One of the few products at Google that doesn’t stagnate and is always seeing new features, improvements, and changes (sometimes so often that it gives the appearance of being change for the sake of change to the furor and anger of some extremely-vocal hard-core users) is Gmail.
Today, Google is apparently rolling out a new feature that we haven’t seen before, and are actually at a loss when it comes to giving it an appropriate name.
Gmail is now showing “inlined action popups” based on the content of the emails (esp. automated written-by-robot emails), not too unlike some of the context-derived links/summaries in the sidebar that have been around for years now, except you don’t have to open the emails to gain access to them, and they’re just a convenient mouse click away. Pictures after the jump.
Here’s a screenshot of actions for Amazon1 (order tracking) and UPS (delivery tracking):
Here’s a screenshot of these actions for Gmail’s DocuSign integration:
Unlike some of the new changes in Gmail, this one could be a rather welcome change. In what appears to be a reversal of trends at Gmail, these action popups can certainly be claimed as a victory for function over form.
This feature is apparently being rolled out on an accelerated rate, and is popping up for both personal and business/enterprise Gmail accounts. How do you feel about this new feature? What other email “actions” are supported by Gmail have you seen? Leave a comment below and share with us!
Pictured: The Count of Monte Cristo and Wisdom from the Oval Office. ↩