreciate the kindness of our customers. I think we've lucked out!

If anyone ever has any issues, no matter how small, I'd much rather you send me a quick email than sit frustrated with Mailplane! So please don't hesitate in .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) at all. Bugs, feature requests....Just some LOVE....We love reading it all! :-P

Thanks again and I know I'll be 'speaking' with you soon! (Though hopefully more for the love and less for the bugs!)

Cheers;

Jessica
Customer Support Ninja
https://mailplaneapp.com/

Mailplane for Mac OS X Mountain Lion (10.8)

2012-07-25T00:00:00+00:00

Mac OS X 10.8 "Mountain Lion" is now available. There are two options to use Mailplane on this brand new OS:

Download and install the latest 2.5.7 preview
Or try our Mailplane 3.0 beta version.

If you encounter any problems, please let us know: support@mailplaneapp.com

Gmail Lab features “Automatic Message Translation” and “Smart Mute” Graduated

2012-05-06T00:00:00+00:00

Google has graduated (they are now part of Gmail) three lab features.

Automatic Message Translation
Title Tweaks
Smart Mute

I like the "Automatic Message Translation" most :)

Other lab feature were less successful and have been retired:

Old Snakey
Mail Goggles
Mouse Gestures
Hide Unread Counts
Move Icon Column
Inbox Preview
Custom Date Format
SMS in Chat gadget (SMS is still working, but the lab feature has been removed).

Read the full story here.

workhacks.com: Top 3 Gmail Management Apps for Mac

2012-04-02T00:00:00+00:00

Workhacks.com published a nice article about three Gmail apps for the Mac:

We gave Sparrow and Fluent a try, and although we are full believers in a more streamlined work flow and minimalistic approach to managing email, it is going to be hard to convert us from Mailplane. This is mostly due to the lack of integration with some of our favorite Gmail plugins (of which we have many) such as Find Big Mail, Other Inbox, Rapportive, Taskforce, Boomerang and Attachments.me.

Link to article

Mailplane 2.5.6 released

2012-04-01T00:00:00+00:00

Release notes:

NEW: Support for the new Gmail attachment uploader featuring a progress bar (doesn't need Flash anymore)
FIX: Support for Safari 5.2 beta
FIX: File attachment problems.
FIX: Discard message (Command-Option-X) opened the new Gmail label menu
FIX: Save/Discard button
FIX: Rare crash on startup when using Mailplane on Snow Leopard.

Gmail improvement: Star and label messages before you send them

2012-03-19T00:00:00+00:00

A very welcome new Gmail improvement!

Have you ever sent an important email that you wanted to follow up on, but a couple days later realized you hadn’t? Starting today, you can organize your messages before sending them by starring them or adding a label, making it easy to keep track of your sent messages.

When composing a new message, you can assign labels or star it by using the labels drop-down menu. As you’d expect, recipients of messages organized this way won’t see your labels or stars.

Link to Gmail blog post

“Typical Mac User” Interview at Macworld | iWorld 2012 [AUDIO]

2012-02-23T00:00:00+00:00

Victor Cajiao visited us at Macworld 2012 and recorded an interview.. If you like to skip to the interview, it starts after 19 minutes.

‘Macvoices’ interview at Macworld [VIDEO]

2012-02-23T00:00:00+00:00

Chuck Joiner visited our booth at Macworld | iWorld 2012. We talked about Mailplane and Replies.

‘ForMacEyesOnly’ Interview Recorded at Macworld 2012 [AUDIO]

2012-02-23T00:00:00+00:00

Barry Fulk visited us at Macworld | iWorld 2012 and recorded extensive 9 minute interview covering Mailplane 3.0 beta and Replies. The interview is published as episode of the famous "For Mac Eyes Only" podcast.

Click here to listen.

Macworld | iWorld 2012 - San Francisco [Picture]

2012-01-28T00:00:00+00:00

This was our second day at Macworld | iWorld 2012: Wow - that was really really good day. Tons of feedback, demos and chats with customers, the press, and people discovering Replies and Mailplane. This exhibition is great! We love it.

Ruben and Lars on day 2:

Tomorrow is the last day. If you are near by, please visit us in the "Mac OS X Zone", booth #228.

Where to find us at Macworld | iWorld 2012 San Francisco

2012-01-27T00:00:00+00:00

Lars and I had a exciting first day at the Macworld and we are looking forward to day 2.

In case you didn't find us, here's the floor plan:

Today, the exhibition is open 10am to 5pm. On Saturday it'll be from 10am to 4pm.

Mailplane 2.5.5 released

2012-01-21T00:00:00+00:00

Release notes:

NEW: OmniFocus plugin now adds a https Gmail link. Useful to open the linked Gmail conversations your browser. New plugin is required, please download here.
NEW: Select multiple files when using the "basic attachment uploader".
NEW: Clicking the "Attach file" and then "Choose file" shows the attachment optimization dialog.
UPDATED: French translation
UPDATED: German translation
CHANGED: Google account password recovery links are opened in the web browser
FIX: Rich text was not always focused when replying.
FIX: Unwanted "Unsaved changes" after sending a message in a separate window
FIX: Account > "Sign out" link didn't work
FIX: Prevent reading of corrupt cookie files
FIX: Unsaved changes dialog didn't work with new Gmail style

We’ll be exhibiting at Macworld iWorld 2012

2012-01-19T00:00:00+00:00

We will be exhibiting at Macworld iWorld, at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, Jan. 26-28 2012.

We enjoy the opportunity to demo our software, meet face-to-face with customers, and hear what you'd like to see from us in the future.

If you're planning to attend the show, please stop by and say hello. You'll find us at booth #228 known as the "OS X Zone".

Just launched: Replies a brand new app for email customer support [VIDEO]

2011-11-28T00:00:00+00:00

Mailplane got a new brother: I am very happy to announce 'Replies'! Replies 1.0 is a brand-new Mac application for answering customer support requests.

Check out the "elevator pitch" video, it only takes one minute and 25 seconds:

Tired of wasting time rewriting the same email responses? Give Replies a try.

Mailplane 2.5.4 released

2011-11-15T00:00:00+00:00

Release notes:

FIX: Blank/White screen when composing messages or accessing a message draft.
CHANGE: The 'Advanced Attachment' uploader has been disabled to fix the 'Blank/White' screen.
FIX: Gmail's New Style didn't work with Mailplane (Command-L; Send/Save Now/Discard buttons; Printing)

The new Gmail look [VIDEO]

2011-11-02T00:00:00+00:00

Mailplane review in Russian

2011-11-02T00:00:00+00:00

Nice and detailed Mailplane review written in Russian.

Google launches iOS Gmail application

2011-11-02T00:00:00+00:00

The new Gmail app will shortly be available for your iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.

Features:

Get alerted to new messages with push notifications and sounds
Find an email in seconds with search across your entire inbox
Autocomplete email addresses from your Gmail contacts or select from your device’s address book
Upload photos with a click using the new attachment button in compose view
On iPad, navigate your inbox and read your mail simultaneously with split view
Pull down your inbox to rapidly refresh if you’re eager for new mail
Swipe right to view your labels without ever leaving your inbox
Swiftly scroll through dozens of emails just by sliding your finger

Link to Gmail blog post

New Version of Gmail Coming Soon [VIDEO]

2011-10-21T00:00:00+00:00

Enjoy :)

Mailplane 2.5.3 released

2011-10-20T00:00:00+00:00

Release notes

CHANGED: Hide web clip ads when 'Preferences > Tweak UI > Hide Ads' setting is enabled
CHANGED: Improved Google Gears warning for Lion and Snow Leopard.
UPDATED: French translation by Michel
FIX: Gmail signature didn't get replaced when using Mailplane signatures
FIX: Support for Growl 1.3
FIX: Mailplane couldn't launch on case sensitive formatted drive (Mac App Store only)
FIX: Some Edit > Spellchecking & Grammar menu items didn't show checkmarks.
FIX: WebKit Memory leaks
FIX: Rich text copy/paste border around text problem
FIX: Cookies didn't get removed when 'Reset Gmail Session' was performed
FIX: Possible startup problem

Mailplane 2.5.2 released

2011-09-15T00:00:00+00:00

Release notes:

FIX: Word/Excel/Numbers/Pages attachments could not be uploaded.
FIX: Lion - Scrolling issues because of left/right swipe gestures. The swipe gestures have been disabled until a better solution is implemented.
FIX: Login page would not be auto-filled with username/password

The App Store version will be submitted later today.

Update September 16, 2011: App Store version has been submitted, now awaiting review.

Portuguese Mailplane Review

2011-09-06T00:00:00+00:00

Jarnio Sarmento has published a comprehensive Mailplane review on his blog. If you can read Portuguese, here it is.

Mailplane 2.5.1 released

2011-08-29T00:00:00+00:00

Release notes:

NEW: Added Window > Enter Full Screen menu item and keyboard shortcut
CHANGED: Removed Mail > Forward keyboard shortcut because of Full Screen mode
FIX: "Your action was not successful" error message when sending messages
FIX: Attachments could not be uploaded to the server
FIX: Chat in left sidebar couldn't connect to the server
FIX: Two-finger swipes for back/forward didn't work (Lion only)

Update (2011-08-29): Mailplane 2.5.1 has been submitted to the Mac App Store.

Around Apple reviews Mailplane

2011-08-17T00:00:00+00:00

Around Apple wrote an extensive Mailplane review in Russian. You can use the language button to translate it into English or eight other languages.

Mailplane 2.5 released

2011-08-09T00:00:00+00:00

Mailplane 2.5 has just been released. It includes two new features and Mac OS X Lion related bug fixes. To install it, either use the "Mailplane > Check for update" menu item or download it here.

Many MAC OS X Lion users wanted to use the new "full screen" mode in Mailplane. This version now adds support for it: You can switch using the icon in the title bar or the menu item/keyboard shortcut located in the "Window" menu.

Google added a new lab feature called "Preview Pane". With this version, all keyboard shortcuts, toolbar and menu items support the mode.

Other changes

NEW: Show Evernote toolbar icon by default when the Evernote application is installed
UPDATED: Romanian translation
FIX: "Grayed" main window when using Boomerang or Rapportive
FIX: "View" attachment link opened in default browser
FIX: Console.log messages on Lion
FIX: Apple Script definition file wasn't compatible with Lion
FIX: 'Reset Gmail Session' didn't work (Lion only)
FIX: Other Lion specific bugs & problems.

New Gmail lab feature: Preview Pane

2011-08-05T00:00:00+00:00

With the new 'Preview Pane' lab feature, your inbox looks a bit more like Gmail on your iPad and lets you quickly scan messages without opening them:

If you like to try it, you can enable the preview pane in Gmail > Settings > Labs.

For instructions, check out the Gmail blog post.

Gmail Snooze with Apps Script

2011-08-05T00:00:00+00:00

Read and answer emails at a later time by snoozing them. Google has published a script that lets you snooze an email for 1 to 5 days. Check out the Gmail blog post for more details.

For a more flexible solution, take a look at Boomerang..

Coming soon to Gmail: Pick your favorite inbox style

2011-07-08T00:00:00+00:00

Exciting news! Over the next few weeks, Google will add new inbox styles to Gmail:

Classic - This is the default inbox style most people are used to. In the Classic inbox, messages are ordered chronologically, with your most recent email at the top.
Priority Inbox - Important and unread messages appear at the top of your inbox, then starred messages, then everything else. Each section can be customized further, so you can create your own inbox style.
Important first - This style puts important mail at the top of the page (both read and unread messages). Everything else is in its own section at the bottom of your inbox. You may have noticed that we turned on importance arrows for everyone a few weeks ago; this inbox style separates messages with these arrows from those without.
Unread first - Simple: unread mail at the top; everything else at the bottom.
Starred first - Starred messages at the top; everything else at the bottom.

Gmail blog post

Mailplane 2.4.1 released

2011-07-07T00:00:00+00:00

Changes:

UPDATED: French translation
UPDATED: Romanian translation
UPDATED: German translation.
IMPROVED: More information in feedback email (see Help > Feedback & Support).
CHANGED: Mailplane makes sure it doesn't become the default web browser
NEW: Preferences/Advanced "troubleshooting" settings for disabling Flash, InputManagers and enabling the system's WebKit
FIX: Typos in 'no session' error message
FIX: Two-Factor didn't work when application password was stored and auto-login was enabled
FIX: Rapportive didn't load
FIX: Download > Import button was disabled for non-picture attachments
FIX: web-cookie error message on Leopard/Tiger

Either use the "Check for update" menu item or download it here.

A preview of Gmail’s new look

2011-07-02T00:00:00+00:00

Google is working on a new Gmail look. You can already try it as a Gmail Theme: 1. Click the gear icon in top right of the main window 2. Click the "Mail Settings" link 2. Select the "Themes" tab 3. Either "Preview" or "Preview (Dense)" to switch to the new theme.

Here's how the design looks like:

Link to Gmail blog post

Protect yourself from scams by knowing who really emailed you

2011-06-29T00:00:00+00:00

I just found this article on the official Gmail Blog:

I recently received an email from what looked like my bank saying I should update my account, but it looked a little weird. I clicked on the “show details” link and quickly learned it wasn’t from my bank after all; instead of being sent from First National Bank’s real email address, this message originated from a random South African domain. If I hadn’t viewed these details, I could have been tricked — it wasn’t entirely obvious that this email was a fake.

Phishing messages are a form of spam that attempt to deceive recipients in order to gain access to their personal information. Starting today, Gmail will automatically display more information about the origin of certain messages you receive so you can be better informed and protect yourself from getting tricked. If someone fakes a message from a sender that you trust, like your bank, you can more easily see that the message is not really from where it says it’s from.

Whenever you receive a message from someone who isn’t already in your Gmail contacts, the header will now show the sender’s email address like this:

Websites sometimes send emails on behalf of someone, like when your friend Mike sends you an article from abc.com using one of the site’s “Share this story” links. Gmail will now show this information more prominently:

Gmail will also automatically detect suspicious messages and display a warning when it looks like someone may have spoofed a Gmail address (we do this by evaluating the message’s authentication data).

If you determine that an email is a phishing attempt, please let us know by reporting it (you can always do this by clicking the down arrow next to “Reply” at the top-right of the message and selecting “Report phishing”).

Link to original Gmail blog post

10 Gmail gadgets to try

2011-06-23T00:00:00+00:00

Just found this list on Google's Gmail Blog:

There is a powerful but little known Gmail feature that lives in Labs called “Add any gadget by URL.” Once you turn it on, you can add iGoogle gadgets (or any gadget specified by an .xml file) to the side of your Gmail account. While most of these gadgets are built by third-parties and not owned or maintained by Google, they can be super handy.

To install any of these gadgets, follow those steps: 1. From your Gmail account, go to the Labs tab of Gmail Settings. 2. Look for the Lab “Add any gadget by URL.” Enable it, then click “Save changes.” 3. Go to the new “Gadgets” tab under “Settings” and add the relevant .xml address.

Wikipedia Look for a specific query right from Gmail. http://www.google.com/ig/modules/wikipedia.xml

Google Calculator Make some quick calculations while typing an email. http://calebegg.com/calc.xml

Note Add a sticky note to the corner of your Gmail account. http://www.google.com/ig/modules/sticky.xml

Remember the Milk If you’re a fan of this task management system, accessing all your “Remember the milk” notes from right within Gmail can be super handy. http://www.rememberthemilk.com/services/modules/gmail/rtm.xml

PolyClock Gives you the time of day for any place in the world. http://gad.getpla.net/poly/clock.xml

Currency Converter A real time currency converter. http://helloworld123---.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/currency-converter.xml

bit.ly URL shortener Lets you shorten URLs in a single click. http://hosting.gmodules.com/ig/gadgets/file/107368512201818821991/bitly-shortener.xml

Finally, you might be familiar with the last two gadgets, since they are also available as individual Gmail Labs:

Google Calendar Displays your Google Calendar agenda right from Gmail. http://www.google.com/ig/modules/calendar.xml

Google Docs Gives you quick access to your most recent documents. www.google.com/ig/modules/docs.xml

Find many more on this page

Link Gmail blog post

Improved Boomerang Plugin

2011-06-22T00:00:00+00:00

The Boomerang plugin (by Baydin) just got some improvements. It is now possible to schedule email in a "separate" compose window, for instance.

And Boomerang got a lot faster and easier to use, too. Check out their blog post for all details

Click here to learn more about the Mailplane integration

Gmail Lab features: 3 Labs graduations, 1 retirement

2011-06-02T00:00:00+00:00

The "Superstars", "Nested Labels", and "Advanced IMAP Controls" all graduated to normal Gmail features. Google decided to retire the "Google search box" lab feature.

Official Gmail blog post

Introducing the Gmail people widget

2011-05-31T00:00:00+00:00

I personally use Rapportive to learn more about the people behind the emails. However, some of you are might be more interested about the interactions that you’ve had with a person rather than the social networks on which they appear. Seeing and solving that lack of context, [Google has introduced a People Widget for Gmail(http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2011/05/introducing-people-widget.html):

Email is just as much about the people you communicate with as it is what you communicate about. We think it can be helpful to view relevant information in context, which is why over the next two weeks we’re rolling out a new people widget located on the right hand side of your messages. The people widget surfaces content from friends, family and colleagues that is already available to you but may be hard to find and makes it easier to connect with them.

Next to every email message you can now see contextual information about the people in that conversation including recent emails you received from them, relevant Buzz posts, shared documents and calendar events. You also have quick access to a variety of ways to communicate with individuals, start a group chat or schedule a meeting with groups of people.

Link to Gmail blog post

Mailplane 2.4 released

2011-05-16T00:00:00+00:00

NEW: Evernote Integration

With the new Mailplane Evernote integration you can easily create notes linking to a Mailplane conversation and import attachments to Evernote.

Learn more...

Other improvements & Bug fixes:

UPDATED: French, German, Japanese, Romanian and Swedish translation
FIX: Quick Links didn't show up in Mail > Goto > Navigate.
FIX: Mailplane shared cookies with Safari when used on Mac OS X Lion
FIX: Main window did show up when starting Mailplane as hidden startup item.
FIX: Delay error message when no network was available at startup.
FIX: Exporting MS-Word from Google Docs didn't work
FIX: Help window didn't show correct title

Gmail: Store up to 25000 contacts

2011-05-05T00:00:00+00:00

Gmail now stores more contacts and increases the maximum size of a contact:

Gmail used to have a limit of 10,000 contacts. For most of us, this was way more than enough, but we heard from some of you who use Gmail to communicate with more than 10,000 people. We want you to be able to store all of your contacts in a single place, so starting today, we’ve increased the limit for all Gmail users, including all those of you who use Google Apps, to 25,000 contacts.

Also, previously an individual contact could be no larger than 32KB — big enough for most people, but not always sufficient for those who like to keep a lot of notes on individual contacts. Now, each contact may be up to 128KB in size, allowing you to store more information in the notes field.

Link to official Gmail blog post

New Gmail Lab Feature: Background Send

2011-05-02T00:00:00+00:00

Last week, Google published a new Gmail lab to make sending messages faster:

We’re always looking for ways to make Gmail faster. One of the most common delays happens after you hit that “Send” button, when you’re waiting patiently for a couple seconds for Gmail to send your message. If you send a lot of email, that can add up to a lot of lost time.

To help give you that time back, there’s a new feature in Gmail Labs called Background Send. Once you turn it on from the Labs tab in Settings, you can get on with what you’re doing while Gmail quietly sends off your mail in the background. You can keep reading your inbox, compose new messages, chat with people — all the things you’d usually do. You can even send more than one message in the background at the same time.

If anything goes wrong (maybe you got that email address wrong, or maybe your connection had a hiccup), you’ll see a warning message that prompts you to go back and fix the issue or try again later.

The “Send error” message will stay around until you decide to fix things, so you don’t have to stop whatever you’re doing right away. The only catch is that you should wait for your mail to finish sending before you close Gmail or shut down your computer. If messages are still being sent in the background when you shut down, your messages are probably going to be lost. You’ll know you’re good to go when you see a message like this:

Official Gmail blog post

Custom background image themes

2011-04-14T00:00:00+00:00

Google just announced custom background image themes:

Themes in Gmail are great — there are tons to choose from and they give your inbox a personalized look. But we’ve heard from many of you who thought it would be even better if you could give Gmail an even more personalized look and create themes completely on your own.

For a while, you’ve been able to set your own colors, and starting today you can customize your inbox with your own background image too.

Just go to the Themes tab in Settings and choose “Create your own theme.” There, you can select background images for the main area and the footer.

You can pick from any of your Picasa images or upload a new one. Enjoy!

Link to Gmail blog post

Mailplane 2.3.1 released

2011-04-03T00:00:00+00:00

Release notes:

NEW: Support for the Boomerang Gmail plugin: Boomerang for Gmail lets you take control of when you send and receive email messages. To install: Go to Preferences > Accounts > Plug-Ins and enable the plugin.
NEW: Mac OS X 10.7 (Lion)
DISABLED: TrueNew Plugin
FIX: Attach files doesn't work on Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
FIX: Rapportive plugin was not able to login
FIX: Possible fix for the external links didn't open in Firefox.
FIX: Auto-BCC caused focus to jump to BCC field.
FIX: Window sizes were not remembered.
UPDATED: French, Swedish, Romanian, Japanese, German, and Spanish translations
AUTO-UPDATED (new preferences are English): Catalan, Icelandic, Italian, Japanese, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese (Portugal), Russian, Chinese (Traditional), Chinese (Simplified)

Note to App Store users: The update has been submitted yesterday, it'll soon be reviewed by Apple.

Lyn image browser supports Mailplane

2011-03-31T00:00:00+00:00

Mirko Viviani just released Lyn 1.0.2 with Mailplane integration. Lyn is lightweight and fast image browser that natively supports all popular image formats like JPEG, TIFF, JPEG 2000, PNG, TGA, RAW, HDR, OpenEXR, PPM, animated GIF and any other image format supported by Mac OS X.

To email a picture from within Lyn, select some pictures and press the Mail toolbar item. Just make sure Mailplane is your default email client, the setting can be found in Mailplane > Preferences > Advanced.

Time Magazine: Mailplane is one of the ‘four ways to make Gmail better’

2011-03-25T00:00:00+00:00

Time magazine's Techland published 'four ways to Make Gmail better'. Among them, Rapportive, 0boxer, Gmail Mobile, and Mailplane:

Mailplane. If you use Gmail on a Mac, this utility lets it run like a standalone app rather than a Web site. It's particularly handy if you have more than one Gmail account. $24.95 (after a free trial) and worth it.

Read full article here

Switching to Gmail got easier

2011-03-23T00:00:00+00:00

Visit the Gmail switch page to move from your old Email account to Gmail:

Switching email accounts can be painful. The idea of losing years of accumulated contacts and messages can sound daunting, to say the least. Luckily, switching to Gmail doesn’t mean you have to start totally fresh.

Back in 2009 we announced tools that let you import mail and contacts from other providers, such as AOL or Hotmail. Today we’re announcing the addition of fourteen more international domains to our list of supported email providers:

aol.com.br

hotmail.es

hotmail.it

hotmail.co.jp

Kimo.com

live.jp

yahoo.es

yahoo.cn

yahoo.com.cn

yahoo.com.hk

yahoo.com.sg

yahoo.com.tw

yahoo.co.jp

yahoo.it

We’ve also created a site, gmail.com/switch, with basic information and how and why you might want to switch to Gmail. If you’re reading this blog, chances are you’re already a Gmail user, but perhaps this link will be handy for friends and family.

