Hey, a new email service from the makers of Basecamp was recently launched. The Verge calls it a “genuinely original take on messaging”, and it indeed features some refreshing ideas for the sometimes painful exercise we call inbox management.

嗨 ，Basecamp的制造商最近推出了一项新的电子邮件服务。 Verge 称其为“原始的消息传递方式” ，确实为一些有时令人痛苦的练习(我们称为收件箱管理)提供了一些新颖的想法。

For this occasion, I wanted to take a closer look at how this new email service and two other popular providers — namely, Gmail and Outlook — compare. The article highlights the best approaching for the following topics:

为此，我想仔细研究一下这个新的电子邮件服务与其他两个受欢迎的提供商Gmail和Outlook的比较。 本文重点介绍了以下主题的最佳方法：

• Email categories and unreads

  电子邮件类别和未读

• Marking and snoozing

  标记和贪睡

• Project management

  项目管理

• Attachments

  附件

• Unwanted emails and spam filtering

  不需要的电子邮件和垃圾邮件过滤

• Notifications and privacy

  通知和隐私

• Extra features

  额外功能

As this is a lengthy piece, if you’re just interested in a specific category, you can navigate to specific sections with the links above. If you’re only in for the TL;DR, then jump straight to the conclusion at the end.

由于篇幅冗长，因此，如果您只对特定类别感兴趣，则可以使用上面的链接导航到特定部分。 如果仅是TL; DR，请直接跳到最后的结论 。

Let’s look at how Gmail, Outlook, and Hey approach getting things done!

让我们看看Gmail，Outlook和Hey如何完成工作！

🔸电子邮件类别和未读 (🔸 Email categories and unreads)

All three providers take different directions when automatically categorizing your messages. For managing unread emails, there is not much of a contrast.

自动分类您的消息时，所有三个提供者都采用不同的方向。 对于管理未读电子邮件，没有太大的反差。

邮箱 (Gmail)

Google’s email service offers the most categorization options. By default, it puts your messages automatically into five categories: Primary, Social, Promotions, Updates, and Forums. This approach hides not-so-important messages from the default view.

Google的电子邮件服务提供最多的分类选项。 默认情况下，它会将您的邮件自动分为五个类别：主要，社交，促销，更新和论坛。 这种方法在默认视图中隐藏了不太重要的消息。

Beyond that, Gmail offers several lesser-known inbox types too.

除此之外，Gmail还提供了几种鲜为人知的收件箱类型。

You can set your inbox Important first, which, as the name indicates, is prioritizing messages judged to be important. You can also have an Unread first or Starred first setting, which displays your unread or starred emails on the top of the batch. There is even a Priority inbox option that combines some of the earlier approaches. It shows several sections on top of each other, ranking based on their likely importance to you.

您可以将收件箱中的“ 重要”设置为“ 第一” ，顾名思义，该邮件将优先处理被认为重要的邮件。 您还可以设置“ 未读优先”或“已加星标”设置，该设置在批次顶部显示未读或已加星标的电子邮件。 甚至还有一个“ 优先收件箱”选项，它结合了一些较早的方法。 它显示了几个相互重叠的部分，并根据它们对您的重要性进行排名。

In Google’s service, unread emails are usually appearing among the rest of the messages, which are in a reverse chronological order. There are exceptions to that, if you use options like Unread first, that will group unreads together, no matter when they arrived to your inbox.

在Google的服务中，未读电子邮件通常会出现在其余邮件中，并按时间倒序排列。 除此之外，如果您使用Unread first之类的选项，则无论未读内容何时到达收件箱，它们都会将未读内容组合在一起。

外表 (Outlook)

Microsoft’s approach for automatically organizing emails is relatively simple. When you start using the service, there is a Focused inbox feature enabled that sorts incoming messages into a Focused and an Other tab. Outlook is also trying to hide less relevant emails into a separate section. If you don’t like it, you can turn the feature off anytime. Disabling it would result in a classic email view with threads, starting with the newest message.

微软自动组织电子邮件的方法相对简单。 当您开始使用该服务时，将启用“ 焦点收件箱”功能，该功能可将传入邮件分类为“ 焦点”和“ 其他”选项卡。 Outlook还试图将不相关的电子邮件隐藏到单独的部分中。 如果您不喜欢它，则可以随时关闭该功能。 禁用它会导致带有最新消息开始的带有线程的经典电子邮件视图。

Alternatively, using a filter, it’s possible to narrow down to specific emails, such as unreads, flagged ones, and emails with mentions or attachments. These filters don’t stick, so if you go to another folder and then come back to your inbox, you’re facing with the default view again. In the filter menu, there is also an option offering message sorting based on importance.

另外，使用过滤器，可以缩小到特定电子邮件的范围，例如未读，已标记的电子邮件以及带有提及或附件的电子邮件。 这些过滤器不会粘住，因此，如果您转到另一个文件夹然后返回到收件箱，则将再次面临默认视图。 在过滤器菜单中，还有一个选项可根据重要性对邮件进行排序。

Unread emails are appearing in between other read messages, similar to Gmail, except when the view is filtered to show unread messages only.

未读电子邮件出现在其他已读邮件之间，类似于Gmail，但将视图过滤为仅显示未读邮件时除外。

嘿 (Hey)

The new email service, Hey, is changing some of the decade-old patterns that would surely need some getting used to.

全新的电子邮件服务Hey，正在改变一些已有十年历史的模式，这些模式肯定需要习惯。

First, new messages from first-time senders are not going to the main inbox automatically but put to The screener section. Imagine it as a night club bouncer who is keeping the line outside.

首先，来自首次发件人的新邮件不会自动转到主收件箱，而是会放入“筛选器”部分。 想象一下，作为夜总会的保镖，他正在外面排队。

If you say yes to someone’s email, their future messages will keep landing in your inbox. If you say no, their communications won’t appear visibly in your mailbox but their incoming messages will be retained for 90 days. While it’s a visual way to manage who can get your attention, it’s also a manual process.

如果您对某人的电子邮件说“是”，那么他们将来的邮件将继续进入您的收件箱。 如果您拒绝，则他们的通讯将不会在您的邮箱中显示，但他们的传入消息将保留90天。 尽管这是一种可视化的方法来管理谁可以引起您的注意，但这也是一个手动过程。

For marketing and promotional emails, Hey offers a separate section called The feed. It’s like an infinite-scrolling Facebook feed, with the latest messages on top, without any indication if something is new or not. Unfortunately, at the time of the writing, there is nothing similar to Instagram’s “You’re all caught up” notice when you reach a previously read message.

对于营销和促销电子邮件，Hey提供了一个单独的部分，称为The feed 。 就像无限滚动的Facebook提要，顶部是最新消息，没有任何新消息。 不幸的是，在撰写本文时，当您收到以前阅读的消息时，没有什么与Instagram“所有人都被抓到”通知相似。

You can also mark senders to be automatically sent to The feed, in which case they would skip your primary inbox.

