Notify 2.1.6

Overview

In essence, the Notify application is a fairly easy and stylish utility that can help you manage your Gmail inbox better. Overall, with the help of the Notify software, you can know immediately when you receive a new message that you can choose to preview, read or respond to. This small application is ideal for webmasters or people that need to handle multiple Gmail accounts at the same time. However, it is important to note that Notify is currently available only for Mac OS X platform. Consequentially, if your desktop or laptop includes another operating system, it is advisable to look for a similar program utility. 

Installation

As mentioned before, in order to install this application you will need to have a Max OS X. Whilst the installation kit only has approximately 3 MB, it's an archive. After extraction, it will occupy approximately 9 MB of your storage space. The installation process is intuitive and straightforward, so just follow the wizard instructions. After the installation is complete, you can introduce your Gmail accounts and you are done. As a side note, this is a paid application and you will not see any other bundled software with it.

Interface

Since the application’s main role is to make managing multiple Gmail accounts easier, you will be glad to learn that its interface incorporates several tabs. What is great about them is the fact that you can figure out the configurations you need for yourself. Therefore, you can personalize the sounds and alerts of the messages you receive, according to your preferences. A further great feature of the Notify application is that the interface provides support for Magic Mouse or multi-touch trackpads. In case you want to add, edit or delete an email account, all you need to do is access the Accounts Menu and log in. Lastly, the interface allows you to customize the check emails interval, which you can set anywhere between one minute and three hours. 

Pros

The biggest advantage of having Notify on your Mac resides in the fact that you will simple not miss any important Gmail emails ever again. Practically, since you can associate the messages from an account with specific sounds, growls or allow them to be displayed in the menu bar, it would be rather hard to miss. In addition, you can set the application to check out the inbox once every minute. So unless you have the computer closed, or are away from your keyboard for extended periods of time, you will be able to notice and respond to your messages promptly.

Another great thing about the Notify application is that it allows you to see the email without having to open a new tab in your browser, log into your Gmail account and look it up in the inbox. The fact that it enables you to see the entire message, HTML and plaintext will save you quite a lot of time. Moreover, after you have finished reading, you can move, delete or mark it as read or unread, similar to handling your Gmail account. Lastly, Notify incorporates your address book, so besides the option of replying to urgent messages, you can also create new messages with just one name detail of the recipient.  

Cons

So far, Notify does not support POP based email accounts. However, given the fact that the developer constantly improves and adds new patches, you can expect that this issue will no longer be present in the near future. 

Alternatives

The Windows alternatives to Notify are POP Peeper, Scott's Gmail Alert or Gmail Notifier. Similar to Notify, the POP Peeper allows you to view your inbox messages as HTML or plain text and configure the application so that you are alerted via sounds or a flash scroll look that you have a new unread message. 

Conclusion

The Mac users have quite a handy application that is able to guarantee you will see all your important messages directly from your desktop. Basically, the Notify application allows you to do the same tasks you would normally perform in your Gmail account. On the other hand, it provides a bit more functionality and hence, you will be previewing, answering or archiving your inbox messages significantly faster.