The People Who Make Postbox 2 Rock

Postbox is built by a group of talented designers and developers from around the Web. A hearty note of “Thanks!” to following individuals for their contributions to Postbox 2!

Bryan Bell, Graphic Design
Bryan Bell helped develop the look and feel of the Postbox user interface, including in-product icons and graphics. Bryan has been an Internet-oriented designer for the past 10 years, and designs simple, crisp, and attractive websites, icons, and user-interfaces for several other products and clients.

Mike Rohde, Icon Design
Mike Rohde designed the original Postbox application icon, and for Postbox 2, updated the icon with a brighter, more modern look.  Mike’s focus is on logo & identity design, application icon design and sketchnote illustrations, working with clients around the world. Mike illustrated the 37signals book REWORK, and was official sketchnoter at SXSW Interactive, SEED 3 and An Event Apart.

Kenichi Yoshida, Icon Design
Kenichi Yoshida is a digital artist and designer that specializes in user interface icons, and Kenichi designed the icons for the Windows version of Postbox 2. Kenichi has been creating icons for Mac + Windows developers since 2005, and is always looking for interesting and unique projects.

Luke Dorny, Web Design
Luke was the ringmaster behind the Postbox 2 website redesign, and is one of the principles at Butter Label, a Pixels, Packaging, and Print design firm. They’re not on a mission, but rather, contractable and all wrapped up in design.

Tim Van Damme, Web Design
Tim Van Damme is a 24-year old interface designer, based and raised in Belgium, who helped give the Postbox 2 website it’s distinctive look and feel. He designs interfaces as a freelancer at Made by Elephant, and loves everything involving on- and offline design.  He’s also a wanna-be writer at Maxvoltar.

Noah Stokes, Web Developer
Noah Stokes is one heck of a Web Developer that transformed the Postbox 2 web design into working reality. He has one of the most unique resumes in the business, and in a nutshell, he can and will do anything if you pay more than In-N-Out.

Brian Artka, Web Developer
Brian’s specialty, and passion, is the front-end development of the Web. Armed with a great sense of design and a precise attention to details, Brian can turn almost any design mock-up into a full fledged website. Brian provides these services as Founder and CEO of size43 LLC, located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Thanks again for rocking Postbox 2!

- The Postbox Team

Posted by Sherman Dickman

Announcing Postbox 2

Today, we’re excited to announce our newest release, Postbox 2.  We built Postbox to make you better at what you do, by providing for the various ways you use email, and making those behaviors work really well.

Postbox 2 will help you get more done, more quickly, with less effort. With faster performance, a streamlined interface, and a bevy of productivity-boosting features, Postbox 2 will make life a little easier!

Unify your Inboxes using Account Groups

Postbox now supports Unified Inboxes, which lets you combine messages from multiple accounts into one Inbox. Accounts can also be organized into Account Groups, so you can keep your work and personal messages separate, but unify the views within each group.

Improve your Concentration with the Focus Pane

Postbox 2 introduces the Focus Pane, a new feature that lets you break your Inbox (and workload) into smaller, more manageable chunks. Focus your view by your highest priority attributes, Topics, Contacts or dates, without losing track of what’s happening elsewhere.

Make sense of long email threads with Conversation Views

Postbox Conversation Views are now even more powerful, actionable, and easy to read. Postbox gathers conversation fragments from multiple folders and presents them within a unified view. Quickly bring yourself up to speed and jump into discussions with more information, context, and insight.

Get Stuff Done using the new To-Do View

A new To-Do View lets you work on important tasks without distraction.

Combine the To-Do View with Unified Inboxes/Folders and the Focus Pane to crunch through To-Dos in record time.

Quick Reply

Quick Reply lets you reply to a message without the need to open a separate compose window, which is perfect for short, snappy responses such as “I’ll see you at eight,” or simply “thanks!” And it all happens inline within a message or conversation, so that you can get right back to what you were doing.

Quick Move

With Quick Move, you can file messages without using your mouse. Just type the letter “v”, enter the first few letters from the target folder, and the message will file to your auto-completed selection. The Quick Move panel defaults to the last used folder for even faster filing.

Learn more about what’s new in Postbox 2

How to Download

Simply visit the Postbox website to download Postbox 2.  Or, you can use these direct links:

Windows
Mac OS X

If you’re already a Postbox user, simply install Postbox 2 and your current settings will be used, there’s nothing more to setup! 

How to Purchase

If you purchased the Lifetime Upgrades option, or if you purchased Postbox 1.x after August 28th, your existing license key will work in Postbox 2. You’re good to go.

New users can purchase online, and existing customers can upgrade at a 50% discount!