您还可以将发件人标记为自动发送到The feed ，在这种情况下，他们将跳过您的主要收件箱。

The last dedicated category Hey has is The paper trail. It’s similar to Gmail’s Updates section, where receipts and confirmations usually appear. This category also has manual controls; messages only appear here if you decide so. Emails are organized similarly to your primary inbox, the newest ones being on the top.

嘿的最后一个专门类别是论文线索 。 与Gmail的“ 更新”部分类似，该部分通常会显示收据和确认。 此类别还具有手动控件。 如果您决定，则仅在此处显示消息。 电子邮件的组织方式与您的主要收件箱相似，最新的邮件位于顶部。

One bottleneck of this approach if there are multiple types of emails coming from one email address. Hey, at the moment, cannot distinguish these, and all emails from one sender can only land in one of the categories.

如果从一个电子邮件地址发送多种类型的电子邮件，则此方法的瓶颈。 嘿，目前无法区分这些，来自一个发件人的所有电子邮件只能归入以下类别之一。

for电子邮件类别和未读管理的最佳方法：Gmail。 (🎉 The best approach for email categories and unread management: Gmail.)

All three email providers are trying to separate relevant content from the noise. While Hey is doing that based on your previous decisions, Gmail wins with their algorithmical approach that works from day one.

所有这三个电子邮件提供商都试图将相关内容与噪音分开。 在Hey根据您之前的决定进行此操作的同时，Gmail凭借从一开始就可以使用的算法方法获胜。

🔸标记和贪睡 (🔸 Marking and snoozing)

Tagging is a universal pattern that none of the services could have avoided. On the other hand, they take different ways on how to deal with email postponing.

标记是一种通用模式，所有服务都无法避免。 另一方面，他们在处理电子邮件延迟方面采取了不同的方法。

邮箱 (Gmail)

In Gmail, there are two alternatives to marking emails.

在Gmail中，有两种标记电子邮件的方法。

One is to star messages you want to remember. By doing, they’ll become available in a dedicated Starred section, even if you archive a thread.

一种是给要记住的邮件加注星标。 这样一来，即使您归档了一个线程，它们也将在专用的加星标部分中变得可用。

The other alternative is to apply labels. By tagging emails, you can make up your own categories, like separate labels for hobbies and work.

另一种选择是应用标签。 通过标记电子邮件，您可以组成自己的类别，例如，爱好和工作的单独标签。

In addition to marking, Gmail makes it possible to snooze messages. This functionality is useful if you want to deal with an email later when it is actually relevant to you. When you use this feature, emails disappear from the primary inbox and only reappear at the date and time you specify.

除了标记外，Gmail还可以使邮件暂停。 如果您想稍后处理与您实际相关的电子邮件，此功能很有用。 使用此功能时，电子邮件将从主收件箱中消失，仅在您指定的日期和时间重新出现。

外表 (Outlook)

Outlook offers three ways to highlight messages.

Outlook提供了三种突出显示邮件的方法。

First, you can flag emails, similar to starring in Gmail. The only difference that flagging has three states: unflagged, flagged, and completed. That makes the functionality a tiny bit more beneficial if you’re looking for a way to distinguish items that you haven’t flagged and the ones that you’ve completed.

首先，您可以标记电子邮件，类似于在Gmail中加注星标。 标记的唯一区别是具有三种状态：未标记，标记和完成。 如果您正在寻找一种方法来区分未标记的项目和已完成的项目，那么这会使该功能更加有用。

Second, you can use labels, called as categories. Categories can have a pre-defined color, and they are shared between your email and calendar items. That fact comes with the limitation that you cannot use different labels for events and messages.

其次，您可以使用称为类别的标签。 类别可以具有预定义的颜色，并且可以在您的电子邮件和日历项目之间共享。 事实是，您不能为事件和消息使用不同的标签。

Third, you can pin items to the top of your inbox. This feature is also handy, as it removes the need to switch in between views to find something that you wanted to keep in your focus. Unfortunately, pinning is only available on the desktop interface and not yet present in the mobile app.

第三，您可以将项目固定在收件箱顶部。 此功能也很方便，因为它消除了在视图之间切换以查找要保持焦点的需求。 不幸的是，固定仅在桌面界面上可用，而在移动应用程序中尚不存在。

Outlook has also adopted email snoozing. Available after a long tap in the mobile app, Microsoft offers more pre-defined options than Gmail. Sadly, those suggestions are not editable, so if you don’t want to pick the time manually, you’re stuck with Microsoft’s definition of morning and evening.

Outlook还采用了电子邮件暂停功能。 在移动应用程序中轻按一下即可使用，Microsoft提供了比Gmail更多的预定义选项。 可悲的是，这些建议是不可编辑的，因此，如果您不想手动选择时间，那么您将对Microsoft早晚的定义感到困惑。

嘿 (Hey)

Hey also offers the option to utilize labels for tagging threads. Beyond that, the provider approaches categorizing emails a bit differently.

嘿还提供了利用标签标记线程的选项。 除此之外，提供商对电子邮件的分类方式有所不同。

Instead of starring or flagging, Hey’s dedicated section is called Set aside. If you set a message aside, it disappears from your inbox and goes to another folder. From the main screen, you can access both the separate folder and the first few emails in there. In Set aside, saved emails are displayed in a grid, letting you peek at the first few lines of the message. It’s the right approach for a couple of emails, but it becomes hard to manage with over 30 messages.

而不是加注星标或标记，Hey的专用部分称为Set aside 。 如果您将邮件放在一边，该邮件将从收件箱中消失，并转到另一个文件夹。 在主屏幕上，您可以访问单独的文件夹和其中的前几封电子邮件。 在“ 预留”中 ，已保存的电子邮件将显示在网格中，从而使您可以窥视邮件的前几行。 对于几封电子邮件，这是正确的方法，但要处理超过30条消息，将变得非常困难。

Another route where Hey is taking a different direction is snoozing. Instead of making emails to appear at a later time, users can mark them as Reply later. The section is available from the primary screen, with the first few emails visible on hover. Messages won’t just magically reappear at a later time; you have to go to this page purposefully if you want to take care of those emails.

Hey采取不同方向的另一条路线是打oo。 用户可以将电子邮件标记为“ 稍后答复” ，而不是使电子邮件稍后显示 。 该部分位于主屏幕上，悬停时显示前几封电子邮件。 邮件不仅会在以后神奇地重新出现； 如果您想处理这些电子邮件，则必须有目的地转到此页面。

To support that activity, Hey also has a Focus & reply feature. This functionality displays all your emails in Reply later after each other. Instead of jumping to separate threads, you can scroll down, write your response, press send, and scroll down again for the next message.

