Google unveils new app to combat email overload

Google

has unveiled a new email app that will allow users to cut through the pain of managing their inbox, by highlighting key information from important messages.

The email service called Inbox promises to better organise emails and flag things such as flight bookings, event information and package deliveries, as well as documents and photos from family and friends.

Users will be able to bundle items like purchase receipts and bank statements together so they can be quickly and easily reviewed. Inbox can also display useful information from the web that wasn’t in the original email, such as the real-time status of flights.

"Email started simply as a way to send digital notes around the office. But fast-forward 30 years and with just the phone in your pocket, you can use email to contact virtually anyone in the world . . . from your best friend to the owner of that bagel shop you discovered last week," Google senior vice-president Sundar Pichai said.

So dealing with email has become a daily chore for many. “We get more email now than ever, important information is buried inside messages, and our most important tasks can slip through the cracks – especially when we’re working on our phones,” Mr Pichai added.

Users can add reminders to emails such as picking up the dry cleaning. Inbox provides “assists” for these reminders. For example, if you write a reminder to phone a restaurant to make a booking, Inbox will supply the restaurant’s phone number and tell you if it’s open.

Inbox, which works only with Gmail accounts, is being tested by a limited number of customers at the moment.