As some of you have noticed, in the redesign of 3.0.22.x we removed the ‘Dashboard’ and ‘Label / Search Popup Browser’ from the sidebar.

The reason was simple, the popup had fallen behind all the other features and was becoming clunky, especially compared to just using Gmail’s native search. Due to the complexity (time required) of maintaining it, we trimmed it while we decided what could be improved with it.

It’s also interesting that so few people noticed its disappearance, signaling that we were underperforming with it (i.e. it was not well designed).

Personally, I broke the pro’s and con’s into the following:

Pros

• You could see search results, and preview conversations, without stopping what you were doing in Gmail.
• It was fast because it pre-loaded all action messages (but Gmail has become fast anyway).

Cons

• The popup interface was hard to read, and hard to use. It was easier to use Gmail’s native search from GTDInbox’s sidebar. This was partly due to the colours we used, and partly due to the fact that the list of conversations occupied too much vertical space (2 lines for a row instead of one).
• The ability to group messages by Project and Contact was a nice idea, but was too clunky to be useful in practice. More seriously, it required all messages to be downloaded in order to work (rather than just the most recent 20 messages), which was slow.

My question then, for those who liked it, is what did you like about it? Why did you use it? What made it better than just searching in Gmail?

Once we better understand how you valued it, we can redesign it to be much more useful, or make more improvements to normal Gmail search.

I’m rapidly running out of minor update digits here, so I hope this truly is the last one until we can roll out some new features

I’m rapidly running out of minor update digits here, so I hope this truly is the last one until we can roll out some new features

Thanks ever so much to Chuck Mattsen, for reporting that 3.0.22.8 could not load on his (and other peoples) machines. With his excellent error information, I’ve been able to track it down and get it fixed asap.

Installing 3.0.22.10 for Firefox

Please go to http://www.gtdinbox.com/gettingstarted.htm

Installing 3.0.22.10 for Chrome

This is important – Chrome can have difficulties upgrading addons, so we suggest you close Gmail, uninstall the old GTDInbox, and then install the latest version.

To install, please download http://www.gtdinbox.com/gtdinbox_3-0-22-10.crx to your computer, and then open the file with Chrome (by dragging the file onto a Chrome window, and clicking ‘continue’ in the bottom left).

Thanks to everyone who reported the issues that appeared with 3.0.22.7.

Delete+MoveNext (and Inbox Preview labeling) Stopped Working
This was a change with Gmail – the same change I thought we’d dealt with fully in 3.0.22.7 – that was technically much more subtle and a little rare (it only appeared on one of our accounts). It’s now properly fixed.

Over Zealous Error Warning Box for Multiple Inbox Users
I personally believe that the error box is such a great addition – and has led to big leaps forward in stability over the last few months – but that isn’t to say I don’t also realise it can be irritating

Due to the trickiness of working over Gmail, we have to try and detect/predict when Gmail is changing. This is not a precise art, and we have to do a little guess work (technically, ‘heuristics’).

Naturally, that comes with a trade off (a little like a spam filter): if we are too rigorous, we risk triggering errors when there isn’t really a problem. And if we are too easy going, Gmail changes without us realising, causing errors to ripple elsewhere in GTDInbox that are harder to understand (and take longer to fix).

That’s a lot of explanation for what is a very simple fact! In the last release, I added some error detection that was over-sensitive for multiple inbox users and triggered lots of irritating – but ultimately harmless – error warnings. It’s now been scaled back.

Installing 3.0.22.10 for Firefox

Please go to http://www.gtdinbox.com/gettingstarted.htm

Installing 3.0.22.10 for Chrome

This is important – Chrome can have difficulties upgrading addons, so we suggest you close Gmail, uninstall the old GTDInbox, and then install the latest version.

To install, please download http://www.gtdinbox.com/gtdinbox_3-0-22-10.crx to your computer, and then open the file with Chrome (by dragging the file onto a Chrome window, and clicking ‘continue’ in the bottom left).