为了支持该活动，Hey还具有“ 焦点和回复”功能。 此功能稍后互相显示“ 回复”中的所有电子邮件。 您可以向下滚动，编写您的回复，按Send(发送)，然后再次向下滚动以查看下一条消息，而不必跳到单独的线程。

One thing that I miss from this feature is the ability to set specific dates. Having a power-user feature like Focus & reply is excellent but emails are usually not coming in in the desired order of dealing with those.

我从此功能中错过的一件事是可以设置特定日期。 具有诸如“ 焦点与回复”之类的高级用户功能非常出色，但是电子邮件通常无法按照所需的顺序处理。

The last standout feature of Hey in marking emails is the ability to take notes and highlight sections. Interestingly, none of the other providers delivered this exact idea before but it makes perfect sense. The ability to take private notes for emails is useful, no matter if you’re jotting down thoughts or adding some extra information to keep in mind. However, don’t consider adding your passwords to registration confirmations.

Hey标记电子邮件的最后一个突出功能是能够记录笔记和突出显示部分。 有趣的是，没有其他提供者以前曾提供过这个确切的想法，但这是很有意义的。 不管您是记笔记还是添加一些其他信息以备记用，为电子邮件添加私人笔记的功能都非常有用。 但是，不要考虑将密码添加到注册确认中。

Fascinating though that Hey played with the note-taking concept so much that they had three ideas and instead of selecting the best, they went with all.

尽管Hey非常喜欢记笔记的概念，以至于他们有了三个想法，但他们并没有选择最好的想法，而是全力以赴。

For one, you‘re able to take notes in between conversations in a thread. These notes appear as blue stickers that are different in shape and size than regular messages, so they’re easy to spot.

首先，您可以在一个会话的对话之间做笔记。 这些笔记显示为蓝色贴纸，其形状和大小与常规消息不同，因此很容易发现。

Second, you can add a yellow sticky note (only one) to any thread you desire. Those notes will be visible next to emails in list views, making them stand out from the crowd.

其次，您可以在所需的任何线程中添加黄色便笺(仅一个)。 这些注释将在列表视图中的电子邮件旁边显示，从而使其在人群中脱颖而出。

Third, you’re able to select specific parts from an email and save it as a Clip. These saves appear on a separate page after each other, including the sender and the subject. Clips come in handy to save relevant sections and might replace fiddling with other note-taking applications.

第三，您可以从电子邮件中选择特定的部分并将其另存为Clip 。 这些保存内容彼此相继出现在单独的页面上，包括发件人和主题。 剪辑非常有用，可以节省相关部分，并且可以用其他记笔记应用程序代替。

While taking notes is useful in Hey, you can lose track of in what format you saved something before. Search should not only work very well for finding emails but also for surfacing your private notes and clips.

记笔记在Hey中很有用，但您可能无法记住以前保存内容的格式。 搜索不仅可以很好地用于查找电子邮件，而且还可以显示私人笔记和剪辑。

marking标记和贪睡的最佳方法：嘿。 (🎉 The best approach for marking and snoozing: Hey.)

While Gmail is taking the classic snoozing approach, Hey is trying to provide power-user features to finish inbox management tasks faster. However, Hey overcomes Gmail with their marking and note-taking features.

Gmail采用经典的贪睡方式时，Hey尝试提供高级用户功能，以更快地完成收件箱管理任务。 但是，Hey通过其标记和笔记功能克服了Gmail。

🔸项目管理 (🔸 Project management)

Project management capabilities are needed for work accounts when people just receive too many emails to handle it with a single inbox. How do these email providers compare?

当人们刚收到太多电子邮件无法通过一个收件箱处理工作帐户时，工作帐户就需要项目管理功能。 这些电子邮件提供商如何比较？

邮箱 (Gmail)

Google’s service utilizes previously discussed baked-in categories (like Social or Promotions) and user-created labels to sort messages.

Google的服务利用先前讨论的内置类别(例如“社交”或“促销”)和用户创建的标签对邮件进行排序。

Categories can be useful to isolate noise from relevant emails, but alone it doesn’t replace the manual grooming of your inbox. These categories can be hidden from the list view but they cannot be fully disabled.

类别对于将噪音与相关电子邮件隔离开很有用，但是单独使用类别并不能代替收件箱的手动整理。 这些类别可以从列表视图中隐藏，但不能完全禁用。

User-created labels take place on the left side of the screen. They’re visible based on the user’s setting, which may mean three scenarios:

用户创建的标签出现在屏幕的左侧。 根据用户的设置，它们是可见的，这可能意味着三种情况：

• always there,
  一直在那，
• only there if there is an unread message under the label,
  仅在标签下有未读邮件的情况下，
• or never appearing.
  或永远不会出现。

Besides, tags can be nested under parent items, making it possible to build a tree-structure for serious project management needs. Also, each label color can be customized.

此外，可以将标签嵌套在父项下，从而可以为严重的项目管理需求构建树形结构。 同样，每种标签颜色都可以自定义。

Beyond that, Gmail has an integration with Google Tasks. This feature enables emails to be added as tasks on the web, with the option to add subtasks, a description, and a due date. Google‘s task management solution appears on the right side of Gmail, as an official add-on like Google Keep or Google Calendar. While task management is technically not part of the core Gmail solution, the close integration can extend Google’s email offering.

除此之外，Gmail还与Google Tasks集成在一起。 此功能使电子邮件可以作为任务添加到Web上，并可以选择添加子任务，描述和截止日期。 Google的任务管理解决方案显示在Gmail的右侧，是Google Keep或Google Calendar这样的官方附加组件。 从技术上讲，任务管理不是核心Gmail解决方案的一部分，但紧密的集成可以扩展Google的电子邮件服务。

外表 (Outlook)

In Outlook, labels are called categories.

在Outlook中，标签称为类别。

Emails and calendar events are sharing the same set of categories which can be customized with pre-defined colors and also marked as a favorite. Categories are useful for marking messages or meetings but only up to 10–15 of them are manageable. Unlike Gmail, these categories don’t support hierarchy. Microsoft has another feature to that.

电子邮件和日历事件共享相同的类别集，可以使用预定义的颜色对其进行自定义，也可以将其标记为收藏夹。 类别对于标记消息或会议很有用，但最多只能管理10-15个类别。 与Gmail不同，这些类别不支持层次结构。 微软对此有另一个功能。

This another feature for project management is the existence of folders. Users can create different levels of folder structures, nesting items into each other. It’s a classic approach that is inherited from the early days of the desktop application and still proves to be relevant these days. The benefit here is that folders are most of the time available on the left side, which makes it easy to switch from one project to another.

