ActiveInbox 3.1.1 back with real Status Buttons

Status Buttons Are Back!

When we originally removed the status buttons (Next/Action/Waiting On/Some Day) from the conversation view, it was because we hoped to make the interface slicker. We admit we may have been slightly off course with that one, as it quickly became obvious that the buttons were a very powerful visual indicator as to the state of the email (not to mention only a single click to operate!).

But nonetheless, we are committed to a very tidy interface. So we’ve compromised, kind of. It’s a compromise where we still believe the choices are limited to very good options!

You will now notice, on the Horizontal Action Bar (please note: if you reverted back to the ‘Classic Horizontal Action Bar’ in the Preferences, you need to disable that and re-enable the modern ‘Horizontal Action Bar’), there is a cog icon. If you click this, you can start re-arranging the Horizontal Action Bar to suit your needs. The most obvious of which is to “Show Status buttons”. Feel free to click things to experiment… they will change before your eyes and no lasting damage can be done :)

Previous Emails Is Refreshed

One feature we absolutely adored when we originally added it, but completely undersells itself, is “Previous Emails”: the ability, when you reply, to instantly see your conversation history with a person.

To make amends – which is to say, to make it more easy to use – we’ve updated the “Previous Emails” link to be bold if there are previous emails, and to actually show the number of previous emails. So now it’s very obvious to know that you at least HAVE a history with a person, without having to click anything :)

Background Bits & Bobs

We’ve taken care of 3 or 4 minor glitches in the background, that we picked up from the Community Forum. Thanks one & all!

Installing ActiveInbox 3.1.1

It will auto-update in a few days (as ever, Chrome is a little faster than Firefox), but you also can get it right now by going to the Install Page

Reverting to 3.1.0.11

Should 3.1.1, for whatever reason, not please you, you can go back to 3.1.0.11. To do so, just download ActiveInbox 3.1.0.11 for Firefox or ActiveInbox 3.1.0.11 for Chrome to your computer, and then open the downloaded file with your browser to install it.

This entry was posted on Friday, August 13th, 2010 at 8:05 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

  • david

    Still can’t pin statuses on the sidebar :(

  • david

    Pretty sure this isn’t how it’s supposed to look :(

    http://box.nevernet.com/~djr/activeinbox_broken.jpg

  • david

    Ignore this, for some reason I had to close the tab and reopen it for everything to display correctly. Usually a refresh does the trick, but not this time

  • ThompsonPaul

    Just a quick heads-up: when I attempt to access http://www.activeinboxhq.com in Firefox 3.6, I get a “uses an invalid or unsupported form of compression.” error. This doesn’t happen with the http://activeinboxhq.com URL. Never seen such an error before, and I don’t think it’s my configuration.

    Paul

  • MIchael B

    Love the update. Though I must say I think the Classic Horizontal Action Bar still wins out to me as I can see the due date buttons without having to select the drop down box. I truly appreciate the fact that you are giving us all options. My large monitor allows me the space to have everything as one click, but I am sure others with smaller monitors might appreciate the extra screen space and do not mind have to click twice for the same function.

    Thanks for listening and giving us options. Sometimes you can make everybody happy.

  • John B

    I like the buttons back and like the “Classic Horizontal Action Bar” Layout. I also turned off the non-classic “Horizontal Action Bar” as I could not get the buttons to be vertical.

    Definitely like having the Classic back..thanks!

  • niilo alhovaara

    Looking good! There’s still a bug – or some weird stuff locally in my machine – in latest FF plus Vista: when I get a new mail, the Preview box does not show at all. After refreshing Gmail, everything id fine again. Anyone else?

  • http://www.sl-cpa.net Sandor Lenner

    Your software is great, but unfortunately, I use both Gmail and Outlook 2010. It would be great if your software also worked with Outlook 2010,either the mail feature only or both mail and tasks. this would great for all OL 2010 users and give you greater market share ….Sandor Lenner

  • http://www.tekture.com Nathan Sudds

    I love the configuration options, great idea to allow people to configure their bar the way that fits them best! Strangely, I found myself switching back to the dropdown for the status — surprised myself on that one. I think because for me going to the same exact spot each time was more convenient than having the extra buttons separately. But if I change my mind, I can always switch it! Also thanks for adding an option for a separate dropdown for Projects — I found that I was always fumbling with the original combined one scrolling past projects and having to go back up, or clicking on the wrong “create new label”. This has made it so smooth for me.

    I had an idea today and I’m not sure if I’m crazy but I think it might be great to have an option where you can personally decide if you change the status on an email it automatically archives as well… is that strange? I was thinking about it today and my workflow involves marketing things as next action and then archiving because I use the Todos area to manage the next actions (And IntegratedGmail for Firefox with Multiple Inboxes from GmailLabs so I can see them on my inbox page but not in the main inbox).

    I was thinking, why have the second step — maybe I’m missing something, I mean if it’s being added to a project I guess that I would need to do that first if the next action option automatically archived but to me that seems to make sense. Any thoughts? I guess I should post this over at the Forums too.

    Thanks again

  • admin

    Hi David,

    If this is ongoing, could you post some screenshots of the problem you’re having on the Community Forum (www.getsatisfaction.com/activeinbox)?

  • admin

    Thanks Paul – I’d be interested to know if you saw this again? I tried it in Firefox and it seems to be working. A possible temporary glitch on the server?

  • admin

    I think we need to get a preference in the new HAB to include the Scheduling… thanks Michael :)

  • admin

    Thanks Niilo, it’s on the bug list! For the record, I think it’ll appear when Gmail does a proper refresh (often a minute after the email initially appears).

  • admin

    Hi Nathan,

    You can put the Status buttons on their own row, if that’ll help keep things more statically positioned? But yes, I tend to prefer the dropdown now too.

    As for the Status and Archive… I think you put that on the Community Forum too? In any case, I’m on it :)

  • david

    I think you misunderstood me – it’s not a bug or anything. When using the sidebar, you can’t pin statuses still. You can pin shortcuts, but not statuses.

  • AndyM

    Hi David,

    Can you send me a screenshot to andym@activeinboxhq.com ?

  • Daniel

    Sounds good… :)

    I also really prefer seeing something marked as “Tomorrow” at a glance, to seeing the date and having to remember that that’s the date tomorrow… :)

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