Android Mail Widget (again)

[Jeff Gaines]

I asked a few days ago:

"I have just taken delivery of an Asus TF103CE running Android 5.0. The
Gmail widget only shows mail from one account at a time whereas in earlier
versions you could show a combined view of all inboxes."

I have just set up another device which has Android 5.1 and the mail
widget behaves as it always did, i.e. it shows ALL accounts.

I'm getting a bit confused, does this depend on the version of Android or
on what the supplier puts on the device? It would be useful if the widget
would behave the same way on the Android 5.0 device. Any way to put the
widget from the 5.1 device on the 5.0 device?

--
Jeff Gaines Wiltshire UK
There is absolutely no substitute for a genuine lack of preparation

[VanguardLH]

Jeff Gaines wrote:

> I asked a few days ago:
>
> "I have just taken delivery of an Asus TF103CE running Android 5.0. The
> Gmail widget only shows mail from one account at a time whereas in earlier
> versions you could show a combined view of all inboxes."
>
> I have just set up another device which has Android 5.1 and the mail
> widget behaves as it always did, i.e. it shows ALL accounts.
>
> I'm getting a bit confused, does this depend on the version of Android or
> on what the supplier puts on the device? It would be useful if the widget
> would behave the same way on the Android 5.0 device. Any way to put the
> widget from the 5.1 device on the 5.0 device?

I'm back on Android 4.4.4 Kitkat.

When I open the Gmail app, tap on the menu/hamburger icon, go to
Settings, there is an "Add account" selection. That's missing for you?

Or are you asking only about a combined view for Inbox? I use MS
Outlook app for multiple accounts. There I can pick just one account to
see only its Inbox or I can pick the All Accounts "account" to see a
combined Inbox for all accounts. Maybe Gmail is the same way in that
you see the Inbox for the account currently selected, so you have to
pick the All Accounts "account" to have a combined Inbox.

https://techcrunch.com/2015/03/30/gmail-for-android-gets-a-unified-inbox/

That says to use a unified Inbox requires switching to the "All
Inboxes".

You say "widget" so maybe you are using some [screen] widget (e.g.,
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.katzoft.gmailwidget)
instead of the Gmail app. Or maybe the Gmail app got added a homescreen
widget that's not available in my old Android. Google came out with
their "Inbox for Gmail app" as a replacement app for their Gmail app
(https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.inbox).
I have not used it yet so I don't know if it supports unified views but
then then I don't use Gmail (the account or the app) to poll multiple
accounts. If this new "Inbox by Gmail" only focuses on the Inbox
folder(s) then I wouldn't find it of much use, anyway, since I have
several user-defined folders for managing or archiving old or important
messages.

In fact, since I use the MS Outlook app for multiple account and it does
have a unified view (on several standard folders), I might disable (turn
off) the Gmail app and just go with the MS Outlook app to poll my Gmail
and other accounts.

Another email app with unified views is MailWise. See:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIQ8-p4KngY
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.syntomo.email

[VanguardLH]

VanguardLH wrote:

> Google came out with their "Inbox for Gmail app" as a replacement app
> for their Gmail app (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.inbox).
> I have not used it yet so I don't know if it supports unified views
> but then then I don't use Gmail (the account or the app) to poll
> multiple accounts.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2935949/5-reasons-to-switch-to-inbox-by-gmail-and-4-reasons-not-to.html
Jun 18, 2015 3:30 AM
There's no universal inbox
If you've got multiple Gmail accounts (I have three, for example),
there's no "All inboxes" option as there is for the Gmail mobile app.

So that won't provide the unified view in their replacement that you
want; however, the author implies there is an All Inboxes view in the
Gmail app. I like the unified view in MS Outlook (and on more than just
the Inbox folder) *and* I can poll more than just Microsoft accounts.

[Jeff Gaines]

On 08/08/2016 in message <e0qie6...@mid.individual.net> VanguardLH
wrote:

>So that won't provide the unified view in their replacement that you
>want; however, the author implies there is an All Inboxes view in the
>Gmail app. I like the unified view in MS Outlook (and on more than just

>the Inbox folder) and I can poll more than just Microsoft accounts.

I was puzzled that a device with Android 5.0 only has the GMail app yet a
device with Android 5.1 has gone back to the old email app and GMail,
seems odd.

--
Jeff Gaines Wiltshire UK

By the time you can make ends meet they move the ends

[Nigel Wade]

On 08/08/16 14:54, Jeff Gaines wrote:
> On 08/08/2016 in message <e0qie6...@mid.individual.net> VanguardLH wrote:
>
>> So that won't provide the unified view in their replacement that you
>> want; however, the author implies there is an All Inboxes view in the
>> Gmail app. I like the unified view in MS Outlook (and on more than just
>> the Inbox folder) and I can poll more than just Microsoft accounts.
>
> I was puzzled that a device with Android 5.0 only has the GMail app yet a device with Android 5.1 has gone back to the old email app and GMail, seems odd.
>

Has it gone back, or was a mistake in GMail 5.0 was fixed in 5.1.

What version of GMail does your 5.1 device say it has installed?

Can you install the most recent version of GMail from play.google.com?
If not you could consider installing a different version of GMail from another app store.