Link to Gmail announcement

New Gmail lab feature: Smart Labels

2011-03-11T00:00:00+00:00

The new "Smart Labels" lab feature automatically filters messages according to "Priority Inbox" information. You'll get Bulk, Notifications, and Forums folders:

Last year, we launched Priority Inbox to automatically sort incoming email and help you focus on the messages that matter most. Today, we're launching a complementary feature in Gmail Labs called Smart Labels, which helps you classify and organize your email. Once you turn it on from the Labs tab in Settings, Smart Labels automatically categorizes incoming Bulk, Notification and Forum messages, and labels them as such. “Bulk” mail includes any kind of mass mailing (such as newsletters and promotional email) and gets filtered out of your inbox by default (where you can easily read it later), “Notifications” are messages sent to you directly (like account statements and receipts), and email from group mailing lists gets labeled as “Forums.”

If you already use filters and labels to organize your mail, you may find that you can replace your existing filters with Smart Labels. If you're picky like me and still want to hold on to your current organization system, Smart Labels play nice with other labels and filters too. On the Filters tab under Settings, you'll find that these filters can be edited just like any others. From there, you can also edit your existing filters to avoid having them Smart Labeled or change whether mail in a Smart Label skips your inbox (which you can also do by just clicking on the label, then selecting or unselecting the checkbox in the top right corner).

Link to the official Gmail blog post

Gmail: Click to call phone numbers

2011-03-11T00:00:00+00:00

Gmail now detects phone numbers in emails and will convert them to clickable links:

With the ability to call phones built right into Gmail, you no longer have to get out your phone and retype a number anytime someone sends you one in an email or chat message. Starting today, you’ll see that phone numbers appear as links, like this:

Just click the number, and Gmail’s dialpad will pop up, already populated with the number you’re trying to call.

Click “Call” and voilà! Of course, if you don’t already have the voice and video plugin installed, you’ll be prompted to do that first.

You’ll also see a little green phone icon next to numbers in your contacts which you can use to do the same thing.

Link to Gmail blog post

Gmail back soon for everyone

2011-03-01T00:00:00+00:00

0.02% of all Gmail users temporarly lost access to their accounts. According to Google, this problem should be fixed very soon. For status updates, visit the "Apps Status Dashboard".

Here's the contents of the Gmail blog post:

Imagine the sinking feeling of logging in to your Gmail account and finding it empty. That’s what happened to 0.02% of Gmail users yesterday, and we’re very sorry. The good news is that email was never lost and we’ve restored access for many of those affected. Though it may take longer than we originally expected, we're making good progress and things should be back to normal for everyone soon.

I know what some of you are thinking: how could this happen if we have multiple copies of your data, in multiple data centers? Well, in some rare instances software bugs can affect several copies of the data. That’s what happened here. Some copies of mail were deleted, and we’ve been hard at work over the last 30 hours getting it back for the people affected by this issue.

To protect your information from these unusual bugs, we also back it up to tape. Since the tapes are offline, they’re protected from such software bugs. But restoring data from them also takes longer than transferring your requests to another data center, which is why it’s taken us hours to get the email back instead of milliseconds.

So what caused this problem? We released a storage software update that introduced the unexpected bug, which caused 0.02% of Gmail users to temporarily lose access to their email. When we discovered the problem, we immediately stopped the deployment of the new software and reverted to the old version.

As always, we’ll post a detailed incident report outlining what happened to the Apps Status Dashboard, as well as the corrective actions we’re taking to help prevent it from occurring again. If you were affected by this issue, it’s important to note that email sent to you between 6:00 PM PST on February 27 and 2:00 PM PST on February 28 was likely not delivered to your mailbox, and the senders would have received a notification that their messages weren’t delivered.

Dealing with label overload

2011-02-28T00:00:00+00:00

New Gmail settings to help you cope with many labels:

Many Gmail power users have elaborate label systems to help organize their mail -- some help file and retrieve mail, others help manage their attention.

We created the “Hide read labels” and “Hide Labels from Subjects” labs to help people manage their ever-growing lists of labels. Given the popularity and usefulness of these labs, we’ve decided to graduate them into fully-fledged features. We’ve also made a few improvements to how they work. First, instead of simply hiding all labels from subject lines, you can now choose which labels to show or hide. We also spiffed up and organized the Labels tab in Settings as well as the dropdown menus for each label in the label list.

If you had enabled either Labs feature, your settings should automatically be carried over. If there was a glitch in the matrix, or if you want to change the visibility for a bunch of labels quickly, you can adjust them en masse by going to the Labels tab in Settings.

Link to Gmail blog post

12 new file formats in the Google Docs Viewer

2011-02-19T00:00:00+00:00

Google just improved the attachment view functionality. It's great to support for Pages, Excel and Photoshop attachments:

The Google Docs Viewer is used by millions of people every day to quickly view PDFs, Microsoft Word documents and PowerPoint presentations online. Not only is viewing files in your browser far more secure than downloading and opening them locally, but it also saves time and doesn’t clutter up your hard-drive with unwanted files.

Today we’re excited to launch support for 12 new file types:

Microsoft Excel (.XLS and .XLSX)

Microsoft PowerPoint 2007 / 2010 (.PPTX)

Apple Pages (.PAGES)

Adobe Illustrator (.AI)

Adobe Photoshop (.PSD)

Autodesk AutoCad (.DXF)

Scalable Vector Graphics (.SVG)

PostScript (.EPS, .PS)

TrueType (.TTF)

XML Paper Specification (.XPS)

Link to Gmail blog post

Advanced sign-in security for Gmail users

2011-02-11T00:00:00+00:00

Until yesterday, Google's two-factor authentication procedure was for Google Apps accounts only. Now the feature can be activated by all users:

2-step verification requires two independent factors for authentication, much like you might see on your banking website: your password, plus a code obtained using your phone. Over the next few days, you'll see a new link on your Account Settings page that looks like this:

Take your time to carefully set up 2-step verification—we expect it may take up to 15 minutes to enroll. A user-friendly set-up wizard will guide you through the process, including setting up a backup phone and creating backup codes in case you lose access to your primary phone. Once you enable 2-step verification, you'll see an extra page that prompts you for a code when you sign in to your account. After entering your password, Google will call you with the code, send you an SMS message or give you the choice to generate the code for yourself using a mobile application on your Android, BlackBerry or iPhone device. The choice is up to you. When you enter this code after correctly submitting your password we'll have a pretty good idea that the person signing in is actually you.

It's an extra step, but it's one that significantly improves the security of your Google Account because it requires the powerful combination of both something you know—your username and password—and something that only you should have—your phone. A hacker would need access to both of these factors to gain access to your account. If you like, you can always choose a "Remember verification for this computer for 30 days" option, and you won't need to re-enter a code for another 30 days. You can also set up one-time application-specific passwords to sign in to your account from non-browser based applications that are designed to only ask for a password, and cannot prompt for the code.

Here's the complete Gmail blog post

Does Mailplane support 'two-factor' login? Yes, it does. But it's not perfect, yet. Check out the detailed Mailplane how-to article here.

BusyCal adds support for Mailplane

2011-02-09T00:00:00+00:00

BusyCal is a great iCal replacement for your Mac. With the release of the 1.5.1 version, BusyCal adds support for Mailplane. This is great news, as iCal can only use Mail.app to send email.

BusyCal has much more to offer, of course. You can easily sync different calendars, there are recurring todos, live weather feeds, sticky notes, and more. But most importantly, Google Calendar integration is perfect.

More information

Mailplane 2.3 released

2011-02-06T00:00:00+00:00

NEW: 'Hide Ads' Preference

You can now hide the sponsored links in Mailplane. Just turn on the 'Hide ads' setting in Preferences > Tweak UI.

NEW: 0Boxer Plugin

0Boxer is a plugin for Gmail. It turns "inbox zero" into a game. You get points when you answer, archive, or delete email.

NEW: Improved External URLs

All links inside a window opened with Command-Click open inside Mailplane instead of your default web browser.
For security reasons: When a window contains 'non-Gmail' content, the URL is displayed in the status bar.

NEW: New message window title now contains the account name

When you compose a message in a separate window, you now see the current account in the title bar of the window.

Tip: To change the name of the account, go to Preferences > Account and give it a 'Nickname'.

UPDATED: Plugins

The TrueNew plugin got some fixes and improvements. Thanks to the Mailroom Team for creating this update.
Improved Rapportive integration, now supports Facebook and Linkedin

UPDATED: Translations

French by Michel Tribet
Romanian by Ovi Pascui
Spanish by Juan Antonio Vermejo

Bug fixes

IMPROVED: Unread message counters refresh when unread conversation is opened in a separate window.
FIX: Click the reply box caused focus problems. Now the reply box is hidden, please click 'Reply' or 'Forward' links or use the Command-R (Mail > Reply menu item) to create a new reply.
FIX: Cookies were stored for accounts not saving the password.
FIX: Some attachments could not be downloaded.
FIX: Crash after closing a separate document and then switching to another account.
FIX: Crash when using AppleScript to attach a non-existing file
FIX: Command-L didn't work in searches
FIX: Separate window position wasn't correctly remembered
FIX: Focus jumped to 'subject' field when opening a new compose window and typing into the 'to' field.
FIX: Download window filename was wrapped by word instead of character.
FIX: Delay when miniaturizing a window

Google improves Gmail contact groups

2011-02-05T00:00:00+00:00

Google published two Gmail contact group improvements:

Organizing your Gmail contacts into groups can save you time when you’re writing messages to multiple people at once. For example, if you create a “Family” group, instead of addressing an email to your mom, dad, sister and brother, you can just start typing “Family” and Gmail will complete the rest. Today we’re making two improvements to contact groups which should make them easier to create and control.

First, let’s say you have a list of coworkers you think you’ll want to contact again in the future. Now, you can paste that list into the Add to group menu when viewing your “Coworkers” group to populate or extend it.

Second, we’ve added the ability to specify which one of your contact’s email addresses you want to use in a given group. So, for example, you can now use your friend’s personal address in your “Poker Buddies” group and that same friend’s work address in your “Coworkers” group.

Read Gmail blog post

VVMac Magazine: Mailplane Receives 4.5 out of 5 Stars!

2011-01-21T00:00:00+00:00

The French VVMac (Vous et Votre Mac) magazine has just published a very favourable Mailplane review: Mailplane got 4.5 out of 5 possible stars!
The review is in issue 64, which is now available at newsstands throughout France, Belgium, and Switzerland.

View or download the full review as a PDF file. (French)

New Gmail Lab Feature: Find Labs with search-as-you-type

2011-01-20T00:00:00+00:00

Another lab Gmail feature has become available. This one makes the lab easier to manage:

Have you ever found it just a little bit tricky to find what you were looking for on the Gmail Labs Settings page? Scrolling was ok when there were a handful of Labs, but now that there are over 50 it’s another story. A lunchtime discussion made us realize that having to rely on the browser’s search function or endless scrolling makes it hard to find the Labs features you want. So another Gmail engineer named Manu and I decided take an afternoon and address this. The result is an addition to the Settings page which filters the visible Labs as you type.

You can also link directly to the search results (e.g. http://mail.google.com/mail#settings/labs/video) if you’d like.

Link to Gmail blog post

MacNN review: Mailplane gets 4.5 out of 5 stars

2011-01-03T00:00:00+00:00

Ilene Hoffmann (MacNN) has just published an comprehensive review: Mailplane received an excellent 4.5 out of 5 stars!

You might wonder why anyone would pay for an email client, when you can access Gmail from any browser, but this is a feature-rich program. The features to login to multiple accounts, new mail notification sounds, access to the Mail Address Book, optimizing photos are just a few of the features I like. A handy list comparing Gmail in a web browser and Mailplane exists on uncomplex’s web site and makes it clear that Mailplane offers more than Gmail in a browser.

Read the full review.

TUAW: The best Mac application I used in 2010

2010-12-27T00:00:00+00:00

TUAW editor TJ Luoma compiled a list of his favorite apps. Mailplane is part of the list:

Mailplane ($25) turns Gmail into a real Mac app, including keyboard shortcuts, the ability to drag files to new messages and a whole host of other niceties. If you manage multiple Gmail and/or Google Apps mail accounts, Mailplane is a must-have.

Link to the blog post.

Very useful website to teach your parents and grandparents

2010-12-15T00:00:00+00:00

There's new website to teach your parents or grandparents. There are fifty youtube videos available and you can directly send them to your parents email address.

Examples:

how to create an email vacation responder,
how to use copy/paste,
how to take a screenshot
how to shorten a long url
how to create an online calendar
...

Check it out, it's cool.

Gmail improvement: Restore your contacts

2010-12-15T00:00:00+00:00

Google improved Gmail contacts, you can now undo deletions:

There are many times in life when a do-over can come in handy. Perhaps you clicked “Send” on an email that was better left unsaid, or “Delete” on a contact before realizing you still needed it. Just like Gmail lets you unsend a message, you can now have a second chance with your contacts too.

We’ve added a new feature to Google Contacts that allows you to revert your contact list and undo any mistakes made up to 30 days in the past. Let’s say you accidentally deleted a bunch of contacts or wiped the contact data from your Gmail account by mistake while syncing to another device. Visit Gmail’s Contacts section, select “Restore contacts” in the “More actions” menu, and choose the time you would like to revert to.

Your contacts will be restored to exactly the same state they were in at that time — any contacts that didn’t exist then will be deleted and any that have since been added will be deleted. Don’t worry, you can always undo this change by restoring again if you didn’t get the time right.

Official Gmail blog post

Email delegation: Granting access to your Gmail account

2010-12-15T00:00:00+00:00

The Email delegation feature was offered to Google Apps "Premier" customers only. Now it's available to any Google Mail user. It's very useful when several people need to share the same inbox:

Read the official Gmail blog post here.

Google improves Gmail’s Priority Inbox

2010-12-07T00:00:00+00:00

Priority Inbox got some improvements:

It's been a couple of months since we first launched Priority Inbox. Since then, we’ve heard from a number of you who’ve found it helpful in combating information overload, and we’ve seen evidence of this in aggregate too. Looking at median time in conversation view, we noticed that typical Priority Inbox users spend 43% more time reading important mail compared to unimportant, and 15% less time reading email overall as compared to Gmail users who don’t use Priority Inbox. We’re excited about the impact Priority Inbox can have, and we’re listening to your feedback in order to make it even better.

For example, one thing we heard is that you wanted to know why Gmail classifies certain messages as important. So starting today, when you hover over an importance marker you’ll see a short explanation (e.g. “Important because you marked it as important” or “Important mainly because of the people in the conversation.”).

You also told us that you thought Priority Inbox didn’t learn fast enough, so we've made it much more responsive to your manual corrections.

If you have more ideas for improvements, please share them with us on our new product ideas page — or just vote on ideas that others suggest. Your feedback will help us make Priority Inbox work for even more Gmail users.

In case you didn't know: Mailplane supports Priority Inbox.

Link to Gmail blog post.

Gmail improvements: Smart mute and easy unmute

2010-12-02T00:00:00+00:00

If you use Gmail to subscribe to mailing lists, you'll love the new 'smart mute' lab feature and the new ways to unmute conversations:

First up is “Smart Mute,” a new Gmail Labs feature that helps solve the problem of conversations that just won’t die. You know the ones I’m talking about: those emails with 10+ people cc’d where everyone replies all, but you lost interest five emails ago. The current mute behavior doesn’t do well in these situations since the messages are addressed to you. You end up with muted messages in your inbox, and the only way to prevent these emails from coming back to your inbox has been to create a custom filter for a specific conversation.

Since you’ll likely be muting more than ever, we also added easier ways to unmute muted conversations. Previously, the only way to unmute a conversation was to move it to your inbox -- not super intuitive and useless if the conversation was already in your inbox. Now there are two new ways to unmute a conversation. The first is through an "Unmute" option in the "More actions" menu. You’ll see this when you view or select a muted conversation.

If you’re viewing a muted conversation, you’ll see the second new way to unmute: the "Muted" label next to the subject line now behaves just like all other labels. Clicking on the "X" will remove the Muted label and unmute the conversation.

Link to original Gmail blog post

New Gmail lab feature: Recently used emoji

2010-12-01T00:00:00+00:00

Google has released a new Gmail lab feature: "Recently used Emoticons".

Read official Gmail blog post.

MacView.de reviews Mailplane

2010-11-22T00:00:00+00:00

MacView.de just published a nice Mailplane review in German.

Alfred launcher supports Mailplane

2010-11-08T00:00:00+00:00

The latest Alfred release (starting with 0.7.2) supports Mailplane out of the box.

Just make sure Mailplane is your default Mail application in Mailplane > Preferences > Advanced and use Alfred's Email 'Result Actions' to quickly create emails with attachments:

Watch the video on Vimeo

Check out Alfred, it's a real productivity booster and it's cute, too.

Five new Gmail Themes

2010-11-05T00:00:00+00:00

Today, Google released five new Gmail themes. Here are three examples:

You can choose your theme in Gmail > Settings > Themes.

New Gmail lab feature: Auto-advance to the next conversation

2010-10-27T00:00:00+00:00

Many Mailplane users have wanted to auto-advance to the next conversation after performing an archive or trash operation. Mailplane has offered an option in the Tweak UI preference pane, but it only worked for archive. Now Gmail solves the problem by adding the new auto-advance lab feature:

Today, whenever you open an email in your Gmail inbox and then archive or delete it, you’re taken back to your inbox. Many of you have asked for the ability to instead go to the next conversation. Keyboard ninjas will already be familiar with the “]” and “[“ keyboard shortcuts for archiving and going to the next/previous conversation. For everyone else (and for people who frequently mute or delete conversations rather than archive them) we’re offering a new feature in Gmail Labs called “Auto-advance,” which automatically opens the next conversation after you archive/delete/mute the one you’re on.

To get started with “Auto-advance” go to the Labs tab in Settings, enable it, and click the “Save changes” button. By default, “Auto-advance” will advance to the previous (older) conversation in your inbox -- perfect for people who read their newest mail first. If you usually read your oldest email first and would rather advance to the next (newer) conversation, you can change the direction from the General Settings tab.

Link to Gmail blog post

Mailplane 2.2.1 released

2010-10-06T00:00:00+00:00

Release notes:

NEW: Support for 'two-factor' Gmail authentication.
NEW: Catalan translation thanks to Josep Maria Farrarons-Turró!
FIX: Accounts migrated to the new infrastructure for Google Apps accounts could not sign in.
FIX: Mailplane signatures were always inserted when using the user_script bcc feature and changing the email sender.
FIX: Clicking "Back to inbox" after clicking a Growl notification didn't open the right inbox (for example Priority Inbox).
FIX: User styles didn't get loaded into separate windows

Turn off Gmail’s conversation view

2010-09-30T00:00:00+00:00

I absolutely love Gmail conversations. Whenever I try another email client, I terribly miss them. If you do not agree, here's the solution:

From the official Gmail blog

you can now get Gmail served up sans conversation view. Go to the main Settings page, look for the “Conversation View” section, select the option to turn it off, and save changes. If you change your mind, you can always go back.

This feature will be rolling out over the next few days so if you don’t see it immediately, check back in a bit.

Gizmodo recommends Mailplane

2010-09-24T00:00:00+00:00

The folks at Gizmodo rely on Mailplane!

Mailplane, an excellent Gmail client for Mac that many of us Gizmodoers rely on every day, just got a new upgrade (2.2) that brings support for Gmail's actually-pretty-useful Priority Inbox, among other things. Great software that we enthusiastically recommend.

TUAW: Mailplane 2.2 adds several key features

2010-09-22T00:00:00+00:00

TJ Luoma just published an excellent post on TUAW. It is a comprehensive account of the Mailplane 2.2 features.

Here is his favorite feature:

My favorite new feature is the ability to drag a Mailplane URL directly from the title bar. I use this with BusyCal's URL field if I need to connect an email with a meeting. It works for conversations or searches.

And the conclusion:

Version 2.2 is a pretty significant update despite its minor numerical increment.

Naturally, you can always use Gmail in a browser for free rather than spending money on an app like Mailplane. But I've used Mailplane since it was in beta, and I would never go back. It is very actively developed, with new features regularly being added. Having a real Mac app for a mail client is well worth the money for anyone who spends a lot of time in email. If you manage multiple Gmail or Google Apps email accounts, the easy switching alone makes it worth the asking price.

Link to TUAW blog post

PlanetGraham: Mailplane App. The best way to use Gmail on a Mac.

2010-09-21T00:00:00+00:00

Kerry Graham just published a very favorable Mailplane review:

But a few years ago I came across a shareware program called Mailplane that changed everything for me. Mailplane is a small shareware application that gives you all the features of Gmail's web interface via a desktop application. And if you have multiple Gmail accounts, you can manage them all in the same application, without having to sign in and out of your different accounts.

Alarms & Mailplane: Schedule Gmail conversations

2010-09-21T00:00:00+00:00

Alarms is an extremely handy application I use everyday. It was the main reason why the "Drag Mailplane URL from the title bar" feature was implemented.

Well, what is Alarms anyway? Alarms "sits" in the menu bar and alerts about scheduled events. When an event is due it'll display a Growl notification, flashes its icon, and plays a sound.

The coolest part is how Alarms lets me create an event. I just drag a document, a Safari URL, or in most cases a "Mailplane URL" to the title bar.

Alarms slides the screen down to reveal a calendar (it reminds me of TimeMachine) and allows to drop the URL on the day or hour to schedule it.

When the event is due, I click the "eye" icon to open the URL and work on it. Mailplane will then open the linked conversation and I've all required information to complete the task. When I am done, I just check the mark and the task disappears.

Sounds useful? It is. Check out Alarms

Mailplane 2.2 released

2010-09-20T00:00:00+00:00

Mailplane 2.2 has just been released. It's free for all registered Mailplane users. Either use the Mailplane > Check for update menu item or visit the download page to get it.

Translations: French, German, Norwegian Romanian, Swedish, and Traditional Chinese have been updated by the translators. All other languages contain a couple of English words.

Support for Gmail's Priority Inbox

Mailplane now supports Gmail's recently released Priority Inbox. You can now set your default inbox by choosing between the Priority Inbox, the normal inbox, or a custom label. The default inbox is used to calculate the unread message counter and to display Growl notifications. The new "Inbox" (or Mail > Go to > Inbox menu item) can be used to open your default inbox. You'll find the settings in Preferences > Accounts > Options.

Drag Mailplane URL from the title bar

Just drag the icon to any application and you can easily link back to a Gmail conversation or Gmail search.

TrueNew: The 'unseen' message counter

TrueNew displays two counters: the unread message counter and the unseen counter. If you'd like to give it try, it's in Preferences > Accounts > Plug-Ins. More...

Rapportive: Contact information instead of ads

Mailplane now includes Rapportive, which replaces the sponsored links on the right-hand side with useful contact information. When viewing a conversation, Rapportive displays data from Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and other sites. To enable Rapportive, go to Preferences > Accounts > Plug-Ins. More...

Automatically open 'safe' attachments

Like Safari, Mailplane can now automatically open 'safe' attachments after downloading. Just turn on the setting in Preferences > General > Downloads. You can now directly open the last downloaded attachment with the Downloads > Open menu item.

CRM/Helpdesk Integration: Compute BCC address

Mailplane's auto-insert-BCC feature lets you integrate with a CRM, HelpDesk or similar service. Now you can write a script to compute a BCC address based on the Gmail account and its from/to addresses. Here's the how-to article.

Bug fixes

Contacts > More Actions > Export didn't work
File > New, File > New Separate, iPhoto plugin/mailto URL etc. didn't work for some users.
Fixed unwanted resizing of picture attachment optimization window.