项目管理的另一个功能是文件夹的存在。 用户可以创建不同级别的文件夹结构，将项目彼此嵌套。 这是一种经典方法，它是从桌面应用程序的早期继承而来的，如今仍然证明是相关的。 这样做的好处是，大多数时候文件夹都在左侧可用，这使得从一个项目切换到另一个项目变得容易。

In the desktop application, Outlook also offers an easy way to add emails as a task by right-clicking to a message and selecting the Follow up option. In the web interface, this option is hidden behind an Advanced options menu. Similar to Gmail, Outlook also integrates with the company’s task management app, which in this case, is called Microsoft To-Do. A dedicated button called My Day can active a side panel with the calendar and task management features.

在桌面应用程序中，Outlook还提供了一种简便的方法，可以通过右键单击邮件并选择“ 跟进”选项来将电子邮件添加为任务。 在Web界面中，此选项隐藏在“ 高级选项”菜单后面。 与Gmail类似，Outlook也与公司的任务管理应用程序集成，在本例中，该应用程序称为Microsoft To-Do。 名为“ 我的一天 ”的专用按钮可以激活带有日历和任务管理功能的侧面板。

Last but not least, Outlook has a very robust rule management system. Rules can be added either from the rule management dialog or created when viewing an email. When a message is open, Outlook offers quick choices to set up a rule for specific attributes, like subject or sender email address.

最后但并非最不重要的一点是，Outlook具有非常强大的规则管理系统。 可以从规则管理对话框中添加规则，也可以在查看电子邮件时创建规则。 打开邮件时，Outlook提供快速选择来设置特定属性(例如主题或发件人电子邮件地址)的规则。

One limitation of the rule management system that some commands are only capable of running in the desktop application, therefore they cannot even be adjusted from the web interface. That also means if the desktop app is not open, those rules won’t be applied to incoming messages.

规则管理系统的限制之一是某些命令只能在桌面应用程序中运行，因此甚至无法从Web界面进行调整。 这也意味着，如果桌面应用未打开，则这些规则将不会应用于传入消息。

嘿 (Hey)

Similar to others, Hey also uses labels to mark specific threads with a topic. However, these labels are not adequate for building various levels of hierarchy out of them. They’re merely just helping to filter through.

与其他人类似，Hey也使用标签来标记带有主题的特定主题。 但是，这些标签不足以在其中构建各种层次的层次结构。 他们只是在帮助过滤。

Beyond that, Hey offers the option to merge email threads, instead of managing them in folders. This behavior means if you have several different conversations in your inbox discussing the same topic, you can quickly bring them together, as if they were sent as a response to just one thread.

除此之外，Hey还提供了合并电子邮件线程的选项，而不是在文件夹中进行管理。 此行为意味着，如果收件箱中有多个讨论同一主题的不同对话，则可以将它们Swift组合在一起，就像它们是作为对一个线程的响应而发送的一样。

While the idea looks good on paper, there are two side-effects users need to get used to.

尽管这个想法在纸面上看起来不错，但用户需要习惯于两个副作用。

First, thread merging is permanent, so if you accidentally select the wrong email chain to merge with, you’re stuck with your mistake. Second, as emails from many people come into the same thread, at times, it can be confusing to figure out who has received a response and who still needs an answer.

首先，线程合并是永久性的，因此，如果您不小心选择了要合并的错误电子邮件链，您将陷入错误。 其次，随着来自许多人的电子邮件有时进入同一线程，弄清楚谁收到了答复以及谁仍然需要答复可能会造成混淆。

Another convenient feature that helps email organization is subject renaming.

可以帮助电子邮件组织的另一个方便功能是主题重命名。

You’re able to change the subject of existing emails that is only visible to you. Responses to these threads will still go out with their original subject line but on your side, you’ll see the custom phrase. Renaming is useful when the original subject doesn’t tell much about the email and you would get a better understanding next time with a new name.

您可以更改仅对您可见的现有电子邮件的主题。 对这些线程的响应仍将保留其原始主题行，但在您这一边，您会看到自定义短语。 当原始主题对电子邮件的了解不多，并且下次使用新名称可以使您更好地理解时，重命名很有用。

project项目管理的最佳方法：Outlook。 (🎉 The best approach for project management: Outlook.)

Outlook was born out of workplace needs and it’s still the best option to manage highly utilized inboxes. The combination of labelling, foldering, tasks, and the robust rule management capabilities give it an edge over the other two products.

Outlook是出于工作场所需求而诞生的，它仍然是管理高利用率收件箱的最佳选择。 标签，文件夹，任务和强大的规则管理功能的结合使它在其他两种产品上具有优势。

🔸附件 (🔸 Attachments)

Even though file-sharing services exist for a while, we still find it comfortable just to send documents over email. No surprise, all email providers offer file attachments in one way or another.

即使文件共享服务存在了一段时间，我们仍然发现仅通过电子邮件发送文档仍然很舒适。 毫不奇怪，所有电子邮件提供商都以一种或另一种方式提供文件附件。

邮箱 (Gmail)

In Gmail, adding files to a message is an easy feat.

在Gmail中，将文件添加到邮件是一件容易的事。

On a computer, you can just drag and drop an attachment or press the attach button to browse for a file. The same behavior is present in the mobile app, you can add a document after pressing the attachment icon.

在计算机上，您可以拖放附件或按附件按钮浏览文件。 移动应用程序中存在相同的行为，您可以在按附件图标后添加文档。

While adding files is easy, searching back for those becomes a bit more challenging. In Gmail, there are two ways to find attachments from past conversations.

虽然添加文件很容易，但是搜索这些文件变得更具挑战性。 在Gmail中，有两种方法可以从过去的对话中查找附件。

First, you can use the search to define that you’re looking for a message with an attachment, then you can further filter to the file type. Second, you can use a specific query from Google’s help portal for a closer match.

首先，您可以使用搜索来定义您正在寻找带有附件的邮件，然后可以进一步过滤到文件类型。 其次，您可以使用Google 帮助门户中的特定查询来进行更紧密的匹配。

外表 (Outlook)

Outlook offers similar options for attaching files.

Outlook提供了类似的附加文件选项。

You can drag and drop items on the go, or you can press the attach button and browse for documents on the device. As an extra, Outlook’s web client tries to recommend relevant documents as a one-click option from OneDrive.

您可以随时随地拖放项目，也可以按附加按钮浏览设备上的文档。 另外，Outlook的Web客户端尝试从OneDrive中一键选择推荐相关文档。

The search dialog in the web client has a stunning resemblance to Gmail’s approach. You’re able to search to sender email, subject, and date range, including other options.

Web客户端中的搜索对话框与Gmail的方法极为相似。 您可以搜索发件人的电子邮件，主题和日期范围，包括其他选项。

You’re also offered two choices to search for files. One way is to fill out the search fields with the relevant attributes and the other is to use Microsoft’s specific search expressions.

您还提供了两种选择来搜索文件。 一种方法是使用相关属性填写搜索字段，另一种方法是使用Microsoft的特定搜索表达式 。

嘿 (Hey)

Adding files in Hey works mostly the same as in the other two services.