No sooner had I said that 3.0.22.6 would be the “last update for a while”, Gmail goes ahead and updates itself! So, to get things back on track, please install 3.0.22.7. The new “last update for a while”

Installing 3.0.22.7 for Firefox

Please go to http://www.gtdinbox.com/gettingstarted.htm

Installing 3.0.22.7 for Chrome

This is important – Chrome can have difficulties upgrading addons, so we suggest you close Gmail, uninstall the old GTDInbox, and then install the latest version.

To install, please download http://www.gtdinbox.com/gtdinbox_3-0-22-7.crx to your computer, and then open the file with Chrome (by dragging the file onto a Chrome window, and clicking ‘continue’ in the bottom left).

A Note on New Features (the brand new sidebar and deadline/schedule features)

If you haven’t been introduced to the new features yet, please see http://blog.gtdinbox.com/2010/04/14/sneak-peek-gtdinbox-3-0-22-with-a-brand-new-sidebar-and-a-big-surprise/

In what I hope is the last of the recent rapid releases, we have 3.0.22.6 ready to go.

Thank you to everyone who submitted error reports from 3.0.22.5 and before, we fixed several more glitches, including the inability of the sidebar to show labels with a custom prefix (e.g. @ for contexts).

As with the previous releases, behind the scenes this is quite a big step forward, and I strongly urge you to upgrade!

Installing 3.0.22.6 for Firefox

Please go to http://www.gtdinbox.com/gettingstarted.htm

Installing 3.0.22.6 for Chrome

This is important – Chrome can have difficulties upgrading addons, so we suggest you close Gmail, uninstall the old GTDInbox, and then install the latest version.

To install, please download http://www.gtdinbox.com/gtdinbox_3-0-22-6.crx to your computer, and then open the file with Chrome.

A Note on New Features (the brand new sidebar and deadline/schedule features)

If you haven’t been introduced to the new features yet, please see http://blog.gtdinbox.com/2010/04/14/sneak-peek-gtdinbox-3-0-22-with-a-brand-new-sidebar-and-a-big-surprise/

Hot on the heels of 3.0.22.4, I’ve sorted through the problems you’ve reported and got as many as possible fixed.

I’ve actually managed to go pretty deep on the hunt for problems (it ended up taking over the entire day), and uncovered some fairly long-standing and low level issues. I’m a little embarrassed it has taken this long to notice them – and I won’t bore you with the gory technical details – but I hope this has led to more stability in some exceptional circumstances as well as a small boost in speed! (I’ve also found & fixed the problem that made the text editor freeze in Firefox when you clicked Compose Self).

I strongly suggest you upgrade to 3.0.22.5 as soon as possible.

Up next, a few more minor glitch fixes, and then back on with developing new features to add more control to your email.

Installing 3.0.22.5 3.0.22.6

For Firefox, please go to http://www.gtdinbox.com/gettingstarted.htm

For Chrome, please uninstall your current version of GTDInbox, then download and open (with Chrome) http://www.gtdinbox.com/gtdinbox_3-0-22-6.crx

If you haven’t heard about the new sidebar and deadline features in 3.0.22.x yet…

Please see the previous blog post, http://blog.gtdinbox.com/2010/04/14/sneak-peek-gtdinbox-3-0-22-with-a-brand-new-sidebar-and-a-big-surprise/

This is a bug fixing update, fixing a Gmail change that was making the sidebar disappear for some of you, ensuring the correct counts of ‘active items’ in the sidebar, and many more little bits and pieces.

Rob and Chuck mentioned in a blog comment that we ought to have a dedicated communication channel for keeping everyone up to date on what we’re doing internally with development; and they’re absolutely correct. It feels excessive to use a blog post for such little updates, so Twitter would probably be the best format (but do let me know if the volume of updates becomes intrusive).

The next few updates look something like this:

1) Release another bug fixing update based on the feedback from 3.0.22.4 (the most major problem I’m aware of is that, in Firefox, “Compose Self” temporarily freezes the text editor).

2) Create a new ‘action bar’ in conversations. I’m going to do a blog post on this imminently to discuss the proposed changes before we start development on them – but I do think it’s a strong improvement!

