Gmail testing multiple inboxes tool
Google has begun live testing of a feature displaying multiple inboxes. Whilst a little fiddly, it should make organizing e-mails considerably simpler.
The new feature, which can be activated through the Labs section (under Settings) allows you to create up to four small panes which appear to the side of the main inbox (which then shrinks to make room but it still useable). As well as filling these panes with the main display options, such as Drafts, Sent Mail and Spam, you can assign a pane to any label you’ve set up with a filter.
If you aren’t already familiar with filters and labels, here’s an example of how they can work with the new system:
Through Blorge, I have a dedicated e-mail address on which I receive press releases from tech companies. Rather than log in to this account every day, I have it set to automatically forward messages to my main Gmail account. However, when I come to start my working day at Blorge, it can be time-consuming to look through my personal messages to find the press releases.
I solved this problem with a filter. By going to the Filters tab under Settings, I set Gmail up so that any e-mail with my Blorge address on is automatically labelled with the word ‘blorge’. Now I can easily find these messages either my manually looking through my Inbox (the relevant messages have the ‘blorge’ label written besides them in green) or clicking on ‘blorge’ in a list of labels on the left of the screen which then replaces my full inbox with a list of the relevant messages,
Multiple Inboxes turns this from a one-step process into a no-step process. I now have all Blorge messages automatically listed in a pane on the right-hand side of the screen. It only saves a couple of seconds work, but it means I can benefit from the filtering process all the time rather than having to click back and forth throughout the day to keep an eye on my different types of e-mail.
The tool also works with filters based on keywords. Performance here is variable depending on how smart the filter is, but it has plenty of uses. For example, a public relations contractor handling several clients could fill the panes with messages that contained references to particular companies or brands, making it easier to keep track of individual tasks.
The multiple inbox tool isn’t perfectly intuitive, and does require you to get your head round the language used in the filtering system, but for those who use e-mail for a wide variety of purposes it could prove extremely useful.
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