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Yesterday I announced to do a series on Google Apps. Here it is. I'll start off with my Google Apps Gmail experience. I´ve been working with Gmail some weeks now and have written down my findings below. Please note these remarks come from a couple of weeks using Gmail.
Logging in
Logging into Google Apps works through a unique url which is available for a specific domain. In my case a domain was generated for BPOSRocks which gives me direct access to my mailbox. At first I tried to sign in through the Google website which gave me an error:
Then I tried to login through the Gmail url which also didn´t works. Eventually I found out I needed a separate URL, which of course I should have written down setting up the service. This experience is a little bit strange because you would expect the 'normal' login procedures would work.
My First Impression
The first impression when looking at the Gmail Inbox screen is that it's full of text. Because all message titles are followed by a description the entire inbox looks kind of messy to me. It's hard to really distinguish between different messages. I guess that's something people just need to get used to.
Opening a message kind of gives the same impression, especially when opening a mail threat.
Ads in my business e-mail?
When your signing into Google Apps, even the premier edition, immediately you will see the ads. They are everywhere!! In my opinion this all makes clear Google is in the Google Apps business because their business model is advertisement centric.
More interesting is that the ads are aware of the mails I'm sending and receiving. When sending out an e-mail regarding a car which I am interested in, I get an ad displaying this new car. Not only does the ad exactly match the subject of my mail, it is also displayed in the language which I send the mail out being Dutch.
A statement about these ads is put at the right hand screen. This link takes you to a page explaining the following:
Ads that appear next to Gmail messages are similar to the ads that appear next to Google search results and on content pages throughout the web. Our goal is to provide Gmail users with ads that are useful and relevant to their interests.
Ad targeting in Gmail is fully automated, and no humans read your email in order to target advertisements or related information. This type of automated scanning is how many email services, not just Gmail, provide features like spam filtering and spell checking. Ads are selected for relevance and served by Google computers using the same contextual advertising technology that powers Google's AdSense program.
After some digging I found out it is possible to turn Ads off. However this can only be done by an administrator.
Folders, Labels, sorting and filtering
All messages in Gmail can be put into a folder, tagged with a label or both. Messages labeled with a specific term are also shown in the folder that matches the term, something I really like. I must admit at first this was kind of confusing to me because the labels and folders are named alike.
What I really hate is not being able to sort messages to my own liking. This really is a great option when going through a large number of messages regarding a specific subject or send from a specific person.
In order to select messages from a specific person or with a specific subject there is a filter option. The filter option solely depends on search, which works perfect most of the times. The number of filtering options however is limited:
After setting a filter several actions can be performed using this filter.
Both the options for filtering and the actions which can be performed are kind of limited. What I would really want, are options which would allow me to perform actions like auto reply to certain messages, turn them into tasks, print them, and allow me to configure exceptions to these messages. Kind of how the rule system works in Outlook. I guess this option is not needed is you only receive a couple of mails a day. When you're receiving as much mail messages a day as I do, some form of control would very helpful.
Working with messages
When either viewing the inbox or a message, I really miss the rich feature set Outlook offers me. Basically if I want to do a Reply to All I need to open a menu, same with Printing, Forwarding, Replying with a Meeting request etc. Also basic functionality like the Outlook 2010 Quick Steps and Preview Pane are not available.
Outlook 2010 Quick Steps allow me to configure certain steps which happen all at once with a specific message. I can for instance configure a Quick Step which shows a reply window and automatically forwards the message to someone else and then archives the message.
The Outlook 2010 preview pane is the option I miss the most. The preview pane allows me to browse through my messages reading them in full text so I don't have to open a message. Skipping to the next message works with Gmail as well but is kind of slow and needs me to click a link.
Creating messages
The interface for creating new messages is really simple. You can type text, use some basic formatting options like bold, italic, selecting a font etc. However don't expect much more.
Through the settings page I am able to set a default signature. I allows me to define only one signature:
I was trying to add a companywide signature but missed the option.
If you want to add attachments to your e-mails which are stored locally please prepare to spend loads of time waiting for the documents to upload. Of you Internet connection will differentiate if you can either get a cup of coffee from your own coffee machine or from Starbucks. What annoys me the most is that you cannot do anything else like select you inbox while waiting for the attachments to be uploaded.
When needing to attach larger e-mails you'll run into a setting in which Gmail only allows you to send out 25MB mails. I guess this is pretty normal.
The spell checker works like it is supposed to. You have to manually tell Gmail to check your message but after doing so it immediately shows the errors you made in a message:
When clicking a misspelled word it shows possible changes.
The verdict
It wouldn't do Gmail justice if I was to leave it at this. Tomorrow I'll continue with my other findings. For now, If you need to send out and read e-mails, Gmail does exactly that but don't expect much more.
Disclaimer: "These comments are my own personal opinions only and do not necessarily reflect the positions or opinions of my employer (Wortell) or their affiliates. All comments are based upon my current knowledge and my own personal experiences. You should conduct independent tests to verify the validity of any statements made in this blog before basing any decisions upon those statements. In addition, any views or opinions expressed by visitors to this blog are theirs and do not necessarily reflect mine." 
Courtesy BPOS Rocks |