在Hey中添加文件的工作原理与在其他两个服务中相同。

You can press the clips icon and browse, or you can drag and drop files to the email editor. The latter is not self-explanatory, as there are no changes on the user interface when you drag a document over.

您可以按剪辑图标并浏览，也可以将文件拖放到电子邮件编辑器。 后者不是不言自明的，因为将文档拖到用户界面上时，不会进行任何更改。

What’s an extra here, that big file attachments are automatically converted into hyperlinks. Hey is hosting those files without an expiration date, as long they don’t exceed your overall inbox quota, which is 100 gigabytes.

这里还有一个额外的功能，即大文件附件会自动转换为超链接。 嘿，这些文件的托管没有到期日期，只要它们不超过您的总收件箱配额(100 GB)即可。

Searching for attachments is a different experience in Hey.

在Hey中，搜索附件是另一种体验。

First, you can use the standard search to find attachments by their name. Based on my experience, it’s not always working. Sometimes the search box just forgets there is a file with a given name sitting in your mailbox.

首先，您可以使用标准搜索按附件的名称查找附件。 根据我的经验，它并不总是有效。 有时，搜索框只是忘记了邮箱中有一个具有给定名称的文件。

Second, there is a dedicated All files page. The unique take on this section is the focus on attachments. Conversations are not listed here, but all the files from different threads, including file previews. Also, for every attachment, you can see the sender, the subject line, and the file size.

其次，有一个专用的“ 所有文件”页面。 本节的独特之处在于附件。 对话未在此处列出，而是所有来自不同线程的文件，包括文件预览。 另外，对于每个附件，您都可以看到发件人，主题行和文件大小。

for附件的最佳方法：嘿。 (🎉 The best approach for attachments: Hey.)

All three email services offer similar experience for attaching and finding files. Where Hey wins is their dedicated files section, from where users can quickly filter to senders and file types. Albeit they should fix their main search to work consistently with filenames.

所有这三种电子邮件服务在附加和查找文件方面都提供类似的体验。 Hey wins的地方是其专用文件部分，用户可以从中快速过滤出发件人和文件类型。 尽管他们应该修复其主要搜索以与文件名保持一致。

🔸不需要的电子邮件和垃圾邮件过滤 (🔸 Unwanted emails and spam filtering)

Every provider’s best interest is to get spam filtered out from your inbox. But beyond that, what other tools are available to get rid of unwanted emails?

每个提供商的最大利益是从您的收件箱中过滤掉垃圾邮件。 但是除此之外，还有哪些其他工具可以用来清除不需要的电子邮件？

邮箱 (Gmail)

Google has one of the best, if not the best, spam filtering available. With close to 1.5 billion active Gmail users, the company is likely to have enough data to build up a robust algorithm to block unwanted senders.

Google拥有最好的(甚至不是最好的)垃圾邮件过滤工具之一。 拥有将近15亿活跃Gmail用户，该公司很可能拥有足够的数据来构建强大的算法来阻止有害的发件人。

Gmail filters out spam messages in two steps.

Gmail分两步过滤掉垃圾邮件。

In the first step, those messages are dropped that were reliably predicted as spam before. These emails are not even delivered to the spam folder, Gmail just rejects them. In the second step, if a message is likely to be spam, Google’s service lands it in the spam folder, from where it’s purged after 30 days. Users can also mark messages as spam manually (or even as phishing), if something was able to go through the cracks.

第一步，丢弃那些以前被可靠地预测为垃圾邮件的邮件。 这些电子邮件甚至没有发送到垃圾邮件文件夹，Gmail只是拒绝了。 在第二步中，如果一条邮件很可能是垃圾邮件，则Google的服务会将其放置在30天后从其中清除的垃圾邮件文件夹中。 如果某些东西能够通过裂缝，用户还可以手动将邮件标记为垃圾邮件(甚至标记为网络钓鱼)。

The other option Gmail offers to filter out unwanted emails is to block specific senders. With blocking on, all messages from a sender will automatically go to the spam folder, no matter the content.

Gmail提供的另一种过滤掉不需要的电子邮件的选项是阻止特定的发件人。 启用阻止后，无论内容如何，​​来自发件人的所有邮件都将自动转到垃圾邮件文件夹。

外表 (Outlook)

Outlook is also taking the classic approach when it comes to managing spam.

在管理垃圾邮件方面，Outlook也采用经典方法。

Similar to other providers, Microsoft’s service tries to filter out unwanted messages to a separate junk folder. Based on personal experience, it can be a hit and miss, with account activation messages landing in the wrong place at times.

与其他提供程序类似，Microsoft的服务尝试将不需要的邮件过滤到单独的垃圾文件夹。 根据个人经验，帐户激活消息有时会落在错误的位置，因此一击即失。

As Outlook is often used in the corporate environment, it provides several options to fine-tune how spam moderation works. For whitelisting, users can define safe sender and safe recipient lists. For blacklisting, they can specify blocked senders, blocked top-level domains, and even blocked character encoding lists.

由于Outlook通常用于公司环境中，因此它提供了多种选项来微调垃圾邮件审核的工作方式。 对于白名单，用户可以定义安全发件人列表和安全收件人列表。 对于黑名单，他们可以指定阻止的发件人，阻止的顶级域，甚至阻止的字符编码列表。

For each incoming message, Outlook offers two security options: to block a sender or mark the email as junk. Blocking senders in Outlook will result in the same punishment as in Gmail; all their emails will end up in the junk folder automatically.

对于每个传入的邮件，Outlook提供了两个安全选项：阻止发件人或将电子邮件标记为垃圾邮件。 在Outlook中阻止发件人将导致与Gmail相同的处罚； 他们所有的电子邮件都将自动保存在垃圾文件夹中。

嘿 (Hey)

Hey also has built-in spam filtering. All recognized spam is going to a dedicated spam folder, though you can also mark emails as spammy by clicking in the three-dot menu.

嘿还具有内置的垃圾邮件过滤功能。 尽管您还可以通过单击三点菜单将电子邮件标记为垃圾邮件，所有公认的垃圾邮件都将转到专用的垃圾邮件文件夹。

What is not clear at this point is just how good Hey’s spam filter is, and how many Nigerian princes are getting through.

目前尚不清楚Hey的垃圾邮件过滤器的性能如何，以及有多少尼日利亚王子正在通过。

Hey’s primary approach for filtering first-time senders, The screener, was already discussed above. This feature acts as a gatekeeper, only letting through emails from approved contacts.

上面已经讨论了 Hey筛选首次发件人的主要方法Screener 。 此功能充当网守，仅允许通过已批准联系人的电子邮件。

A badge on the main screen denotes how many senders are waiting for a thumbs up or down. The primary benefit here is definitely less emails in your inbox. The disadvantage that some critical emails might be not coming through automatically.

