Mailplane 2.0 beta


This page lists all new Mailplane 2.0 features and improvements. Download, then try and test Mailplane 2.0 on your Mac.
Important:
  • Mailplane 2.0 will be FREE fro all registered Mailplane users.
  • Currently available in English only. Translations will be added in the near future.
  • May be less stable than the current released version (1.61.x).
  • Gmail 2 Support
  • Full support for Gmail 2 and new menu items
    OlderVersion-1
    Mailplane now supports both Gmail 1.0 and Gmail 2.0. If there is a "Older version" link in the upper right part of your main window, you are working with Gmail 2.0. You can switch to the older Gmail 1.0 interface by pressing this link or go by to Gmail 2.0 by clicking "Newer version". If there isn't such a link, your account hasn't been upgraded to Gmail 2.0, yet.
    If you like to stay with the old Gmail 1.0 user interface, you can disable the Use Gmail 2.0 when available setting in advanced preferences.
    Important: Existing user style sheets (CSS) are not supported by Gmail 2.0!
    New Gmail 2.0 features supported by Mailplane:
    • Use Google Talk in the sidebar of your inbox
    • New Mail->Mute menu item
    • New Mail->Update Conversation menu item
    • New Mail->Mark as Read menu item
    • New Mail->Mark as Unread menu item
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  • Inspect Element menu item
    New "Inspect Element" context menu item. This is useful for "user style sheet" authors.

    WebInspector-1 Back to top
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  • Gmail 2.0 keyboard shortcuts tip

    Gmail2KeyboardShortcuts

    Press the question mark key (?) to see all Gmail 2.0 provided keyboard shortcuts! Back to top
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  • mailplane:// URLs
    Your Gmail account is like a huge database. With mailplane:// URLs you can now directly access conversations, searches, labels from any other app.

    Usage examples:
    • Store a search to all messages received from a you client in your CRM system
    • Link a conversation to a task in your GTD app
    • Bookmark any Gmail page

    Here is how it works:
    1. Create an URL: Navigate to any page and then use the "Copy as Mailplane URL" (Cmd-Control-Option-C) to copy the URL to the clipboard.
    2. Paste your URL into any document or application.
    3. Click the URL to open the page in Mailplane

    Plus: Mailplane is able to http:// and https:// Gmail URLs, too.

    This one minute movie shows how it works (OmniOutliner is used to store and open URLs).
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  • Hide Spam counter, hide invitation box, highlight row in overview
    The Google Spam filter is the best I know, hundreds of messages are filtered every day. I have currently over 5000 unread Spam messages in my Spam folder. However, the counter seems to be more important than my inbox counter, which isn't true I hope.

    Use the new Tweak UI preferences to hide the spam counter and/or the invitation box. Plus there is a setting to highlight the inbox row that is "under" the mouse pointer:
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  • Apply/remove label auto completion
    Gmail labels are very nice and they work great with filters. However, doing it manually is cumbersome. Labels are kind of hidden in the "more actions" menu, the user has the use the mouse to do it.

    Mailplane now makes applying and removing a label much easier. Everything can be entered from the keyboard; no mouse interaction is required.

    Either press Cmd-L "L" key and open the label auto completion. Then narrow down the list by entering a few letters, press the enter key to apply or remove the label. When not using the inbox, Mailplane shows a new "Inbox" label. This special label allows you to either do a Move to inbox or to archive.

    There is "Star" special label, too: Applying this label will star the message.
    Picture 3

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  • Auto-BCC for Highrise
    If you are a Highrise user, this new setting may be important for you. It allows you to send all outgoing email to the Highrise dropbox email address. Inside Highrise, the email gets automatically attached to the right person or Highrise creates a new person on the fly. See the Highrise email page for more information.
    AutoBCC

    Every Gmail account has its own Auto-BCC setting. Back to top
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  • OmniFocus "Clipping" Plugin
    With the free OmniFocus plugin, you can create new tasks containing a direct link to your conversation from Mailplane. Download the plugin here.
    OmniFocus-1
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  • Compose and Editing
  • Attach Folder and file bundles
    If you attach a folder or file bundle (like a Pages, Numbers, OmniOutliner document) the folder or file gets automatically archived and then attached to make the attachment useful. This makes the attachment smaller, too.