New Gmail lab feature: Video chat enhancements

2010-09-17T00:00:00+00:00

Found on the official Gmail blog. If you use Gmail video chat, you may want to check out this new lab feature:

If you use video chat in Gmail, you might be interested in a new Labs feature we just rolled out that allows you to preview new video chat features before they're turned on for everyone. Visit the Gmail Labs tab under Settings, turn on "Video chat enhancements," and right away, you'll see higher resolution video and a bigger video chat window.

The higher resolution video uses a new playback mechanism which enables widescreen VGA and frees up valuable resources on your computer. For it to work, both you and the person you're chatting with will need to have the lab turned on. Remember that you can always revert to standard video chat by disabling the lab.

We plan to add more video chat enhancements to this lab in the future, so if you have it on you'll automatically get those too. Feel free to post your comments or report any issues you encounter in the video chat forum (we also follow #googlevideochat on Twitter).

Link to Gmail blog post

ComputerWorld: Mailplane works perfectly with “Priority Inbox”

2010-09-10T00:00:00+00:00

Mitch Wagner, author of the Tool Talk Blog on Computerworld, just published a great post about Gmail's new "Priority Inbox" feature: Gmail Priority Inbox, 10 days later.

And here's what he wrote about Mailplane:

Similarly, Priority Inbox breaks new mail notifications on desktop mail as well. Fortunately, for Mac users, there's a workaround: Mailplane is a great $24.95 Gmail client for the desktop, I've been using it for a long time. The developers are working on a new version, still in beta, which allows you to customize desktop notifications to only show new Priority Inbox messages, or new messages with any user-configurable label. I've been using a it all week, it works perfectly.

If you like to try the brand new "Priority Inbox" in Mailplane, visit this download page. Make sure to read the release notes found on the same page.

Read the full blog post: Gmail Priority Inbox, 10 days later

5 tips for using Priority Inbox

2010-09-10T00:00:00+00:00

A few days again Google release "Priority Inbox". Now, they just posted 5 tips for using Priority Inbox:

1. Customize your sections

By default, Priority Inbox has three sections: "Important and Unread," "Starred" and "Everything Else.” But that doesn't mean you have to leave them that way. You can make a section show messages from a particular label (like your “Action” or “To-do” label), add a fourth section, or change the maximum size of any section. Visit the [Priority Inbox tab under Settings][2] to customize your sections, or do it right from the inline menus.

2. Train the system

If Gmail makes a mistake, you can help it learn to better categorize your messages. Select the misclassified message, then use the importance buttons at the top of your inbox to correctly mark it as important or not important.

3. See the best of your filtered messages

You can set up Priority Inbox to show you not just the best of your inbox, but also the best of messages you filter out of your inbox and might otherwise miss. Just change your Priority Inbox settings to “Override filters” and Gmail will surface any important messages that would otherwise skip your inbox.

With this option turned on, you can use filters to archive more aggressively and worry less about missing an important message.

4. Use filters to guarantee certain messages get marked important (or not)

If you read and reply to a lot of messages from your mom, Gmail should automatically put incoming messages from her in the “Important and unread” section. But if you want to be 100% sure that all messages from your mom (or your boss, boyfriend, client, landlord, etc.) are marked important, you can create a filter for messages from that sender and select “Always mark as important.” Similarly, if you regularly read messages from your favorite magazine, they should automatically get marked as important. If you’d rather they end up in the “Everything else” section, you can create a filter to never mark them as important.

5. Archive unimportant messages quickly

One of the features that can help make you more efficient is the ability to archive all of the visible messages in the "Everything Else" section at once. Just click on the down arrow next to "Everything Else" and select the "Archive all visible items" option. If you want to be able to archive even more messages at once, you can increase the maximum number of messages that show in that section from the same drop-down.

Link to the official Gmail blog post.

FrüchteMix Blog: Swiss Mailplane Review in German

2010-09-07T00:00:00+00:00

Remo Röthlisberger has written a nice Mailplane review. The blog title is "Mailplane – Mehr aus GMail machen!" (Mailplane - get more out of Gmail). Check out his full review here.

Mailplane 2.1.11 released

2010-09-04T00:00:00+00:00

Release notes:

FIX: Marketplace applications didn't appear in the Gmail "More" menu.
FIX: Safari crash when clicking a link inside Mailplane and Safari wasn't already running.
FIX: mailto: URLs stopped working with the release of 2.1.10
UPDATED: Romanian Translation (thanks to Ovi Pascui)

Google is trimming privacy policies

2010-09-03T00:00:00+00:00

According to this Gmail blog post, Google doesn't change its privacy policy it just simplifies the documentation.

Three interesting pages:

Email overload? Try Priority Inbox

2010-09-01T00:00:00+00:00

Another very interesting Gmail improvement: "Priority Inbox":

Gmail has always been pretty good at filtering junk mail into the “spam” folder. But today, in addition to spam, people get a lot of mail that isn't outright junk but isn't very important—bologna, or “bacn.” So we've evolved Gmail's filter to address this problem and extended it to not only classify outright spam, but also to help users separate this "bologna" from the important stuff. In a way, Priority Inbox is like your personal assistant, helping you focus on the messages that matter without requiring you to set up complex rules.

Priority Inbox splits your inbox into three sections: “Important and unread,” “Starred” and “Everything else”:

As messages come in, Gmail automatically flags some of them as important. Gmail uses a variety of signals to predict which messages are important, including the people you email most (if you email Bob a lot, a message from Bob is probably important) and which messages you open and reply to (these are likely more important than the ones you skip over). And as you use Gmail, it will get better at categorizing messages for you. You can help it get better by clicking the or buttons at the top of the inbox to correctly mark a conversation as important or not important. (You can even set up filters to always mark certain things important or unimportant, or rearrange and customize the three inbox sections.)

After lots of internal testing here at Google, as well as with Gmail and Google Apps users at home and at work, we’re ready for more people to try it out. Priority Inbox will be rolling out to all Gmail users, including those of you who use Google Apps, over the next week or so. Once you see the "New! Priority Inbox" link in the top right corner of your Gmail account (or the new Priority Inbox tab in Gmail Settings), take a look.

Read the Gmail blog post here.

Easier event scheduling in Google Calendar

2010-09-01T00:00:00+00:00

Google improved Google Calendar scheduling inside Gmail:

A new repeating event editor

The old interface for creating recurring events was clumsy and took up too much space on the screen. Now you'll see only a summary of your recurring event on the main event page; if you want to edit it, you can use a window that opens when you select the "Repeats" checkbox.

A new tool to help you find a time for your event

You'll notice a new tab on the event page that should make it easier to find a good time to schedule an event. When your friends or coworkers give you permission to see their calendars, you can click this tab to see a preview of their schedules and hover over their events to see what conflicts they might have. This should make scheduling a tad easier, especially for events with large numbers of guests. For Google Apps users, the new schedule preview can also show data from other calendar services using our Google Calendar Connectors API.

Read the Gmail blog post.

Call phones from Gmail (for U.S. users only)

2010-08-26T00:00:00+00:00

Is Gmail's voice and video chat becoming a serious Skype competition? Now, it even supports calling to normal phones.

The new feature is only available for Gmail users in the USA. Hopefully, this will change some day.

Gmail voice and video chat makes it easy to stay in touch with friends and family using your computer’s microphone and speakers. But until now, this required both people to be at their computers, signed into Gmail at the same time. Given that most of us don’t spend all day in front of our computers, we thought, “wouldn’t it be nice if you could call people directly on their phones?”

Starting today, you can call any phone right from Gmail.

Calls to the U.S. and Canada will be free for at least the rest of the year and calls to other countries will be billed at our very low rates. We worked hard to make these rates really cheap with calls to the U.K., France, Germany, China, Japan—and many more countries—for as little as $0.02 per minute.

Read Gmail blog post

Updates to Contacts and a (slightly) new look for Gmail

2010-08-25T00:00:00+00:00

You certainly already noticed it. Google has updated the look and feel of Gmail and contacts:

Contacts now works more like the rest of Gmail, so if you know how to use Gmail, now you should automatically feel comfortable in Contacts too. And you'll see a bunch of the features you've requested, including:

Keyboard shortcuts (go to Contacts and hit "?" for the full list)

Sort by last name (look under "More actions")

Custom labels for phone numbers and other fields

The ability to undo changes you've just made

Automatic saving

Structured name fields, so you can adjust titles, suffixes, and other name components

A bigger, more prominent notes field

New Gmail lab feature: Find docs and sites quickly with Apps Search

2010-08-25T00:00:00+00:00

Google is famous for its search, but search in Google Apps documents or Gmail attachments was rather lacking. Here's a new lab feature to improve search in Google Apps and Gmail:

Where is that presentation? Was it attached to an email? Or in Google Docs? If you’re not sure, you may end up searching several places with the same query in order to find it. With the new “Apps Search” lab, we just made that all a bit simpler.

Once you enable it from the Gmail Labs tab under Settings, the “Search Mail” button in Gmail will say “Search Mail and Docs” instead, and your search results will include matching documents and sites in addition to email messages.

We also added “Did you mean?” style suggestions, for those of us who make mistakes (who doesn’t?):

You may notice that mail results show up just as fast as before while non-mail results may take a tiny bit longer. That way, if you’re just looking for an email, having this lab enabled won’t slow you down.

Read Gmail blog post.
Related post on TechCrunch

Gmail Rich text signatures

2010-08-25T00:00:00+00:00

This is old news as I am currently catching up with the Gmail blog.

Gmail now offers Rich text signatures, too. They are very easy to setup and support different from addresses:

The next time you log in and visit the Settings page, you'll see a rich text editor in the signature section. Here, you can customize your signature by adding pretty formatting, links, and images — or decide to leave things nice and simple.

Gmail also now supports a unique signature for each email address associated with your account. So, if you send mail using a custom "From:" address, you can use a different signature for that address. From the Settings page, you can edit the signature for each account by changing the email address that appears in the dropdown menu.

You can continue to use Mailplane's rich text signatures. Here are the differences:

In Mailplane you can use HTML to define your signature. This gives you more freedom, but it is more involved as you need to know HTML.
Mailplane signatures work in Mailplane only. The Gmail signatures work in all desktop browsers.
You can define more Mailplane signatures and easily replace a signature with a keystroke.

Mailplane signatures - more info:

Galactic Inbox: An HTML5 game inspired by Gmail

2010-08-25T00:00:00+00:00

The Gmail blog mentions a special Gmail game implemented with HTML5.

Here's the direct link

Mailplane 2.1.10 released

2010-08-07T00:00:00+00:00

FIX: Text cursor stopped blinking after installing Safari 5.0.1
FIX: Different crashes and freezes after installing Safari 5.0.1
FIX: Spellchecker didn't work after installing Safari 5.0.1
FIX: File > Page Setup didn't work when main window had the focus (only worked from the "print" window)
IMPROVED: The Rapportive plugin is loaded using https:// instead of http://
FIX: Better clear caches on account switch to prevent "Loading takes longer" issue.
NEW: Latest MacBook Pro NVIDIA card switching workaround. Disable Adobe Flash plugin using a preference. To change the preference, open Terminal and enter
```
defaults write com.mailplaneapp.Mailplane DisableFlashPlugin -bool YES
```
UPDATED: French translation (Preference window)
FIX: SAMLAccounts preference didn't work when Google Gears was disabled.

Know issue

Drag and drop of the following file types has no effect: mailloc, mailtoloc, and webloc

Grandmother’s guide to Gmail video chat

2010-07-02T00:00:00+00:00

Just found this movie on the official Gmail blog. Enjoy ;)

And here is the printable guide

View .doc attachments right in Mailplane

2010-06-25T00:00:00+00:00

Google improved the attachment viewer in Gmail. You can now directly preview a Microsoft Word document:

If you receive Microsoft® Word files as attachments in Gmail, you can now view them with a single click — no need to download, save, and open files with a desktop application when you just want read them. The Google Docs viewer that allows you to view .pdf, .ppt, and .tiff files in your browser now supports .doc and .docx formats too. Just click the "View" link at the bottom of a Gmail message and the viewer will take it from there. If you decide you want to edit the file, clicking "Edit online" will open it in Google Docs, or you can download it to your desktop from there.

Read the full Gmail blog post.

Mailplane 2.1.9 released

2010-06-25T00:00:00+00:00

Release notes:

NEW: Insert links into the message body by dragging *.weblog (and *mailoc) files to the message body
NEW: Portuguese/Portugal translation.
UPDATED: French translation
FIX: Text clippings drag and drop to Mailplane didn't work
FIX: Drag and drop of files to create attachments didn't work together with latest Flash 10.1 plugin.
FIX: Safari 5: Preferences > Accounts > Signatures > Insert signature above quoted text when replying would set the focus below the signature instead of above.
FIX: Performance improvement when composing replies.

Cup Magazine Mailplane review

2010-06-25T00:00:00+00:00

Mailplane just got reviewed on the Cup Magazine Apple web site and blog (Italian).

Gmail video and voice chat improvements

2010-06-09T00:00:00+00:00

Google has improved Google video and voice chats. The new toolbar now lets you easily install the video chat internet plugin. Here's the difference:

You'll find oldie but goodie features such as "Go off the record," "Block", and "Send SMS" in a more aptly named "Actions" menu of each chat window.

Gmail blog post.

New Google Tool: Migrating from Microsoft Outlook

2010-05-28T00:00:00+00:00

Google published a new tool to easily migrate your Microsoft Outlook mail, calendars, and personal contacts. The migration tool available for Education and Premier Google Apps users. Read the Google announcement here.

New Gmail lab feature: Move the attachment and other icon column

2010-05-28T00:00:00+00:00

There's a new lab feature available: "Move Icon Column":

The icon column in Gmail helps to easily distinguish the various types of items in your inbox (e.g. messages with attachments, chats, calendar invitations, Buzz posts, and more). It's usually all the way over on the right of the screen, but with screen sizes becoming increasingly wider, I chose to make a very modest addition to Gmail Labs to try and give these icons greater visibility.

I found it much more useful to have this column situated on the far left of my inbox -- and it turns out that many of my colleagues did too.

If you’d like try out "Move Icon Column," simply visit the Labs tab under Gmail Settings, find this new Lab in the list, hit enable, and then save. It’s not big and it’s not clever but hopefully this lab might just be helpful for you too; it's the little things in life after all.

Read Gmail blog post.

10 tips for using Gmail at work

2010-05-28T00:00:00+00:00

Google published 10 useful tips for business users.

Tip #2 is "Add a custom signature to the bottom of your email messages." In case you need multiple signatures and you like to add formatting and pictures, check out Mailplane's rich text signatures. Here are some how-to articles:

Coder 007 reviews Mailplane

2010-05-10T00:00:00+00:00

Coder 007 reviews Mailplane and gives it 4 out of 5 stars:

Mailplane: a great way to enjoy Gmail as a desktop application [REVIEW]

Czech Mailplane review

2010-05-07T00:00:00+00:00

Lukáš Gregor published a detailed Mailplane review in Czech. You can it read it either on the MujMac or the iTime blog website.

Mailplane 2.1.8 released

2010-04-28T00:00:00+00:00

Release notes:

NEW: Swedish translation by René Hedemyr - thanks René!
FIX: Drag and drop images from Safari and Firefox
FIX: Unsaved changed dialog didn't close automatically.
FIX: Send/Save/Discard/Apply and Remove Label menu items/toolbar buttons/keyboard shortcut stopped work because of some Gmail changes.
FIX: Better handling of Socialwok gadget errors (causes too many redirects because of missing cookies)

Mailplane Review in Catalan

2010-04-20T00:00:00+00:00

Josep M. Farrarons wrote a detailed Mailplane review in Catalan: Mailplane: usant Gmail com aplicació d’escriptori.

Mailplane 2.1.7 released

2010-04-02T00:00:00+00:00

Release notes:

FIX: CMD-L showed empty list (Gmail changes).
UPDATED: Spanish translation by Juan Antonio
FIX: Unwanted scrolling when using Google Talk in the main window (Spanish only)
FIX: Auto-Signin didn't work when password wasn't stored in the keychain
FIX: Possible fix for account switching/loading problem.

Softpedia Editorial Review: Mailplane gets 4 out of 5 stars

2010-03-29T00:00:00+00:00

The Softpedia editors just published an extensive Mailplane review. Mailplane got a VERY GOOD (4 out of 5 stars)!

Mailplane is a friendly piece of software that aims to enhance and optimize the way you write and manage e-mails. It lets you add new buttons in the Toolbar and play with the shortcuts, so that you can switch views, convert attachments or minimize pictures within a click. Mailplane provides you with a different approach for labeling more e-mails at a time and a good search method.

Link to the Softpedia review.

Mailplane 2.1.6 released

2010-03-26T00:00:00+00:00

NEW: Support for iWork/Send via Mail

Mailplane now supports the Share > Send via Mail menu items. Depending which app you use (Numbers, Pages, Keynote), you can send your document as a Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF, or as native format. As a result, Mailplane will compose a new message and attach the document to it.

NEW: Load "Rapportive" Gmail plugin

Load "Rapportive" Gmail plugin to replace ads with contact information. You can enable the plugin per account. Open Preferences > Accounts > Advanced to change the setting.

Updated Translations

Chinese (Traditional & Simplified) by Jim Chiu
French by Michel Tribet
German by Patrick Scheips
Norwegian by Vidar Ramdal
Romanian by Ovi Pascui
Russian by Igor Terekhov

Bug fixes

FIX: Cmd-T only worked on first result page.
FIX: Some keyboard shortcuts/menu items/toolbar items stopped working because of Gmail changes
FIX: Rare authentication/Load problem at startup
FIX: iPhoto Gallery "Tell a friend" now inserts the link/text into the message body.
FIX: External URLs clicked in a "separate" window opened inside Mailplane instead of the preferred browser.
FIX: "Inserting Image" lab feature didn't work in separate windows.
FIX: Italian only: Chat in main window caused unexpected scrolling.

Detecting suspicious Gmail account activity

2010-03-25T00:00:00+00:00

Google added a new Gmail account security feature. It'll alert you if your Gmail account gets accessed from another country:

To determine when to display this message, our automated system matches the relevant IP address, logged per the Gmail privacy policy, to a broad geographical location. While we don't have the capability to determine the specific location from which an account is accessed, a login appearing to come from one country and occurring a few hours after a login from another country may trigger an alert. By clicking on the "Details" link next to the message, you'll see the last account activity window that you're used to, along with the most recent access points.

Official Gmail blog post.

Goodbye Mail.app – Hello Mailplane

2010-03-23T00:00:00+00:00

Martin Sauer posted a very positive Mailplane review on the well known German apfelquak.de blog. The title: "Goodbye Mail.app – Hello Mailplane":

Kurzum: nach wenigen Tagen frage ich mich, wie ich ohne das Tool auskommen konnte. Mal davon ab, dass ich an Gmail mehr und mehr Gefallen finde, macht Mailplane die Sache erst richtig rund. Die knapp 19 EUR, die diese Software kostet, sind meines Erachtens durchaus angebracht.

Link to the blog post.

Gmail Blog: Better controls for buzz in your inbox

2010-03-15T00:00:00+00:00

For many users, the Buzz inbox notifications got too noisy. According to this article on the official Gmail blog, Google has worked on two improvements:

1) Settings to control what gets sent to your inbox
From the Buzz tab of Gmail Settings, you’ll be able to choose whether the following buzz items get sent to your inbox:

Comments on your posts

Comments on posts after you comment on them

Comments on posts after you are @replied on them

2) Explanations for why posts get sent to your inbox and an easy-to-find “Mute” link
You'll see a new message at the top of each post in your inbox that explains why it’s there: someone commented on your post, you were @replied, etc. We’ve also added an easy-to-find “mute” link that will stop subsequent comments from bringing the conversation back to your inbox.

Borsato: Mailplane review in Dutch

2010-03-13T00:00:00+00:00

"Borsato" just published a nice Mailplane review in Dutch:

Als je graag met Gmail werkt en op zoek bent naar een volwaardige desktop mail applicatie dan is Mailplane zeker de moeite waard om het eens uit te proberen!

Check out the full review.

New Gmail lab feature: Refresh POP accounts

2010-03-09T00:00:00+00:00

If you have configured one or more POP3 accounts in Gmail, then you'll love this new lab feature:

Turn on "Refresh POP accounts" from the Labs tab under Settings, and the refresh link at the top of your inbox will not only update your inbox with your new Gmail messages, it will also fetch messages from any other accounts which you have set up.

Read the full story on the official Gmail blog.

Mailplane 2.1.5 released

2010-03-02T00:00:00+00:00

Release notes:

NEW: Support for the new and fast Gmail "separate" windows (more information).
FIX: PDF menu item wasn't created on Mailplane installation
FIX: Growl notifications didn't open in the main window when the main window was hidden.
FIX: Adobe Flash 10.1 beta 3 prevented attachments uploads.
FIX: Memory leak when using drag and drop
FIX: Inbox or separate window could become grey after a drag and drop operation
FIX: Initial URL for Gmail didn't always have the correct scheme
FIX: Separate window didn't close after archive, delete, or report spam.
CHANGE: Removed custom WebKit nightly frameworks as the Google has fixed the "duplicating chat box" problem.
FIX: open location in AppleScript didn't work
FIX: Typo in help menu

Gmail Labs graduation and retirement

2010-03-02T00:00:00+00:00

Until now, the list of Gmail lab features was growing and growing. A few days ago, Google has shortened the list by graduating and retiring some lab features.

Graduating:

These features are now part of the standard Gmail user interface:

Search Autocomplete
Go To Label
Forgotten Attachment Detector
YouTube Previews
Custom Label Colors
Vacation Dates

Retiring:

Some lab features have completely been removed:

Muzzle
Fixed Width Font
Email Addict
Location in Signature
Random Signature

Read Gmail blog post here.

Fast “separate” Gmail windows

2010-03-02T00:00:00+00:00

Great news for Mailplane users: "Separate" Gmail windows got much faster! Try the File > New Separate menu item or shift-click a conversation in the Gmail overview list to see the difference.

Here's more info from the official Gmail blog:

One of the lesser-known features of Gmail is its ability to help with multitasking. Frequently, I find that I need to find an old message while I'm composing an email. When this happens, I click on the "new window" icon to pop my compose area into its own window:

There's only one problem — it's been slow! Today, we're rolling out a change that will fix this (reload your account to make sure you get this change). Now, popping out a window is much, much faster. No more "Loading..." progress bar.

There are a number of places you can pop up new windows in Gmail.

In chat, there's the little upward arrow in the title bar:

When writing a message, hold the "Shift" key while you click on the Compose Mail, Reply, Reply All or Forward links and you'll get a new window for your new message. (Holding the "Shift" key while typing the keyboard shortcut — in other words typing "C" "R" or "F" — has the same effect.)

When you're reading your mail, hold the "Shift" key while you click on a message to open the conversation in a new window. (Same holds true for the "Shift" key and the "o" or "Enter" shortcuts.)

If you're reading an email and want to save it for later, you can click the "New window" link in the upper-right hand corner of the conversation view:

Mailplane supports Google Buzz

2010-02-15T00:00:00+00:00

Exciting news for Gmail users: Google Buzz is here! It allows you to share updates, links, photos, and videos with your friends and/or the world:

As Google Buzz is part of Gmail, it is fully supported by Mailplane. Just enable Buzz using the Buzz promo screen and then click the "Buzz" link in the sidebar to post an update.

What if you don't get the promo page? The Buzz promo screen automatically shows up when you start Mailplane or switch to an account. If you are using "Offline Gmail", you need to enable buzz in your preferred web browser. The use the Mailplane > Reset Gmail Session menu item to see the Buzz sidebar item in Mailplane.

More information about Google Buzz:

Improved Google Search in Labs

2010-02-15T00:00:00+00:00

Google has improved the "Google Search" lab feature in Gmail. You can now "google" for dictionary definitions, do calculations, search for local stuff and get weather forecasts.

