
Gmail Launches Add-ons - alooPotato
https://www.blog.google/products/g-suite/do-more-your-inbox-gmail-add-ons/
======
jypepin
So, I started using inbox a while ago when it was announced and I love it.
Really.

What's the state of development of it? Doesn't seems to be moving much and a
lot of features from gmail are still missing, and I continue to see dev
happening on gmail and not on inbox.

Should I be moving back to inbox?

~~~
fareesh
Came to post this as well. Inbox is a great product, but it seems to have been
forgotten - probably because most of the users still use gmail, since getting
"normies" to switch to anything is near impossible without social pressure
being some contributor to the switch. Plus, Gmail still has a ton of features
that were never ported over, which will also prevent some advanced users who
rely on these features consistently, from switching.

Inbox is in a weird place - the features we want in Gmail are in Inbox. The
features we want in Inbox are in Gmail. The mails are in the same place. The
web clients are separate codebases. I can't imagine all the talented people
working at either team are happy with this situation given the way their
contributions end up not coming to us users because of this separation. If
anyone here is on either team, or has some insight into this, I'd really like
to understand what the thinking is behind this stuff. The same sort of goes
for Allo, Hangouts, etc. What gives, Google?

~~~
themacguffinman
I think you're missing the point of Inbox. It's not supposed to replace Gmail,
not now and not ever. It's an additional way of using Gmail, hence why its
full name is actually "Inbox by Gmail".

Inbox is an attempt to make Gmail easier to use for the average user who has
simple needs, so all the "power user" features you want aren't supposed to be
in Inbox. If your needs are complicated, you can just use Gmail. Inbox doesn't
really introduce any new features that Gmail cannot do, it simply reframes
Gmail features in a different UI and workflow. For example, Inbox's "done"
action is available in Gmail, but in Gmail it's called "archive". Same with
Inbox's "bundles": they're just called "tabs" in Gmail.

As an Inbox user, I'm pretty happy with the state of Inbox. I don't need extra
features get my stuff done in Inbox. Porting every Gmail feature to Inbox is
missing the point.

~~~
mcintyre1994
Does Gmail have email snoozing? It didn't when I switched to Inbox and I
wouldn't want to use an email client without it now.

~~~
dbdr
One way to achieve snoozing in any email client is to forward (and archive)
the email to 1day@fut.io (or monday@fut.io etc, the syntax is pretty complete
and flexible). They will send you back the email at the specified time and
date, so it ends up back in your inbox. No GUI but pretty efficient in
practice.

------
edraferi
More information about the developer experience here:

[https://gsuite-developers.googleblog.com/2017/10/gmail-
add-o...](https://gsuite-developers.googleblog.com/2017/10/gmail-add-ons-
framework-now-available.html)

Edit: Looks like you build the add-ons with Google AppsScript. Very similar to
Microsoft Office + VBA, on the web this time.

There's a CodeLab tutorial showing how to build a basic add-on that populates
a Google Sheets file with receipt data from emails:
[https://codelabs.developers.google.com/codelabs/gmail-add-
on...](https://codelabs.developers.google.com/codelabs/gmail-add-ons/#0)

------
alooPotato
We (Streak yc s11) were a launch partner on this and launched our Add-on
today. Even though we already have a chrome extension for desktop, add-ons
allowed us to live inside the native Gmail mobile apps.

Happy to answer any questions about the add-on platform....

~~~
gnicholas
Is there any way to modify the appearance of text within emails? My startup
has a popular Chrome extension that works with gmail on desktop, but we'd love
to be on native gmail apps also. For context (and to understand why we need to
modify the text), see
[http://www.beelinereader.com](http://www.beelinereader.com)

~~~
alooPotato
Unfortunately, no. This is not possible with Add-ons.

------
wubbapubba
Gmail is consolidating their dominance with stuff like this. If things start
replacing email communication, gmail will just provide it on top which moves
us further and further from a standards compliant SMTP GUI that email was.

I haven't found an email client that reliably renders most html, yet we have
addons and soon maybe Android apps in your email.

~~~
edraferi
I don't think it's quite so gloomy. A lot of cool add-on functionality relies
on semantic markup in the email itself [0]. These are open standards by
necessity -- any email provider can add support for them. For example, here's
the standard for flight reservations [1].

I'm not sure how widely adopted they are, but Microsoft supports at least
event discovery [2].

[0]
[https://developers.google.com/gmail/markup/](https://developers.google.com/gmail/markup/)

[1] [http://schema.org/FlightReservation](http://schema.org/FlightReservation)

[2] [https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Automatically-
add-t...](https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Automatically-add-travel-
and-package-delivery-events-to-your-
calendar-32e5cf0c-3e65-4870-9ff9-df3683d3fc97)

edit: formatting

~~~
duskwuff
Annoyingly, though, these markup features still require explicit approval from
Google to function in Gmail. They aren't even usable _at all_ for small sites,
as one of Google's approval requirements is a "consistent history of sending a
high volume of mail from your domain".

