Gmail question

[bort]

Question for the Gmail users:

I've never been able to make much sense out of the new "tabs" for the Inbox. It's a good idea, but I want to have control over what the tabs are titled, and how my messages are sorted.

I want to have the tabs configured so that my messages are sorted by my user-defined labels. For example, if I get a PM from TubeNet, I get an email that I have labeled as "Tuba". I want to make a tab for all of my "Tuba" emails.

From the looks of it, Gmail only allows pre-defined tabs for Promotions, Social, Updates... Is it possible to do what I want to do?

(FWIW, I've just about had it with Gmail -- it started as such a clean and simple tool, but it's become too complicated and too many options. But, I'm in too deep, so I'm stuck with it now! )

[ghmerrill]

The first thing you have to do is to recognize a distinction between Gmail AS A SERVICE (i.e.,how you get your email, what your email address is, etc.) and Gmail AS A CLIENT (i.e., how you READ, ORGANIZE, and SEND your email). You can keep Gmail as your email SERVICE, but abandon Google's Gmail CLIENT as your email interface. So you're not stuck with the interface you're now struggling with even if you want to keep your Gmail accounts.

I now have four Gmail accounts but ALMOST NEVER use the Google Gmail web interface because (as you point out) it's a pretty confusing -- and now in places very poorly and confusingly designed -- email client. Doing some of the simplest things with it is a pain in the ***. Even figuring out how to do them is. It's designed by programmers to contain features that they think are cool or that they think that other programmers would find useful and intuitive. On my iPhone I use the Applie email client that's there, on my Kindle I use the (fairly lame) email client that's there, and on the PC I use Outlook (not Outlook Express).

My wife dislikes Outlook intensely and so uses the standard Gmail web client, but complains about it constantly. Also, she's a UI designer by trade and the Gmail interface REALLY irritates her, but she doesn't want to switch to something else -- so she just bitches and gets help from me when she gets to her wit's end. Personally, I wouldn't spend any time "learning" to use the Google Gmail client since it's a crock and they're just going to change it anyway and that will piss you off even more.

There are LOTS of email clients. I suggest you Google "Gmail client" and see what you get. You'll get a whole list of email clients you can use for your Gmail in place of the standard Google one. Look at their features, and play with any that look interesting. Then choose one you like. I used Thunderbird for a while when I was running a Linux system, but I don't remember much about it. It seemed okay, but I have few demands on an email client -- other than that it not be mostly confusing and unintuitive and lack uniformity of design and implementation (which is exactly the problem with Google's client).

[tbn.al]

You can officially quit worrying about whether Google reads your email or not. Check out the newly revised company disclosure.

"Google CEO Larry Page

On Tuesday Google updated its privacy policies to make it absolutely clear that it is scanning your email.

It added these sentences:

Our automated systems analyze your content (including emails) to provide you personally relevant product features, such as customized search results, tailored advertising, and spam and malware detection. This analysis occurs as the content is sent, received, and when it is stored.

It also tweaked a few sentences that warn that all the stuff you upload to Google is considered fair game. (Google included the editing marks, to show you exactly which words it changed):

When you upload,or otherwise submit, store, send or receive content to or through our Services, you give Google (and those we work with) a worldwide license to use, host, store, reproduce, modify, create derivative works (such as those resulting from translations, adaptations or other changes we make so that your content works better with our Services), communicate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute such content."