Right this moment, Notion introduced the final availability of its free Notion Mail add-on to its wildly common eponymous productiveness dashboard. For many who have been hiding beneath a rock for the previous 5 years or so, Notion is a digital setting that enables customers to customise how they combine notes, duties, and databases into a really personalised workspace.
Just a little over a yr in the past, Notion acquired Skiff, an organization that provided a lot of privacy-focused instruments, together with mail, calendar, paperwork, and file storage. Notion Mail relies on the mail device acquired from Skiff.
This continues Notion’s sample of expertise acquisitions that it makes use of to shore up its fundamental choices. Two years earlier, Notion acquired Cron, which supplied the corporate with calendaring software program. The core of that acquisition is now present in Notion Calendar, one other line extension of the Notion providing.
Each Notion Mail and Notion Calendar observe Notion’s freemium method to SaaS licensing. You should use Notion, Notion Mail, and Notion Calendar totally free, however if you would like extra storage or extra options, you will have to improve to dearer licensed companies.
In contrast to Notion and Notion Mail, Notion Calendar doesn’t provide an AI characteristic upsell. Notion has lengthy had built-in AI constructed into the product. Notion Mail is launching with a lot of attention-grabbing AI options as properly.
Sadly, Notion Mail doesn’t combine with Notion databases. Whereas the interface seems comparable, there is not any interoperability with Notion databases. So, whereas it is likely to be good to combine Notion Mail into, say, a tech help database, that functionality doesn’t exist at launch. Notion hasn’t indicated whether or not database integration is a deliberate characteristic for a future launch.
What’s Notion Mail?
Notion Mail supplies all the standard mail options, which suggests you’ll be able to learn messages, ship messages, reply to messages, and so forth. It makes use of the Gmail API interface, so no matter you do in Notion Mail is mirrored in your foremost Gmail interface.
There are 4 large options that Notion is selling that set Notion Mail other than different e-mail instruments: sensible labeling, customized views, a gathering scheduler, and the Notion writing interface with slash instructions.
Sensible labeling
Sensible labels use AI that will help you create labels primarily based on emails which might be coming into your inbox. You’ll be able to click on the Auto Label button, and Notion Mail will current you with a lot of sorting and cataloging selections from which you’ll select an motion. It seems that Notion then units up its personal AI-based filter for choosing and sorting emails from any sensible label you create.
This may occasionally provide the primary characteristic I’ve lengthy needed in Gmail: the power for AI to differentiate lessons of e-mail primarily based on a immediate.
For instance, I would like to have Gmail put all press releases into one folder, distinguished from different promotional supplies. It will be even higher if, primarily based on the content material of the incoming message, it may put AI-related releases in a single folder, AR/VR-related releases in one other folder, and all different press releases in a 3rd.
If it really works, and if it is attainable to do that with the 1000’s upon 1000’s of messages I’ve, it could be an unlimited time saver.
Is that this attainable in Notion Mail? I do not know but. You will have to remain tuned for every time Notion Mail will take away its unlucky e-mail deal with restriction.
Customized views
One among Notion’s biggest strengths is its skill to create customized views into database tables. These help you format, isolate, and deal with essential data for every view.
It seems that Notion Mail has applied Notion-style views in mail. This, relying on how versatile and highly effective it’s, would possibly permit for some very attention-grabbing e-mail processing and administration workflows.
Assembly scheduler
If you wish to arrange a gathering, you need to use the assembly scheduler to embed a calendar in an e-mail invite. This permits customers to decide on occasions that they will meet, making an allowance for open occasions in your calendar.
This characteristic exists in a whole lot of add-ons, however constructing it proper into e-mail might be a pleasant time-saver.
Notion writing setting
E-mail messages will be written utilizing the identical enhancing setting present in Notion. In reality, I am writing this text in Notion proper now.
Notion helps a slash syntax, the place you kind a slash after which select a format (like /h3 which produced the heading above). It is quick and handy, however often will get in its personal means. That stated, I spend at the least 4 to eight hours day-after-day within the Notion writing setting. I am usually fairly snug with the way it works.
It begins off free
Notion Mail begins off free, similar to Notion Calendar and the primary Notion product itself. There are some limitations to the free model, which is why some severe customers have upgraded to the Plus, Enterprise, or Enterprise plans.