------
aNoob7000
Are there any concerns about privacy? I mean now you have applications that
will use a platform that Google is known to scan for information.

I know everyone has heard this before, but I would like to see what people
think. A couple of days ago, people were all up in arms about phone companies
selling your website traffic. What makes Google better than god forbid AT&T or
Verizon?

~~~
skybrian
First of all, these are integrations that you explicitly install (like
installing an app), so that's obviously opt-in. That's a bit different from
the adtech stuff many companies do without any benefit to you.

Second, why do you ask just about Google and not the other companies involved?
For example, if you're interested in the Trello integration, you also need to
trust Trello with any data you send there. Presumably anyone interested in
that particular add-on has already decided to trust both Gmail and Trello with
their data, or they wouldn't install it.

Apparently this is what the install screen looks like:
[https://support.google.com/a/answer/176367?hl=en&ref_topic=1...](https://support.google.com/a/answer/176367?hl=en&ref_topic=1056394)

~~~
oliwarner
Opt in isn't enough to stop it becoming a toilet.

Years of Britney Spears Naked Screensavers and malware "removers" have taught
us that users are idiots. You can net a bazillion users with one "unlimited
space" add-on.

Obviously, there's _some_ vetting but that doesn't always work.

These add-ons _could_ run on Google's servers and only have connectivity to
your inbox and session. Instead, this appears to allow companies to do what
they like, sharting your data over multiple jurisdictions if they want.
Doesn't fill me with confidence.

~~~
halfteatree
> users are idiots

Please, for the last time, stop using this rhetoric. How would you like to be
called an idiot? As a developer and a user, I'm deeply offended by this
condescending attitude.

I really don't know what people like -- apparently opt-out is bad, so now
we're using opt-in. Still, "opt-in" is bad because it's becoming a toilet? How
do you expect _any_ platform to work? Self-host everything?

~~~
oliwarner
I said exactly how it should work. These add-ons should exist and operate
within Google/gmail and nowhere else. They shouldn't be _able_ to send your
data anywhere else. Instantly curtails the unwashed from having their
identities stolen.

As for the rhetoric, I'm sorry you feel picked upon. I was speaking generally,
not directly at _you_... but if that still doesn't reflect your experience of
the idiots bumping their way around your product, lucky you. Seriously. Even
in B2B apps with supposed experts, we get some alarmingly silly feedback.

~~~
Mz
Re "idiots."

Everyone is ignorant about something. Take brilliant IT professionals. For
many of them, manners and social skills are one of their weak areas.

~~~
eradicatethots
I think this is a harmful stereotype

~~~
Mz
I think you are missing my point. Which, you know, maybe doesn't belong on HN
at all. But neither does name calling to begin with. The guidelines say so,
more or less.

~~~
eradicatethots
No I see your point. I also think this is a harmful stereotype. It’s not about
your point.

~~~
Mz
Well, I don't think I am stereotyping. I am absolutely not saying "all IT
people have terrible social skills" or anything like that. Just because the
stereotype exists does not mean I am promoting it.

Sorry if that is a sore point for you. But, making a point in the particular
case is not the same as tarring all IT people. I do plenty to give push back
against such stereotypes. * I generally prefer the company of IT people. I
long have. It is part of why I spend so much time on HN. But I don't feel I
need to follow some sort of extremist zero tolerance policy here.

* For example: [http://micheleincalifornia.blogspot.com/2017/08/communicatin...](http://micheleincalifornia.blogspot.com/2017/08/communicating-with-strangers-on-internet.html)

------
forgotmypw
Sounds a lot like Gmail Labs, which was discontinued. I've learned to expect
most Google products to be killed off, so I don't even bother starting to use
them anymore.

~~~
dannyr
You're right. If you don't count the services that still exists today, Google
has killed almost all its products.

~~~
olyjohn
Is Gmail even their priority anymore? Didn't they come out with Inbox some
time back? I always was under the impression that Inbox was going to replace
Gmail, but never knew for sure.

~~~
iak8god
> Is Gmail even their priority anymore? Didn't they come out with Inbox some
> time back?