Plus: You can search for selected text directly from a message composition.

Check out the offical Gmail blog for more information.

Mailplane 2.1.4 released

2010-01-29T00:00:00+00:00

NEW: AppleScript/OutgoingMessage property for picture optimization: optimizeAttachments.
FIX: Command-L and other keyboard shortcuts/buttons didn't work anymore (caused by Gmail changes).
FIX: Apply/Remove label didn't filter with the current search text when re-opened.
FIX: HTML signature above quoted text didn't work with the "Default Text Styling" lab feature.
FIX: Under some circumstances the drag and drop message didn't disappear.
FIX: iPhoto plugin removal didn't completely restore to the previous state
FIX: Separate window and print window didn't always have a title.
FIX: Drag/Drop to app icon didn't always optimize pictures.

AppleMatters: Problems Solved

2010-01-29T00:00:00+00:00

Bakari Chavanu published a very nice review about Mailplane and another application called Webnote. Both apps solved some problems he was experiencing. With Mailplane he solved these:

Before I downloaded and started using Mailplane, checking my Gmail accounts was nothing short of a pain. I tried having selected emails in my accounts forwarded to my desktop Apple Mail client, but I ended up not liking that approach simply because I wanted to keep my Google accounts separate from my MobileMe accounts.

Checking Gmail online was also not a joy because I couldn’t use shortcut keystrokes and the awesome time-saving SteerMouse plug-in to quickly navigate email messages in the online client.

Read the full blog post on the AppleMatters site.

“Real Uses” blog: Interview about Mailplane

2010-01-27T00:00:00+00:00

Michael A. Crane interviewed me about Mailplane: How the project got started, what the product is all about, and developer life in general. Check out the interview on his blog.

Engadget: 10 outdated elements of desktop operating systems

2010-01-25T00:00:00+00:00

Paul Miller wrote a very interesting and inspiring editorial on the shortcoming of todays operating systems. It's a great read, and Mailplane seems to help solve these OS problems:

I'm gonna go a little crazy here and say that we're not necessarily going to leave the desktop behind and dive into some glorious world of just needing a web browser. In fact, when I think about some of my favorite applications, they're the exact reversal of that trend. Mailplane puts my Gmail in a familiar, functional desktop context, Tweetie makes managing Twitter a casual, persistent activity instead of a chore, and iPhoto manages my social photo sharing folders for me so I don't have to stare at endless web forms and upload dialogues to get stuff on Flickr.

Read full blog post here.

Gmail now serves better ads

2010-01-21T00:00:00+00:00

I found this blog post on the offical Gmail blog:

Ever since we launched Gmail, we've tried to show relevant and unobtrusive ads. We're always trying to improve our algorithms to show better, more useful ads.

When you open a message in Gmail, you often see ads related to that email. Let's say you're looking at a confirmation email from a hotel in Chicago. Next to your email, you might see ads about flights to Chicago.

But sometimes, there aren't any good ads to match to a particular message. From now on, you'll sometimes see ads matched to another recent email instead. For example, let's say you're looking at a message from a friend wishing you a happy birthday. If there aren't any good ads for birthdays, you might see the Chicago flight ads related to your last email instead.

To show these ads, our systems don't need to store any extra information -- Gmail just picks a different recent email to match. The process is entirely automated: no humans are involved in selecting ads, and no email or personal information is shared with advertisers.

Tip: If you prefer to hide your ads, check out this custom style sheet.

MacOnlySource Review: Excellent Alternative to OSX Mail

2010-01-18T00:00:00+00:00

Today, MacOnlySource reviewed Mailplane. Their verdict: Mailplane is unequivocally a “Must Have App”!

Mailplane 2.1.3 released

2010-01-13T00:00:00+00:00

Important news

A Gmail/WebKit problem (the repeating chat box) caused Mailplane and Safari to hang and crash. This Mailplane version solves the problem. More info...
Gmail now uses https by default. When you use "Offline Gmail" the change can lead to sync problems. More info...

Translation news

NEW: Thanks to Juan Juan Antonio Vermejo the Spanish translation is back!
NEW: The Italian translation is back. Kudos to Monica Cainarca.
UPDATED: Simplified and Traditional Chinese thanks to Jim Chiu

Bug fixes

NEW: Mailplane is now available for Tiger, Leopard, and Snow Leopard. Each version will check for the correct OSX version at startup.
FIX: File > Insert > File in separate window didn't work.
FIX: Display problems, when the "Gmail Text Size" was missing in the preference file.
FIX: Duplicating Gmail chat box issue (hang/crash at startup): Included WebKit nightly to fix this problem.
FIX: Crash when attaching files and using Adobe Flash 10.1 beta 2.
FIX: Preferences > Accounts > Signature wasn't always saved.
FIX: The "sign-in" link in Google Docs sidebar didn't work for Google Apps accounts. (You still get 404, but that's a temporary Gmail problem. Please use View > Reload Page to get back to your inbox).
FIX: Mail > Insert > Email Address didn't work with incomplete address book entries (no name, for instance)
FIX: Mail > Insert > Email Address didn't refresh when Address book was changed

Default https access for Gmail

2010-01-13T00:00:00+00:00

Gmail now encrypts all the network traffic by default:

We are currently rolling out default https for everyone. If you've previously set your own https preference from Gmail Settings, nothing will change for your account. If you trust the security of your network and don't want default https turned on for performance reasons, you can turn it off at any time by choosing "Don't always use https" from the Settings menu. Gmail will still always encrypt the login page to protect your password. Google Apps users whose admins have not already defaulted their entire domains to https will have the same option.

Tip: Mailplane has its own security setting: Use a secure connection (https) under Preferences > Accounts. If turned on it'll open Gmail with the https protocol, even if the Gmail setting isn't set to use https. The Mailplane preference was introduced in 2007, before Gmail had the https setting. It is always turned on by default, too. There's a good chance you always used https in the past.

Important information for "Offline Gmail" users: If your can't sync anymore, it's because of the https settings change. Check out this help page for the solution.

Read the full blog post here.

Solution for the Gmail/WebKit issue causing crashes

2010-01-11T00:00:00+00:00

A recent Gmail update crashes Mailplane, Safari, and other WebKit based applications. The Gmail help forum has a couple of threads concerning this problem and it is now listed on the Gmail known issues page. Not all Gmail accounts seem to be affected, but those who are, experience a duplicating chat box that lead to a crash.

Solution: If you affected by this Gmail bug, consider using the 2.1.3 preview version. It contains the latest WebKit nightly build, which solves the issue.

Using ScreenSteps with Mailplane

2009-12-21T00:00:00+00:00

ScreenSteps is a great application for creating step-by-step documentation and knowledge bases. It makes it easy to capture screenshots, annotate them with text and arrows, add text and explanation and finally export the complete article in different formats like PDF or HTML.

The latest version now neatly integrates with Mailplane. With the push of button a complete PDF document is exported and easily attached to an email message:

Read the full blog post

New Gmail lab feature: Mark unread from here

2009-12-15T00:00:00+00:00

If you are subscribed to mailing lists with long conversations, then this new lab feature comes in handy:

Clicking this option on a message tells Gmail that you want that message to be the first one you see when you reopen the thread later, with all messages after it open for easy reading. So, when you leave partway through reading a long thread, figuring out where to start reading again is easy.

Read Gmail blog post.

Mailplane 2.1.2 released

2009-12-11T00:00:00+00:00

Fixes/Changes:

NEW: The Russian translation is back! Thanks to Igor Terekhov!
UPDATED: French translation by Michel Tribet.
UPDATED: Romanian translation by Ovi Pascui
NEW: mailplane:// URLs now automatically switch accounts if needed.
NEW: http://mail.google.com URLs can now be opened in Mailplane (for example with choosy). They work the same as mailplane URLs.
CHANGED: File > New and File > New Separate do not require keyboard shortcuts anymore.
CHANGED: Fallback on "Basic attachment feature" when Flash or Google Gears isn't working.
CHANGED: Mail > Insert > Email Address...: You can now double click the group to insert all members of an address group.
CHANGED: Error dialog when downloads are in progress
FIX: Unchecked Preferences > Advanced > Enable Google Gears with installed Google Gears could cause loading delays or hangs.
FIX: Command-L didn't work anymore (Gmail changes)
FIX: Possible crash when attaching files from a network drive
FIX: Rare crash on Mac OS X 10.4.11 (Tiger)
FIX: Picasa > Email didn't work.
FIX: AppleScript "directlySend" property on OutgoingMessage didn't work with attachments.
FIX: Mail > Goto menu items wrote a 'g' character into an open chat panel.
FIX: Download windows wasn't shown when the download cancellation message was shown.
FIX: Gmail signatures not replaced with HTML signature when "Default text styling" lab feature was enabled.
FIX: class conflict warnings when ClickToFlash is installed.
FIX: URL drag and drop (from Safari address bar, for instance) didn't work under Snow Leopard
FIX: Crash when using Mail > Insert > File...Command-Option-F.
FIX: Sets focus to the body text to prevent keyboard shortcut problems.
FIX: BCC field was focused with Auto-BCC field.
FIX: Auto-BCC didn't work with name in email address: Ruben Bakker <ruben@mailplaneapp.com>
FIX: Possible crash when Mailplane was minimized
FIX: Help > Mailplane Help > Know Issues didn't show anything

Offline Gmail graduates from Labs

2009-12-08T00:00:00+00:00

"Offline Gmail" is no longer a lab feature - it's now part of the official Gmail offering:

Almost a year ago, we launched Offline Gmail in Gmail Labs. By installing Offline Gmail, you're able to use the normal Gmail interface to read and write mail, search, and organize, even when there's no internet connection. And Flaky Connection mode speeds up Gmail when your connection is slow or unreliable.

Tip: To get started with "Offline Gmail" and Mailplane, please check out the how to article.

Read the official Gmail blog post.

New Gmail Lab Feature: Default text styling

2009-12-02T00:00:00+00:00

A new lab feature lets us define the default font and format for the "rich text" emails we write:

If you like to use a specific text style for your messages, you've had to change the font every time you're about to start typing out an email. Now, you can turn on default text styling from the Labs tab, then go to Settings and set your preferences just once.

Read the official Gmail blog post.

Offline Gmail: Bye bye Google Gears? Hello HTML5?

2009-12-01T00:00:00+00:00

I found different interesting news stories this morning. It looks like Google will slowly switching over to HTML5 for browser extensions like Offline support:

The Google spokesman wrote to clarify in a follow-up e-mail, "We're continuing to support Gears so that nothing breaks for sites that use it. But we expect developers to use HTML5 for these features moving forward as it's a standards-based approach that will be available across all browsers."

If Offline Gmail is ported to HTML5 then this is terrific news for Snow Leopard users. WebKit already has a pretty complete HTML5 implementation. In fact: Offline Gmail on the iPhone is already powered by it.

A few news articles:

Mailplane 2.1.1 released

2009-11-28T00:00:00+00:00

Fixes/Changes:

NEW: Support for Flash 10.1 beta
NEW: Support for Offline Gmail and attachment uploading while offline (Currently, "Inserting Images" doesn't work with Offline Gmail)
CHANGED: Mailplane checks for if cookies can be stored and will tell user about a incompatible system setting.
IMPROVED: Auto-BCC automatically shows the BCC field. mailto: URLs and AppleScript automatically get the Auto-BCC field.
FIX: Preferences > Tweak UI > Custom Stylesheet wasn't applied to the rich text.
FIX: Auto-BCC didn't work when replying.
FIX: When put in a folder containing a slash '/' in its name, Mailplane wouldn't start up.
FIX: Unread message counter didn't work with "Right side chat" lab feature.
FIX: Spaces in email address could lead to notification problems.
FIX: Possible crash when started for the first time.

FYI: I am currently working on the "loading stalls when switching accounts" issue.

Like to try “Send attachments while offline”?

2009-11-24T00:00:00+00:00

Today, Google announced an important improvement: "Offline Gmail" users are now able to send messages including attachments when they are offline. The upcoming Mailplane 2.1.1 version will allow attachment drag and drop while you are offline.

In case you can't wait and like to test it, here's the Mailplane 2.1.1 preview version.

Like to setup "Offline Gmail"? Check out the Gmail offline 'how-to' article.

Read the official Gmail blog post.

Mailplane 2.1 released

2009-11-18T00:00:00+00:00

Mailplane 2.1 has just been released and is free for all registered users. Use the Mailplane > Check for Update menu item to load it or use the direct download link.

Here's what the latest version has to offer.

Multiple email signatures

Define as many signatures as you want. Each signature can be formatted and linked to an image. If you have multiple “from” addresses, Mailplane will insert the matching signature. Learn how to setup your first signature.

Insert images into message text

Attachments are great, but wouldn’t it be nice to insert images into the message text? With the “Inserting Images” Gmail lab feature you now can. And Mailplane adds image 'drag and drop' and screenshots to the lab feature. Learn how to setup and use the feature.

Offline Gmail

Mailplane now supports the Gmail Offline lab feature. Take your Gmail offline to read, answer and compose emails when you are disconnected from the internet. Learn more.

Check out the complete list for all changes and improvements.

I hope you like your new Mailplane!

New Mailplane how-to articles

2009-11-12T00:00:00+00:00

Mailplane offers more than one might realize. The new "how-to" documentation can help you get more out of Mailplane. Each how-to article comes with screenshots and step by step instructions.

You find the articles in support section of the mailplaneapp.com website or by opening the online help: (Use the Help > Mailplane Help menu item to access it).

As a start over a dozen articles have been published. Over the next few days, more will follow. I plan to cover all new 2.1 features and focus on some getting started topics. If you miss a particular article, please suggest it.

Enhanced License: Use Mailplane on all your Macs

2009-11-12T00:00:00+00:00

Until recently, a Mailplane single user license was limited to two Macs. Because many users needed Mailplane on more Macs, I've decided to lift this limitation:

Single-user license: Install on all Macs you personally use. Use it at home, school, work: just anywhere. Limitation: Make sure you're the only user. Please do not share your license with anyone else.
Family license: Allow up to five (5) family members living in the same household to use Mailplane on their Macs. As with the single user license, there is no machine limitation for any of the five users.
Site license: For a number of users working at the same organization. Again, each user may use it anywhere.

This improved license applies to all registered users! You don't need to re-install or re-download anything.

Tip: If you need to upgrade your license (say from "single user" to "family"), check out the new upgrade page.

Offline Gmail: Choose which messages get downloaded

2009-11-05T00:00:00+00:00

If you're using Offline Gmail with Mailplane, you may like the new Gmail Offline settings:

You can now choose which messages get downloaded. On the Offline tab under Settings, you'll see your current settings and be able to set how much mail you want to download from each of your labels.

Change date range setting for all listed labels.
Click "Change label setting" to set the date range for each label separately.

Tip: If you don't see the new settings, create a new Gmail session by Command-clicking the "Sign out" link in the top right of the main window.

Important: Offline Gmail only works with Mailplane 2.1-beta (or later). If you are using Snow Leopard, check out the Snow Leopard Google Gears page.

Read blog post on the official Gmail Blog.

I’ll give a talk at the International “QL & Mac are 25” event

2009-10-28T00:00:00+00:00

Early 1984 two milestones were unfolded on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. Europe was first with the launch of the 32bit multitasking/multi-windowing Sinclair QL. 12 days later America saw the launch of the 32bit GUI Apple Macintosh. Because of this anniversary, the Sinclair QL community has organized the International "QL & Mac are 25" event.

I'll giving a talk about the Mac OS X, it's recent history, and about Cocoa development on the Mac and the iPhone. The title of the talk: "The Mac died nine years ago.". Don't worry, it was a good thing after all. Back in 2000 Mac OS 9 was outdated (remember the Mac bomb and crashes?) and Macs were slower than comparable PCs or Unix workstations. But everything changed when NeXTstep morphed to Mac OS X and later Macs got Intel processors. Would an iPhone have been possible without NeXTstep? Would we have a 64bit Mac OS?

If you happen to be near Lucerne, you're very welcome to attend this free event:

When? Sat/Sun Oct 31st/Nov 1st 2009. The talk will start Saturday at 13:00
Where? Verkehrshaus (Swiss Transport Museum) Lucerne, Switzerland
Check out the web page for the event for more information.

What’s new with Gmail on iPhone

2009-10-26T00:00:00+00:00

Google just blogged about the Gmail improvements on the iPhone:

Over the last six months, we've added a lot: mute, label management, keyboard shortcuts, smart links, an outbox, and the ability to move messages (label and archive in one step). Some new features, like swipe-to-archive and auto-expanding compose boxes, take advantage of these mobile phones' unique properties. We also made address auto-complete faster, enhanced refresh capabilities, and sped up loading so Gmail for mobile starts in under three seconds on newer smartphones.

We'll continue to add more functionality —and there's no need to download or update anything as long as you have iPhone/iPod touch OS 2.2.1 or above or are using an Android-powered device. Just go to gmail.com from your mobile browser as you do on your PC.

Swedish Review on iLove.nu

2009-10-26T00:00:00+00:00

Pierre Orsander published a very positive Mailplane review on iLove.nu. It's written in Swedish, so I can only guess it's contents, but the "4 out 5" verdict sounds great to me :)

Update: The review title in English is "Mailplane is like Gmail on steroids"

Macgasm Mailplane video review

2009-10-19T00:00:00+00:00

Corey Harris published a detailed and very useful video review on Macgasm:

I don’t know about you, But I have several Gmail accounts. It can be a pain in the rear to sign in and out of my accounts just to check my mail. Mailplane makes it easy though. Mailplane is a desktop application that allows you to setup all your gmail accounts and have full access at any time, without having to log in and out of all your accounts.

Here are a few comments to keep in mind when you watch the video:

Mailplane is fully Snow Leopard compatible – the missing label creating feature isn’t related to Snow Leopard
Label creation from the Command-L dialog: This is a Mailplane 2.1 feature, which is still in beta. Mailplane 2.0.x doesn't have the feature.
Family license: It’s for up to 5 users living in the same household.
Using the “Multiple Inbox” lab feature w/ Mailplane may cause some problems with keyboard shortcuts.

Mailplane 2.0.15 released

2009-10-17T00:00:00+00:00

Release notes:

Fixed issues caused by some recent Gmail changes:

Send, Discard, and Save Now toolbar buttons and menu items stopped working
Attachment handling like drag and drop didn't work correctly
Command-L (Apply/Remove Label) showed empty list

Plus:

FIX: Error message at startup when used with some InputManagers.

New Gmail Lab Feature: Google docs previews

2009-10-16T00:00:00+00:00

If you're a Google docs user, you may like the preview lab feature:

Being an avid Google Docs user, I receive a ton of emails with links to documents that my co-workers and friends share with me. From technical design documents at work to my roommate's expenses spreadsheet, my inbox is full of document links that I need to view as I reply to my mail.

Opening these links in another tab or window is kind of annoying, plus it can be tough to keep the context of the email in mind while viewing the document.

Starting today, you can preview the contents of a Google document, spreadsheet, or presentation right in your Gmail inbox — just like you've already been able to do with YouTube videos, Yelp reviews, and Picasa and Flickr albums. Gmail will automatically detect when you receive a document link and display the name and type of doc below the email.

Just click "Show preview" and the contents of the document will display right there — no need to switch back and forth between email response and document.

Read full blog post on the official Gmail blog.

New Gmail Lab Feature: Got the wrong Bob?

2009-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

If you visit the Gmail > Settings > Lab page you'll find a brand new lab feature called "Got the wrong Bob?"

When's the last time you got an email from a stranger asking, "Are you sure you meant to send this to me?" and promptly realized that you didn't? Sometimes these little mistakes are actually quite painful. Hate mail about your boss to your boss? Personal info to some random guy named Bob instead of Bob the HR rep? Doh!

"Got the wrong Bob?" is a new Labs feature aimed at sparing you this kind of embarrassment. Turn it on from the Labs tab under Gmail Settings, and based on the groups of people you email most often, Gmail will try to identify when you've accidentally included the wrong person — before it's too late.

Read the official Gmail blog post.

TUAW: Mac power tools - charge up your workflow

2009-10-09T00:00:00+00:00

Victor Agreda, Jr just published a very interesting blog post about his favorite Mac power tools. Mailplane is among them!

Next I needed a better way to juggle 3 Gmail accounts. But I also needed a way to track the metric ton of inbox items that flow through those email conduits. The solution was the combination of MailPlane and Things. I had really dedicated my heart to Toodledo, but there's one trick I couldn't replicate on any setup (The Hit List included): when I get an email in MailPlane, I can select some text and press Shift-Ctrl-Opt-Cmd-0 and the Things HUD pops up and autofills the notes section with a link to the email itself. It is awesome.

Visit the TUAW site for the full blog post.

New Gmail lab feature: Hide read labels

2009-09-25T00:00:00+00:00

The Gmail team just released another lab feature. If you use filters to automatically label your incoming mail, this new feature may come in handy:

A lot of people want to see their labels in order to see which ones have unread messages, but they don't want a long list of label names cluttering up the left hand side of their inboxes. To help out with this, we've made a Gmail Labs feature called "Hide read labels." Turn it on from the Labs tab under Settings and all your labels without unread messages will be hidden under the "More" menu. Labels with unread messages will automatically show up, unless you've explicitly chosen to keep them hidden.

This is particularly handy if you use your inbox as a to-do list where unread messages are the outstanding things you need to take care of. If you use that method along with labels like "Home" and "Project X," it's easy to see all your to-dos in context. With this Labs feature on, labels with outstanding to-dos will be bold and have a number next to them; everything else will be hidden in the "11 more" section:

Official Gmail blog post.

Push Gmail for iPhone and Windows Mobile

2009-09-22T00:00:00+00:00

Today, Google announced "Push Gmail" for iPhone and Windows Mobile. This is incredible news for users who need or want instant email notifications on their iPhone:

You can set up push Gmail by itself or choose to sync your Contacts and/or Calendar as well. If you're using an iPhone, make sure you're running iPhone OS version 3.0 or above (on your device, click Settings > General > About and scroll down until you see Version). If your software is out of date, follow Apple's upgrade instructions. Then, visit m.google.com/sync from your computer for set up instructions. If you're already using Google Sync, you can just enable push mail.

Once you're set up, new messages are normally pushed to your phone within seconds. While this type of speed is pretty awesome, push connections tend to use more power than fetching at intervals, so don't be surprised if your battery life isn't quite what it used to be. We've done a lot of work to optimize power usage, but if you prefer to save battery life, you can always turn off push in your phone's settings and fetch mail every 30 or 60 minutes instead.

Read the official Gmail blog post.

Update: Smoking Apples wrote a very helpful article on how to setup and use Push Gmail.

Things app: Quick Entry Autofill for Mailplane

2009-09-15T00:00:00+00:00

Yesterday, Cultured Code released Things 1.2.2. Guess what's in the release notes:

Quick Entry Autofill now works in Microsoft Word 2008 and Mailplane.

Great! Now it's super easy to create a new to-dos based on email conversations. Most importantly, Things creates a to-do that links back to the Gmail conversation.

Here's how it works:

1. In Mailplane: open a Gmail conversation.

2. Select some text inside the conversation, it'll be added as Things to-do note:

3. Select Mailplane > Services > New To-Do containing selection as note or simply press ⌃⌥⇧⌘0. As a result you'll get the Things Quick Entry dialog:

4. Make your changes and press Save to add the to-do. After the dialog closes, the to-do can be found in your Things inbox. Just click the email link and your conversation will magically open inside Mailplane.

Tip: If you are an OmniFocus user, check out the Mailplane/OmniFocus plugin for a similar integration.

