Right this moment, Notion introduced the overall availability of its free Notion Mail add-on to its wildly standard eponymous productiveness dashboard. For individuals who have been hiding below 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.
Somewhat over a yr in the past, Notion acquired Skiff, an organization that supplied a lot of privacy-focused instruments, together with mail, calendar, paperwork, and file storage. Notion Mail is predicated on the mail software acquired from Skiff.
This continues Notion’s sample of expertise acquisitions that it makes use of to shore up its primary choices. Two years earlier, Notion acquired Cron, which offered 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 strategy to SaaS licensing. You should use Notion, Notion Mail, and Notion Calendar free of charge, however if you need extra storage or further options, you may have to improve to dearer licensed providers.
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 fascinating AI options as properly.
Sadly, Notion Mail doesn’t combine with Notion databases. Whereas the interface seems related, there isn’t any interoperability with Notion databases. So, whereas it is likely to be good to combine Notion Mail into, say, a tech assist 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 offers all the same old 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 essential Gmail interface.
There are 4 huge options that Notion is selling that set Notion Mail other than different e mail instruments: good labeling, customized views, a gathering scheduler, and the Notion writing interface with slash instructions.
Sensible labeling
Sensible labels use AI that can assist you create labels based mostly on emails which can be coming into your inbox. You may 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 good label you create.
This will provide the principle characteristic I’ve lengthy wished in Gmail: the flexibility for AI to differentiate courses of e mail based mostly 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, based mostly on the content material of the incoming message, it might 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 doable to do that with the 1000’s upon 1000’s of messages I’ve, it could be an unlimited time saver.
Is that this doable 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
Considered one of Notion’s biggest strengths is its means to create customized views into database tables. These permit you to format, isolate, and deal with necessary info for every view.
It seems that Notion Mail has carried out Notion-style views in mail. This, relying on how versatile and highly effective it’s, may permit for some very fascinating e mail processing and administration workflows.
Assembly scheduler
If you wish to arrange a gathering, you should utilize the assembly scheduler to embed a calendar in an e mail invite. This permits customers to decide on instances that they will meet, making an allowance for open instances in your calendar.
This characteristic exists in numerous add-ons, however constructing it proper into e mail may very well be a pleasant time-saver.
Notion writing setting
E-mail messages could be written utilizing the identical enhancing setting present in Notion. In truth, I am writing this text in Notion proper now.
Notion helps a slash syntax, the place you sort a slash after which select a format (like /h3 which produced the heading above). It is quick and handy, however sometimes will get in its personal method. That stated, I spend at the very least 4 to eight hours each day within the Notion writing setting. I am typically fairly comfy with the way it works.
It begins off free
Notion Mail begins off free, similar to Notion Calendar and the principle Notion product itself. There are some limitations to the free model, which is why some critical 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 per week’s trial, you’ll need to pay $8 per thirty days per person 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 shortly.
My preliminary expertise making an attempt 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 may be introduced with the same old sign-in with Google immediate, which hyperlinks your Gmail to your Notion Mail.
Then, you may be requested to provide 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 supply an easier-to-manage entrance finish to my Gmail, it must see my Gmail. However nonetheless, it would not make me significantly comfy freely giving that form 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 provide Notion Mail entry to my Google Calendar.
However, since I am doing this for you people studying this, I gave Notion all the pieces 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 wished my Gmail deal with. Since they’re two various things, I seem like blocked from utilizing Notion Mail, at the very least for now.
I had supposed to indicate you ways Notion Mail labored with my Gmail, however that is not within the playing cards for at this time. I am certain I can finally get the Notion people to assist me join my Gmail, though I log into Notion utilizing my essential e mail deal with, however that will not occur in time for this text’s deadline.
Since I would reasonably 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 info to at the very least get you began.
Is that this the mail consumer you have been ready for?
I am unsure. If it will possibly transcend the boundaries of e mail filters and guidelines and handle mail based mostly on context reasonably than string matching, it might show to be a boon for overwhelmed e mail customers.
The power to rearrange your mail setting with customized views may additionally show useful, however Notion itself is commonly restricted in how customized it is prepared 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, against this, has lengthy had formatting guidelines that may parse messages and format them by way of coloration and font based mostly on some text-matching necessities. That does not exist in Gmail, and it positively would not exist in Notion Mail.
I used to be shocked that Notion Mail would not hook up with Notion. Sure, the interface seems related, however there isn’t any knowledge sharing between the 2. I might have anticipated that Notion’s very highly effective database capabilities would have offered the underpinning to Notion Mail, however that is not the way it works. There may be 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 certain it is going to be resolved finally.
I’ve to say that this launch upset me. From the shortcoming 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 finally lives as much as that potential is a query we’ll have to look at sooner or later 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 assume its good labeling and customized views might really change the way you handle your inbox? How necessary is full integration with Notion databases to you? And what’s your tackle the Gmail-only entry and required permissions? Is that cheap or a dealbreaker? Tell us within the feedback beneath.
Get the morning’s high tales in your inbox every day with our Tech Right this moment publication.
You may observe my day-to-day undertaking updates on social media. Remember to subscribe to my weekly replace publication, and observe me on Twitter/X at @DavidGewirtz, on Fb at Fb.com/DavidGewirtz, on Instagram at Instagram.com/DavidGewirtz, on Bluesky at @DavidGewirtz.com, and on YouTube at YouTube.com/DavidGewirtzTV.