They'd better not kill GMail without adding an Inbox option to _not_ show
attached image previews inline in the inbox. I had to stop using Inbox because
not only are these annoying, but there's no way for me to control whether my
contacts (or even complete strangers for that matter) send me emails with NSFW
images attached.

I like Inbox, though there are some other features I'd like to see before I
permanently make the switch from GMail, but the above is a deal breaker.
<me>@gmail.com has been my primary email for over a decade, but I'd have to
switch to something else.

~~~
slackingoff2017
Just buy your own domain and run Gmail on it. Super easy to do, and if Google
dicks with me too much I can move my mail somewhere else in minutes without
changing my address

~~~
iak8god
That'd require me to change my email address, when I've spent the last 10+
years training everyone to use my @gmail.

~~~
toomuchtodo
The best time to have setup your own domain for email was ten years ago. The
second best time is today.

The question is not if you will move off of Gmail, but when, and would it not
be better to be prepared and start the process when you're not under duress
from a planned sunset?

------
shoover
Does anyone ever want to annotate threads or messages with notes like next
actions or why you didn’t reply? I always thought it should be built into
gmail, but I suppose an add-on would work.

~~~
vm
The Inbox (by Gmail) mobile app has this. "Pin" an email and you can write
whatever you want to remember to do later.

It's awesome.

------
falcolas
Not much info in this particular message, but I wonder if this could be used
with GPG to send and receive encrypted emails. I'm sure browser sandboxing
would be an issue (hard to keep a key private when it's uploaded to another
server and used in a browser window)... but still, the possibility would be
pretty awesome.

~~~
comboy
There are extensions that do that well already. But the problem is still that
I don't trust the browser with my private key.

I wonder though how reasonable my assumption is. E.g. how many security issues
in the past two years could have potentially caused my key to be compromised
if I were to use it that way.

------
tyingq
I wonder if this is just "contextual gadgets"[1] that have existed for paid
gsuite/gmail for a while.

If not, they should probably consolidate the two.

[1][https://developers.google.com/gmail/gadgets_overview](https://developers.google.com/gmail/gadgets_overview)

~~~
icebraining
In my experience, Gadgets have been languishing for a while. We developed one
to integrate Gmail with our issues tracker (it created an issue from the email
content), yet after we tried to deploy an update, now using the new control
panel, it simply never showed up again.

------
RandyRanderson
How about just supporting previously existing features like attaching jar
files?

Google: "Sorry we're busy impl'ing features no one's asked for."

------
vit05
This link does not open here [https://www.blog.google/products/g-suite/do-
more-your-inbox-...](https://www.blog.google/products/g-suite/do-more-your-
inbox-gmail-add-ons/)

[http://blog.google.com/](http://blog.google.com/) Doesn't open too

But [https://gsuite-developers.googleblog.com](https://gsuite-
developers.googleblog.com) opens and google.com opens.

I have tested on my smartphone and didn't work. I am from Brasil, so, I do not
think is some kind of restriction.

Anyone have any idea what's going on?

~~~
CydeWeys
Hey, I'm the Tech Lead of the team that runs .google. Can you provide more
information? What browser are you using? Can you use some tool like
[https://ipleak.net/](https://ipleak.net/) to determine what DNS servers
you're hitting? And can you try some of these other domain names on other TLDs
and report back? [https://nomulus.foo](https://nomulus.foo)
[https://nic.dev](https://nic.dev) [https://pki.goog/](https://pki.goog/)

~~~
vit05
Hi, thanks.

None of those 3 sites open here. What kind of information do you need from
ipleak.net?

DNS Address - 1 server 45.62.204.178 Canada Canada

~~~
CydeWeys
What browser are you using?

It does seem like you're having DNS problems. See the following:

    
    
        $ dig @45.62.204.178 blog.google                                                                  
    
        ; <<>> DiG 9.9.5-3ubuntu0.16-Ubuntu <<>> @45.62.204.178 blog.google
        ; (1 server found)
        ;; global options: +cmd
        ;; connection timed out; no servers could be reached
    

That same command run against other DNS servers (for example, our public DNS
server at 8.8.8.8) succeeds.

Even stranger, against your configured DNS server, requests for non-existent
.google domains do work correctly, as does nic.google and sites on many of the
rest of our TLDs (e.g. get.how and iam.soy). nic.dev and bar.foo do work for
me but pki.goog and nomulus.foo do not.

It looks to me like you're having DNS problems. Can you switch your DNS
settings? Or use a VPN that does that built-in?

Also, why, if you're in Brasil, are you hitting a DNS server located in
Canada?

~~~
vit05
I have changed the DNS and now it is working correctly. Two days ago, a
problem occurred with the modem and they changed the device. All settings were
on automatic.