Go to the Postbox Store

Thanks!

Thanks to everyone who helped out during the beta period, we couldn’t have done it without you! And be sure to let your family, friends and co-workers know about Postbox!

- The Postbox Team

Posted by Sherman Dickman

Deconstructing Email Overload - Part 2

As mentioned in our last post, we believe there are a number of factors that cause people to feel overloaded by email. Here’s a breakdown of the major ones we’ve identified, and how we’re addressing these challenges in the upcoming Postbox 2 release.

Excessive Multi-tasking

Our inboxes mirror the many projects, events, and clients we juggle each day: “SXSW Conference,” “website redesign,” or “payroll.” As we step through our inboxes, we evaluate messages relative to these larger contexts. A mixed inbox forces us to reconstruct these contexts more often than necessary, which consumes time and energy.

If work productivity is the goal, our first step is to remove personal messages from view. While most Unified Inbox implementations combine messages from every account, Postbox 2 will let you organize work accounts into a single unified view, while keeping personal accounts separate.

Now that we’ve isolated work emails, the new Focus Pane will enable you to group and view emails by Topic, such as “website redesign.” This lets you focus on one priority at a time, and to complete all that’s needed within that priority, before moving on to the next one. And since work priorities are dynamic, you will be able to easily add, remove, or reorder your Topics as needed.

Missing Context

Messages can be scattered across the inbox, sent folder, and storage folders, making it difficult to come up to speed on long email threads. So people often leave messages within the inbox, in addition to :cc’ing themselves, to keep relevant information accessible. This adds clutter to the inbox and contributes to overload.

Postbox gathers conversation fragments from multiple folders and combines them into a chronological, unified view. Only one message is needed to reconstruct an entire conversation. These views will enable you jump into the discussion with more information, context and insight while keeping your inbox tidy.

Frequent Interruptions/Distractions

Another productivity killer comes from interruptions from new messages, instant messages, text messages, tweets, etc. Some designers believe that a Universal Inbox which combines all of these communication channels will enhance productivity. We couldn’t disagree more, because with this approach you’re simply increasing the surface area for distraction.

The Postbox 2 Focus Pane ensures you will only see new messages that relate to the priority you’re currently working on. All other new messages reside elsewhere in the Inbox. A new message counter displays next to your Favorite Topics, so that you can be aware of incoming mail but not distracted by it.

We’ve even implemented a way post to Facebook and Twitter directly from within the Postbox interface, so you can update your status without getting distracted by the content on those websites.

Inbox as Universal Dumping Ground

Let’s face it, filing messages is painful and tedious, and folder hierarchies take a lot of time and effort to maintain. That’s why many people leave everything in the inbox, which further clutters up their view. Postbox 2 will help to clear out your inbox in several ways.

First is a fast and powerful search engine. If you know that you can find something easily, you’re more likely to move it out of the inbox.

Second is a one-click Archive function, similar to Gmail’s archive feature. This helps move inactive messages from the inbox, without the decision making hassle of choosing a specific folder. Combine the use of Archive with Postbox search and you have a winning combination - easy to file, easy to find.

For those who have invested heavily in their folder hierarchies, Postbox 2 introduces Quick Move, which lets you move messages by simply typing the name of the target folder. You can then use the new Quick Switch feature to jump immediately to that location.

Mixed Use Cases

The inbox is where we communicate, but it is also where we store files and information, keep track of things to do, and everything in-between. So we built Postbox to provide for the different ways you use email, and making those behaviors work really, really well.

If a message is kept within the inbox because it represents something you need to do, then you can tag it as a To-Do. This changes its background color in the list view to make it easier to find. You can also pin your To-Dos to the top of the message list, so important emails do not get pushed out of sight (and out of mind) by new messages. Finally, you can use the new To-Do View to only focus on those messages that require action.

We also keep messages around to act as reminders, usually when you’re waiting on a response from someone else. When you mark a message as pending, the message row will turn light gray to indicate that no further action is required, which helps you more efficiently scan your inbox and ignore items that do not require immediate attention. When a new reply arrives, the Pending flag is automatically removed and the message status is switched to “Unread.”

High Message Volumes

Too often we equate overload with volume. But our take is that volume simply amplifies the issues outlined above. By addressing many of the other root causes of overload, volume begins to become less of an issue.

Wrap-up

Of course there’s much more to this subject than can be covered in one post, but we hope this provides a little more insight into how we view the problem, in addition to what’s new and cool about the upcoming Postbox 2 release. 

If you would like to try the Postbox 2 BETA, please see our Beta 2 Announcement post.