Helvetimail - a minimalist Gmail skin

2009-09-14T00:00:00+00:00

David Klein ported Josef Richter's Helvetimail Gmail stylesheet to Mailplane:

If you are looking for a minimalistic Gmail skin, here's are the links:

Stylesheet download: http://www.josefrichter.com/helvetimail.css
Helvetimail home page: http://www.josefrichter.com/helvetimail/
David's home page: http://tehdik.com

Requirements: The stylesheet only works with the latest Mailplane 2.1-beta version.

Installation: Assign the downloaded file to the Mailplane > Preferences > Tweak UI > Custom Stylesheet setting.

Important: Gmail is changing all the time! If the stylesheet stops working, please check the Helvetimail or David's page for a new version.

Tip: As an alternative take a look at Gmail's built-in Themes. They are maintained by Google and will keep up with Gmail's changes.

Thanks David Klein for sharing!

AppleReviews: Mailplane video review

2009-09-14T00:00:00+00:00

Ben Gribbin at Apple Reviews created a very informative video review:

Ben shows how you can attach files via drag and drop, how to use the Mac address book, how to switch between accounts, and more. At the end, he gives Mailplane a 5 star verdict!

I love the "video review" format, BTW.

Check out the Apple Reviews site for more product reviews.

Ben shows how you can attach files via drag and drop, how to use the Mac address book, how to switch between accounts, and more. At the end, he gives Mailplane a 5 star verdict!

I love the "video review" format, BTW.

Check out the Apple Reviews site for more product reviews.

New Gmail lab feature: Play Google Voice messages

2009-09-10T00:00:00+00:00

The is a new lab feature for the lucky Google Voice users:

Google Voice helps you manage your communications with a unique phone number that rings all your existing phones, a single voicemail inbox with online access and automated transcription, and lots of handy features like the ability to block spammy calls and easily record personalized greetings for your callers. Think of it as Gmail for your phone calls and text messages (watch this video to learn more). Google Voice is currently available via invitation, which you can request here.

For those of you who already use Google Voice, you're probably used to receiving voicemail notifications via email. A couple of minutes after someone leaves a voicemail on your Google Voice number, you'll receive an email showing who called, an automated transcript of the voicemail, and a link to play the message. You can click the link to listen to the message right from your computer.

Previously, clicking "Play message" opened a new page in your browser, but starting today, you can play voicemails right in Gmail. Just turn on the Google Voice player from the Gmail Labs tab under Settings and whenever you get a voicemail notification, the player will appear right below the message itself.

Best of all, your message status will stay synced: messages played from Gmail will appear as read in your Google Voice inbox and won't be played again when you check new messages via your phone.

Read official Gmail blog post.

Gmail: More ninja tips in more languages available

2009-09-10T00:00:00+00:00

Google released more Gmail tips in more languages. Master some Gmail tips and tricks and get more productive:

When we published the Gmail tips guide in July, we promised it would help you become a Gmail ninja. Now, if you want to become a Gmail ниндзя or 忍者, you can do that too: these tips are now available in Spanish, French, Brazilian Portuguese, Japanese, Russian, and UK English.

We've also added a handful of new tips to the English site, culled from suggestions you submitted. Some of the new tricks to help manage your email efficiently include sending and receiving mail from multiple addresses, adding formatting to chat messages, and selecting multiple messages at once using shift-select. Thanks to everyone who submitted ideas, and please keep them coming.

Read the official Gmail blog post here.

Four new Gmail themes

2009-09-10T00:00:00+00:00

Google has added four new themes to Gmail, maybe you like them:

I know there are only three screenshots :)

Read the official Gmail blog post.

Mailplane 2.0.14 released

2009-09-08T00:00:00+00:00

Release notes:

NEW: Correct Address book First/Last name ordering (for Japanese users)
UPDATED: Russian translation (thanks to Vlad)
FIX: Unread message counter didn't work correctly for some accounts
FIX: Changed keyboard detection logic

Tip: If you encounter any problems, please check out the known issues page.

Download Google Gears workaround for Snow Leopard

2009-09-04T00:00:00+00:00

The last blog about "Google Gears on Snow Leopard" post stirred much interest: Many Mailplane users want to try the Snow Leopard workaround to get their "Offline Gmail" back. This persuaded me to provide the binary Gears download: Visit the download page.

Read carefully and enjoy at your own risk

Snow Leopard and Google Gears

2009-09-02T00:00:00+00:00

Are you using Mailplane 2.1-beta with Google Gears to get your Gmail offline? Unfortunately, Google Gears for Safari doesn't work with OSX 10.6 Snow Leopard. There's no official statement, but I found this comment at the end of Google Gears Issue 847:

Snow Leopard and Safari 4 introduced some changes which are incompatible with Gears. Apple made these changes to improve the security of their OS and of Safari. While we continue to talk to Apple about the issue there is no workaround for us at this time.

Gears continues to work with Firefox on Mac OS X.

The problem seems to the new 64bit Safari version. It doesn't load any InputManagers like Google Gears.

However: Mailplane, Fluid, or even 32bit Safari would still be capable of loading Google Gears, even under Snow Leopard.

I went ahead and tried it:

Checked out the Google Gears code
Removed the OSX version check
Built the thing
Installed the resulting Google Gears

Bingo! My "Offline Gmail" inside Mailplane 2.1-beta is back! I tried Fluid and 32bit Safari too: Both worked as expected.

A few questions remain: Is the networking code for Snow Leopard still the same? Are there any Snow Leopard related bugs? Will Google offer a solution soon?

Mailplane 2.0.13 released

2009-08-31T00:00:00+00:00

Release Notes:

INFO: Mailplane fully supports Snow Leopard.
FIX: Disabled the "Click To Flash" inside of Mailplane.
FIX: Crash when checking for unread messages.

Snow Leopard Tip: Turn on “Text Substitutions”

2009-08-29T00:00:00+00:00

Snow Leopard has a great new feature: "Text Substitutions". When turned on, it helps you type your messages:

Text Replacements: Define short text snippets which are automatically expanded when entered.
Smart Links: Enter an URL and it automatically is turned into a clickable link.
Smart Dashes: Replaces the a double dash to a long dash character, which looks better.
Smart Quotes: Enter book-like quotes.

Here's how you can turn on the feature inside Mailplane:

Compose a new message
Control-Click the body text
Click Substitutions > Show Substitutions to open the "Substitution" utility window.
Turn on the substitutions you need, I find the Text Replacement feature most useful.
Press the "Text Preferences..." button to define your own text replacements
Now test it: Enter (c) or TM followed by space to replace the text with a copyright/trademark sign.

Tip: You can also access the text replacement settings by going to System Preferences > Text/Languages/Text:

One more thing: If you need to manage more text replacements, try Mailplane's text snippet feature. Define text snippets in Preferences > Accounts > Text Snippets and insert into your email by using the ⌘-Option-I keyboard shortcut.

New Gmail Lab Feature: Remove Labels from Subjects

2009-08-27T00:00:00+00:00

Do you have a small screen and like to conserve some space? Try the new Gmail lab feature "Remove Labels from Subjects":

Before:

After:

Read official Gmail blog post

Mailplane is ready for Snow Leopard

2009-08-27T00:00:00+00:00

Tomorrow is "Snow Leopard" day! Both Mailplane versions (stable and beta) are ready for the new and shiny OS release.

Mailplane has been tested on the most recent Snow Leopard developer preview version. However, tomorrow's final release may still have a few "surprises" for Maiplane. In case you get stuck, here are a few troubleshooting tips:

Make sure you have the very latest Mailplane version. (Important: Mailplane 1.x isn't supported anymore and won't work with Snow Leopard).
If you have Google Gears and you get a blank main screen instead of your inbox, please upgrade Google Gears or uninstall Google Gears. Update (08/29): So far Google hasn't upgraded Google Gears for Safari - please uninstall Google Gears for now and watch this page for the version.
Maybe an incompatible InputManager is the culprit? To find out: Disable all InputManagers by renaming this folder: /Library/InputManagers. Restart Mailplane to apply the change. When your done testing, rename the folder back to /Library/InputManagers.
To find out if it is a general problem or Mailplane bug, please open https://mail.google.com/mail inside Safari (not Firefox).

For more information visit the support section or send me a message.

Gmail: Mail and contact import for everyone

2009-08-27T00:00:00+00:00

Do you old email accounts? Move them over to your beloved Gmail account and use/search them inside Mailplane: The Accounts & Contacts import is now available to everyone. It can import Gmail, AOL, Hotmail, and POP3 accounts.

Read official Gmail blog entry

Gmail: Email a task list

2009-08-27T00:00:00+00:00

Google has improved Gmail Tasks again. You can now email a task list:

Here's a tip I just found on Twitter:

<blockquote>New KB shortcuts: alt (cmd) + enter to complete a task, alt (cmd) + shift + enter to clear completed.</blockquote>

Read official Gmail blog post.

Gmail: Composing a message? Try the contact chooser

2009-08-27T00:00:00+00:00

Contact auto-completion is great, but the new contact chooser makes much sense when you need more control. I just found this news on the Gmail blog:

When composing messages, you probably rely pretty heavily on auto-complete to add recipients. Auto-complete is convenient and fast, and usually does the trick. But sometimes seeing your list of contacts can help you remember all the people you want to include on your email. So, we've added a contact chooser to Gmail. Click the "To:" link (or Cc:/Bcc:) when composing a message and you'll see something like this:

You can click on the contacts you want to add or search for others.

Mailplane 2.0.12 released

2009-08-21T00:00:00+00:00

Release notes:

CHANGED: The "offline indicator" is now disabled when installing Mailplane. Tip: The setting can be changed on the Preferences > Advanced preference page.
FIX: OSX 10.5.8 only: License installation didn't work correctly
FIX: Keyboard shortcut check at startup didn't work
FIX: Authentication SSL certificate error when using some USB wireless modems
FIX: Authentication didn't work with some proxy servers

MacNewsWorld Review: “Mailplane Gives Gmail a Landing Pad on the Mac Desktop”

2009-08-12T00:00:00+00:00

John P. Mello Jr. published a thorough and nice review at the Mac News World site:

One aspect of Web mail that's always bothered me is not knowing when new messages arrive in my in-box. Mailplane addresses that problem with an excellent notification system. It alerts you to a new message within seconds of its arrival in your in-box. Better yet, it will alert you to new emails even if the program is minimized to the OS X dock.

What's more, the program supports Growl. Growl is a free notification system for OS X that gives a user more control over notifications from applications compatible with it.

Because Web mail can be used from any computer that runs a Web browser, it's a very attractive application for users on the go. However, with Mailplane, users who spend most of their time pecking at the same keyboard day after day can now enjoy the benefits of the cloud app without having to forgo many of the features that make resident email programs so popular.

Read the full review

Mailplane at the Bodega app store

2009-08-04T00:00:00+00:00

Mailplane is now listed at the "Bodega" app store! Like the iTunes App Store for iPhone Bodega is a free application you install on your Mac. You can use Bodega to browse, download, update and buy Mac applications.

To find Mailplane in the app store, please download Bodega and then click the "Email & Chat" software category. Or just search for Mailplane.

Learn more about the Bodega app store.

Tip: Send mail from another address without “on behalf of”

2009-08-03T00:00:00+00:00

Google now offers a way to remove the "on behalf of" message your messages.

Here's the problem:

Quite a few of you use Gmail's custom "From:" to send messages with one of your other email addresses listed in place of your Gmail address. Since these messages are sent by Gmail's servers but "from" a non-Gmail address, we have to include your original Gmail username in the "Sender" field of the message header to comply with mail delivery protocols and help prevent your mail from being marked as spam. Most email programs just display the "From" address and not the "Sender" field, but some (including versions of Microsoft Outlook) show these messages as coming "From username@gmail.com On Behalf Of customaddress@mydomain.com" which really annoyed people.

We heard your request for another option that wouldn't show the "on behalf of" text loud and clear, and now there's a new option that does just that. Instead of using Gmail's servers to send the message, we'll use the servers where your other email address lives. Since Gmail isn't the originating domain, we don't have to include "Sender" info in the header. No more "on behalf of."

All custom "From:" addresses used to work like this:

The solution:

<p>Now, if your other email provider supports <strike>POP and/or IMAP access</strike> authenticated SMTP, you can choose to send your message like this instead:</p>
<img src="/assets/blog/ZZ2F4DEF86.png" width="525" height="138" alt="The new way." />

To switch to this new method, go to the Accounts page under Settings, and click "edit info" from the "Send mail as" section. Then choose the option to "Use your other email provider's SMTP servers."

Read full blog post at the official Gmail blog.

Tip: Recover your password via text message

2009-08-03T00:00:00+00:00

Afraid of loosing your Gmail password? This tip will make your password recovery much easier and safer:

Even the best of us forget our passwords from time to time. In fact, recovering passwords is one of the top reasons people visit the Gmail Help Center. To help with these situations, we recently added the ability to recover your password via text message.

Read article on the offical Gmail Blog.

Tasks graduates from Gmail Labs

2009-08-03T00:00:00+00:00

You already noticed the "Tasks" link in your Gmail sidebar? This feature used to be lab feature and is now available to all Gmail users. You may find this video useful:

Read full blog post at the Gmail blog.

New Gmail Lab Feature: The super-trustworthy, anti-phishing key

2009-08-03T00:00:00+00:00

In July, Google added a new lab feature: Authentication icon for verified senders:

Now, unless you are a regular reader of this blog with a photographic memory, you may not be aware of this extra protection. So, we thought we'd add a little something to remind you. Turn on "Authentication icon for verified senders" from the Labs tab under Settings, and you'll see a key icon next to verified emails that are super-trustworthy.

Click here to read official Gmail blog post.

Gmail now displays images in messages from your contacts

2009-08-03T00:00:00+00:00

But often the messages you get with images are from friends or family and there's no reason to worry about your privacy — you just want to see the photo of your newborn niece or the invitation design they're sending you. So, in these cases, we've decided to start displaying images by default. Now, whenever someone you've emailed at least twice sends you a message containing images, you'll see them right away. Note that we picked this threshold of two messages to start with, but we may tweak it if it doesn't seem right going forward. And we only display images by default for authenticated messages (using SPF or DKIM). Gmail and other big mail providers usually authenticate their mail, but other services might not, so it's possible you'll get an email from one of your contacts where images aren't displayed by default.

If you prefer to go back to the way things were, you can choose not to display images from certain senders or from anyone. To disable images from an individual sender, click "Don't display from now on" under the "Show details" link of an email from them with images. To disable images from everybody, select "Ask before displaying external content" under "External content" on the general Settings tab.

Read full blog post at the official Gmail blog.

Gmail makes unsubscribing newsletters easy

2009-08-03T00:00:00+00:00

Here's a useful new Gmail feature:

Unsubscribing from mailing lists and newsletters you subscribed to a while back but no longer want to receive should be just as easy. Searching through individual messages for little unsubscribe links is too big a pain —you should be able to unsubscribe with a single click.

So we just launched something that makes this all work better, both for Gmail users and big email senders. Now, when you report spam on a legitimate newsletter or mailing list, we'll help you unsubscribe. After clicking report spam, you'll see a little dialog like this:

Read full blog post at the official Gmail blog.

Mac 101 reviews Mailplane

2009-07-03T00:00:00+00:00

Mac 101 just published a great Mailplane review:

If you’re like me, you love Gmail but feel its missing key functionality which puts a damper on your productivity in using Gmail in the browser. Coming from a corporate world, I love Outlook for windows just as much as I love Gmail. Yet I’ve never been satisfied with Mail.app, Entourage, or running a Virtual Machine or Emulator in order to run Outlook for Windows on a Mac. So you’re stuck using Gmail in a web browser, somewhere it lies lost in tab oblivion… getting no respect. I’m here to tell you Mailplane will change how you look at Gmail and massively increase your productivity and user experience within Gmail. So here it is, Gmail as we know and love it. Looks about the same on the surface, however what you see before you is Gmail turned into an Email Client. Don’t get discouraged, its better than you might think. Notice the Toolbar at the top, from here you can snap a screenshot and automatically insert it into an email, insert media, switch accounts, or bring up your Contacts in Address Book. This is just the surface, so lets dive into some of the goodies in Mailplane app.

Read the full blog post on the Mac 101 website.

Turkish Translation

2009-07-02T00:00:00+00:00

Kudos to Mehmet Fatih Yigit: He contributed Turkish!

Mailplane 2.0.11 released

2009-07-02T00:00:00+00:00

Release notes:

<li>FIX: Unread message counter didn't update because of Gmail's new label system.</li>
<li>UPDATE: Mail->Go to->Navigate (Command-Option-G) now supports the improved Gmail labels.</li>
<li>NEW: Kudos to Mehmet Fatih Yigit. He contributed the Turkish translation!</li>
<li>NEW: Crash reporter dialog at startup (only shows when you experienced a crash before starting again)</li>
<li>NEW: Images shrink to window size when viewed in a separate window.</li>
<li>FIX: "Mail > Go to > Navigate" didn't work with labels on right side.</li>
<li>FIX: Snow Leopard: downloading and installing the license didn't work</li>
<li>FIX: Advanced attachment features didn't work in replies</li>
<li>FIX: Some mailto: URLs inside emails didn't open a compose window</li>

Gmail Labels: drag and drop, hiding, and more

2009-07-02T00:00:00+00:00

Gmail's labels have much improved, here's what I found on the official Gmail blog:

A few months ago Gmail got some new buttons and keyboard shortcuts to make labeling easier, especially for those of you accustomed to that familiar folder feel. Now we're making some more changes to Gmail's labeling toolkit.

1) New location for labels

You'll notice your labels in a new location on the left of your inbox (or on the right, for those of you using the Arabic, Hebrew, or Urdu versions of Gmail). Instead of having their own section, your labels are now above your chat list, grouped together with Inbox, Drafts, Chats and other system labels.

2) Label hiding and showing

You now have control over which of your labels show. We've done our best to get you started by automatically showing the labels you use most and hiding the rest. Label hiding is my favorite new feature, since it saves me from having to look through labels I rarely use. If I ever need to reach any of my old labels, I just click the "more" link.

You can show, hide, or delete a label by clicking the down-arrow to the left of that label.

If you want to make a lot of changes at once, go to the Labels tab under Settings where you can edit labels in bulk.

For those of you who created label names like _stuff or ++todo++ to force your most-used labels to the top of the list (come on, you know who you are, I did it too...), you don't have to come up with clever tricks like that anymore ;)

3) Drag and drop

You can now drag messages into labels, just like you can with folders. This does the exact same thing as "Move to" -- it labels and archives in one step.

You can drag labels onto messages too. It's the same thing as using the "Label" button. To label or move many messages at once, first select the messages and then drag and drop the label.

It's also possible to drag labels into the "more" menu to hide them and vice versa. If you only want to move a couple labels around, I've found it quicker than going to Settings.

All of these changes also mean the end of Right-side Labels, an experimental Gmail Labs feature. This is the first Labs feature we're retiring. (The idea behind Labs was always that things could break or disappear at any time or they might work so well that they become regular features. More on that soon...) Now that labels aren't in their own little box and take up much less space, moving them around the screen didn't seem as important. We realize quite a few of you used and liked Right-side Labels, so if you feel strapped for left nav screen real estate without it, try turning on Right-side Chat in Labs instead.

We hope these new changes make labeling even easier and help you stay organized. We'll be rolling out these labeling features for everyone throughout the day, so if you don't see them right away please check later today.

Become a Gmail Ninja

2009-06-25T00:00:00+00:00

Improve your Gmail skills and become real productive. Google has published a very useful tips and tricks page. It's also available as a nice printable guide.

MyMac Magazine: Mailplane gets 4.5 out of 5

2009-06-11T00:00:00+00:00

Scott Willsey (MyMac.com) wrote a great review about Mailplane:

Mailplane has changed my entire mindset about email. I no longer deal with sync issues between computers. I no longer worry about managing local copies of everything. If you can wrap your brain around having your email in the cloud, or even if you just have a few Gmail accounts you want to manage in addition to some other email accounts that you do deal with through a regular email client, Mailplane makes things smooth and easy for you, just like using a regular email client. I recommend it to any heavy Gmail user on the Mac.

Check out the full review on MyMac.com

New Gmail Lab Feature: Automatic message translation

2009-06-05T00:00:00+00:00

If you are communicating with people around the world, this new Gmail lab feature is for you:

Simply enable "Message Translation" from the Labs tab under Settings, and when you receive an email in a language other than your own, Gmail will help you translate it into a language you can understand. In one click.

Supported languages.

Read the full Gmail blog post...

Mailplane 2.0.10 released

2009-05-14T00:00:00+00:00

Release notes:

UPDATED: Spanish and Chinese (Tranditional & Simplified).
CHANGE: Renamed executable file back to "Mailplane" as the Video Chat plugin now recognizes Mailplane.
FIX: Possible crash when unhiding the main window.
FIX: Command-Shift-D didn't archive if you had the "Send and Archive" lab feature enabled.
FIX: Disabled Gmail keyboard shortcuts warning didn't work
FIX: Google Apps accounts were signed out when using Gmail lab features Doc/Calendar Gadgets.
FIX: Send/Save/Discard commands didn't work correctly with enabled "Send & Archive Gmail lab feature

Macworld reviews Mailplane and gives it four mice

2009-05-14T00:00:00+00:00

Dan Frakes has published an excellent Mailplane review:

One of my favorite features is that you can set up multiple Gmail accounts in Mailplane; select one in the Accounts drawer and click on Switch To, and Mailplane logs you out of the current account and into the new one. (You can’t log in to two accounts at the same time, however.) I also like Mailplane’s keyboard navigation: press Shift+G and a Navigate box pops up; type enough of the name of a Gmail view or label to uniquely identify it, and then press return to jump to that view. You can assign labels to messages and conversations using a similar procedure.

Mailplane receives a great "four mice" rating!

Read the full review at the Macworld site.

New Gmail Lab Feature: Google Search right in Gmail

2009-05-12T00:00:00+00:00

There's a new Gmail lab feature. It enables you to "google" inside Mailplane and solves this problem:

I used to have a problem. People would ask me questions, over chat or email, and I'd have to leave Gmail to search Google for an answer. Then I'd have to select the answer, copy it, go back to Gmail and paste the answer into the chat window or my reply. Sometimes I'd get distracted and forget to go back to Gmail, and I'd have to go through it all again when I remembered what I'd been doing.

Once you're sure it's a result you need, moving your mouse over the result back in Gmail reveals a pull-down menu that lets you do stuff with the search result. What's in the menu depends on what you're doing in Gmail:

If you're reading a message, you can start a reply to the message with the search result as the first thing in your reply.
If you're writing a message, you can paste the result, or just the URL into your message.
If you're chatting with someone, you can send the result via chat.
You can also always compose a new message to send the search result.

Read full blog post on Gmail Blog.

Create your Google Profile

2009-05-12T00:00:00+00:00

Just found this on the official Gmail blog:

If you want people to be able to contact you, but don't want to reveal your email address to the world, you can hide your username and use a 24 digit number instead. Turn on the 'Send a message' feature, and anyone with a Google Account can send you a message through your profile, without having your email address revealed to them.

New Gmail Lab Feature: Suggest more recipients

2009-04-24T00:00:00+00:00

Here's another Gmail lab feature you may find useful:

Gmail will suggest people you might want to include based on the groups of people you email most often. So if you always email your mom, dad, and sister together, and you start composing a message to your mom and dad, Gmail will suggest adding your sister. Enter at least two recipients and any suggestions will show up like this:

Click on a suggested name, and they'll get added to your email.

Link to official Gmail blog post.

