A week ago I posted about trying to jump completely over from client-based email to only using Gmail's web interface. In particular, this was prompted by the recent availability of offline mail reading for that interface, which made it unnecessary to have Thunderbird downloading copies of all my email so I could work on reading and answering messages when not connected to the net.
After seven days of use, I'm very happy with the switch. Once you turn on Gmail's keyboard shortcuts, the application is really very practical to use entirely without the mouse. I have a few minor quibbles (those later) but in general, I'm happy. In fact, the biggest complaint I have is that I can't Command-Tab to my email any more since it's in a browser tab (opening a separate browser window for my mailbox would mitigate this somewhat, but increase management overhead.)
There's really only a few keyboard commands you need to know if you're going to use Gmail efficiently. Make sure to turn on keyboard control in the settings control panel, then use these few commands:
- "g i" - go to inbox
- j & k - move threads in the inbox or in reading messages mode
- x - check off a thread in the inbox prior to pressing a command key
- l - label a thread. The equivalent of filing it in a folder.
- e - move a thread out of the inbox and archiv"e" it
- # - delete thread(s)
- r - reply
- a - reply all
- "tab enter" - to send a message you've been writing
There are a bunch of other commands. But that set of 9 will cover 90% of most people's needs... for anything more obscure, just use the mouse.
Gripes? I don't like that I have to first check off a thread in the inbox, then do a command like archive on it. If I don't have any threads checked off, the keyboard shortcut should really just be applied to the thread I currently have selected in the list via the j/k keys. I understand why they do this (so you can select multiple threads and handle them all at once) but in reality, I generally am just thinking about the thread I'm looking at right now.
Overall, I found the keyboard experience to be actually slightly better than Thunderbird, and probably close to as fluid as Outlook and UNIX readers like Pine. I'm sure it will get better as I grow more familiar with the system. I'm a little pained to grow dependent on a platform that is only available from a single provider (as opposed to open-source solutions like Thunderbird and UNIX readers) but conversely, I spent years using Outlook. If I have to switch again down the road, it won't be the end of the world. So for now, I'll have a Gmail tab open for the foreseeable future.
Leave a comment