    Small goodie: You can now select multiple files when you use the "Mail->Insert->File" menu or "Dock menu->New Message with File" menu items. Back to top
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  • Drag and drop of text inside the same window
    You can now drag a portion of the body text and drop it on the subject, for example. Back to top
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  • Picture Attachment Dialog
    Do like to control the photo optimization settings each time you attach files? Then you'll like this new feature:
    The dialog shows each time you attach files and allow to enable/disable optimization and allow you to set the same properties as in the "Photos" preferences.

    PictureAttachmentSheet

    1. Picture preview: If you attached more than one picture, the display changes every three seconds
    2. Enable/Disable Optimizations, set quality and size
    3. Attach pictures
    4. In case you never change the settings, disable this sheet. You can always enable it in "Photos" preferences.

    Tip: If you press the command key while performing a drag and drop operation, the files aren't optimized and the dialog isn't shown.
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  • Use "Copy and Paste" to Attach files and pictures
    Cut any file or picture to the clipboard and the paste it into any editable field to create an optimized attachment. The "picture attachment dialog" will pop up for the preview and optimization settings.

    Example 1:
    1. In Finder: select some files
    2. Copy them to the clipboard
    3. Go to Mailplane
    4. Compose a new message
    5. Paste the files

    Example 2:
    1. Open a picture in Preview
    2. Select a part of the picture
    3. Copy the selection
    4. Go to Mailplane
    5. Compose a new message
    6. Paste the picture part
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  • Account and Notifications
  • Network Diagnostics
    Network Diagnostics-1
    As a new goodie, the "Network Diagnostics..." tool found in Safari has been integrated. If you can't connect to Google, a new button (Network Diagnostics) will be shown on the "Authentication" window. It opens a window where you can diagnose and solve the network problem.
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  • Improved Authentication
    As the authentication code and dialog box were modal, no "check for updates" could be performed before Google authentication (see blog post).

    The authentication part of Mailplane is now completely new: Mailplane will automatically check for updates, even if you can't sign in.
    The dialog is now a "dialog sheet" attached to the main window, and the login procedure can be cancelled at any time.

    Plus: If you have many accounts, startup is now much faster.
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  • Nickname
    An account can now have an optional nickname. If you set one, it will shows instead of the email address (title bar, menu bar item and drawer):
    You can now reorder the items in the account list. Just drag and drop to move an account around. The same order is shown in the account drawer and in the menu bar item menu.
    Preferences
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  • "Background" account notifications!
    The notification preferences have been updated:
    Preferences-2

    You can now choose when a sound is played, a growl notification is shown, and how the "unread messages" counter is calculated. The choices for all three settings are:
    • No account
    • Active account
    • All signed-in accounts
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  • Growl notification show account name
    If you have enabled "All signed-in Accounts" for Growl, the account name is displayed at the bottom of the notification. Back to top
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  • Account Drawer improvements
    The drawer has a new Gear button to directly open Account preferences:
    Gear Button

    • Drawer size is stored in preferences
    • Account information is resized correctly with the drawer
    • Tip: If you like to open the drawer at startup or if you like change the position from left to right you can do so in you Tweak UI preferences

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  • Sound and Color

    Preferences
    If you have multiple accounts you may find it useful to assign a custom sound and/or color to an account.
    The color is displayed in the Growl notification and menu bar status item. Tip: If you leave the color black, then no color is shown.
    The account sound is optional and overrides the standard notification sound set in your General preferences.
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  • Performance improvement
    When you switch accounts, add or remove accounts, the account notifiers are not restarted. Back to top
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  • "Do not disturb" mode
    Pasted Graphic

    All these notifications are nice, but what if you'd like to work in peace? Well, then you may like to turn on the "Do not disturb" mode. The menu item is found in the File menu and status icon. When you enable the mode:
    • the counters are removed from the Dock icon and menu bar icon
    • the menu bar icon looks like there is no unread message
    • no notification sounds are played
    • no Growl notifications are shown

    However, Mailplane continues to check for new mail and will update the drawer, the menu bar item menu items and the inbox.

