v3.0.0-alpha: Testing & Feedback (Multi-Accounts, ...)

[timche]

We are currently working on the next major version of Gmail Desktop, which is v3 and includes the long-awaited support for multi-accounts! 🎉

The reason for a major version is that most parts of Gmail Desktop will be re-written in order to make multi-accounts work and make it a great experience. Few existing features are also going to be changed in their default setting/behaviour or even removed. Another reason is that Gmail Desktop will be renamed, so internal changes like changing the app ID must also be made. Because of that, the app must be re-installed and can't be updated automatically from v2 to v3 when released.

Before actually releasing v3, we need to make sure it's stable. Therefore we're looking for testers that can provide feedback to ensure everything works as intended on different OS and performance is good too.

Current v3 changes

• Rework internal project architecture and structure
  • Render React app in main window to manage accounts and few settings
  • Render Gmail accounts in isolated browser views which are embedded in the main window as overlay
• Support multi-accounts
  • Add account
  • Edit account
  • Remove account
  • Change order
  • Switch between accounts with Command/Control 1-9
  • Quick access account from app/dock/tray menu
  • Open mailto links in selected account
  • Ability to suspend Gmail on unselected accounts when inactive to reduce memory footprint
    • Still receive notifications
    • Load Gmail again when demand
• Ability to reload Gmail or whole app
  • View → Reload or Command/Control R
  • View → Full Reload or Command/Control Shift R
• Ability to open Developer Tools for Gmail and app
  • View → Developer Tools or Command/Control Alt I (macOS) / Control Shift I (Linux/Windows)
• Show quick access items (inbox, drafts, all mail, etc.) in dock/tray menu based on selected user sidebar in Gmail
• Zoom in/out/reset
  • View → Zoom In/Zoom Out/Reset Zoom or Command/Control +/-/0
• Block unnecessary requests to such as mail-ads.google.com (TBD)
• Block ads (TBD)
• Rename project to Mazy or Mailzy (TBD; If you have a preference, let me know!)
  • Change app ID from io.cheung.gmail-desktop to dev.timche.<new_app_name>

Testing v3.0.0-alpha

• If you are on >= v2.25.0, you can switch to the Dev release channel at Settings → Updates → Release Channel
• Or download manually from https://github.com/timche/gmail-desktop/releases
  • The release channel will be automatically set to Dev at Settings → Updates → Release Channel in order to receive future dev updates.
• The focus during testing is on stability, performance and finding bugs, so your feedback is required in order to release v3. Please also mention your OS and Gmail Desktop version when providing feedback/bug reports.

FAQ

Show

Is there a limit on how many accounts you can add?

There's currently no limit, but it's for sure that the more accounts you add, the more resources the app will use and eventually become unresponsive. As everyone is running different hardware, the limit can vary.

Found a bug?

• Please create a bug report
• If you're unsure, you can ask here for help.

Got feedback?

• Share it with us here!

Known bugs/issues

• Currently none

Previews

Show

Multi-accounts in light mode

Multi-accounts in dark mode

Switching between light and dark mode with multi-accounts

Multi-accounts features in action in light mode

Multi-accounts features in action in dark mode

[cyfrost]

Hey @timche, great initiative! I'm happy to test the alpha once it's out. Fedora, Arch Linux, Ubuntu, and Windows 10 are the ones I can lay my hands on for testing. Let me know when the alpha is ready! :)

[zordym]

Hello @timche,

I can test your application.

My setup: Mac os catalina

[zzpxyx]

@timche Hopefully I'm not late for the game. I have access to Arch Linux, macOS Catalina, and Windows 10.

[Cantello]

Would it also be possible with this to switch to other Google services (thinking of calendar & Docs)?

[timche]

Would it also be possible with this to switch to other Google services (thinking of calendar & Docs)?

There are some apps out there that support multiple Google services, but I haven't tried them yet. My primary goal with Gmail Desktop is to focus on Gmail and eventually add other Google services in the future.

[cipriancraciun]

I can test it on OpenSUSE Tumbleweed (I don't need any special package except the Linux x86-64 .tar.bz that you already are providing.)

(I forgot to mention that my main use-case is "delegated user accounts" thus not exactly "multiple user accounts"; although I do have that use-case also.)

[cipriancraciun]

There are some apps out there that support multiple Google services, but I haven't tried them yet. My primary goal with Gmail Desktop is to focus on Gmail and eventually add other Google services in the future.