New Gmail Lab Feature: PowerPoint and TIFF file viewing

2009-04-24T00:00:00+00:00

Google has improved Gmail's attachement "viewer" again. Now you get better support for TIFF (Fax) and PowerPoint:

This viewer provides a richer set of features than the old "View as slideshow" version: you can zoom in and out, select text to copy and paste, and "print" the presentation to a PDF document. And, unlike the old version, we no longer require you to have a Flash plugin installed on your browser.

Link to official Gmail blog post.

“Macstories” reviews Mailplane

2009-04-23T00:00:00+00:00

Ticci at Macstories has just written a nice Mailplane review:

The idea behind Mailplane is to fill the gap between Gmail and desktop, a lack that Google still (strangely) did not remedied. Mailplane gives you the power to access to all Gmail accounts that you have, quickly switch between them, attach files from your Mac via a simple drag & drop and more, with all the future that Google provides to his service. Mailplane is a sort of mini-browser, exclusively designed to access Gmail with all the obvious convenience of a desktop application.

Check out the full review in either English or Italian.

New Gmail Lab Feature: Inserting images

2009-04-10T00:00:00+00:00

Again, a new Gmail lab feature! Allows you to insert images into a message body. You can upload and insert image files in your computer, or insert images by URLs. Great stuff!

To get it working:

Enable the Inserting Images lab feature
Update Mailplane to at least 2.0.9 or the latest 2.1 beta version
Make sure you use "Rich text" in your message
Click the "Insert Image" button...

Mailplane 2.0.9 released

2009-04-10T00:00:00+00:00

Here's a quick release before the Easter Break:

Release notes:

NEW: Support for the new "Inserting images" Gmail lab feature.
FIX: Pictures didn't get optimized (since 2.0.8)

New Gmail Lab Feature: Sender Time Zone

2009-04-09T00:00:00+00:00

Google just published another useful Gmail lab feature: Sender time zone.

There's a new feature in Gmail Labs called Sender Time Zone that can help. Turn it on from the Labs tab under Settings, and you'll see green phone icons next to people who are probably awake and readily reachable (if it's between 9:00 am and 6:00 pm in the sender's local time zone) and red ones next to those who could be sleeping or out of the office. Click "show details" and you can see when a message was sent in the sender's time zone as well as what time it is for them now.

New Gmail Lab Feature: Gmail search autocomplete

2009-04-08T00:00:00+00:00

"Google" searching your inbox is one of Gmail's highlights. With the lab feature, it even gets better:

Turn on Search Autocomplete from the Labs tab under Gmail Settings, and you'll get suggestions as you type in the search box. One of the most popular searches in Gmail is for names or email addresses, so the first kind of suggestions you'll see are contacts. Some names are not easy to remember (my last name is an excellent example!) — with this new Labs feature you can just type a couple letters and select the desired contact from the drop down list. Easy and quick as that.

Mailplane 2.0.8 released

2009-04-08T00:00:00+00:00

Mailplane 2.0.8 is a maintance release, here are the changes and fixes:

UPDATE: Spanish translation
FIX: Safari 4 beta/Chat in a "popped out" window did scroll when typing.
FIX: Advanced attachment feature didn't always work.
FIX: Obsolete scrollbars when composing in a separate window.
FIX: CMD-clicking "Open as Google document" link opened the document in the default browser instead of Mailplane.
FIX: Talk Window/Safari 4: Console messages when hiding application
FIX: Command-L stopped working because of Gmail changes
NEW: If you have Flash 10 Mailplane will use "Advanced attachment features" to upload attachments.
FIX: Resize problems after monitor resolution changes
FIX: Error 407 when using a proxy server requiring authentication.

Gmail Labs goes global

2009-04-08T00:00:00+00:00

Hooray! According to the "official Gmail blog" Gmail lab features are now available in all supported Gmail languages - not just English!

Currently, there are 43 different lab features. I love and use these Gmail Lab features:

Offline Gmail! If you like to try it, you'll need Mailplane 2.1-beta.
Youtube, Picasa, Flickr previews in mail.
Quick Links: Adds a box to the left column that gives you 1-click access to any bookmarkable URL in Gmail. You can use it for saving frequent searches, important individual messages, and more.
Fixed with font: Adds an option to the reply dropdown menu that lets you view a message in fixed width font.
Navbar drag and drop: Allows you to reorder the items in your navbar using drag and drop.
Forgotten attachment detector: Prevents you from accidentally sending messages without the relevant attachments.
Vacation Time: Lets you specify starting and ending dates for the vacation autoresponder.
Custom Label Colors: Lets you create your own combination of colors for labels.
Search Autocomplete: Provides search suggestions for contacts and operators as you type in the search box.
Google Calendar gadget: Adds a box in the left column which shows your Google Calendar. See upcoming events, locations, and details.
Google Docs gadget: Adds a box in the left column which displays your Google Docs. Shows recent docs, starred docs, and has fast search.
Add any gadget by URL: Adds a "Gadgets" tab to Settings, where you'll be able to specify the URL of any gadget. This gadget will show in a box in the left column.

However, please do not use these lab features with Mailplane (they are not compatible):

Custom keyboard shortcuts
Hide Unread Counts
Any signature feature (if you use Mailplane 2.1-beta HTML signatures).

AppYourMac reviews Mailplane

2009-03-29T00:00:00+00:00

Seth Smith just reviewed Mailplane on the AppYourMac site:

Mailplane offers lots of features to make your life easier when it comes to emailing. One of my favorite features is, the function of being easily create attachments by a simple drag and drop method. If you like attaching photo’s or other files, this feature really does come in handy. Another great feature of Mailplane is that you are able to switch between Gmail accounts fast and with no hassle. I myself have about four Gmail accounts and I now have them all synced with Mailplane, it is so much easier to switch between them now that I am using this application. Of course Mailplane stores all of your passwords on a keychain, so once again it saves your time.

Read the full review.

Mailplane turned two!

2009-03-27T00:00:00+00:00

Mailplane is now two years old! The adventure began March 8th 2007 with the search of 200 "test pilots". March, 14th 2007 was the big day: After MacNN and TUAW wrote about Mailplane, the 200 seats were gone in an hour. Before midnight on the same day a thousand Gmail users were registered on the waiting list!

Much has happened since then. I owe you a big thank you: Thank you for using Mailplane and thank you for your comments, bug reports, ideas, and feature requests. Without you Mailplane wouldn't exist!

Thanks to the faboulous Mailplane translators Mailplane is now used 15 languages and in 71 countries around the world!

Brazilian Portuguese: Leonardo Otsuka
Catalan: Albert Simó
Chinese (Simplified): Jim Chiu
Chinese (Traditional): Jim Chiu
Dutch: Johannes Vinke
English
French: Michel TRIBET
German: Patrick Scheips
Italian: Monica Cainarca
Icelandic: Páll Svansson
Japanese: mitcho (Michael 芳貴 Erlewine)
Norwegian: Vidar Ramdal
Portuguese: Joao Santos
Polish: orzels (Piotr Orlowski)
Romanian: Ovi Pascui
Russian: Vladislav Pudovkin
Spanish: Juan Antonio Vermejo

New Gmail Lab Features: Youtube, Flickr, Yelp, and Picasa previews

2009-03-25T00:00:00+00:00

When you enable these lab feature, Gmail will automatically detect Youtube, Flickr, Picasa, and Yelp links to display nice previews right inside of Mailplane.

From the official Gmail blog:

The truth is, I'm pretty lazy. That's why I like YouTube previews in Gmail chat -- why open a new tab when I can watch the video my friend sent me right there? Gmail currently automatically detects package tracking information, addresses, and event information and shows quick links to delivery status, maps and directions, and Google Calendar. So why couldn't Gmail automatically detect links in emails and show videos, photos, and ratings right inside these messages as well? We built some new Gmail Labs features that do just that. For our first set, we picked stuff that often shows up in email: YouTube videos, Picasa and Flickr links, and Yelp reviews. Turn on Picasa previews from the Labs tab under Settings, and rather than having to click on a Picasa album link to see the photos it contains, you can see photos right in the message itself.

Read the full article on the official Gmail Blog site.

New Gmail Lab Feature: Cancel Send

2009-03-25T00:00:00+00:00

This new lab features lets you cancel a message send. But you have to be quick, as the "cancel" link lasts only a few seconds.

From the official Gmail Blog:

This feature can't pull back an email that's already gone; it just holds your message for five seconds so you have a chance to hit the panic button. And don't worry – if you close Gmail or your browser crashes in those few seconds, we'll still send your message.

Read the full article here.

Italia Mac: Mailplane gets “Editors Choice”

2009-03-25T00:00:00+00:00

<p>Luca Infante wrote an Italian Mailplane review <a href="http://www.italiamac.it/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2266:gmail-atterra-sui-nostri-mac-con-mailplane&catid=42&Itemid=100115">on the "Italia Mac" site.</a></p> <p>Mailplane gets the "Editors Choice" badge!</p>

Mailplane wonderfulness

2009-03-17T00:00:00+00:00

Just found a nice and personal Mailplane review. It has been written by David Coldrick from Tasmania:

There are a number of differences in my day since I left the corporate life a year ago. One of them is that I now use Gmail exclusively, instead of Mac OS X Mail: I found Gmail via Mail rather clunky, and Gmail kept coming out with more good stuff. But I missed the integration of a Mac desktop app: Mailplane provides that in spades, while retaining the look and feel of Gmail.

Read the full blog post here.

Japanese Review

2009-03-17T00:00:00+00:00

Mailplane has been reviewed by a well known Japanese journalist. I'm unable to quote anything from it, but if you know Japanese you'll like it: journal.mycom.co.jp

Mailplane 2.0.7 released

2009-03-16T00:00:00+00:00

FIX: Click the Growl notification or an unread message opened a compose second window. Same problem when printing emails.
FIX: Gmail wasn't properly focused after hiding the app or re-opening the main window.
FIX: Preferences->Tweak UI->highlight selected row didn't work for unread messages
FIX: BadRequest/Timeouts when authenticating.
FIX: Unread message notifications stopped working for some users.

If you are behind a proxy server and get authentication problems, please let me know.

Mailplane 2.0.6 relased

2009-03-09T00:00:00+00:00

CHANGE: New attachment "uploader" is only used for Flash 9/Leopard users. Flash 10 users: I am currently working on a solution.
FIX: After taking a screenshots, no other attachments could be processed.
FIX: Safari 4 beta users: Mailplane wrote many log messages when the main window was closed, or the app was hidden.
UPDATED: Chinese, French, Italian, Romanian, and Spanish

The Apple Blog: If Gmail and OS X Had a Love Child

2009-03-04T00:00:00+00:00

Lisa Hoover has written a very nice review about Mailplane. She starts with:

I’ve been a hardcore Gmail user since the early days, when beta really meant the email service was in its infancy. It’s perfect for managing my email but there are two big things Gmail can’t do that seriously hinder my daily workflow: There’s no easy way to switch between Gmail accounts, and no way to drag and drop a attachments into emails.

And then she presents Mailplane:

To get around these two issues, I use Mailplane. It’s a fantastic application that replicates the Gmail interface right on your desktop and integrates so well with your Mac that you’ll never want to access Gmail from the web again.

Read the full review at "The Apple Blog"

Mailplane 2.0.5 released

2009-03-04T00:00:00+00:00

FIXED: Problems because of Gmail changes

Google has pushed out some internal Gmail changes. Because of this, a couple of Mailplane features stopped working. This release fixes problems in these areas:

Keyboard shortcuts, menu items, toolbar items like "Send", "Discard", "Apply Remove Label"
Tweak UI settings like "hide spam counter"
Attachment handling
Unread message counter

UPDATED: Translations

Portuguese (Portugal)
Chinese (Tranditional & Simplified)

Gmail update: Attachments with progress bars

2009-03-04T00:00:00+00:00

Mailplane has always had multiple ways to attach your files and pictures to a message: Drag and Drop, iPhoto plugin, cut and paste, the media browser, screenshots, PDF Service, and more. Now Google has added something many users have waited for: Progress bars when uploading attachments.

The new "uploader" is based on the Flash plugin. Some users may experience problems using it. You can always revert to the "classic" attachment uploader if you have trouble. A new attachment setting in your Gmail settings let's you switch:

Visit the official Gmail blog for more information.

French Review: “Découverte du logiciel Mailplane sur Mac”

2009-03-04T00:00:00+00:00

Laura Guiot wrote a very nice French Mailplane review:

Mailplane garde l’interface de Gmail, comme vous pouvez le voir sur l’image ci-dessus. Mais plutôt que de devoir utiliser un navigateur, on y accède via le logiciel. Il est notamment possible de:

Attacher des fichiers à un e-mail par simple glisser-déposer
Si vous voulez envoyer une image par e-mail, vous pouvez directement la redimensionner et réduire sa taille
Comme mon amie Aleks, j’utilise iWork 2009 et donc Pages pour le traitement de texte. Avec Mailplane, il me suffit de cliquer sur Fichier > Imprimer > PDF > Mailplane et le document est automatiquement placé dans un nouveau mail en format PDF ! Mes amis sous Windows ou Linux pourront donc ouvrir le document sans souci
Les mots de passe sont sauvegardés dans le trousseau de Mac et je peux donc switcher entre plusieurs comptes Gmail très rapidement
Et plein de choses encore !

Mailplane est vraiment une très bonne découverte et je ne peux plus m’en passer J’y ai désormais tous mes comptes Gmail relatifs au blog et à “ma vie sur Internet”

Read the full blog post here.

Spanish Translation

2009-02-15T00:00:00+00:00

Kudos to Juan Antonio Vermejo: He brought Spanish back to Mailplane!

Mailplane 2.0.3 released

2009-02-15T00:00:00+00:00

Mailplane 2.0.3 is a free maintenance release. Use Mailplane->Check for update to load it or download it manually.

Release Notes:

WORKAROUND: Authentication problem warning.
CHANGED: ⌘-L "Apply/Remove Label" panel is back.
FIXED: In rare cases external links did open in Mailplane instead of the external browser
CHANGED: Password field is now focused when it is empty.
NEW: Spanish translation by Juan Antonio Vermejo!
UPDATED: Chinese, French, German, Portuguese, and Romanian translations.

⌘-L and the Apply/Remove Label panel

Many users missed Mailplane's way to apply/remove a label. Now it is back. There are still some items missing (star, inbox, spam) - I hope to bring them back, too.

Tip: Use the 'l' or 'v' keyboard shortcuts, if you prefer the Google way using labels.

Mailplane 2.1-beta available for download

2009-02-05T00:00:00+00:00

You can't wait to get "offline Gmail" with Mailplane? If you like to test the upcoming Mailplane version, please visit the beta download page. The page contains a screencast too. Make sure to watch it before starting your own installation.

Important: This software is still in beta, it may contain bugs. Use at your own risk.

Mailplane 2.0.2 released

2009-02-05T00:00:00+00:00

Mailplane 2.0.2 is a free maintenance release. Use Mailplane->Check for update to load it or download it manually.

Tip: Focus problem when replying - keys get interpreted

Sometimes keys get interpreted (instead of entered) when replying to a message. Here's how you can solve the problem:

Open System Preferences
Click "Keyboard & Mouse"
Go to the "Keyboard shortcuts" tab
At the bottom of the window there is a "Full keyboard access" setting: Set it to "All controls"

Changed: Apply/Remove Label Panel(⌘-L)

Google just rolled out a new feature to apply and remove labels. It is nearly identical to the "Apply/Remove Label" panel. Now ⌘-L opens the Google "Label" drop down menu.

Info: Offline Gmail is coming to Mailplane

Offline Gmail is coming to Mailplane, it will be available in 2.1. If you can't wait and like to test it: Visit the mailplaneapp Google Group.

Bug fixes

Some users couldn't log in. This version detects the problem and allows you to workaround the problem.
Unresponsive or slow Gmail because of missing "Tweak UI->Custom Stylesheet" file. Mailplane now checks for the CSS file and will disable the custom style sheet if it can't find the file.
Crash when using "Advanced->Close instead of Hide Main Window" preference
Tab order wasn't always correct
Font size problems when copy/pasting text or inserting/deleting lines in "Rich text"

Dutch Translation

2009-02-05T00:00:00+00:00

Thanks to Johannes Vinke, Mailplane now speaks Dutch!

Chinese (Simplified & Traditional) Translations

2009-02-05T00:00:00+00:00

Kudos to Jim Chiu (中文化制作) -- he has created both traditional and simplified Chinese localizations!

Offline Gmail is coming to Mailplane

2009-01-29T00:00:00+00:00

Many users wanted offline Gmail in Mailplane, this was the #1 feature request. I've always hoped for a Google Gears solution as it would be the perfect fit. Yesterday, Google published "offline Gmail" as a Google Lab feature. And it's based on Google Gears!

Once you turn on this feature, Gmail uses Gears to download a local cache of your mail. As long as you're connected to the network, that cache is synchronized with Gmail's servers. When you lose your connection, Gmail automatically switches to offline mode, and uses the data stored on your computer's hard drive instead of the information sent across the network. You can read messages, star and label them, and do all of the things you're used to doing while reading your webmail online. Any messages you send while offline will be placed in your outbox and automatically sent the next time Gmail detects a connection. And if you're on an unreliable or slow connection (like when you're "borrowing" your neighbor's wireless), you can choose to use "flaky connection mode," which is somewhere in between: it uses the local cache as if you were disconnected, but still synchronizes your mail with the server in the background. Our goal is to provide nearly the same browser-based Gmail experience whether you're using the data cached on your computer or talking directly to the server.

In short: Either offline or online, you always can use the powerful Gmail user interface.

What about Mailplane? Mailplane is ready for Google Gears, and I am currently working on the 2.1 version to get offline Gmail working.

New Gmail Lab Feature: Send & Archive

2009-01-20T00:00:00+00:00

This feature was requested frequently, and it saves you at least one keystroke or button click per conversation.

From the official Gmail blog:

Having clicked "Send" followed by "Archive" a few million times, I started to wish there was a way to just click once and accomplish both actions at the same time. So I decided to turn this idea to a Gmail Labs experiment. Turn on "Send & Archive" from the Labs tab under Settings, and you'll see a new button in the compose form labeled just that. The button does what it says: it sends your reply and then archives the thread with one click.

Tip: The File->Send menu item or ⌘⇧D keyboard shortcut performs the "Send and & Archive" if you have enabled the lab feature.

Mailplane 2.0.1 released

2009-01-10T00:00:00+00:00

Mailplane 2.0.1 has just been released, the "Check for Update" menu item will load it. Here's what you'll get:

Improved: Text Clippings support

You can now drag selected to your desktop to create text clipping. And you can drag the text clipping to your email composition to insert it. In the old days, Mailplane would treat the text clipping as an attachment file.

Improved: AppleScript and mailto: link support

The body text was restricted to short text when using mailto: URLs or AppleScript. This restriction has now been removed.

To support Picasa, the AppleScript dictionary has been streamlined to better mimic Mail.app.

Update Russian translation

Vladislav improved the Russian translation quite a bit.

Bug fixes

⌘-Z didn't work anymore
Unread message counter didn't work correctly when used over a slow internet connection.

Email Picasa photos with Mailplane

2009-01-10T00:00:00+00:00

Google announced "Picasa for Mac" at MacWorld 2009:

Picasa for Mac looks and works much like Picasa on other platforms, and offers trademark Picasa features — such as non-destructive editing, and the ability to keep track of photos anywhere on your hard drive, then automatically account for new images as you add them. Right now, Picasa for Mac is still in Google Labs, but we very much wanted to get an early version out to folks attending Macworld (you can learn more about this beta release at the Google Photos blog). To run Picasa, you'll need an Intel-based Mac running Mac OS X 10.4 and above. We hope you'll give it a spin, and give us your feedback in person — members of the Picasa engineering team will be conducting demos at Google's Macworld booth all week (you can also check out the video tour below).

Like iPhoto, Picasa has an "Email" button to compose emails in Mailplane. Just make sure Mailplane is your default email application (see Preferences/Advanced). Then go to Picasa's preferences/Email and set Mailplane as your email app.

Turn an Email into a Google Doc

2008-12-21T00:00:00+00:00

Google just published a new and very useful lab feature: Turn an email conversation into a Google doc:

More than once, I've had a conversation over email and later realized that the information contained in the messages would make a great starting point for a document. So I built an experimental feature for Gmail Labs that does just that: with one simple click, "Create a document" converts an email into a Google Docs document. No more copying and pasting the text from your email -- just open the message you wish to convert, click the "Create a document" link on the right side of the page, and voila, you have a brand new document which you can then modify and share!

There is even a keyboard shortcut for this new feature: g + w

myMacBUZZ: “Mailplane 2.0: Gmail gets even better”

2008-12-13T00:00:00+00:00

Great review on the Malaysian myMacBUZZ website:

My favorite email client was updated to 2.0 early this week. Think of Mailplane as a web browser that only loads Gmail or Google Apps mail. Mailplane 2.0 adds full support for Gmail 2 and a whopping 41 new features which any Gmail power user will love.

The author then presents his favorite new features in full detail.

Enjoy the new Gmail PDF Viewer in Mailplane

2008-12-13T00:00:00+00:00

Thanks to Gmail, handling PDF attachments just got much easier in Mailplane. From the Gmail blog:

When I get sent a PDF, sometimes I just want to view it -- I don't always need to download and save it right then. So starting today, you'll see a new "View" link next to PDF attachments you get in Gmail: Clicking "View" quickly opens the PDF inside your browser, complete with the graphics and formatting you expect to see in a PDF. You may have seen this feature before, in Google Docs. It's the way that we did uploading and viewing of PDFs online.

Here's a screen shot:

Frosty’s Mumblings: Mailplane 2.0 Review

2008-12-12T00:00:00+00:00

Bill Martens just wrote a very nice review about Mailplane 2.0. He's a longtime Mailplane user, and just upgraded from 1.61.7 to the new 2.0 version. He talks about his experiences and about which features he likes most. A great read!

Once restarted, the application came up and showed an email with a list of all of the new features included in the application. This allowed me to easily go through the feature list and see if there were any in particular that enthralled me. One such feature was the new Attach Folder and File Bundles feature in composing emails. No more clunky single file attachment nightmares. Now it can be performed in a single swoop.

Check out the full review.

Mailplane got a 4 out 5 "Apples" rating.

Mailplane 2.0 Released!

2008-12-10T00:00:00+00:00

Free Update for all Registered Customers

After many months of development and beta testing, Mailplane 2.0 is now available for all users. Your current Mailplane 1.x license is valid for all 2.x updates, too.

Many many thanks for the beta testing, the numerous bug reports, and the interesting feature requests. Mailplane 2.0 would not have been possible without your help, ideas, and involvement.

Requirements

Make sure you have updated Mac OS X to the latest version. Mac OS X Tiger: 10.4.11; Leopard: 10.5.5
As Mailplane is now using your systems WebKit: Check your Safari version, it should be 3.2.1

What's new?

Full Gmail 2.0 support (colored Labels, Google Lab features like Calendar in sidebar, Google Video Chat, and much more)
Improved multiple account support
Better new email notifications
Free OmniFocus plugin
And much more: Check out all 41 new features and improvements

Update instructions

Click "Download and Install" button
After Mailplane relaunch, make sure to accept all "Keychain" security messages
In case you experience problems, please download and install Mailplane manually.
Still not able to update? Please let me help you.

For more information read the full press release.

New Gmail Lab Feature: Tasks

2008-12-09T00:00:00+00:00

Exciting news for Mailplane users! There is a brand-new "Tasks" Google Lab feature, it allows you to quickly create and manage tasks. Like the Mailplane OmniFocus plugin, the tasks contain a link to a gmail conversation.

People use Gmail to get stuff done, so we've added a lightweight way to keep track of what you need to do, right from within Gmail. Take entering a new task: just click in an empty part of your list and start typing. No buttons to click and it's saved automatically. Hit Return and you've got a new task right there.