[Jeff Gaines]

On 08/08/2016 in message <e0rkl0...@mid.individual.net> Nigel Wade
wrote:

>Has it gone back, or was a mistake in GMail 5.0 was fixed in 5.1.

I found several articles that said Google had dropped email in favour of
GMail and that the widget would no longer be able to show a combined view.

>What version of GMail does your 5.1 device say it has installed?

Email shows as 5.1-vKBOA1J
Gmail shows as 6.6.126913422.release (and looks like it has been updated
since there is an option to remove updates)

>Can you install the most recent version of GMail from play.google.com?
>If not you could consider installing a different version of GMail from
>another app store.

The problem is the widget cannot show a combined inbox from GMail. I found
an APK for email from Android 4.4 and installed it but it's not a happy
bunny.

--
Jeff Gaines Wiltshire UK

Tell me what you need, and I'll tell you how to get along without it.

[Nigel Wade]

On 08/08/16 16:16, Jeff Gaines wrote:

> On 08/08/2016 in message <e0rkl0...@mid.individual.net> Nigel Wade wrote:
>
>> Has it gone back, or was a mistake in GMail 5.0 was fixed in 5.1.
>
> I found several articles that said Google had dropped email in favour of GMail and that the widget would no longer be able to show a combined view.
>
>
>> What version of GMail does your 5.1 device say it has installed?
>
> Email shows as 5.1-vKBOA1J
> Gmail shows as 6.6.126913422.release (and looks like it has been updated since there is an option to remove updates)

That's a very recent version. My phone (Xperia 3) was updated to Anrdoid 6.0.1 about 2 weeks ago, and that only has version 6.4.1207...

>
>> Can you install the most recent version of GMail from play.google.com?
>> If not you could consider installing a different version of GMail from another app store.
>
> The problem is the widget cannot show a combined inbox from GMail. I found an APK for email from Android 4.4 and installed it but it's not a happy bunny.
>

Which "email"? There's a gazillion different generic "email" apps.

Why not try the most recent Gmail app. on the play store and see what happens.
Failing that, try older ones.

Google found this list of Gmail historical versions:
https://www.apk4fun.com/history/901/

I cannot comment on the safety of using apk4fun, other than the general caveat that side-loading is potentially dangerous.
Maybe someone else here has used them and can comment.

[Daniel James]

In article <xn0k9gobn...@news.individual.net>, Jeff Gaines wrote:
> I'm getting a bit confused, does this depend on the version of
> Android or on what the supplier puts on the device?

It depends on all sorts of things.

First, understand that there are two separate apps that are relevant,
here: the "mail" app and the "gmail" app.

The "gmail" app is Google's own EMail app that was designed for their
own Google Mail (aka "gmail") system but which (now, at least) also
works with other EMail systems. This one is provided by Google directly
and is updated via their Play Store. If you update regularly you will
always have the latest version (the latest that works on your version of
Android, anyway) and it should be the same as anyone else's (on that
version of Android).

The "mail" app is a general EMail client that was written by Google but
is part of the Android Open Source Project. It was written for IMAP and
POP3 accounts (including but not limited to accessing gmail using those
protocols). This app may well have been customized by the provider of
your hardware -- I certainly have an Asus-specific version of this app
on my Asus devices. Some vendors have added a lot of functionality to
this app, others ship it more-or-less as stock. The Asus version seems
to be able to connect to an Exchange server, for example (not that I've
tried) while the version on my Sony phone does not.

Different vendors may make different customizations in the "mail" app in
different versions of Android -- it's entirely up to them.

The stock AOSP "mail" program is defective in a number of ways. One of
the most irritating of which (for me) is that it fails to create an
"In-Reply-to" header when composing an EMail reply, so the replies it
sends break threading in clients like Thunderbird. For this reason I
never use it, but install K9 Mail and use that instead (other mail
clients are available -- including the "gmail" app).

> It would be useful if the widget would behave the same way on
> the Android 5.0 device.

Are your Android devices from the same vendor (OEM)? If not their
widgets may not be compatible at all.

I'm not sure whether the various mail widgets I've seen are
vendor-provided or part of the AOSP project. I had a mail widget on an
old HTC phone that displayed the contents of the most recent EMail(s),
and I've seen versions of something similar on different devices. The K9
mail app has a companion widget that just displays a mail icon with an
unread count superimposed which, when tapped, opens K9.

I hope this doesn't just muddy the waters!

--
Cheers,
Daniel.

[Jeff Gaines]

On 09/08/2016 in message <VA.00000bb...@me.invalid> Daniel James
wrote:

>In article <xn0k9gobn...@news.individual.net>, Jeff Gaines wrote:
>>I'm getting a bit confused, does this depend on the version of
>>Android or on what the supplier puts on the device?
>
>It depends on all sorts of things.

It always "depends" when it's a computer :-(

Anyway my new Padgene S9 plus with 6" IPS screen turned up yesterday with
Android 5.1 installed. How on earth you can buy something like this for
£49.99 I really don't know, it's a brilliant bit of kit.

It has email and Gmail and the email widget pick up the combined inbox so
I am happy with that, it suits me fine. It doesn't seem to have any update
facility so I guess it will stay with these versions until it wears out.

Many thanks for all the replies!

--
Jeff Gaines Wiltshire UK

George Washington was a British subject until well after his 40th birthday.
(Margaret Thatcher, speech at the White House 17 December 1979)