@timche Please keep this project GMail focused. :)

As you've mentioned there are other projects out there that try to do all this, but given that they don't have any focus on any of these "targeted sites", they aren't best at anything.

Meanwhile this project already does provide useful features for GMail, especially in the UI department by cleaning up some GMail artifacts.

[akamizi]

OS: Elementary OS
I have various normal and business accounts
I am currently using this:
https://github.com/openWMail/openWMail

[axllent]

I'd love to test this as well once it is ready, as I have 5 separate Gmail accounts (personal & business) I need to check. Two machines, Ubuntu 16 & 20 (Unity on both).

[Chriscbr]

I'd be happy to test this feature (I have about three Gmail accounts I check on at the moment). I can test on macOS and Windows 10 with my currently available hardware. 😄

[pedrodonkey]

✋ Also available to test if this is still in the works.
Running macOS Catalina 10.15.6 (19G2021).

[timche]

It has been a while and I'm just re-opening this issue, because I'm happy to announce that v3 with multi-accounts support is now finally coming! Please forgive me that it took this long. I hope that most of you are still around and interested to be alpha testers.

I'll release the first alpha version very soon with release channel and auto update capabilities. Please note that some features might not be working as expected, some visuals may be not right or some things eventually missing. It's an alpha at the end of the day, but maybe stable enough as daily driver. So your feedback is important to make it right in the end.

Also Gmail Desktop will be renamed to Mazy. I hope you like that name as much as I do. The reason for the name change is to make it clear that it's not an official app and establish itself as an app.

In the meantime please enjoy some previews:

CC @duong-le @brahimmouhamou @floriangbh @gurumark @bsramin @mskelton

[timche]

The first alpha version is released!

https://github.com/timche/gmail-desktop/releases/tag/v3.0.0-alpha.1

Please set the release channel to Alpha at Settings → Updates → Release Channel in order to receive future alpha updates.

When providing feedback/bug report, please follow the template on top of the issue.

Looking forward to your feedback!

[bsramin]

Great Job! 👏

[duongleh]

So I did set up 2 accounts, enabled Hide footer and this is the result I get from the 1st account. The second account is perfectly fine, any idea?

[timche]

Did anything come out of this with the provided Dev Tools?

[JustACuteGirlLookingForAManToFixHerBugs]

Hey guys! Just found this. What's the current state of the version with multi-accounts? How useable it is right now?

[timche]

I'm using it as my daily driver and it's very stable. There might be some bugs which are very rare though, depending on your OS. I didn't have time yet to work on these bugs or release v3 officially, but I'll soon have time again.

[JohnLGalt]

I can also confirm I'm using it as my daily driver for 2 regular Google accounts and the main account from each of 4 different domain-based G-Suite accounts.

The only issue I've run into is with links, as some newsletters put links in emails in such a way that I need to middle click a link (in those particular newsletters only) to actually get it to open. Since that is not a major issue for me, I've not bothered reporting it - it;s like 2 out of a dozen plus newsletters, and I use middle clicks readily enough for lots of other things, so I've become quite accustomed to just middle clicking in those particular newsletters.

I'd argue that 3.0.0 Alpha can as is be moved to beta status at the very least.

[whatistime]

has development crawled to a standstill or is ver 3.0.0a coming out soon? I've been interested in trying a dedicated window for gmail, so it doesn't get lost in the 1000+ tabs all the time

[timche]

Unfortunately I didn't take time yet to release v3 officially, but I'm still using the latest v3-alpha as my daily driver and it's still very stable for me.

[brahimmouhamou]

Same here, still using it everyday for months now, have 6 accounts configured. @timche did an awesome job already! 🙌

[pedrodonkey]

Same here. Using it as my daily driver on multiple macs and no issues at all. Feels very stable and really loving it. Would even pay for something like this!

Awesome work @timche.

[JohnLGalt]

Also here, 2 regular Google accounts and 4 Google Workspace accounts. My browsers have never been happier.

[albertberlanga]

Just discover Gmail Desktop today!. Great app. Would be great to provide a CMD+F in order to search text inside mails!

[timche]

Thanks for your suggestion! I'll consider this feature, but can't give an estimate when. I have plans to officially release v3 though soon.

[JohnLGalt]

I saw the message about 3.0.0 going live soon - Alpha 35 still auto installed over 34 and the icons are still wonky using new GMail UI. I'll try swapping back to old and then back to new and see if that makes a difference.