    This does help "getting things done", doesn't it?
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  • Changed: Account loading and "View->Reload Page"
    The progress status sheet that was showed when loading or switching accounts has been removed. It was rather annoying as the this status sheet made the application icon jump. As a replacement you'll find the "View->Reload Page" menu item to reload your inbox in case it didn't fully load.

    Tip: It can be used to test user style sheets or GreaseKit scripts, too.
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  • Switch to account keyboard shortcut
    Press Cmd-Control-A (or use Mailplane->Switch to Account...) to open the account completion panel. It works like the textsnippets, apply/remove label, and navigate to label panels:
    Use your keyboard to navigate the list and ENTER to switch to the selected account.
    Picture 2
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  • "Enable Google Talk Window" preference
    Nearly all accounts are now Gmail 2, and you get Gtalk right in your inbox sidebar. As the Google Talk window was created for Gmail 1 when the sidebar didn't have Google Talk support, there is now a preference to enable/disable Google Talk support.

    Recommendation:
    If you use Gmail 2, disable the setting.
    If you prefer Gmail 1, enable it.

    EnableGoogleTalk
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  • General Improvements
  • Post form (Google spreadsheet or LiveJournal comments)
    Mailplane can now post forms that are embedded in emails. Great examples for form emails are
    • the brand new Google Spreadsheet forms (learn more...)
    • LifeJournal comments

    Pasted Graphic 1
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  • Resize multiline text fields
    All multi line text fields like TO, CC, BCC can now be resized

    Resize Back to top
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  • Download improvements
    DownloadAskWhereToSave
    Mailplane now checks if the download destination folder exists and will warn you if it cannot be found.
    Plus there is a new General preference "Always ask me where to save files." If you turn it on, each download will pop up a file chooser.

    Bugfix: Removed double Growl notification for "Download starting..." Back to top
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  • Mac OS X Address book integration
    Mail->Insert->Email Address now inserts a full email address (with first/last name).

    FullEmail Back to top
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  • Use System WebKit preference
    The Advanced "Use System WebKit" preference has been removed. Back to top
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  • Writing Direction menu
    If you need to switch between "Left to Right" and "Right to Left" writing directions, you may like to use the new "Format->Writing Direction" menu. Back to top
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  • Improved auto update
    All updates are now secured by DSA signatures, this means that Mailplane will only install correctly signed updates.
    This security feature now enables automatic updates: You can turn on the option in the "Software Update" panel.
    Software Update-1
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  • Improved registration panels
    You can now directly open the "resend license" web page when you see one of the registration panels.
    Mailplane Evaluation-1
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  • "Close instead of Hide" preference
    If you like to reduce cpu usage to a minimum while you have Mailplane in background, you can close the main window instead of just hiding it.
    This may preserve some battery power, but it takes longer to reopen the window.
    Preferences
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  • Safari extensions check
    Some users experienced frequent crashes, which were caused by the SafariBlock or Safari Ad Block InputManagers that automatically load into Mailplane. As Mailplane includes a newer WebKit than Safari, it leads to crashes. Unfortunately, there is no way Mailplane can stop these extensions from loading.

    You have two options to solve the problem:
    • Remove the extension(s)
    • or enable "Use System" WebKit in Advanced preferences to use the same WebKit as Safari. You'll need Safari 3.1.1 and there will have to live with some problems that have been fixed in Mailplane's WebKit: Gmail 2/Plain text focus problem; Gmail 1/Rich text disabled; Gmail 1/focus problems

    SafariExtensions
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  • Miscellaneous
    • Obsolete Context menu item "Open Link in new window" was removed
    • "Finder->Get Info" on Mailplane shows app version.
    • More stable external link handling
    • There is a new General preference named "Open download window when download starts". If you use Growl you may want to turn this off.
    • "Help->What's new..." now opens this web page instead of help.
    • Offline indicator didn't show in status item
    • When switching account, no authentication dialog is shown if the password has been loaded from keychain
    • Mailplane->Empty Cache menu item to clear the page cache
    • iPhoto integration didn't work for some users
    • Improved Gmail 2 CPU usage
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