You need not improve to a kind of plans if you wish to use the AI options with Notion Mail. However after every week’s trial, you will want to pay $8 monthly per consumer to make use of Notion AI, whether or not you are utilizing a free plan or not.
For Plus plan customers and above, this might get expensive fairly rapidly.
My preliminary expertise attempting Notion Mail
Notion Mail is actually a entrance finish to Gmail. Once you begin utilizing it, you are requested to attach with Google.
From there, you will be offered with the standard sign-in with Google immediate, which hyperlinks your Gmail to your Notion Mail.
Then, you will be requested to offer Notion a variety of permissions. Right here, I solely allowed it to have e-mail permission, which appeared like greater than sufficient.
I perceive that for Notion Mail to offer an easier-to-manage entrance finish to my Gmail, it must see my Gmail. However nonetheless, it does not make me significantly snug freely giving that sort of entry. Worse, Notion refused to permit me to make use of Notion Mail till I gave it all of the permissions it requested.
To be sincere, I see no motive Notion Mail wants entry to all my contacts. And since I am not utilizing Notion Calendar, I see no motive I ought to have to offer Notion Mail entry to my Google Calendar.
However, since I am doing this for you people studying this, I gave Notion every part it requested for.
Sadly, I instantly hit one other wall. I log into my Notion account utilizing my main company e-mail deal with, however Notion Mail needed my Gmail deal with. Since they’re two various things, I seem like blocked from utilizing Notion Mail, at the least for now.
I had meant to indicate you ways Notion Mail labored with my Gmail, however that is not within the playing cards for at present. I am positive I can ultimately get the Notion people to assist me join my Gmail, regardless that I log into Notion utilizing my foremost e-mail deal with, however that will not occur in time for this text’s deadline.
Since I would fairly not depart Notion Mail with the broad vary of permissions I needed to grant it in my try to make use of it with my Gmail account, I pointed my browser to https://myaccount.google.com/permissions and eliminated all permissions assigned to Notion Mail. I determine that if it will not let me have entry, I will not let it have entry both.
So, let’s simply transfer on. I can not but demo these options. Within the meantime, I’ve been in contact with the Notion workforce, so I can share some helpful data to at the least get you began.
Is that this the mail consumer you have been ready for?
I am undecided. If it may possibly transcend the boundaries of e-mail filters and guidelines and handle mail primarily based on context fairly than string matching, it may show to be a boon for overwhelmed e-mail customers.
The power to rearrange your mail setting with customized views may also show useful, however Notion itself is commonly restricted in how customized it is keen to get. For instance, when you can assign colours to sure objects in Notion, the app solely permits a small set of pretty pastel colours, and that is it.
Outlook, in contrast, has lengthy had formatting guidelines that may parse messages and format them when it comes to coloration and font primarily based on some text-matching necessities. That does not exist in Gmail, and it undoubtedly does not exist in Notion Mail.
I used to be shocked that Notion Mail does not hook up with Notion. Sure, the interface appears to be like comparable, however there is not any knowledge sharing between the 2. I might have anticipated that Notion’s very highly effective database capabilities would have supplied the underpinning to Notion Mail, however that is not the way it works. There’s a lot potential for a real linkage between an e-mail consumer, a database-aware AI, and Notion’s database flexibility, that the absence of any connection is an enormous swing and a miss.
And, after all, there’s the bizarre scenario the place Notion Mail will not work in case your Notion account login is an e-mail deal with aside from your Gmail deal with. That must be a bug, and I am positive it will likely be resolved ultimately.
I’ve to say that this launch dissatisfied me. From the lack for it to have the ability to deal with my company e-mail deal with login ID to lack of connectivity to what makes Notion Notion, Notion Mail is extra promise than worth proper now. I can see the potential, however whether or not Notion Mail ultimately lives as much as that potential is a query we’ll have to look at in some unspecified time in the future sooner or later.
For now, I am sticking with my tried-and-true Gmail consumer.
Have you ever tried Notion Mail but, or are you contemplating it? Do you suppose its sensible labeling and customized views may truly change the way you handle your inbox? How essential is full integration with Notion databases to you? And what’s your tackle the Gmail-only entry and required permissions? Is that affordable or a dealbreaker? Tell us within the feedback beneath.
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