Gmail for Mac by Zive seeks to make the perfect desktop Gmail client
Gmail users have long desired something better than Apple Mail and more user-friendly than the Gmail web client to send, receive and organize Google Mail messages on their Macs. That goal is closer than ever to fruition now that Zive has kicked off its Kickstarter campaign to put the finishing touches on its Gmail for Mac app.
The campaign has a modest funding goal of US$20,000 and has been under development for 18 months. With the help of the Mac community, Zive hopes to take its "polished alpha" app through beta testing and into the Mac App Store.
The app's main features include one-click access from the Mac menubar, support for multiple Gmail accounts without the random drop issue that's common with the web client, and a service similar to Apple's Mail Drop that utilizes Google Drive to allow attachments that are gigabytes in size.
There are also useful features like being able to turn off all notifications with a single click (AKA "The Zen Switch") or filtering notifications for only those very important emails that come in from certain people or with specific keywords. You can compose new emails without going to the Inbox and see how many unread messages are in each of your Gmail accounts with a click on the menubar. Of course, the app also shows up in the Dock just like any other OS X app.
The team definitely wants to have the app available by the end of the year, although they're aiming to have it done by the end of autumn 2014. If you're looking for a much better way to wrangle your Gmail accounts, be sure to take a look at Gmail for Mac and consider giving the Zive team your support.