But I really can not understand why blog.google did not work right away, and
why it was routed to a canada DNS.

I am using Google Chrome and Firefox.

Tks for take the time to help. The internet provider that I am using is called
netcombo.com.br and in the past, they have blocked the use of others DNS and
some services. I do not know if that is the case now.

I have asked for others using the same internet provider to test and will
update when they done.

Edit. So, others using the same provider reporter that
[https://www.blog.google](https://www.blog.google) do not open there.

~~~
CydeWeys
Thanks for your debugging help. I'm working to see what the next step might be
to contact people at that ISP and tell them that they're messing something up.
You could also tell them via their tech support that they're misrouting
requests for certain TLDs.

------
parski
Search results for GPG

We couldn't find anything for your search.

:-/

~~~
Ninn
Indeed disappointing -- this has to be the single most requested feature in
Gmail, how can they not open a new universe which could allow this, and then
not include this.

~~~
smnscu
Not only that, but they have a guy who AFAIU spent his 20% time to build this
feature (i.e. e2ee using GPG), it would take minimal resources to implement it
as an add-on. I guess with all the usage data they have they know how much the
general public cares about privacy. It's sad not even the Googlers who care
can push some of these "higher good" features without being reassigned to some
mundane shit.

[https://github.com/google/end-to-end](https://github.com/google/end-to-end)

~~~
vntok
Maybe all the usage data they have shows that the general public does not care
about privacy?

------
pkamb
What I've always wanted are widgets that show up in your inbox as if they're
emails, but aren't actually emails.

So rather than your calendar sending you an email reminder, it inserts a
calendar "app" item that's opened when you click the subject of the non-email.

Or a todo list that lives in your inbox, but directly opens a todo document
rather _links_ to a todo document. Would replace the never-sent draft I
currently use for the same.

~~~
icebraining
Not exactly the same, but with an Email Go-To Action you can add a button to
the subject line that links to whatever you want:
[https://developers.google.com/gmail/markup/actions/actions-o...](https://developers.google.com/gmail/markup/actions/actions-
overview#go-to_actions)

------
michaelbuckbee
I'd love to build one of these myself, but can't seem to find any information
on what API/system to do so. Have they released details yet?

------
zack12
I have been using unofficial addons for a while like Todoist and Trello and
love the fact that they are making a step in the right direction. More
integrations, more love.

On the other hand, I really hate their blog design. The reading space is less
than half the screen. [https://cl.ly/0h2z471o0v2W](https://cl.ly/0h2z471o0v2W)

------
pvdebbe
I was a Gmail user since 2004 or so, relying on the Web client. It was good,
the message threading worked, labels were strictly greater than folder
structure, and archiving to "all mail" is an excellent notion.

The web UI has gone to crap lately, it being overly bloated, not refreshing
inbox anymore after a while, getting rid of plain text (though this was a long
time ago). The message composition editor is a mess!

I tried gmail with mutt, I tried gmail with mu4e. They didn't quite replicate
the good bits what I wanted. To overcome the psychological barrier I changed
email vendors and jumped to mu4e workflow with a fresh start. This is readily
a better experience and since I didn't have to worry about fully replicating
the Gmail experience I was able to "settle for less".

------
chmars
I hope that the 'Quick Links' function from the Gmail Labs will return as an
add-on!

On the other, it makes me sad that for my business mail, I am stuck with Apple
Mail. I miss therefore many important Gmail features, including security-
related features. And Apple Mail has still no reliable support for Gmail
drafts …

~~~
rrggrr
This. The disappearance of quick links killed my productivity. Super
frustrating.

------
mottomotto
Is that notify link for general availability in the post working for anyone?
I'm getting an authorization error.

I've been using InboxSDK for a SaaS project add-on and I would love to go to
an official API and have it work on GSuite mobile apps.

~~~
alooPotato
We (Streak) are also the makers of the InboxSDK.

We're planning on writing a post for how InboxSDK + Add-ons plays nicely
together.

Coming later today but in the meantime, tl;dr is we suggest having both if
you're doing anything more than a sidebar. We (Streak) are doing both - to get
more powerful API's on desktop but still having functionality on mobile.

~~~
alooPotato
As promised: [https://blog.inboxsdk.com/gmail-add-ons-
inboxsdk-e6d72fba60a...](https://blog.inboxsdk.com/gmail-add-ons-
inboxsdk-e6d72fba60ac)

------
rusty__
Just want to point out that as a user reading that blog on a 12" laptop
screen, that page is a UI disgrace. The suggested articles popped up covering
the lower 1/3 of the screen and the top bar popped down to cover the top 1/3
of the screen any time I hinted at an up scroll which on a laptop trackpad is
extremely common. This left me with 1/3 of the screen to actually read the
content of this post. Terrible design google, you can do much better than
that.

