Gmail App frustrations: reply buttons, forwarding attachments

[anderkoo]

I've been using my Droid for about a week now and would like some suggestions or help with three frustrations I have with the default Gmail app in 2.0:

1. The Reply/Forward buttons are all the way at the bottom of the message - which is very frustrating when you're trying to respond to a long email thread that has a billion embedded replies. How are you dealing with that, other than scrolling all the way to the bottom? Shouldn't reply/forward buttons be available on-screen at all times? (The hardware option button doesn't present "reply" or "forward" among the popup choices, either).

2. When I forward mail with attachments, I can't predict whether the attachments will forward or not. So far, it seems like they don't go through more often than not. Is there a setting somewhere I need to throw to make attachments work reliably?

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide!

 

[Agrajag]

The gmail app is pretty crappy. Their online version is only slightly better. It's one of my major disappointments. Thankfully one of the few but this is just unacceptable the way it is.

I couldn't agree more about Reply being at the bottom. What the heck were they thinking? I get it. I read and when I get there I reply but it's not that simple.

 

[anderkoo]

Sadly, Gmail integration is why I bought this phone in the first place -- my office is a 90% Google shop using Google Apps for most of our office functions.

But in many ways Gmail is inferior to the experience I had on my Centro using IMAP. Not only was the UI more intuitive, with easy-to-access reply/forward buttons, but the messages were also available offline.

Any suggestions? It seems silly but maybe an IMAP client?

 

[anderkoo]

btw my third frustration, which I deleted because it's probably Droid-specific, is that the autosuggest-text feature drops out when using the hardware keyboard.

Anyone have any alternative apps? Maybe K-9 Mail? Anyone?

 

[climbonrock]

I agree, the forward and reply button should be more accessible. It is not intuitive at all. Count my vote!

 

[agent0014]

I can't believe that there's no easy way to go back and forth between messages without backing up to the inbox view... unless I'm missing something? I really like how moxier mail does it, with the ability to flip between messages using the top bar.

 

[pizzachef]

I think the web interface is nuch better than the app, but then you dont have any offline access. What mail client does the droid have for IMAP? You can use that instead of the gmail app. For us with Android 1.5 the only way to access a second, third, etc gmail account is to use another email app. No reason why you can't use it for your primary gmail mail.

 

[garbageduck]

if you use the physical kb its not that bad because of the KB shortcuts, like ALT+R to reply and such

 

[rwest7868]

I have noticed that anytime that I reply to a message using the Gmail app on my motorola droid, it automatically adds "RE:" to the subject line no matter if "RE:" is already there or not. For example, if someone sends me an email, and I reply to it the first time, then its fine I expect the other person to get an email from me with an "RE:" when I reply. But then lets say that they reply to my reply. When I get the reply from them, it still has "RE: xxx", like it should. But then when I reply to that message again, the gmail app adds another "RE" to the first "RE". It looks like this "RE: RE: xxx" when the other person receives my reply. Then if we keep communicating back and forth in the same thread/conversation, everytime that I reply it will add another "RE", and it starts looking crazy "RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: etc....". I have tested this out several times, and it only happens from my droid. If I do the same test using a computer and my same gmail account, this does not happen. Is there any way to fix this? Is anyone experiencing the same thing?

 

[mylinuxbox]

Disable gmail sync in settings and use another mail app to get gmail.

I use the HTC mail to pick up my gmail as I get many more options.

 

[rwest7868]

Disable gmail sync in settings and use another mail app to get gmail.

I use the HTC mail to pick up my gmail as I get many more options.

But won't doing this stop me from receiving push gmail? In other words I would have to actually use the new email client to check my email rather than getting an automatic notification the instant one is sent to me.

 

[mylinuxbox]

In the HTC mail app I can choose how often it checks for new mail. 15 minutes and upwards.

To the best of my knowledge it is not instant in gmail. It will still sync at set intervals and you cannot choose the interval. It is not push email.

 

[pizzachef]

To the best of my knowledge it is not instant in gmail. It will still sync at set intervals and you cannot choose the interval. It is not push email.

Mine is pretty near instant. I get notified by the gmail app before my computer's gmail notifier goes off.