As far as new install, I have this 'installed' in a folder of my choosing (using the .ZIP portable) - that will still be doable with the 3.0.0 release right?

Finally - suggestions for the name: GDesktop, or GfyD (Gmail for your Desktop). Just throwing them out there, in case you were still considering the new name 😃

[google1171600]

HI,
New to this app I was looking for !! But I have an issue, can't add a second gmail account, see messasge belox !!
![Gmail add account error message.

translation: unable to connect, your app or brower is not secure

OS: W11

[appleton]

I just ran into the same issue and was able to get around it by unchecking the "Use User Agent Fix" preference

[whatistime]

I just tried installing and I got the same screen (almost)

[rajeevgl01]

There is a UI issue with add account option in dark mode. The email or phone option does not show the text in white. I don't now if this same bug is with non-dark mode. And in the compose, please add an option to have native gmail style like dark mode for the whole gmail layout and bright mode for compose, makes it much more easier to compose an email.

[appleton]

I just found this project and I'm so happy it exists, thank you!

I have one small feature request, when using multiple accounts it would be great to have the cmd shift ] and cmd shift [ shortcuts to move to the next and previous tab to match the behaviour of other tabbed interfaces in MacOS (and I guess other platforms but I'm not sure).

[appleton]

I've made a PR to implement this, happy to receive any feedback!

#356

[matthewlenz]

This software works so well. What's the hold back on doing a release? The only issue I've found is that notifications aren't working in gnome 4x. Haven't tried any other desktops though so it could just be specific to linux.

[timche]

I simply haven't had the time yet to get back into it yet unfortunately, since I also need to upgrade all the dependencies, such as Electron, which include breaking changes. Will work on it asap 🙏

[JohnPeacock]

Installed the 3.0.0-alpha and so far it looks great. One thing I'd like to see is an option to startup automatically when logging in; trying to add it to the startup applications in Ubuntu doesn't work and I get very little log output for why.

[faridrahmanhadi]

The search mail icon and text seem a bit off set with this version

[pedrodonkey]

I believe this was fixed in #370 (comment)

[matthewlenz]

Disable View / Gmail Appearance / Compact Header to fix that. I don't really feel like that setting really does much with the current gmail interface anyway.

[Hershey025]

hey @timche can you add a better looking ui for the new settings. The three dots in the top left corner look a bit odd. Thanks for the amazing build and amazing app.

[matthewlenz]

Not that I really agree with you wasting your time on stuff like that you could feasibly make it look like a chrome web app and do a vertical 3 dot that is right aligned. Here is one of the more elaborate web apps that chrome creates for google calendar (this is on Gnome 44)

[JohnLGalt]

Have to agree. It's a small thing, but as matthew mentions, that minor change would make it a bit more consistent with many applications.

Also, thus far, none of my 7 accounts have exhibited any issues with the new build (and I wasn't expecting any, just mentioning it in general).

[Hershey025]

Can you elaborate on this please? Not really sure if I understand what you mean. Thanks!

I was asking if you make a good and constant UI for top left three dots. Also It would be better if you change the position of the three dots.

[timche]

When I've implemented this initially, I tried to see if there's like a common position for this and I've found that GUIs are different on different distros. Correct me if I'm wrong though. The position currently is very much inspired by Hyper terminal.

[Hershey025]

maybe you could integrate the three dots with gmail. for reference you could check out ytmdesktop. They converted youtube music website app and integrated the new settings button inside youtube music. Similarly, you could also integrate. the three dots with the gmail layout. something like this -

[matthewlenz]

@timche I was on an older alpha and recently switched to 37 and now when I click on links they attempt to open in a gmail-desktop scoped window rather than my default browser. Is that a setting somewhere I can change?

[doubleaykay]

Hi @timche, would it be possible to add a setting to open Google links in the app? Or have a user-definable whitelist of URLs that open in the app instead of always redirecting to the browser? For example, if Gmail clips a long email, at the bottom it will provide a URL to view the entire message. However, since that is a link, I am forced to open it in my browser, where I am signed in to a different account and thus cannot view the entire message.

[doubleaykay]

Here is an example of what I mean:

[timche]

This is definitely not the expected behaviour. It should open a pop-up instead, since it's in the Gmail context. Would you mind opening an issue for this please?

[matthewlenz]

I'm having the opposite issue (mentioned above). All my links (including non-gmail) open in gmail-desktop rather than my default browser.

[doubleaykay]

Sure -- #385