You can also easily convert emails into tasks: select one or more messages and go to More Actions > Add to Tasks. (Or use the + t keyboard shortcut)

More info can be found on the official Gmail blog:

We put your tasks in the same kind of window as chats, so they're visible while you're scanning your inbox, reading mail, or searching (and in Settings, too!). Just pop your list out into a new window to use Tasks outside of Gmail. To enable Tasks, go to Settings, click the Labs tab (or just click here if you're signed in). Select "Enable" next to "Tasks" and then click "Save Changes" at the bottom. Then, after Gmail refreshes, on the left under the "Contacts" link, you'll see a "Tasks" link. Just click it to get started.

Would Mailplane for Windows make sense?

2008-12-07T00:00:00+00:00

Mailplane for Mac is quite popular, and it fills a real need. It makes many users more productive. Would Mailplane for Windows make sense? Would Windows users install a client application to get more out of Gmail?

If many people answer this question with YES, then we would be ready to create a Windows version:

It would run on Vista and XP (Service Pack 2)
It would cost about the same as the Mac version
There would be a private beta for selected users

Vote for the Windows version on this page.

Descary: “Mailplane turns Gmail into a real Mac application”

2008-12-04T00:00:00+00:00

French Blogger Benoit Descary just blogged about Mailplane: Transformez GMail en véritable application avec Mailplane, which means "Mailplane turns Gmail into a real Mac application". In his article Benoit describes how Mailplane makes his life Gmail easier and he highly recommends it to other Gmail users.

Mailplane 2.0 Release Candidate 3

2008-11-28T00:00:00+00:00

New: Navigate Quick Links

The "Quick Links" Google Lab features, allows you to link to conversations, searches or any other Gmail page. Now the "Navigation" keyboard pop up will show all your "Quick Links" for easy navigation. Press ⌘⌥G or use the "Mail->Goto->Navigate..." menu item to open the navigation dialog. Check out this screencast to learn more about the navigation panel.

Improved: Keychain Access

As Mailplane is now "code signed", future releases won't ask for Keychain permissions anymore. This version, however, will still ask for the Keychain permission changes.

Bug fixes:

Some users experienced problems attaching files
Some Google Apps users experienced 403 (permission denied) when clicking the "Contacts" link
Removed Popup Blocker warnings
When started in "Hidden" mode: opening conversations would not work
New windows created by the Google Calendar Gadget didn't work correctly (parameter errors)

Mailplane 2.0 Release Candidate 2

2008-11-22T00:00:00+00:00

New: Gmail Video Chat

This release supports the brand new Gmail Video Chat feature. To get it working: download and install the Gmail Video Chat plugin. Gmail Video Chat is only available for Intel Macs.

To support "Gmail Video Chat", Mailplane now works with your system's WebKit only. Make sure you have Safari 3.2 installed. Mac OS X Tiger users: Please upgrade to 10.4.11.

Improved: "Attach File" button

When you directly attach a file using the "Attach File" Gmail button, the attachment is optimized as when you drag and drop the file.

Improved: Growl notifications

Growl title shows "Sender: Subject" and if available a picture fetched from the local address book.

Changed: Sign out

Because many users complained about the new sign out feature: Mailplane now either terminates (only one account) or opens the account drawer (more than account). This is how it worked before "release candidate 1".

Tip: ⌘-click does the Gmail sign out.

Info: Gmail Themes

Gmail now supports different themes, check out your Google settings. More info

Bug fixes:

Login didn't work for some Google Apps users with single sign on
Spam counter didn't hide for Google Apps users with disabled chat
When starting in "hidden" mode, Mailplane didn't check for new messages as it didn't authenticate the active account
Separate compose window now shows correct title (to/subject).
Long Unicode download file names were truncated

Official Gmail Blog: Spice up your inbox with colors and themes

2008-11-20T00:00:00+00:00

Great news straight from the official Gmail blog! Gmail now supports many different themes. Of course these theme work in Mailplane, too!

Gmail fans have been building unofficial extensions to spice up their inboxes for a while, but up til now themes haven't been an integral part of Gmail. We wanted to go beyond simple color customization, so out of the 30 odd themes we're launching today, there's a shiny theme with chrome styling, another one that turns your inbox into a retro notepad, nature themes that change scenery over time, weather driven themes that can rain on your mailbox, and fun characters to keep you in good company. There's even an old school ascii theme (Terminal) which was the result of a bet between two engineers -- it's not exactly practical, but it's great for testing out your geek cred. We've also done a minor facelift to Gmail's default look to make it crisper and cleaner -- you might notice a few colors and pixels shifted around here and there.

To customize your inbox, go to the Themes tab under Settings. We'll be rolling out themes to everyone over the next couple of days, so if you don't see them yet, check back soon.

Use Gmail Video Chat in Mailplane

2008-11-14T00:00:00+00:00

Are you excited about the new Gmail Video Chat feature?

Mailplane now supports it, but it hasn't been released yet. If you like to try and test it, then follow these steps to get started:

Download and install the Gmail Video Chat plugin.
Grab the latest "Preview" build from the Google Group
Start Mailplane and enjoy!

If you encounter any unusual problems, please let me know by using the Help->Feedback and Support... menu item inside Mailplane.

Support for “Remember the Milk”

2008-11-06T00:00:00+00:00

Do you want to access your "Remember the Milk" tasks from Mailplane?

The latest Mailplane 2.0 version supports the new "Remember the Milk" Gmail Gadget. It lets you work your task from the Gmail sidebar.

Check out the installation instructions and screenshots on the "Remember the Milk" web site.

Mailplane 2.0 Release Candidate 1

2008-11-06T00:00:00+00:00

Improved: Support Google lab features

See separate blog posts for "Remember the milk", Google Docs * Google Calendar features.

New: Permanent cookie storage

To better support the new Google Labs feature, web cookies are now stored on disk. They are located in the "~/Library/Application Support/Mailplane" folder.

This shortens startup and "account switch" time considerably.

Changed: Sign out

Sign out now terminates the Google session instead of opening the account drawer.

Experimental: Open external links in Mailplane

⌘-click links or buttons to open the web pages inside Mailplane instead of your preferred browser.

Important: This feature is experimental and may be changed or removed in future versions.

Tips + Tricks:

⌥-Click opens a link in "background"
⇧-click opens a link in Firefox instead of your preferred browser (Safari, OmniWeb etc.)

Bug fix:

Unread message counter didn't work correctly when the Gmail settings page was active

Google Calendar and Docs Gadgets

2008-11-06T00:00:00+00:00

Many Mailplane users asked for Google Calendar integration. Now Google released new Google Lab features to embed calender and documents in the Gmail sidebar. The latest Mailplane 2.0 release supports these two features.

From the Gmail Blog:

To get you started, we've worked with the engineers from the Calendar and Docs teams on two highly requested features: a simple way to see your Google Calendar agenda and get an alert when you have a meeting, and a gadget that shows a list of your recently accessed Google Docs and lets you search across all of your documents right from within Gmail.

Tip: To customize your sidebar, try the Navbar drag and drop lab feature.

Check the Gmail Labs group for support and feedback.

Mailplane 2.0 Beta 11 Released

2008-11-02T00:00:00+00:00

New: Brazilian Portuguese Translation

Thanks to Leonardo Otsuka, Mailplane 2.0 beta now contains the Brazilian Portuguese translation.

New: Google Labs Feature support

Support for Calendar
Support for Google Doc

Note: Only works with "normal" Gmail accounts (@gmail.com, @googlemail.com). Support for Google Apps will be released with next update.

Bug Fixes

Downloads didn't start on Mac OS Tiger (10.4.x)
Unicode downloads (Japanese, Hebrew, etc.) didn't get the right file names
URLs dropped to the message field didn't work

Gmail Tip: How to send “subject only” messages

2008-10-26T00:00:00+00:00

If you add "EOM" (end of message) to the end of your subject, Gmail will not complain about an empty message text. This allows you to quickly send short subject only email messages like "Coffee at 9:30? EOM". Official Gmail blog entry

Mailplane 2.0 Beta 10 Released

2008-10-25T00:00:00+00:00

Mailplane 2.0 beta 10 has just been released. Use "Mailplane->Check for update" from the menu or download the latest version from the download page.

New Translations

New: Icelandic by Páll Svansson
New: Italian by Monica Cainarca http://www.mctranslation.com
Updated: German by Patrick Scheips http://www.simple-dev.de/
Updated: Japanese by mitcho (Michael 芳貴 Erlewine) http://mitcho.com

Improvements

Now works under Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard Developer Preview
Download window redesign

Bug Fixes

Unicode files (Japanese, Korean, Chinese etc.) were downloaded as ???????.doc
Crash when composing a message and switching back to overview
main window didn't refresh when opening a conversation in a detached window (via growl or menu bar items)
main window wans't brought to focus when opening a mailplane URL
Remembered detached window size wasn't applied when using SHIFT-Click on Compose or Reply links
Remapped Edit->Undo to Cmd-Opt-Control-Z because of the Cmd-Z crash. Cmd-Z will still work in the message body, as it directly handled by it.
Send keyboard shortcut and attachments didn't work because of Gmail changes
French users experienced a Display problem in the download window: The cancel button was too big.

How Do I Unmute a Gmail Conversation?

2008-10-20T00:00:00+00:00

Yesterday, I discovered that I had accidentally muted an important conversation. I found no obvious way to undo it. This lifehacker blog post points to the solution:

To un-mute a conversation, select the conversation and click Move to inbox. Doing so will move the entire conversation to your inbox and will remove the mute action, so that future messages are also delivered to your inbox.

Muting conversations is very handy, by the way. From the Gmail help pages:

If you're subscribed to a mailing list, you've no doubt been subjected to the 'thread that just won't die!' If you're part of a long message conversation that isn't relevant, you can 'mute' the conversation to keep all future additions out of your inbox. By using the 'm' shortcut key, new messages added to the conversation bypass your inbox so that the conversation stays archived. If your address appears in the to or cc field, though, the conversation will pop back into your inbox ready for your attention. Muted messages are not marked as read, are still searchable, and can specifically be found by searching for:

Mailplane 1.61.7 Released

2008-10-14T00:00:00+00:00

Some users experienced two new bugs, they were caused by some recent Gmail changes:

Gmail 007 error
"Could not connect to Gmail" when loading Gmail inbox

Please use the "Mailplane->Check for updates" menu item to load the new version, or visit the download page to get it.

Cali Lewis loves Mailplane

2008-10-10T00:00:00+00:00

Cali Lewis is one of the early Mailplane users; she discovered Mailplane in the 1.0 beta days. Back then she even presented Mailplane in one of her famous video podcasts. She is still using Mailplane and just blogged about it:

I tweeted today about an application I use and love, Mailplane. It’s an application that allows you manage multiple Gmail accounts very effectively. You can see when new emails come into a different account without logging in and out, and you switch between accounts with a double click of your mouse. It uses the Gmail interface, so all your labels and filters stay in tact.

And on Twitter:

Yeah! I'm finally convincing Neal to use Mailplane! It's a lifesaver for me.

Check out the full blog post.
Or watch the original geekbrief video podcast.

Cali Lewis is the producer and host of geekbrief.tv the site for Shiny and Happy Tech News. It’s a 3-5 minute video podcast, released 4 days a week. If love news about technology, consumer electronics, and Web 2.0 projects: checkout geekbrief.tv.

Keep up the good work, Cali!

New Screencast: How to change keyboard shortcuts

2008-09-25T00:00:00+00:00

Many Mailplane users ask about how to change a keyboard shortcut. For instance, many would prefer to send messages by pressing Cmd-Enter instead of Cmd-Shift-D. Cmd-Enter is the keyboard shortcut used in Thunderbird and Entourage.

Mac OS X makes it very easy to change a keyboard shortcut, and this short movie shows you how to do it.

Watch Screencast

Quick Tip: How to open external links in Safari tabs

2008-09-24T00:00:00+00:00

When you click an external link in Mailplane, Safari will open a new window to show you the web page. If you prefer to open tabs instead of windows, this tip is for you.

Fortunately, there is a Safari preference for it:

Start Safari
Goto Preferences
Set "Open links from applications" to "in a new tab in the current window"

Note: This setting applies to all applications opening external links, not just Mailplane.

This tip has just been added to the FAQ section.

Russian Translation

2008-09-22T00:00:00+00:00

This is great news for Russian users: Starting today with the beta 9 release, Mailplane talks Russian!

Kudos to Vladislav Pudovkin for his excellent translation!

Mailplane 2.0 Beta 9 Released

2008-09-22T00:00:00+00:00

Mailplane 2.0 beta 9 has just been released. Use "Mailplane->Check for update" from the menu or download the latest version from the download page.

New: Online Help Window

Mailplane now has a brand-new help window. It gives you online access to FAQ, Known Issues, Screencasts, and the new features section. As it is online, the topics are always up-to-date. It works much faster than the previous Help window, and the Mailplane download file got smaller, too.

Use Help->Mailplane Help to open the window.

Bug Fixes

Problems using the "separate" window due to a Gmail update (no picture drag and drop, no shortcuts, disabled toolbar icons)
French users could not attach pictures by using drag and drop.
Separate window didn't remember size and position.
Spam and Trash didn't show up in the Navigate to Label panel (Cmd-Opt-G).
Mailto: URLs inside Mailplane didn't work correctly, as the subject field wasn't filled. This is a Gmail bug and Mailplane now works around it to fix it.

Mailplane 1.61.5 Released

2008-09-18T00:00:00+00:00

When the new Gmail setting "Always use https" was turned on, Mailplane wouldn't load the inbox on first try. This release fixes the problem.

New mailplaneapp.com Website

2008-09-17T00:00:00+00:00

Search the whole website for new features, screencasts, faq, known issues

Watch screencasts, they are now grouped by category and can be found in one place. I plan to add more short screencasts before the release of 2.0.

Enjoy the brand new blog. Much improved categories, commenting, and archives.

Check for known issues. The same information is displayed in the "Mailplane->Help->Support Feedback" window.

Subscribe the FAQ, blog, known issues, and screencasts.

I hope you enjoy the new design and improvements as much as I do. If anything isn't working as it should, either leave a comment or use the new contact form to get in touch.

Mailplane on The Mac Observer’s Mac Geek Gab Podcast

2008-09-16T00:00:00+00:00

Dave Hamilton is a Gmail+Mailplane user. He talks about how he uses Mailplane on the Mac Observer's "Mac Geek Gab" Podcast. Listen to the #166 episode.

Mailplane Review on MacTV Germany

2008-09-01T00:00:00+00:00

Mac TV is one of the top Mac sites with over half a million subscribers and is often the number one podcast/videocast site on iTunes Germany.

Mailplane got a great and positive review on their live video podcast: Click here to get to the sign up form. (Note: The video is in German and you need to subscribe to see the movie).

Mailplane/Gmail as an MobileMe alternative

2008-08-27T00:00:00+00:00

Walla.co.il is one of the big news sites in Israel. Ziv Kitaro wrote about MobileMe alternatives in column and Mailplane/Gmail is one of them. If you can read Hebrew, click this link

“Gmail Redesigned” stylesheet for Mailplane

2008-07-31T00:00:00+00:00

Mike Krieger has ported the famous and elegant "Gmail Redesigned" stylesheet to Mailplane! Designed by GlobexDesigns, the stylesheet is part of the "Better Gmail" Firefox extension. It worked in Firefox only and thanks to Mike now in Mailplane, too.

Please visit the mailplaneapp Google group to get it. The CSS file is located in the "Files" section and is named "gmail-redesigned-webkit (n).css" (n is the version number).

Watch the installation screencast to get started:

Watch Screencast

Important: As the stylesheet is maintained by Mike, please post your suggestions, problems, and feedback to the mailplaneapp Google group.

Summer Vacation

2008-07-04T00:00:00+00:00

Wow - it has been a great year so far! Now some vacation, family, and "offline" time is really needed. I'll be on vacation for two weeks and will be back on July, 21.
Destination: Corsica (where the Mailplane project started...)

If you experience any Mailplane problems, please go to the FAQ page, check for known problems, or search the Google group. The are also known Gmail issues, they are listed on this page.
Enjoy your summer, too!

Mailplane Bright Hub Review

2008-07-02T00:00:00+00:00

Mailplane just got reviewed on Bright Hub! It's a great and very thorough review and describes what Mailplane is and what it isn't.

Here is what Bill writes about Security and Privacy:
"There are settings in each Gmail account's preference panel to control access to each individual Gmail account, by saving the Gmail account password to the Mac keychain and allowing automatic login as needed. [See Image 3] Of course, this is best used on a Mac that has password-protected user accounts.   Mailplane also provides a setting in each Gmail account that enables https support. While this can affect the application's overall performance, turning on https is a good idea for anyone who's using Mailplane on a local area network."

Check out the full article, it is a great read!

Mailplane 2.0 beta 5 released

2008-07-02T00:00:00+00:00

New and Improved:

French translation by Michel Tribet
German translation by Patrick Scheips
Norwegian (Bokmål) translation by Vidar Ramdal
Nested groups are now supported when Inserting email addresses from the Mac OS X address book (Cmd-Opt-A)
Account drawer toolbar item added to default toolbar

Bugfixes:

iPhoto plugin didn't work anymore, bug was introduced by build 758
Unread message counter problem when using a google.com account. (Counter didn't go to zero).

How to replace the Gmail logo

2008-07-01T00:00:00+00:00

Many users would like to see a custom image in Mailplane instead of the Gmail "beta" logo.
If you use Google Apps for your domain, Google provides this feature. The logo can be uploaded and set in your "Manage domain->Domain Settings->Appearance":

If you use a "normal" Gmail account (@gmail.com), a custom stylesheet can do the trick as Mailplane supports such a stylesheet. It can be set in your Tweak UI preferences.
Here is an example CSS file:

.zYsCRb {background:transparent url(/downloads/logo-custom.gif) !important; }

Upload a correctly sized image (143 x 59 pixels) to any webserver and replace the URL in the example with the URL to your logo. Important: The picture will be shown in all account you use.

Mailplane 2.0 beta 4 released

2008-06-23T00:00:00+00:00

This is the fourth beta release, it contains many small improvements and bug fixes.

New and improved:

New: Ctrl-Opt-Cmd-R keyboard shortcut to reload the main window (View->Reload page)
Improved: Download destination path is remembered when Ask for Download destination is enabled
Improved: Gmail Sign out toggles the account drawer if you have more than one account
Ignore RSS feed for @google.com domain
Rename iMedia to Media; "Insert Email" to Email
Main window: New default toolbar with less items
Main window/document window: attachment message now wraps text if needed
New and cleaner toolbar default setting

Bugfixes:

The Mail PDF with Mailplane PDF service wasn't installed for Mailplane 2.0 beta users.
The Gmail keyboard shortcut setting detector didn't work for Gmail 2.
Archive did remove label when a label was browsed.

The Gmail->More items opened in Mailplane instead of the preferred browser
Window moves to another location when closing drawer
Gmail 2: Reply/Reply All/Forward were enabled when compose a new message

Mailplane in French SVM Mac: Indispensable!

2008-05-22T00:00:00+00:00

SVM Mac is the biggest and most important French Mac magazine, and Mailplane has been tested on page 92 in the current June issue (#206).

Best of all, Mailplane gets five mice - the max! According to the editors, Mailplane is "Indispensable" for Gmail Mac users. Plus: The magazine comes with a CD which contains Mailplane.

Without Michel Tribet's excellent French application translation, Mailplane wouldn't have appeared in SVN Mac... thanks Michel!

Mailplane 2.0 beta 3 released

2008-05-20T00:00:00+00:00

Gmail is pushing out a new Gmail 2 version, this may lead to these problems - which are fixed in beta 3:

external links and downloads do not work
The Mail menu doesn't work correctly
compose new in separate window doesn't work

Faster Gmail loading

2008-05-20T00:00:00+00:00

Thanks to Google, Gmail loads much faster! Account switching, new message windows, and initial startup are much zippier!

Check out this article for more information.

Mailplane 2.0 beta 2 released

2008-05-15T00:00:00+00:00

New: "Enable Google Talk Window" preference

Nearly all accounts are now Gmail 2, and you get Gtalk right in your inbox sidebar. As the Google Talk window was created for Gmail 1 when the sidebar didn't have Google Talk support, there is now a preference to enable/disable Google Talk support.

Recommendation:
If you use Gmail 2, disable the setting.
If you prefer Gmail 1, enable it.

Updated: Safari extensions check

Some users don't experience the crashes, even with Safari Ad block and SafariBlock installed. There is a new button on the alert, to stop all warnings about it.

Improved: Apply/Remove label for Star

Mailplane shows a new "Star" label in the "Apply/Remove" label panel.

Other Improvements and bugfixes:

Bugfix: Some Google Apps accounts using http experienced authentication problems
Bugfix: Gmail keyboard shortcut stopped working after Cmd-L
Bugfix: When clicking the reply box, characters were interpreted instead of entered.
Bugfix: Select-All now works in a "Show Original" window
Bugfix: "Show Original" window title

Switch to account keyboard shortcut

2008-05-13T00:00:00+00:00

Press Cmd-Control-A (or use Mailplane->Switch to Account...) to open the account completion panel. It works like the textsnippets, apply/remove label, and navigate to label panels:
Use your keyboard to navigate the list and ENTER to switch to the selected account.

Safari extensions check

2008-05-13T00:00:00+00:00

Some users experienced frequent crashes, which were caused by the SafariBlock or Safari Ad Block InputManagers that automatically load into Mailplane. As Mailplane includes a newer WebKit than Safari, it leads to crashes. Unfortunately, there is no way Mailplane can stop these extensions from loading.

You have two options to solve the problem:

Remove the extension(s)
or enable "Use System" WebKit in Advanced preferences to use the same WebKit as Safari. You'll need Safari 3.1.1 and there will have to live with some problems that have been fixed in Mailplane's WebKit: Gmail 2/Plain text focus problem; Gmail 1/Rich text disabled; Gmail 1/focus problems

Mailplane 2.0 beta

2008-05-13T00:00:00+00:00

I am very excited about the latest Mailplane release: 2.0 Beta! (press release).
Important: Mailplane 2.0 will be a FREE upgrade for all registered users!
For the full list of new features and improvements please check out this page.

Improved: Apply/Remove label for Inbox

2008-05-13T00:00:00+00:00

When not using the inbox, Mailplane shows a new "Inbox" label when using Cmd-L. This special label allows you to either do a Move to inbox or to archive.

Watch Screencast

“Close instead of Hide” preference

2008-05-13T00:00:00+00:00

If you like to reduce cpu usage to a minimum while you have Mailplane in background, you can close the main window instead of just hiding it.
This may preserve some battery power, but it takes longer to reopen the window.

OmniFocus “Clipping” Plugin

2008-05-06T00:00:00+00:00

With the free OmniFocus plugin, you can create new tasks containing a direct link to your conversation from Mailplane. Download the plugin here.

Mailplane 1.77 released

2008-05-06T00:00:00+00:00

Improved auto update
All updates are now secured by DSA signatures, this means that Mailplane will only install correctly signed updates.
This security feature now enables automatic updates: You can turn on the option in the "Software Update" panel.

Improved registration panels
You can now directly open the "resend license" web page when you see one of the registration panels.

Mailplane 1.76 released

2008-04-15T00:00:00+00:00

The latest "cutting edge" release, brings many improved features and some bug fixes, here are the highlights:

Fixed: "navigate to label" panel and Folders4Gmail now work nicely toghether:

the "navigate label" panel will now correctly display your labels.

New "Confirm Quit" preference
Many users wanted a "confirm quit" alert when closing the application.
A new preference has been added to enable this alert, see the "Tweak UI" preference page.

