Get even more out of your email experience on BlackBerry 10 with Email++

One of my favourite apps on BlackBerry OS, which seems so very long ago now, was Email++, which was created by the developer of HUB++ - Devcellent Solutions. When you received an email, Email++ would kick into action and a pop-up appears with details of the message including the first sentence, so you can see what it's about. From there you have several actions available to do with that email. The BlackBerry 10 version brings a bunch of other features to the mix too.

After downloading the app, by default, you'll start to get pop-ups for all email messages that come through to the Hub. If you don't want this, you can turn it pop-ups off globally, then create filters for the emails you do want to get the pop-ups for. As I briefly mentioned earlier, you'll see a bit of the content of the message so you'll get a gist of what it entails, you can adjust how much you see in the Settings. By default, you'll see 200 characters, you can then show less, a minimum of 50 characters and go all the way up to show the whole message. As for the actions in the pop-up, there are several options for you that include Mark as Read, Open, Forward, Dismiss. Again, you can customise those options via the app Settings. You then set up the Criteria for the filter by things like To, From, Subject and then set the action, like show the pop-up, mark it as read or even flag it for follow up. Once down just save it and it shows up in your Filters list. You can also set how long the pop-up stays for, e.g. the pop-up disappears after a certain duration or stays there until you dismiss it. I recommend creating filters, if you receive lots of emails like me, you don't want to be inundated with pop-ups. You might say that BlackBerry 10's Instant Preview feature is enough for you and it will do for most but the difference here is that you can see the content of the message and not just who it's from and the subject.

  

Email++ doesn't stop there though. It adds the feature of being able to 'unsend' an accidentally sent email. We did look at a stand along app that did just that from the same developer but it seems the feature has been incorporated here to make it an app that does many things in one. By default, there is a 10 second delay before sending your email, in this time you can 'unsend' the email. You can have the app vibrate your device to confirm that the email has been sent. I find this feature handy for the times I forget to add an attachment to an email. To unsend an email, just tap and hold the message, hit Share then select Email++ from the list, this brings you to the Email++ Send Queue tab where you can then unsend your message. Tap and hold the message then hit Unsend. It then appears as a draft in the Hub. During the delay, the message does not go anywhere, it just sits in the Hub as a draft until the delay time has been reached. With this delay you can also schedule the sending of an email. I think this is something that may come in handy when you need to send out an email to a group of people and it needs to be sent at a certain time. You can type out the email the night before, then schedule it to send at a certain time. Handy! To set a schedule, tap and hold the message from within the Send Queue tab, then tap Schedule, just pick the time and date from the drop down menu then tap the tick icon to save it.

  

Features do not stop there either. Email++ has a Templates feature that, as the name suggests, allows you to create email templates for use later. So, if there is any kind of message you send frequently, you can set up a template for that. Just hit the Templates tab within Email++ and create the template. Templates can only be used to reply to a message or when you forward a message from within the Hub. From the Hub tap and hold on the message you want to reply to or forward and then select Share->Email++. A pop-up appears asking you if you want to reply to or forward that message, choose whichever action you want to perform and then you'll be presented with your list of templates. Select the template you want to use and then OK. Finish off you email from there and send it on its way. If you want to compose a new message from a template, you have to do that from the app. Just go to the Templates tab and then tap the template you want to use. You then have an option to it as an Email, SMS/MMS or a PIN message.

  

Email++ does have a few other options which you can toggle on and off within the app Settings. One of those features is that you can toggle the option to Auto Download email attachments. Of course, if you don't have unlimited data, it is probably not recommended. It would be nice if you could condition this to only download when using Wi-Fi. However, you can limit the size of the download, so there is some control there. I highly recommend checking out the Settings and customize everything to get the most out of the app.

  

Email++ is headless, so you don't have to have it open in an Active Frame to function. There is also the option to backup and restore your filters and templates. Always a useful feature. Email++ is another great addition to Devcellent Solutions' list of apps. This one is definitely one I use everyday. It is available for all BlackBerry 10 smartphones and costs $3.99. It may be a bit much for some but don't forget it is packed with a bundle of features. It does more than one thing.

Learn more / Download Email++ for BlackBerry 10