主屏幕上的标志表示有多少发件人正在等待大拇指向上或向下。 这里的主要好处是收件箱中的电子邮件肯定更少。 某些关键电子邮件可能不会自动通过的缺点。

for不需要的电子邮件和垃圾邮件过滤的最佳方法：Gmail和Hey。 (🎉 The best approach for unwanted emails and spam filtering: Gmail and Hey.)

The best solution will depend on how you use your mailbox. If you need automatic sorting, a strong spam filter and you’re usually not surprised who is emailing you, then Gmail is better. But if you receive a high number of emails with some surprise senders, and you want to treat your mailbox as a walled garden, then Hey wins.

最佳解决方案将取决于您如何使用邮箱。 如果您需要自动排序，强大的垃圾邮件过滤器，并且通常不奇怪是谁向您发送电子邮件，那么Gmail会更好。 但是，如果您收到大量带有一些令人惊讶的发件人的电子邮件，并且希望将您的邮箱视为有围墙的花园，那么嘿赢了。

🔸通知和隐私 (🔸 Notifications and privacy)

One of the main ways to get informed about a new email is through notifications. So how often do these services buzz your phone?

通知是获取新电子邮件的主要方法之一。 那么，这些服务多久会向您的手机发送一次嗡嗡声？

邮箱 (Gmail)

Gmail has customizable notification options that lets you tune the push messages in three different ways.

Gmail具有可自定义的通知选项，可让您以三种不同方式调整推送消息。

First, you can decide if you want to get a notification for:

首先，您可以决定是否要收到以下通知：

• all emails,
  所有电子邮件，
• only for high priority ones (that Gmail considers as “high priority”),
  仅适用于高优先级的邮件(Gmail认为是“高优先级”)，
• or you don’t want to receive any notification at all.
  或者您根本不想收到任何通知。

Second, you can select the option to notify for every message. If this is checked, Gmail will send a notification after every new message and response. If unchecked, then only new emails will be buzzing your phone, and responses to previous threads would arrive as a silent notification.

其次，您可以选择针对每条消息进行通知的选项。 如果选中此选项，则Gmail将在每封新邮件和新回复后发送一条通知。 如果未选中，则只有新的电子邮件会在您的手机上发出嗡嗡声，并且对先前线程的响应将作为静默通知到达。

Third, you can set up notification for individual labels. This setting can be a powerful utility if you’re managing your tags strictly and having certain categories that are more important than others.

第三，您可以为各个标签设置通知。 如果您要严格管理标签并拥有比其他类别更重要的某些类别，则此设置可能是功能强大的实用程序。

Regarding security and privacy, Gmail shows image files from emails automatically, even if those might potentially include some tracking pixels.

关于安全性和隐私性，Gmail会自动显示电子邮件中的图像文件，即使这些文件可能包含一些跟踪像素 。

The good thing, that all images are routed through Google’s own servers, so any company trying to know your IP address or exact location will probably fail to get that. The bad thing that the fact if you opened a specific email and when you did that is still routed through the tracking pixel.

好消息是，所有图像都通过Google自己的服务器路由，因此任何试图知道您的IP地址或确切位置的公司都可能无法获取该图像。 不好的事实是，即使您打开了特定的电子邮件并在打开时也仍然会通过跟踪像素进行路由。

Another essential security question that was raised in the past years if Google is reading your messages or not.

过去几年中，无论Google是否阅读您的邮件，都提出了另一个重要的安全性问题。

Before 2017, Google was admittedly using the text of emails to personalize the ads shown to you. That doesn’t mean that actual humans were reading personal emails; they were just consumed by machine learning algorithms. They stopped this practice after a negative exposure in the press.

在2017年之前，Google无疑使用电子邮件的文字来个性化显示给您的广告。 这并不意味着实际的人正在阅读个人电子邮件。 它们只是被机器学习算法所消耗。 在新闻界受到负面曝光后，他们停止了这种做法。

One way Google is actually helping privacy-conscious users is to make unsubscribe links more visible. Usually, those links are hidden at the bottom of the emails, with a light gray font to make it harder to find. In most cases, Gmail is displaying the unsubscribe link next to the sender’s name, so it becomes easier to get rid of unwanted mailing lists.

Google实际上帮助关注隐私的用户的一种方法是使退订链接更加可见。 通常，这些链接被隐藏在电子邮件的底部，并使用浅灰色字体使其更难找到。 在大多数情况下，Gmail会在发件人姓名旁边显示退订链接，因此可以轻松摆脱不需要的邮件列表。

外表 (Outlook)

Compared to Gmail, Outlook has straightforward and simple rules in terms of email notifications. You can either get notifications for every email (including the ones outside of the focused inbox) or none.

与Gmail相比，Outlook在电子邮件通知方面具有简单明了的规则。 您可以获取每封电子邮件的通知(包括重点收件箱之外的电子邮件)，也可以不接收任何通知。

There is only one way to fine-tune this behavior. By creating a rule to move messages to another folder (outside of the primary inbox), emails won’t trigger a notification, even if all the notification settings are turned on.

只有一种方法可以微调此行为。 通过创建将邮件移动到另一个文件夹(在主收件箱之外)的规则，即使打开了所有通知设置，电子邮件也不会触发通知。

For images, Outlook is taking an opposite stance.

对于图像，Outlook采取相反的立场。

In Outlook, all images are blocked by default, no matter which folder they arrive to. That means if you don’t enable pictures for a specific email manually, then it won’t trigger any tracking pixels.

在Outlook中，默认情况下，所有图像均被阻止，无论它们到达哪个文件夹。 这意味着，如果您没有手动为特定的电子邮件启用图片，那么它将不会触发任何跟踪像素。

Microsoft’s email solution offers granular choices to allow images. You can enable pictures for an individual message, a particular sender or domain, or for all messages by default.

微软的电子邮件解决方案提供了允许图像的细粒度选择。 默认情况下，您可以为单个邮件，特定发件人或域或所有邮件启用图片。

Similar to Gmail, Outlook is also placing recognized unsubscribe links to the top of the message, so it’s easier to get out of any marketing communication you haven’t really subscribed to — so long they respect your goodbye choice.

与Gmail相似，Outlook还在邮件顶部放置了公认的退订链接，因此，更容易摆脱您尚未真正订阅的任何营销交流-只要他们尊重您的再见选择即可。

嘿 (Hey)

Hey is proudly communicating their notification management practices as one of the standout features. They’re not proactively asking for notification permissions in their app, which is an interesting take compared to all other mobile apps today.

嘿，我们很自豪地将其通知管理实践作为出色的功能之一进行交流。 他们并没有主动在其应用程序中请求通知权限，这与当今所有其他移动应用程序相比是一个有趣的举动。

Instead, users can enable notifications for two different things.

而是，用户可以为两种不同的事物启用通知。

First, users can set notifications for specific senders. That way, they would receive a notification each time when an individual sends a message.