Regarding the RE: problem, I haven't noticed this. I really liked that gmail does NOT add an RE: every time, so its surprising that the app would do it. You sure its not the other email address you're emailing that's not doing it? I'll try testing it out when I get a minute.

An alternative is to use the gmail mobile web interface (although its not as quick to start up as the app), which is a lot nicer than the app. You can let the app give you the notifications and just put a link to the gmail website on your home screen or wherever.

EDIT
Okay, I went back and forth a few times with my work email address and the gmail app DOES add an RE: to each reply, but it doesn't show it in the subject line in the app. The email recipient sees all the RE:'s. That sucks. I don't use the app that much anyway, but I'll probably start using the web interface more now.

 

[rwest7868]

In the HTC mail app I can choose how often it checks for new mail. 15 minutes and upwards.

To the best of my knowledge it is not instant in gmail. It will still sync at set intervals and you cannot choose the interval. It is not push email.

I am pretty confident that my gmail is pushed to my motorola droid. I've tested it before sending emails from an exchange acount at work, and the notification on my droid is pretty much instant, just as pizzachef describes below.

Thank you pizzachef for verifying that it is with the gmail app. I am seeing what you describe. It doesn't show the RE's in the top subject line in the gmail app, but the other person definately sees them. (Also if you look at the quoted message in the rply in gmail app you can see all the REs from the previous message).

Thanks for the web based suggestion. I really like using the built in app, but this sucks. I may use the web interface more now. Maybe they will come out with an update for the app. Is there a way to report a bug or make a suggestion to google for their apps??

 

[Agrajag]

The web-based e-mail app is a LOT nicer than the non-web one so I use that by default now but the notification icon takes you to the non-web one and I have no idea how to change that action. Must be possible.

 

[smijes]

i hate the gmail app. couldnt agree more about the freaking reply buttons ALL THE WAY AT THE BOTTOM. ugh.

another complaint i have is that i have my school email account forwarded to my gmail, and thankfully the web based gmail allows me to reply from my school address if need be (my profs are not allowed to reply from emails that are outside our schools domain) and i cannot do that on the gmail app on my nexus one. UGH.

 

[RocknSteve]

One more thing I'd like to mention is the lack of copy-paste! Unless I'm missing something, I really have a hard time believing they don't have a copy-paste feature!

 

[Zoandroid]

I came here looking for solutions to these same problems. It is disappointing that nothing definitive came up in the end. Trying to find "any" other client for email on an Android phone has been a bust for me, as far as looking in the Market goes, and I have seen nothing else so far looking on the net itself. I'll look into K9, but on here is the only place I have seen any mention of it.

Zoandroid

 

[eellerto]

Another issue is the stupid, large archive button. I just hit it by mistake, once again, and just sighed and wondered if that email was really worth searching for to read. I don't know anyone who archives their email (I am sure a few do), but pretty much everyone I know replies to their email. Therefore, a large "reply" button would make so much more sense then "archive"! Come on Google!

 

[JacquesR]

One more thing I'd like to mention is the lack of copy-paste! Unless I'm missing something, I really have a hard time believing they don't have a copy-paste feature!

There is copy-paste (in Froyo, at least), but it's still somewhat counterintuitive. You need to choose "select text" or something from the hardware options button on your received message, and that text can then be pasted into the message you're composing.

 

[Bob Denny]

In the HTC mail app I can choose how often it checks for new mail. 15 minutes and upwards.

I just did this (before coming here!). Set up a second account in HTC Mail for GMail using IMAP. Use the IMAP instructions Google provides for the Android. Set your mail prefs for 15 min download. That's fast enough!

Now here's the cool one: On the Incredible you can put up an Email shortcut that directly opens your GMail account, and it will be labeled GMail. You can put up shortcuts for each account in HTC Mail and you won't have to switch accounts once you open Mail.

Then use the Conversations view in HTC mail and you're all set. By using IMAP, the messages in your Mail are automatically synced with the web GMail and you can go back and forth. The IMAP client in HTC Mail uses the remote GMail storage for messages. It's pretty cool to see the messages change in your phone after (e.g.) deleting one via the web then refreshing your phone.

Bye bye to the Android GMail app! I hated it for a bunch of reasons, like not being able to remove the quoted material, causing quick bloating of emails during a conversation.