Posted by Sherman Dickman

Deconstructing Email Overload - Part 1

There’s lots of talk about email overload these days. The release of Gmail’s Priority Inbox has brought new attention to the issue, but people have been discussing the problem for years in academia, press, blogs, etc.

Plenty of vendors are creating solutions to address email overload. Gmail organizes your high priority email. OtherInbox organizes your low priority email. Boxbe tries to do a little of both. Xobni’s solution starts with your contacts, and Kwaga’s through automated tagging… the list goes on and on.

Additionally, there are behavioral approaches advocated by bloggers and productivity gurus alike. We can declare email bankruptcy and just start over, which would probably cause 98% of us to lose our jobs. We can try to get to Inbox Zero, but like Tetris, the emails just keep coming. Some advise turning email off completely, while others advocate messages with only three.sentenc.es... again, the list goes on.

So with all of this attention on email overload, why do we still feel overloaded?

Our take is that there is no single cause to email overload, and thus, no silver bullet to be found. We believe that email overload, or more accurately, the “feelings of being overloaded,” are due to many different factors stacked one upon another.

There’s another side to this story that we believe gets overlooked: productivity. Since the inbox is the nexus of work activity, a common pitfall is to equate inbox productivity with work productivity. Emptying your inbox may feel satisfying, but at the end of the day, did it move the needle at work? To properly address overload we must also enhance productivity, in the same way we would combine losing weight with better nutrition, sleep and exercise.

In the upcoming Postbox 2 release, we’re systematically addressing some of the key contributors to overload, while helping people become more efficient and productive. We’ll discuss the details in the next post.

Posted by Sherman Dickman

Postbox 2 BETA Now Available

We’re excited to announce the latest BETA release of Postbox 2!

This beta brings a ton of new features and improvements that will help you get more done, more quickly, with a lot less effort.

Get Organized the Easy Way

Postbox 2 gives you the tools you need to organize your Inbox (and workload) into smaller, more manageable chunks. We don’t pay lip service to inbox overload, we crush it!

• Postbox 2 supports Unified Inboxes/Folders - our most requested feature. But we didn’t stop there, because you can also organize your accounts into Groups. This feature allows you to keep “work” and “personal” accounts separate, with unified views for each group.
• Postbox 2 introduces the Focus Pane, a new column view that lets you work with messages by attribute, topics, contacts or dates. Use the Focus Pane to increase your concentration and productivity within areas high on your priority list.
• A new To-Do View lets you work on important tasks without distraction. Combine the To-Do View with Unified Inboxes/Folders and the Focus Pane to crunch through To-Dos in record time.
• Postbox Conversation Views are now even more powerful, actionable, and easy to read. Quickly bring yourself up to speed and jump into discussions with more information, context, and insight.

Work Faster

Rip through large message loads at blazing speeds with a slew of new features that will make your inbox cry “uncle!”

• Quick Reply lets you reply to a message without the need to open a separate compose window, which is perfect for short, snappy responses such as “I’ll see you at eight,” or “buy low, sell high.” And it all happens inline within a message or conversation.
• File messages without using your mouse using Quick Move. Just type the letter “V”, enter the first few letters from the target folder, and voila!
• Now you can switch to a different folder using only your keyboard. Type “G” and the Quick Switch panel will enable you to jump to any folder in a flash.
• You asked for more Keyboard Shortcuts, we’ve got ‘em in Postbox 2. Navigate to any corner of the app, or initiate most any function with a simple keystroke. Power users rejoice!

Much More…

We’ve made improvements within almost every corner of Postbox, including better performance, better support for Signatures, a new streamlined interface, and a bevy of new features that will make you ultra-productive. Much more than an email client, Postbox 2 helps you tackle your most demanding workloads!

Getting Started

To install Postbox 2, please use one of the following download links:

• Windows
• Mac OS X

Then, simply install Postbox 2. If you’re currently using Postbox 1.1.x, your configuration files will be imported automatically, however, some of the performance improvements in Postbox 2 will require that you re-index your messages. For more details, please see the Postbox 2 Release Notes.

Feedback

We would very much appreciate your thoughts on this release, and have set up a special Postbox 2 Beta Forum on our support site to gather feedback. If you have ideas that you would like to see incorporated into Postbox, please visit our Ideas and Feature Requests Forum and be sure to vote on or recommend features that you’re interested in.

Thanks again for your continued interest in Postbox, and please be sure to tell your co-workers, friends and family about Postbox 2.