Installing 3.0.22.4 3.0.22.6

For Firefox, please go to http://www.gtdinbox.com/gettingstarted.htm

For Chrome, please uninstall your current version of GTDInbox, then download and open (with Chrome) http://www.gtdinbox.com/gtdinbox_3-0-22-6.crx

If you haven’t heard about the new sidebar and deadline features in 3.0.22.x yet…

Please see the previous blog post, http://blog.gtdinbox.com/2010/04/14/sneak-peek-gtdinbox-3-0-22-with-a-brand-new-sidebar-and-a-big-surprise/

As more and more of you buy Plus, we’re ploughing ahead with big upgrades to GTDInbox. Let me first say thank you for your early support, it has – and continues to – make all the difference.

With the thank you I must follow with a brief apology – perhaps more an expectation setting… I’ve fallen a little behind with support emails in the last week, and I’m turning to them now. At the moment I’m doing all the development, so it’s a trade off between pushing on with new features for the majority who have no problems, and solving the remaining glitches for those who need it. For the first 3 months of the year we were 100% focused on bug solving, but I believe we’ve reached a point where we can focus on increased utility. When we take on an additional developer – which is a priority! – it will become far easier to handle support and new feature development simultaneously.

New Feature: New Reviews Sidebar

This is a huge stride forward. Perhaps the biggest leap yet for a manageable email system. The first thing you will notice is Pete’s inspired new crisp & professional design. And then…

Pinning Items to the Sidebar
For each section (Statuses, Projects, Contexts, etc.) you can now pin your favourite labels to the sidebar, for constant ‘at a glance’ overview. For example, I’ve pinned S/Next, S/Waiting On, and P/Issues in support to give me both a sense of what must be done, and a constant nudge to do it.

True Nested Labels
We’ve always had an incomplete implementation of nested labels, where the labels were visually displayed in a hierarchy, but did not behave as one. As of today, when you click a parent label, it shows you that label and all its children. For example, if you have (P/Project, P/Project/SubProject1, P/Project/SubProject2), and you want to see all actions for P/Project, it will show you actions for the Project and all it’s children: “label:s-action (label-p-project OR label-p-project-subproject1 OR label-p-project-subproject2)”.

Drilling into Details with the Search Builder Menus
We’ve turbo-charged the sidebar most significantly with drilling. Now you can click any label, and continue to dig into it until you’ve created exactly the view you want. Perhaps you will start with P/Project, then select C/Call, and then selecct S/Action to see all call actions that must be taken for the Project; whatever you need, it’s intuitive and it’s easy.

The Big Surprise! Deadline/Schedule Emails (GTDInbox Plus)

This has much an oft-requested feature, and I always believed it would make a significant difference to email management, but I’ve been taken aback by just how much of a qualitative difference it makes to a sense of control. I don’t think we’ve perfected it yet, but the core elements are in place. I’d love your feedback on it.

How does it work? Any conversation can now be given a deadline. There are buttons in the conversation’s GTDInbox Action Box, and a new ‘Schedule’ dropdown button above the inbox/search-results/conversation (to the right of ‘Labels’).

It fits into the new Reviews Sidebar, so you can see ‘Today’, ‘Tomorrow’, ‘Upcoming’ and ‘Overdue’ items.

If you’d like to try it, please support us and Buy Plus.

Other Thoughts & Notes

This update is not being pushed to everyone just yet. It’s for volunteers only. We believe it’s stable (in fact more stable than the last release, but we’re keen to get your feedback on the feature improvements from you – our core users).

Two weeks into the Chrome version of GTDInbox, and I’m completely hooked. It pains me to return to Firefox, it’s that good. It’s now taken over as our primary development environment, and we then test it on Firefox prior to release.

We’ve finally settled on a rebrand, that we hope to take live in the next few days. More on that when it’s ready, but I will say in advance that I hugely appreciated all your suggestions at the end of last year; they were vital to forming an opinion.

I’m now returning to support to focus on any remaining glitches, expect some service releases by the end of the week.