------
ksec
Why do we keep trying to add features to email when it is overflow with
information already?

I dont check email anymore. At least not regularly and dont want to open it.
Gmail's Spam detection is also no longer as good as it used to be.

Gmail won the battle with _unlimited_ space for inbox and much better Spam
Detection. The first decade of Internet was Hotmail and Yahoo Mail, then we
moved to Gmail. I wonder if there will be another email services movement.

------
Numberwang
Add Trello card may be something I'd use for sure.

------
scott_karana
Finally! I'll be glad to be rid of all the nasty browser extensions for
Salesforce, Hubspot, and the like on all the Sales laptops.

------
zdw
I just want to be able to select text and bottom post again...

------
ForFreedom
And selling data to third-party just got easier.

------
mcs_
Since google asked to use inbox I never looked back (and I know that Gmail is
better client but people are crazy)

------
kristianov
Is Inbox another abandoned Google product?

~~~
6nf
I really like Inbox but I feel it'll inevitably end up being chopped by Google
so I just can't justify switching to it and getting used to it right now.

------
CharlesDodgson
does anyone else feel that technology is a bit stuck these days, like we are
still talking about making email more useful.

I don't know what's needed but the paradigm needs to shift, or something, it
just seems like yet another incremental plug-in that will inevitably die or be
underused.

------
iamgopal
What about a simple add on that convert Google doc template with customer data
in to attachable document ?

------
guelo
Gmail on Android is such a shitty locked-down experience. Want to create an
appointment from an email? Nope. Want to set a reminder about an email? Nope.
Want to link to an email from a notes or other app? Nope.

OK, well now maybe. If you become a "business partner" with them and shove
your product into whatever grand strategery they're cooking up this quarter.

It's sad to think how Android was envisioned as this open system where apps
freely communicate with each other but Google has been working overtime to
kill that vision. Google in general just hates open these days.

~~~
kennysmoothx
You can't even have an HTML signature on Gmail for Android.

Something so trivial missing from Google's main email client.

~~~
lqdc13
To provide a counterpoint, I think it's great the way it is in this respect.

I don't want any of these features and wouldn't want others to use things like
HTML signatures.

~~~
notyourwork
I agree, a few less signatures in the world isn't a bad thing.

~~~
tempestn
Would be nice to be able to configure different (plain text) signatures for my
different email addresses though.

------
sebau
Now with Add-ons, Gmail is definately the next Google+, and by far the most
successful social network they've been able to create.

But after 13 years of extensive use of it, I'm currently leaving Gmail for
Apple iCloud solution.

No ads. No analysis. Just plain good emails.

~~~
miaklesp
Check out FastMail too

------
manan_doshi
I hope we get a usable GPG add-on that works on mobile from this

------
d--b
Fast forward 2 years: Google shuts down addons

~~~
peterwwillis
You think it'll last two years?

------
dgudkov
Is Google going to make Gmail an app platform?

~~~
dragonwriter
Gmail is a component of GSuite, which has been an app platform for a while.

------
homero
Will gmail get add ons or just gsuite?

------
shadyrudy
Any add ons to Sort by Sender?

------
czardoz
Does this work with Inbox too?

~~~
alooPotato
it currently does not

------
sriharis
Too bad a lot of business decisions are made on slack, or other such tools
today. A bit late, goog.

------
suyash
Nothing new here, all this and more can be accomplished by a simple browser
extension.

~~~
frew
We (Streak) are based on a browser extension, but we're actually really
excited about this launch since it works on the native Gmail mobile apps and
it lets you install addons once and have them work across all your devices.

------
pfarnsworth
All I want is to be able to define a search, and have gmail separate those
into a new tab, with a badge that tells me how many unread emails are there.
That's all I want and my productivity would increase drastically.

They almost have it with multiple inboxes, but the layout is really shitty and
I have to scroll around my gmail window to see the various inboxes. Why can't
they just add this as another tab? It's infuriating that such a simple and
useful feature doesn't exist yet. This is why having a monoculture for things
like email is a bad idea, they don't really care.

~~~
alooPotato
+1

~~~
ents
Does [Gmail quick links]([https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/gmail-
quick-links/...](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/gmail-quick-
links/ecbkcjeoffcjnppapdlncohmehhnfibd?hl=en-US)) not do this?