Posted by Sherman Dickman

Postbox Express 1.0.1 - Now with Add-Ons, Language Packs, Localized Dictionaries, and Lightning

Thanks to everyone for making the Postbox Express launch a huge success! Postbox Express is a powerful new alternative to Thunderbird and other desktop email clients that’s simple, easy to use, and completely free. And today, we’re pleased to announce that Postbox Express 1.0.1 now supports Add-Ons! Here’s what’s new:

• Add-Ons - Postbox Express 1.0.1 now works with Add-Ons, including the popular Lightning Calendaring Add-On. Visit our Add-Ons page to try some of the Add-Ons available for Postbox and Postbox Express.
• Language Packs - You can now install community-translated Language Packs into Postbox Express, including German, French, Spanish (Spain), English (British), Italian, Dutch, Portuguese (Brazilian), Russian, and Swedish, with more on the way! Help us localize Postbox Express by visiting our Translations page.
• Localized Dictionaries - For our international users, Postbox Express now also supports localized dictionaries.

Switch to the more intuitive email experience of Postbox Express, and enjoy the benefits of a continuously developed, first class email client that you can now customize any way you like!

- The Postbox Team

Posted by Sherman Dickman

Changes to Postbox Promotions

We have two important announcements regarding Postbox Promotions.

First, the Postbox Refer-a-Friend Promotion will be ending July 31st, at 11:59PM EST. So save $10 on Postbox today, then earn $5 each time someone purchases with your coupon code until the end of the month! Refer six friends and Postbox is effectively FREE!

Second, the Lifetime Upgrades Option will also be ending on July 31st, at 11:59PM EST. Until then, we’re sweetening the deal by reducing the price to just $24.95 $19.95!

Combine these deals together to save $15 on Postbox!  But hurry, July will be over before you know it!

Posted by Sherman Dickman

Introducing Postbox Express 1.0

We’re excited to announce Postbox Express 1.0 - a simple, yet powerful, new email application for Windows and Mac. Postbox Express is based on the same platform as our premium version of Postbox, but contains a lighter-weight feature set that’s perfect for home use.

Best of all, Postbox Express is completely FREE!

Check out all the unique features in Postbox Express, compare the Postbox Editions, review the FAQ, or get up and running with our Quickstart Guide.

So what are you waiting for? Download Postbox Express today, and be sure to share the news with your family and friends!

- The Postbox Team

Postbox Express FAQ

How does Postbox Express compare to Postbox?

Postbox Express is perfect for people with light-duty email needs, such as students, retirees, or ski bums. It’s a great alternative to other free offerings such as Thunderbird, Apple Mail, Windows Live Mail, or Eudora.

Postbox is a fully featured email solution that provides powerful search, organization, and productivity tools for busy professionals. It contains a much larger feature set, has support for add-ons, and is available in more languages. Postbox users also benefit from more frequent releases and a faster pace of innovation, which makes Postbox feel more “alive” and relevant than other desktop email clients.

To learn more about the features in each edition, please see our handy comparison chart.

Is it easy to upgrade from Postbox Express to Postbox?

Absolutely! Because both products share the same configuration files, an upgrade to Postbox is completely seamless and hassle free.

Can I move from the Postbox Trial to Postbox Express?

Yes, both products share the same configuration files, so you can easily move between the two.

What platforms does Postbox Express support?

Windows and Macintosh. Please also see our System Requirements.

How does Postbox Express compare to Thunderbird?

Postbox Express and Thunderbird are both based on Mozilla® technology, but Postbox Express offers simplified account and folder views, powerful search features, more complete conversation views, and a gorgeous user interface. Learn more about why you should switch!

Is it easy to switch from Thunderbird to Postbox Express?

You bet! Postbox Express will import your Thunderbird account settings, email messages, contacts, filters, labels, and junk settings - everything you need to get up and running in minutes.

How do I get help?

Users of Postbox Express are free to browse through our Postbox Express Quickstart Guide, Community Support Forums and Knowledge Base for answers to common questions.

Posted by Sherman Dickman

Postbox 1.1.5 Now Available

Postbox 1.1.5 is now available to all Postbox users. Here’s what’s new in this release:

• The accounts and folder pane will now be hidden when you open a new message in a tab
• The mechanism for logging into Twitter has changed. Twitter users will need to log in again via Tools | Web Services…
• You can now set whether signatures should be included in message replies and forwards
• Performance and memory improvements
• Bug fixes

To see the full list of changes, please refer to our release notes.

- The Postbox Team

Posted by Sherman Dickman

New Support for OmniFocus and Things

We’re excited to announce Postbox 1.1.2, which brings new support for OmniFocus and Things! These powerful integrations enable you to quickly convert emails into tasks, and to link tasks to emails - helping you organize and to get more done with less effort.