Improved: "Navigate to Label" and "Apply/Remove Label"

Both panels work much like the famous Textmate "Go to Symbol" panel.
If you use the arrow key to move down the list, the list is now scrolled to reveal the currently selected item.

Mailplane reviewed on MacReviewCast.com

2008-04-01T00:00:00+00:00

Week after week, the people at MacReviewCast publish many priceless reviews to the Mac community. It's a great honor to hear that Mailplane 1.61 got a fine review by Lola Wong. Check out the MacReviewCast on iTunes or visit them here. Mailplane is in episode #143 (March, 29.)

Australian Macworld about cloud computing

2008-04-01T00:00:00+00:00

Dan Warne has written a very nice article about "cloud computing"...

I’ve finally decided to rid my e-mail and calendar of this earthly life — I decided after a recent MacBook Pro upgrade that it was time for them to go and live in the cloud.

...he mentions Mailplane as one of the apps that let him do the transition...

MailPlane is a stupendously fantastic program — it recreates an e-mail client around Gmail.

...and he explains the difference between Mailplane and other mail applications:

“Sure”, you might say, “I can already get my Gmail in Apple Mail through POP or IMAP.” The difference is MailPlane is a true web app, in that all the data resides on Google’s servers and MailPlane provides (as the author says) “the last mile” between the web app and your desktop. MailPlane adds back the features you’ve come to rely on your desktop mail client for, like Growl alerts when you get a new e-mail, the ability to drag a file to its icon and have a new e-mail open up with the file attached. Or the ability to select a batch of photos in iPhoto and click “e-mail”.

It's a great read, check out the full article.

Post form (Google spreadsheet or LiveJournal comments)

2008-03-31T00:00:00+00:00

Mailplane can now post forms that are embedded in emails. Great examples for form emails are

the brand new Google Spreadsheet forms (learn more...)
LifeJournal comments

Mailplane 1.61.3 released

2008-03-31T00:00:00+00:00

This update fixes two bugs:

When opening an external link in Mailplane and Safari 3.1 wasn't running, it would would crash on startup
The print window wouldn't show its contents

Use "Mailplane->Check for updates" to load the update.

Cutting Edge: Navigate labels

2008-03-31T00:00:00+00:00

If you use and love the "apply/remove" label autocompletion feature, you probably waiting for the "navigate label" autocompletion.

Get the Flash Player to see this player.

The goal is to do everything with your keyboard:

Press Shift-G or Cmd-Opt-G to open the autocompletion window
Optional: type some part of the label to filter the list
Optional: use your keyboard to choose an entry
Press enter to navigate to the label and close the window

Tip - there are direct keyboard shortcuts for the most important labels in the "Mail->Go to" menu. Or use the Gmail provided g+i, g+s keyboard combinations to jump to inbox, starred, drafts etc. Press ? to get all Gmail keyboard shortcuts.Important: This feature works in Gmail 2 only.

h4>Watch this screencast to get started:

Watch Screencast

Mailplane on 37signals and Citizen Garden

2008-03-25T00:00:00+00:00

Just found a nice post about the Mailplane's auto-bcc feature on the 37signals product blog.

If you’re interested in site specific browsers, listen to this podcast. Mailplane has been mentioned as one of the prime examples on how a site specific browser should work.
I very much share their vision and passion. Web applications such as Gmail are getting more important by the day. And site specific browsers are here to implement the "last mile," to free the web application from the browser tab and to combine the best of web and desktop world.

It's a great listen, much recommended.

Cutting Edge: Hide Spam counter and Gmail invitation box

2008-03-13T00:00:00+00:00

The Google Spam filter is the best I know, hundreds of messages are filtered every day. I have currently over 5000 unread Spam messages in my Spam folder. However, the counter seems to be more important than my inbox counter, which isn't true I hope.

Use the new Tweak UI preferences to hide the spam counter and/or the invitation box. Plus there is a setting to highlight the inbox row that is "under" the mouse pointer.

Watch Screencast

These new preferences are much inspired by the "Better Gmail" Firefox plugin.
Important: This feature works in Gmail 2 only!

Cutting Edge: Auto-BCC for Highrise users

2008-03-13T00:00:00+00:00

If you are a Highrise user, this new setting may be important for you. It allows you to send all outgoing email to the Highrise dropbox email address. Inside Highrise, the email gets automatically attached to the right person or Highrise creates a new person on the fly. See the Highrise email page for more information.

Every Gmail account has its own Auto-BCC setting.

Important: This feature works in Gmail 2 only!

Cutting Edge: Apply/Remove Label

2008-03-13T00:00:00+00:00

Gmail labels are very nice and they work great with filters. However, applying a label manually is cumbersome. Labels are kind of hidden in the "more actions" menu, the user has the use the mouse to do do it.

Mailplane now makes applying and removing a label much easier. Everything can be done from the keyboard; no mouse interaction is required.

Either press Cmd-L (or just the "L") key and open the label auto completion. Then narrow down the list by entering a few letters, press the enter key to apply or remove the label.

Watch screencast to get started:

Watch Screencast

Important: This feature works in Gmail 2 only!

Mailplane 1.61 Released

2008-03-11T00:00:00+00:00

There is a new stable release available: 1.61. Please use the "Check for Updates" feature to conveniently load it. Beside the Italian translation mentioned below, the Catalan, French, German, Norwegian, and Romanian translations have received an update, too.

The release includes some bug fixes, too:

Drag and drop to dock didn't work in all cases, especially MAC OS X Tiger users did experience the problem.
Mail->Go to menu items were disabled

Italian translation

2008-03-11T00:00:00+00:00

Very good news for Italy: Mailplane now speaks Italian, too! Monica Cainarca did the job and she did it wonderfully. The translation is now available with the current stable release (1.61).

BTW: In case you have any English/Italian (or Italian/English) translation need, please check out Monica's McTranslation page. Not only does she general translations, but she knows how to do Mac software translations, too. It is a pleasure to work with her - I highly recommended her services.

Review in “Vous et Votre Mac”

2008-03-04T00:00:00+00:00

"Vous et Votre Mac" (VVMac) is one of the big French Mac print magazines. They reviewed Mailplane 1.71.8 (cutting edge) and the article is in the very latest issue (#33). I am very excited about this and the 4 out 5 star rating is great, too!

In case you aren't able to find the magazine at your newsstand:
Bernard Le Du, VVMac editor-in-chief, was so friendly to pass me the review as PDF.

Click image to open the review.

Cutting Edge: Network Diagnostics

2008-02-22T00:00:00+00:00

As a new goodie, the "Network Diagnostics..." tool found in Safari has been integrated. If you can't connect to Google, a new button (Network Diagnostics) will be shown on the "Authentication" window. It opens a window where you can diagnose and solve the network problem.

Cutting Edge: Improved Authentication

2008-02-22T00:00:00+00:00

As the authentication code and dialog box were modal, no "check for updates" could be performed before Google authentication.

The authentication part of Mailplane is now completely new: Mailplane will automatically check for updates, even if you can't sign in.
The dialog is now a "dialog sheet" attached to the main window, and the login procedure can be cancelled at any time.

Plus: If you have many accounts, startup is now much faster.

Cutting Edge: Apology for a bad release

2008-02-16T00:00:00+00:00

The "cutting edge" version (1.71.5) published yesterday, was a bad release. Some users reported that it just didn't start after the update procedure. It looks like only MAC OS X Tiger users were affected by the problem.

The error has now been fixed, and a new update has been released a minute ago. Use the "Check for updates" feature to load it.

If your Mailplane doesn't start, you need to download the latest version manually: Please use the download page to either download the stable or "cutting edge" version.

I deeply apologize for any inconveniences this might have caused, and I will work hard to make sure I reduce the likelihood of this happening again.

Cutting Edge: Use the clipboard to attach files and pictures

2008-01-24T00:00:00+00:00

Copy any file or picture to the clipboard and the paste it into any editable field to create an optimized attachment. The "picture attachment dialog" will pop up for the preview and optimization settings.

Example 1:

In Finder: select some files
Copy them to the clipboard
Go to Mailplane
Compose a new message
Paste the files

Example 2:

Open a picture in Preview
Select a part of the picture
Copy the selection
Go to Mailplane
Compose a new message
Paste the picture part

Cutting edge: Picture attachment dialog

2008-01-24T00:00:00+00:00

Do like to control the photo optimization settings each time you attach files? Then you'll like this new feature:
The dialog shows each time you attach files and allow to enable/disable optimization and allow you to set the same properties as in the "Photos" preferences.

Picture preview: If you attached more than one picture, the display changes every three seconds
Enable/Disable Optimizations, set quality and size
Attach pictures
In case you never change the settings, disable this sheet. You can always enable it in "Photos" preferences.

Tip: If you press the command key while performing a drag and drop operation, the files aren't optimized and the dialog isn't shown.

Upcoming features

2008-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

I just added the new "upcoming features" page. It lists all changes and new stuff that is already available in the latest cutting edge release:

Gmail 2 support
Mailplane URLs
Background account notifications
Account nickname and re-ordering
and much more...

(General preferences)

What is the cutting edge release anyway? It's the upcoming Mailplane version, it's where the new features are added, tried and tested. But, as much is added or changed it may be less reliable than the current stable release.

If you like to try it anyway: instructions can be found in the extended and improved FAQ section.

Improved Screenshots

2008-01-03T00:00:00+00:00

The screenshot feature has been much improved and now works in Leopard, too. (This has been released a while ago, but I feel it is worth mentioning).

You are now able to capture a selection, a window, or the whole screen. By default Mailplane hides itself while the screenshot is captured.

This is great way to better explain a problem, feature, or something on your screen. A picture is worth a 1000 words, right?

Beta ends 2007

2007-12-19T00:00:00+00:00

Mailplane has been in beta for over eight months. It was such an exciting and intense time: Thank you for all feedback, bug reports, feature requests, testing, and support! You really helped shaping this product.

The beta will end December, 31 - and so will the special beta user pricing. If you haven't registered, yet and you'd like to get your beta user discount, make sure to register before end of year: Check out the store for more details.

The beta registration has been closed, Mailplane can now be downloaded from here.

Merry Christmas!

“Cutting Edge” Release supports Gmail 2.0

2007-12-04T00:00:00+00:00

Last weekend a new "cutting edge" update was released: 1.55. It supports both Gmail 1.0 and Gmail 2.0.

Using Gmail 2.0 is a joy: I really like

the "update conversation" feature;
the mark as read/unread keyboard shortcuts;
the speed improvements;
and the colored labels

If you can't wait and you like to try and test it, you can enable "cutting edge" updates in Mailplane's advanced preferences. Then do a normal "Check for updates" to get the latest version. But, there is no need to rush it. When it is translated and stable it will be released to all Mailplane users.

Norwegian Translation

2007-11-05T00:00:00+00:00

Thanks to Vidar Ramdal Mailplane is now available in Norwegian. Did you know? According to Wikipedia there are 4.7 million people speaking Norwegian, and it is already the fourth Scandinavian Mailplane translation.

Gmail 2.0 and Mailplane

2007-11-05T00:00:00+00:00

Google prepares Gmail for the future. According to the official Gmail blog, Gmail 2.0 is being rolled out over the next few weeks. If you see the "Newer Version" link in the upper right part of your main window, you already have been upgraded:

However, Mailplane isn't compatible with Gmail 2.0, yet. The Gmail 1.0 interface is still available, and Mailplane 1.54 automatically opens this interface when started. So, if you don't use the "Newer Version" link, Mailplane works without problems. I am currently working on the upgrade. Mailplane will support both Gmail 1.0 and 2.0.

But, what can you expect from the new Gmail? In Firefox, Gmail 2.0 doesn't look much different. However, for Mailplane users it is great news: Some really missed Gmail features will come to WebKit and therefore Mailplane (and Safari). Here are two examples:

Quick contacts/Google Talk in sidebar:

The "Update Conversation" feature:

Google seems to have unified the code for the different supported browsers. The days are numbered where WebKit users had to live with an older Gmail version, I guess.

And here is the best part: Mailplane is based on WebKit and WebKit is the fastest browser rendering engine. With the new Gmail speed improvements, Mailplane will be faster than ever.

From the Gmail blog post: "These techniques really shine on newer browsers and computers. Using an alpha version of Safari 3 on a MacBook, we're seeing sub-200ms times when opening messages—pretty quick."

Google announces IMAP for Gmail

2007-10-27T00:00:00+00:00

This week, Google announced IMAP access for Gmail. That's great news for Mailplane users. Why?

Many people access their Gmail mailbox from various locations and devices. In my case this is

Mailplane on my MacBook and the family iMac
the Gmail java application on my Motorola V3 handset
Firefox on a linux box
And occasionally Internet Explorer on Windows

IMAP now extends access to my precious email data:

As the iPhone doesn't run the java application to access Gmail, I will be able to use IMAP when I will
I will be able to backup my Gmail email data

Regardless how I access my Gmail mailbox, I see and change the same email data. For example, I could "star" a conversation on my handset, then create a reply on Linux with Firefox, attach a photo with Mailplane, and then send the draft from an iPhone.

Will IMAP access replace Mailplane for me? No way!
I love the Gmail web interface, in my opinion it beats all traditional mail clients. For me Gmail thru Mail.app isn't Gmail anymore: no real labels, no Google search, no pretty conversation view. And Mailplane gives me best of both worlds: The speed and power of Gmail and the beauty and functionality of my Mac desktop.

Leopard compatible iPhoto plugin

2007-10-25T00:00:00+00:00

The old iPhoto plugin was based on the SIMBL InputManager. As InputManagers are not supported in Mac OS X Leopard, a new iPhoto plugin is provided. When the plugin is installed, you can choose Mailplane as your email application in iPhoto/General preferences. The icon in the lower part of iPhoto is then changed to Mailplane, too.

See Mailplane help for more info.

Brazilian Portuguese and Korean Translations

2007-10-25T00:00:00+00:00

Mailplane features two new languages:

Korean by Calvin Jeong

Brazilian Portuguese by Leonardo Otsuka

This is excellent news - thanks Calvin and Leonardo!
Use the "Help->Support and Feedback" window to send translation related feedback.

Alternative introductory price and education discount

2007-10-06T00:00:00+00:00

I received numerous reactions on the Mailplane price announcement released last week.
Many have immediately bought a license - thank you so much for your support!!

Some of you are still missing some features and are not ready to buy Mailplane for the set price. If you feel this way, please be assured that I will add more features to the product and continue to improve on it. I suggest you to follow the Mailplane development closely and register when it fits your bill.

I received quite a few requests to make Mailplane either free or very low cost. For several reasons, this cannot be considered since it is not what I have intended for Mailplane.

Introduction price:
I really do appreciate YOUR support building this app, and I will therefore offer an alternative for the beta users that do not have the need for a family option: Buy a single user license for $19.95 (regular price ~~$24.95~~)

Again, this is an alternative to the free family option. The current "family" offer is unchanged: Single user license + family option for $24.95 (regular price ~~$32.95~~).

Remember: It's for beta users only - the offer ends when Mailplane goes public.

Education discount:
I am also happy to offer an education discount. If you learn or work at a university and you have an EDU email address, you can generate a coupon code. The discount is 30% off the single user license price.

If you already bought a license and you want the reduced price instead of the free family option and/or you qualify for the education discount, no problem. A separate email with instructions how to get your refund will be sent soon.

Price Announcement

2007-09-29T00:00:00+00:00

The beta started in March. This was such an intense and exciting half year. Thank you for all ideas, bug reports, and support!

I feel that the time has come to prepare Mailplane for public availability and to announce the price for it:

A Mailplane single user license is $24.95 and includes free 1.x updates.
There is a family option available ($8), which allows you to use Mailplane in your private household on up to five Macs.
The evaluation period will last 30 days.

For a short time, Mailplane will remain in beta stage. There is still no time limit: the evaluation period will begin when the beta ends.

Special offer for beta users: Buy a single user license today and get the family option for free. (Offer expires when Mailplane goes public).

To go to the store, open "Mailplane->Registration..." and press the "buy now..." button.

If you're not a beta user and like to try Mailplane you are welcome to register for the beta here.

Mailplane is ready for Leopard

2007-09-29T00:00:00+00:00

Mailplane 1.52 is ready for the upcoming Mac OS X release. The same Mailplane version now runs on both 10.4 and 10.5 releases of the operating system. I am still working on the iPhoto plugin, the screenshot function, and some minor (e.g. toolbar repaint) stuff. But, other than that all features work just fine.

Hide Mailplane at startup

2007-09-29T00:00:00+00:00

Do you like to launch Mailplane whenever you start your Mac or log into your account? Add Mailplane to your system preference account login items. New in 1.52: If you check the Hide option, Mailplane won't open any window when it starts.

Drag and drop and photo optimization

2007-09-29T00:00:00+00:00

When you drag and drop photos, Mailplane optimizes them to make them smaller and you can control the optimization in the Photos preference page.

But, sometimes you need to send a picture without any optimization: you want to leave size, file type, and picture quality untouched. The latest release now allows you to just press the command key while dropping the file. The mouse cursor will change to "Link" instead of "Copy" to indicate that no optimization will be performed.

Here is how it looks like:
I dragged a photo from Finder to Mailplane.

No key pressed: Optimize the picture according to your preferences

Command-Key pressed: disable all optimizations, leave the picture untouched.

Catalan and Finnish translations

2007-09-29T00:00:00+00:00

Mailplane features two new languages:

Finnish by Mikko Aarnio

Catalan by Albert Simó.

Kudos to Mikko and Albert for their important work!
Use the "Help->Support and Feedback" window to send translation related feedback.

Use your Mac address book

2007-09-04T00:00:00+00:00

Insert email addresses directly from your Mac address book into your TO, CC, BCC, or message field. It works much like the text snippets panel: Press Cmd-Option-A to open the panel, search for one or more addresses. Press Enter to close the panel and insert the addresses at the focused field. Works with address groups, too. You'll find the panel in the Mail->Insert sub menu.

Rich Text format menu

2007-09-04T00:00:00+00:00

There is a new Format menu to make text bold (Cmd-B), italic (Cmd-I), or underlined (Cmd-U). Quickly access colors (Cmd-Option-C), too. And finally center (Cmd-|), left align (Cmd-{), or right align (Cmd-}) paragraphs.

iMedia Browser

2007-09-04T00:00:00+00:00

No need to open iPhoto, iTunes, or iMovie to send attachments: There is a brand-new iMedia browser right inside Mailplane. Open it and then drag and drop photos, movies, or music to your message. Use Window->iMedia Browser to get started.

Dutch, Icelandic, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish, and Swedish

2007-09-04T00:00:00+00:00

There are six new languages to choose from:

Dutch by Cristiano Betta
Icelandic by Páll Svansson
Japanese by mitcho (Michael Yoshitaka Erlewine)
Portuguese by Tiago Amorim
Spanish by Fernando Orozco
Swedish by Kristoffer Forsgren (ballisticpixels.com)

These translators did a great job - send them your feedback by using the Help->Feedback and Support menu item. There is a special "Compose Mail..." button to notify the translator of the current language. Mailplane is now usable in eleven languages. German, French, Polish, Romanian, and of course English are all up-to-date, too.

This is the Tweak UI preference page in Japanese. Cute isn't it?

Like to switch to one of the above languages? See Mailplane Help for instructions.

iLife 08 and the iPhoto Plugin

2007-08-18T00:00:00+00:00

Mailplane features an iPhoto plugin, to easily compose a new message directly from iPhoto. The current Plugin only works with iLife 06 (iPhoto 6). I'm currently working on an adapted Plugin for iLife 08. The next Mailplane update (due this month) will contain it. Meanwhile, disable the iPhoto plugin in Mailplane's "Photos" preferences and use "drag and drop" from iPhoto to Mailplane as a workaround.

Update (2007-08-23): Todays Mailplane release (version 1.50) contains an updated iPhoto plugin that works with iPhoto 5, 6, and 7 (iLife 08). As an improvement the iPhoto "Mail Photo" panel is shown. You can choose the desired size and then compose the message in Mailplane. Tip: Press Option key while clicking the "Compose" button to open Mail.app instead of Mailplane.
.

Vacation

2007-07-22T00:00:00+00:00

I had a great and intense time since I released Mailplane in March. I enjoyed working for the fast growing Mailplane community - you are just terrific!

But now, me and my family need some "offline" time. We have rented an RV and will travel around beautiful Sweden. I'll be back "online" August 14th.
Enjoy your summer, too!
Ruben

Romanian Mailplane

2007-07-22T00:00:00+00:00

Thanks to Ovi Pășcui Mailplane talks Romanian and is now fluent in five languages!

After consulting Wikipedia I found some interesting facts about the language. It is spoken in many countries: Romania, Republic of Moldavia, Bulgaria, Canada, USA, Russia, Spain, Ukraine, Israel, Serbia, and Hungary. There are about 24 million people speaking it as their first language! And 4 million speak it as their secondary language.

Getting started screencast

2007-07-22T00:00:00+00:00

Get most out of Mailplane and watch the getting started screencast. It shows you how to drag and drop files to create attachments, send screenshots, send any document as PDF, use multiple accounts, and more

Polish Mailplane

2007-07-05T00:00:00+00:00

Kudos to Piotr Orłowski, he translated Mailplane to Polish. I am sure, there are many users who will love his work!

Google Talk for Google Apps

2007-07-05T00:00:00+00:00

Last week Google released an updated Talk Gadget for "Google Apps" accounts. Of course, this new feature is now available in Mailplane: Every account type can now use the Talk window.

French Mailplane

2007-07-05T00:00:00+00:00

Parlez-vous français? Oui?

Thanks to Michel Tribet people from France, Canada, Tahiti, and many african countries can use Mailplane in their native language.

Mailplane, WebKit, and Safari 3 beta

2007-06-19T00:00:00+00:00

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

2007-06-06T00:00:00+00:00

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

Uninstall Mailplane cleanly

2007-05-28T00:00:00+00:00

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.

Text snippets make you more productive

2007-05-28T00:00:00+00:00

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.

Support for multiple Gmail accounts

2007-05-28T00:00:00+00:00

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

2007-05-28T00:00:00+00:00

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.

New application icon!

2007-04-30T00:00:00+00:00

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

2007-04-28T00:00:00+00:00

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

2007-04-13T00:00:00+00:00

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

Webkit nightly enables rich text editing in Mailplane

2007-04-05T00:00:00+00:00

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?

100 beta invitations each day

2007-04-05T00:00:00+00:00

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.

Print from any application to Mailplane

2007-04-03T00:00:00+00:00

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

2007-03-31T00:00:00+00:00

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

2007-03-21T00:00:00+00:00

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”

2007-03-18T00:00:00+00:00

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.

The search for Mailplane test pilots is over

2007-03-14T00:00:00+00:00

After MacNN published the news about Mailplane, all available private beta seats were taken in about one hour! The website is still under heavy load, and the waiting list gets filled quite fast.

This is great news because it shows the need for Gmail Mac desktop integration!

For all those who didn’t make it into the private beta: Add yourself to the beta waiting list. As soon as Mailplane gets more stable, people on the waiting list will get invited to the beta.

Would you like to become a Mailplane test pilot?

2007-03-08T00:00:00+00:00

Mailplane is a brand new Cocoa shareware application that integrates Gmail into your Mac desktop.

Features include:

Drag and drop files to create attachments.
Auto resize photos when composing messages.
iPhoto integration.
Growl notifications
And much more…

The complete feature list may be found at https://mailplaneapp.com.

Private beta registration is now open. Becoming a test pilot has never been easier. Just visit https://mailplaneapp.com/beta. (Update: Private beta is closed. This is a blog post from March 2007.)