Just a note that I switched to Shift for day to day email a few months back. I’ve used it in the past, but spent most years using Mailplane. But Mailplane is dead, so I was back in the browser for a while, then had a fling with Shortwave, but craved just the regular ol’ Gmail interface, so am back on Shift.

I’m digging it. It feels silly, but I like having a “dedicated” app for Gmail for just one reason: the ability to close the window entirely. You can close a browser tab, and Gmail will do a decent job of maintaining the state, but to come back you gotta open a new tab, navigate back to Gmail, let it load, etc. With Shift, I can close the entire window at will, and re-open it instantly. I just really like that and will use a “wrapper” app just for that behavior.

Shift wants to be more than an email wrapper app. It wants you to add all your business productivity apps into it and use it as kind of a homebase for all your workin’, even the web browser. I don’t really like that. That smashes things into one window when what I’m trying to do is actually separate windows/app.

[20 minutes elapses.]

Ya know something blogging is useful for? Uncovering things you might not have noticed otherwise.

I was just about to tell you how nice and convenient it is that Shift lets you add extensions as well, so I can use Grammarly, which I find rather required for writing. Plus they had some nice plugin for “simplifying” the Gmail interface, which I thought I would hate but activated and turned out I really liked.

But now I’m checking on things, because I was thinking of taking a screenshot of it, and… they aren’t there anymore. It must have happened without me noticing in the big transition from v7 to v8 not long ago. I tried to add them back, but the extension page now appears entirely non-functional. I tried re-installing the app, still broken. Plus it tells me there is an upgrade available, but absolutely refuses to upgrade.

Oh well. [cancels subscription, drags app to trash]

No shade! As much as I like some of the behavior, I need it to check all the boxes I like, especially for a paid product.

Back to a browser tab! Maybe I’ll try Wavebox or something next.

But I think I’ll enjoy the browser for a minute, as Gmail has a whole new look I’d like to experience for a while.