
Inbox Pause - A pause button for incoming mail in Gmail [Chrome extension] - mikejchin
http://inboxpause.com/
======
brittohalloran
The manual method:

1\. Create filter "subject(*)" -> Skip Inbox, Apply Label "INBOXPAUSE"

2\. There is no step 2

To "unpause"

1\. Delete filter (too bad you can't turn them off/on)

2\. Go to label "INBOXPAUSE", select all, move to inbox

Works for web-based as well as mobile, which is nice. The primary benefit of
this extension is that it reminds you that you're paused with an overlay.

~~~
baydinalex
Inbox Pause is also quite a bit easier and less technical, I think!

If you want to do this manually, the filter above will probably let stuff slip
through on some percentage of accounts. We found "from:(*) label:inbox" to be
the most reliable. Or just, you know, click the pause button :)

(I helped write Inbox Pause)

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agscala
I'm always blown away when I hear about the sheer volume of incoming email
that some people have to deal with. I may get 10 a day, but apparently getting
hundreds isn't all that uncommon.

It's unreal that a product like this even exists. Though no doubt it's useful
for people that receive a never-ending deluge of email.

~~~
vtail
I currently work as a PM in a big company. Yesterday I've got slightly over
200 emails; it is a typical day.

Granted, some of those were CC:, and people like to have one-line replies, but
I still have to read each one nevertheless just to make sure it is not
something I need urgently respond to.

~~~
mogrim
Set up a filter, and dump all the CC ones into a semi-spam folder. If it's
important, you should be a "To". If it's not...

~~~
vtail
When I just started, I quickly setup some filters to categorize all mail into
three categories: those where I would be one of the few people in To, or those
from my boss, or those that are High Priority would go into first category,
most others will be in second and mail group etc. will go into third.

The problem with the system is that people who send you email are not aware of
it :), and very often violate those rules. Apart from some form of AI
gradually adjusting rules over the time, I'm not sure what would be a good
solution.

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georgemcbay
I guess I'm old fashioned in that I pause my inbox by closing gmail.

~~~
jaaronlong
A nice feature of Inbox Pause is that it will actually prevent messages from
being sent to your phone or mobile device. So, its truly a break from email.
Additionally, if you have a huge pile of email you need to work through
without the distractions of new incoming mail, closing Gmail isn't really an
option.

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sp332
The "what if something goes wrong" page has more information about how this
actually works <http://inboxpause.com/help.html>

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friggeri
One thing I'd __really __want to see in an email client is a set of "reply
today", "reply tomorrow" and "reply later" buttons, linked to my todo list or
calendar.

~~~
baydinalex
You might want to check out our core product, Boomerang. You just choose a
date when you want to see an email again. It kicks the message into a label
until that time, then brings it back to the top of your inbox, so you can
reply when you're ready. We think Inbox Pause goes well with the same core
theme.

(I helped write Inbox Pause)

~~~
eblume
Wow, that sounds fantastic. Checking it out now. Thanks!

(That sounded very shill-ish... I'm not associated with these products. <g>)

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madiator
Does anybody know why the extension wants to 'access your tabs and browsing
activity'. Is this permission required for it to work?

~~~
mikejchin
We use the chrome.windows module to pop up our authentication window. During
installation, this permission appears as "access your tabs and browsing
activity."

<http://developer.chrome.com/extensions/windows.html>

~~~
aboodman
Perhaps you could use window.open() to get around needing
chrome.windows.create, which would allow you to remove this permission.

~~~
mikejchin
When we used window.open(), we ran into issues with Chrome's popup blocker. I
think it's because we create the popup in an ajax callback. We'll take another
look; there might be a workaround for us.

I just noticed that chrome.tabs.create doesn't require the 'tabs' permission,
so that might be another option. Thanks for the help. We'll try to remove the
permission in the next release. :)

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filipevalente
Things like this reaching the first page on HN really tells a lot about is
going on with the tech business. Jesus... create a fuckin' filter... or learn
to manage yourself and you email.

"the paradigm-shiftingest, game-changingest email innovation of 2012"

I just puked.

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ilaksh
Great idea, but its sort of like temporarily damming up a whitewater in order
to avoid being drowned. You know you are going to be slammed when you remove
the dam.

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viraj_shah
Seems like this is a combination of filters, labels, and vacation responders
to "pause" messages. Nice hack but may be good to disclose that all your mail
correspondences will receive an automated message about Inbox Pause.
Personally I don't like it (the vacation responder), so it seems easy enough
to disable while keeping the actual pausing functionality. Otherwise nice
tool!

~~~
Xavi
There's an option to turn on/off the auto responder. Checkout the second image
in the slide show:
[https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/illgajkjilbddcllil...](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/illgajkjilbddcllilfobfbbgmlfkkeh)

~~~
viraj_shah
Ah nice! Missed that. Cool.

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eclipticplane
I get exceptions when trying it with both my regular Gmail account and my
Google Apps for Domains account:

    
    
      GET http://inboxpause.baydin.com/createlabel?guser=xxx@gmail.com 403 (FORBIDDEN)
      
      GET http://inboxpause.baydin.com/createlabel?guser=xxx@gmail.com 403 (FORBIDDEN)
      
      Uncaught ReferenceError: show_authentication_error is not defined
    

Any ideas?

~~~
mikejchin
Oops, sorry about that. It looks like we forgot to include some error handling
code. An error message was supposed to appear there.

I'm guessing that it's an issue with cookies. Do you have third-party cookies
enabled? Try enabling that (or create an exception for inboxpause.baydin.com).
If it still doesn't work, please email us at support+pause@baydin.com, and
we'll take a look. Thanks!

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sailfrog
It's a good feature idea (I implemented a similar one in my open source
webmail application a few years ago, I called it "freeze folder") but to go as
far as "Paradigm shifted. Game changed" is over the top.

------
hongquan
This sounds like a pretty cool product. Just wish I had it when I went on
vacation last week.

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djbender
If you suffer from this much incoming mail, you may want to reconsider the
purpose of your email.

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ramblerman
Meet INBOX PAUSE - the paradigm-shiftingest, game-changingest email innovation
of 2012

That's a bold statement for something that achieves the same as "closing
gmail".

I know people get sensitive about the negativity on here, but this warrants a
little fair game critisicm in my book.

~~~
natep
Yes, the copy is exaggerated for humorous effect, but can you search, read,
and reply to old emails while gmail is closed? Clearly, this extension does
offer something more than your solution.