首先，用户可以设置特定发件人的通知。 这样，每次有人发送消息时，他们都会收到通知。

Second, users are able to enable notifications for specific threads. Imagine that you would get different emails from your boss, but only one is time-critical. So instead of getting a notification for every message, your phone would only buzz once you receive a response to a specific thread.

其次，用户能够启用特定线程的通知。 想象一下，您会从老板那里收到不同的电子邮件，但是只有一封是时间紧迫的。 因此，手机不会收到每条消息的通知，只会在您收到对特定主题的回复后才会发出嗡嗡声。

While gradually enabling notifications is a good approach, users need time to set those up manually. Beyond that, in the current version, sadly, there is not a place to disable notifications for particular threads or people centrally.

虽然逐渐启用通知是一种不错的方法，但用户需要时间手动设置这些通知。 除此之外，令人遗憾的是，在当前版本中，没有地方可以集中禁用特定线程或人员的通知。

In terms of privacy, Hey highlights their “spy tracker” blocking capabilities. This behavior technically means that they have a pre-defined list of the biggest corporate messaging providers (like Mailchimp), and they proactively prevent their tracking pixels from loading.

在隐私方面，Hey强调了其“间谍跟踪器”的阻止功能。 从技术上讲，此行为意味着他们具有最大的公司消息传递提供者(如Mailchimp)的预定义列表，并且可以主动防止加载其跟踪像素。

In theory, this prevents any information from being sent back to the companies when you open a message — such as location, device type, IP address, or the date and time you opened the email.

从理论上讲，这可以防止您在打开消息时将任何信息发送回公司，例如位置，设备类型，IP地址或打开电子邮件的日期和时间。

In practice, it’s not stopping tracking links in email to function similarly. When you open a link from these emails, all the above information might still be recorded and sent to a company.

实际上，它不会停止跟踪电子邮件中的链接以发挥类似的作用。 当您打开这些电子邮件中的链接时，以上所有信息可能仍会被记录并发送给公司。

for通知和隐私的最佳方法：嘿。 (🎉 The best approach for notifications and privacy: Hey.)

Hey is having an advantage in reducing the number of email notifications. They’re not only making you to turn on notifications proactively for senders and threads, but they also filter out non-verified first time senders from buzzing your phone.

嘿在减少电子邮件通知数量方面具有优势。 它们不仅使您主动为发件人和线程打开通知，而且还过滤掉未经验证的初次发件人，避免他们嗡嗡电话。

🔸额外功能 (🔸 Extra features)

Beyond the standard email features, each provider is adding something extra to the core experience.

除了标准的电子邮件功能，每个提供商都在核心体验中添加了一些额外的东西。

邮箱 (Gmail)

Gmail was known about experimenting with new features. In the past, there was a dedicated section called Gmail Labs to test out various experiments. While the option is not there anymore, some functionalities graduated to the final product from this initiative.

Gmail因尝试新功能而闻名。 过去，有专门的部分称为Gmail实验室，以测试各种实验。 尽管选项不再存在，但某些功能已从该计划逐步升级为最终产品。

One of the features Gmail recently introduced is a confidential mode. This setting lets you set an expiry date for messages and encrypts both the message itself and any attachments up to 5 years. If you want to revoke the message earlier after the email is already sent, you can do that anytime.

Gmail最近推出的功能之一是机密模式。 通过此设置，您可以设置邮件的有效期，并加密邮件本身和最长5年的附件。 如果您想在发送电子邮件后更早撤消该消息，则可以随时执行此操作。

Another feature that is unique to Gmail is response suggestions. Google offers both smart reply and smart compose functionalities. While smart reply automatically generates quick responses based on the email content like “You’re welcome!”, smart compose is trying to predict the next words you would write in an email response.

Gmail独有的另一个功能是响应建议。 Google提供智能回复和智能撰写功能。 虽然智能回复会根据电子邮件内容(例如“不客气！”)自动生成快速响应，但智能撰写正在尝试预测您将在电子邮件响应中写的下一个单词。

The last extra feature Gmail has is scheduled send. With this, Google provides the ability to set a time when a specific message should leave your email outbox and delivered to the addressee. While other email startups popularized the idea, it’s slowly becoming a core functionality.

Gmail的最后一项附加功能是预定发送。 借助此功能，Google可以设置特定邮件应何时离开您的电子邮件发件箱并传递给收件人的时间。 当其他电子邮件初创公司普及该想法时，它正逐渐成为一项核心功能。

外表 (Outlook)

Outlook is closer to regular email clients in terms of features, that doesn’t stop Microsoft from bringing a few extra capabilities to their users.

在功能方面，Outlook更接近常规电子邮件客户端，这并不妨碍Microsoft向其用户提供一些额外功能。

One of Outlook’s specialties are called search folders. With this functionality, users can create a folder out of their search queries, so they appear one click away in the main menu. This feature is similar to saving queries or filters in other project management tools.

Outlook的特色之一是搜索文件夹 。 使用此功能，用户可以从搜索查询中创建一个文件夹，因此一键式出现在主菜单中。 此功能类似于将查询或过滤器保存在其他项目管理工具中。

The other extra feature Outlook offers is scheduled send, comparable to Gmail’s approach. The functionality appears as “Send later” when drafting an email, available next to the send button. From there, users can pick the date and time when the message should be sent out.

Outlook提供的其他额外功能是预定发送功能，与Gmail的方法相当。 草拟电子邮件时，该功能显示为“稍后发送”，位于发送按钮旁边。 从那里，用户可以选择发送消息的日期和时间。

嘿 (Hey)

Hey, being a newcomer in the inbox management field, is already starting with a few unique takes.

嗨，作为收件箱管理领域的新手，已经开始尝试一些独特的方法。

The first thing people can notice on the default screen is something called Read together. It appears next to the unread emails and does nothing else than to display all the unopened emails below each other. From this view, it’s not possible to respond to emails directly, but there is a button on the bottom of the page to “Mark all as seen”.

人们在默认屏幕上注意到的第一件事是称为“ 一起阅读” 。 它显示在未读电子邮件的旁边，除了将所有未打开的电子邮件显示在彼此下方之外，没有任何其他作用。 从这种观点来看，不可能直接回复电子邮件，但是页面底部有一个按钮“将所有内容标记为可见”。

Hey also tries to bring a solution for the scenario when email threads are getting out of hand, but there is no option to unsubscribe from messages.

Hey also tries to bring a solution for the scenario when email threads are getting out of hand, but there is no option to unsubscribe from messages.

They introduce an Ignore this thread button, which stops future responses from appearing in the inbox. If this is active, replies will still be available, but you won’t see them unless you go to the specific thread.

They introduce an Ignore this thread button, which stops future responses from appearing in the inbox. If this is active, replies will still be available, but you won't see them unless you go to the specific thread.