Installing 3.0.22.3 3.0.22.6

Firefox: http://www.gtdinbox.com/gtdinbox_3-0-22-6.xpi

Chrome: http://www.gtdinbox.com/gtdinbox_3-0-22-6.crx
(Important note: please uninstall the previous version of GTDInbox before installing this new one).

If Install isn’t smooth, please download the file to your computer, and open it with your browser… normal addon installation will then start.

Update #1

Uploaded 3.0.22.2 to add additional debug information to some of the error reports you’ve been sending (and to fix the bugs we could identify). Hopefully, 3.0.22.2 will give us the error details we need to fix the remaining issues.

Update #2

3.0.22.3 fixes a conflict with Java6 that many of you were suffering from, fixes the Archive button in conversation (as discovered by Jason below), and adds even more debug information.

Update #3

3.0.22.4 is detailed in the latest blog post, http://blog.gtdinbox.com/2010/04/20/gtdnbox-3-0-22-4-please-update/

I’m so excited about this! It’s taken us far too long (we started the port in December!) due a myriad combination of legacy code, additional security controls in Chrome and, believe it or not, bugs in Chrome But we’re here now.

And wow, is it fast. I thought it wouldn’t really be noticeable, but everything you click is just more assured. It feels instant.

Personally, I’m also thrilled that it should be more stable. (Disclaimer: only once teething glitches are dealt with – this is still very new code!). The major cause of remaining issues we have in Firefox are mostly related to clashes with other addons. Chrome does a wonderful job of protecting addons from each other, so there should be few, if any, conflicts. The result? It just works. Every time. (Double disclaimer: GTDInbox will still break occasionally as Gmail changes, but we’re committed to detecting and fixing those changes within 48 hours).

So how do you get it? Download gtdinbox_3-0-21-2.crx gtdinbox_3-0-21-3.crx gtdinbox_3-0-21-4.crx and open it in Chrome. There are no automatic updates yet, so you will have to watch the blog to keep up to date (this will only be a short term thing).

Update #1

As Murphy’s Law would have it, especially in light of the bold proclamation that the Chrome version will not collide with other addons, at the remaining possible point of collision, there is conflict! (For some users at least). Thanks to the feedback of Fred and Lalit below, I believe I know what the problem is, and I’ll get it fixed within the next couple of hours. Please watch Twitter (http://www.twitter.com/gtdinbox) for updates.

Update #2

I hope 3.0.21.3 addresses the earlier problem with GTDInbox Chrome not loading… please download and install gtdinbox_3-0-21-3.crx

Update #3

With feedback from your error reports (especially to Dean, Marcel, Chris and Robert), and the help of Mike Crowe and our old friend Paul Thompson, we tracked it down to GTDInbox not working with Chrome 4.x (the ’stable’ release). It works fine for those of you using 5.x. A special mention goes to Mike, whose patience during even the most interminably dull part of debugging, and brilliant flash of insight, was singularly responsible for getting it diagnosed and fixed. (As so often happens, 6 hours of debugging resulted in a fix that involved changing 9 characters of text!).

If GTDInbox has not worked for you yet on Chrome, please try gtdinbox_3-0-21-4.crx.

There are still glitches and issues to resolve, and we’ll continue to roll out small releases until a ‘proper’ release gets sent to the Chrome Gallery in a week or so!

This is a fairly big update (with a very cool reason – more on that in a bit!).

Get it right now from http://www.gtdinbox.com/gettingstarted.htm

Thanks to Alex Gold’s feedback, we’ve fixed problems with Flock and the Preview Popup showing the wrong message on some search results.

With Erik’s feedback from the far reaches of Africa, we’ve increased the time permitted for Gmail to load before GTDInbox decides it has failed (i.e. it works better on slow connections).

And Jack Nelson provided invaluable feedback – and patience – for solving a bug with Delete+MoveNext in Plus.

Finally, Geoffrey gave us a tiny nugget of technical data that helped us solve a long standing problem with corrupt preferences preventing GTDInbox from loading. GTDInbox can now self diagnose and correct itself without any of us ever noticing!

Now, there is a reason why this is one of our biggest milestones in a long time… it runs great in Chrome! Details in the next blog post, coming right up!