To get started, download the most current versions of Postbox and OmniFocus or Things, and make sure that Postbox is set as your default email reader. For additional information on setup and use, please see our knowledge base.

Postbox 1.1.2 contains several other improvements, such as faster Gmail access for both Windows and Mac, so please review our release notes for the full list of changes.

A special “Thanks!” to the terrific teams at The Omni Group and Cultured Code for their help in making these integrations possible!

- The Postbox Team

Posted by Sherman Dickman

New and Improved Support for Mac OS X

Postbox now integrates with the Mac OS X technologies and applications you rely on most to get stuff done. Here’s what’s new:

Mac Address Book Support
Postbox provides read and write support for the Mac Address Book. Keep all of your contacts in one location and sync them with your iPhone or MobileMe service.

Send Meeting Invites with iCal
Apple’s iCal can now use Postbox for sending calendar notifications.

Search for Mail Using Spotlight
Postbox provides full support for Apple’s Spotlight to search through message bodies, message header information such as To: or From:, and attachment names. 

Exchange Images with iPhoto
You can export photos directly from Postbox into iPhoto, and iPhoto will use Postbox to send photos as well!

Send Link from Safari
Easily send a web page link from Safari using Postbox. Very handy!

Lookup in Dictionary
Direct text-to-Dictionary lookups will help you quickly pick the perfect words.

Drag-to-Dock Message Creation
Dragging a file to the Postbox icon in the Dock will create a new message with the file attached.

Learn more about these new features and how to use them in our Quickstart Guide.

And now, with our new Refer-a-Friend Program, we’ve created an exciting way for you save on Postbox, or even get Postbox for FREE! See our Refer-a-Friend Program Page for details.

Posted by Sherman Dickman

Refer Your Friends, and Get Postbox for FREE!

Our Refer-a-Friend Program is easy! Tell your friends about Postbox, and earn $5 each time someone purchases with your coupon code! Refer six friends and Postbox is effectively FREE!

Step 1 - Save $10 on Postbox!
Use your search skills. Find a coupon code to purchase Postbox for just $39.95 $29.95!

Step 2 - Share your Coupon Code
We’ll give you your own coupon code for “$10 Off Postbox.” Share it via Facebook, Twitter, your blog, email… anywhere.

Step 3 - Make $5 each time someone uses your code!
You get it - make 6 referrals and we’ll send you $30 - the price you paid for Postbox. Any more… and it’s all gravy.

There you have it. Postbox for about the price of a pizza, plus a way to earn it all back and give your friends a discount. Everyone wins!

To learn more, please see our Refer-a-Friend Program page, read our FAQ, or review the Terms and Conditions.

A special “Thanks!” to Charlie Wood of Spanning Sync for his help and advice on the development of this program.

Posted by Sherman Dickman

Indie+Relief Effort to Aid Haiti

Today, nearly 150 software developers are participating in Indie+Relief, an effort to help the people of Haiti who are in desperate need of aid. Proceeds from today’s sales will be donated to a variety of charities and support organizations, such as the American Red Cross, Doctors Without Borders, UNICEF and more.

Visit Indie+Relief today to purchase some terrific software and to help those in need.

Posted by Sherman Dickman

Changes to Postbox Purchase Options

Businesses and individuals can now order multiple copies of Postbox and benefit from volume discounts:

Additionally, Postbox will be discontinuing the Family Pack purchase option effective 12/23/09. Families can still take advantage of volume discounts (starting at just 2 copies) and student discounts of up to 50% off Postbox.

Posted by Sherman Dickman

Postbox 1.1 Now Available!

We’re excited to announce the release of Postbox 1.1 for Windows and Mac. In a nutshell, this release rocks, and it’s available for free to all Postbox users. Here’s a rundown on what’s new:

• Improved Performance - Postbox is now faster and more responsive—take it for a test drive!
• Languages - Postbox now supports community-translated language packs, including German, French, Spanish (Spain), English (British), Italian, Dutch, Portuguese (Brazilian), Russian, and Swedish, with more on the way.
• New Setup Wizard - When creating a new mail account, Postbox will automatically determine your connection settings for you. All you need to know is your user name, e-mail address, and account password!
• Better Looking Images - Photos in Postbox are now sharper and have more accurate colors.
• Interface Improvements - We’ve polished the Windows 7 and Vista themes to a high gloss shine, and on the Mac, Postbox now sports more native looking UI elements.

But there’s more!  For the full list of changes, please see the Postbox 1.1 release notes.

We hope you enjoy using this latest release, and thanks for helping us spread the word on Postbox!

- The Postbox Team

Posted by Sherman Dickman