You can turn “ignoring thread” off anytime, if you would choose to receive new messages from the thread.

You can turn “ignoring thread” off anytime, if you would choose to receive new messages from the thread.

On one hand, it’s a handy feature for irrelevant exchanges. On the other hand, it can get you into trouble if you’re not responding to an email, even if you’re called by name there.

On one hand, it's a handy feature for irrelevant exchanges. On the other hand, it can get you into trouble if you're not responding to an email, even if you're called by name there.

🎉 The best collection of extra features: Gmail. (🎉 The best collection of extra features: Gmail.)

With the scheduled sending, smart response suggestions, and the confidential messages, Gmail offers the most distinctive and unique features out of the three providers. These extras are not just making it easier to draft emails but they do add further functionalities on top of the core experience.

With the scheduled sending, smart response suggestions, and the confidential messages, Gmail offers the most distinctive and unique features out of the three providers. These extras are not just making it easier to draft emails but they do add further functionalities on top of the core experience.

🔸 Conclusion (🔸 Conclusion)

In this lengthy article, you got more information about how Gmail, Outlook, and Hey deal with multiple aspects of email management.

In this lengthy article, you got more information about how Gmail, Outlook, and Hey deal with multiple aspects of email management.

Gmail is good at automatically taking care of your emails based on an educated algorithmic guess. It can deal with email sorting, filtering out spam, or predicting your next words in a sentence. It works without a lot of manual setup. If you’re okay with that, that means that you don’t get to see what happens behind the hood, why individual emails are landing in Promotions or the Updates folder.

Gmail is good at automatically taking care of your emails based on an educated algorithmic guess. It can deal with email sorting, filtering out spam, or predicting your next words in a sentence. It works without a lot of manual setup. If you're okay with that, that means that you don't get to see what happens behind the hood, why individual emails are landing in Promotions or the Updates folder.

Outlook was clearly built for enterprise clients and still the best solution for heavy project management needs. It offers all the standard functionalities most email clients have and provides several extras on top of that — like focused inbox, or connecting emails to to-dos and calendar events. In contrast to Gmail, Outlook does not try to sort out everything itself, but instead, gives powerful tools to the hand of its users. Then, it will be their choice if they choose to use them.

Outlook was clearly built for enterprise clients and still the best solution for heavy project management needs. It offers all the standard functionalities most email clients have and provides several extras on top of that — like focused inbox, or connecting emails to to-dos and calendar events. In contrast to Gmail, Outlook does not try to sort out everything itself, but instead, gives powerful tools to the hand of its users. Then, it will be their choice if they choose to use them.

Hey is a fresh take on an email service with a lot of different approaches than standard providers. Their attitude on reviewing first-time senders, creating internal notes, and voluntarily enabling notifications feels new and unique. Beyond that, they deliver on most of the basic features as well. While they’re still around their first version, their service creates plenty of room for competitors to catch up.

Hey is a fresh take on an email service with a lot of different approaches than standard providers. Their attitude on reviewing first-time senders, creating internal notes, and voluntarily enabling notifications feels new and unique. Beyond that, they deliver on most of the basic features as well. While they're still around their first version, their service creates plenty of room for competitors to catch up.

Below, you can see which provider won in each category:

Below, you can see which provider won in each category:

But to be honest, this is somewhat an unfair comparison. While you can start using Gmail and Outlook for free with their ad-supported tiers, Hey only offers paid services with a 14-day trial.

But to be honest, this is somewhat an unfair comparison. While you can start using Gmail and Outlook for free with their ad-supported tiers, Hey only offers paid services with a 14-day trial.

What's the best email service today? (What’s the best email service today?)

Quoting a familiar economist response: it depends.

Quoting a familiar economist response: it depends.

If you don’t look at the price tag of $99 per year, it’s Hey.

If you don't look at the price tag of $99 per year, it's Hey .

They provide the best overall email service today, and some refreshing takes to make email fun again (if it’s not an oxymoron). Hey admits that the product is still version one, thus lacking some more advanced features from other providers. Also, they still need to mature their own functionalities too.

They provide the best overall email service today, and some refreshing takes to make email fun again (if it's not an oxymoron). Hey admits that the product is still version one, thus lacking some more advanced features from other providers. Also, they still need to mature their own functionalities too.

If you look at the price tag, the winner is Gmail.

If you look at the price tag, the winner is Gmail .

Google offers its email service for free, a proven product used by 1.5 billion accounts. Gmail is flexible and supports different workflows with their inbox types. If you want to get rid of the ads and subscribe to G Suite (which offers more than just the business Gmail), that would cost $72 in a year, even with your custom domain configured.

Google offers its email service for free, a proven product used by 1.5 billion accounts. Gmail is flexible and supports different workflows with their inbox types. If you want to get rid of the ads and subscribe to G Suite (which offers more than just the business Gmail), that would cost $72 in a year, even with your custom domain configured.

If you’re already using Microsoft services, Outlook is your best option.

If you're already using Microsoft services, Outlook is your best option.

Microsoft also offers its email service for free, with a starting storage of 15 GB. A subscription to Microsoft 365 includes the professional version of Outlook (among other Office products) for $70 per year. If you already have Office at work, it’s tough to justify the cost for any additional email service, as Outlook still has a solid offering.

Microsoft also offers its email service for free, with a starting storage of 15 GB. A subscription to Microsoft 365 includes the professional version of Outlook (among other Office products) for $70 per year. If you already have Office at work, it's tough to justify the cost for any additional email service, as Outlook still has a solid offering.

Choosing the best solution (Choosing the best solution)

Should you stick with your current provider? Is it worth to pay the difference? It’s not an easy choice. If you’re thinking of changing your provider, it’s worth to consider the following:

Should you stick with your current provider? Is it worth to pay the difference? It's not an easy choice. If you're thinking of changing your provider, it's worth to consider the following:

• Are you part of an IT-managed organization with a single choice?
  Are you part of an IT-managed organization with a single choice?
• Are you using email for personal matters, for school, or work?
  Are you using email for personal matters, for school, or work?
• How much time do you spend a day managing your inbox?
  How much time do you spend a day managing your inbox?
• How many messages are you getting a week?
  How many messages are you getting a week?
• Are those emails from people you know or from mostly strangers?
  Are those emails from people you know or from mostly strangers?
• Are you using email as a project management tool?
  Are you using email as a project management tool?
• And last… are you dissatisfied with your current email choice?
  And last… are you dissatisfied with your current email choice?

Disclaimer: The author is not affiliated with any of the companies mentioned here. The article aimed to be a weighted comparison of three popular email providers, with the admission that the author is an “inbox zero” person.

Disclaimer: The author is not affiliated with any of the companies mentioned here. The article aimed to be a weighted comparison of three popular email providers, with the admission that the author is an “inbox zero” person.