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[Q] Google Mail isn't that good - any way to improve it?

While I think the Google Mail app is ALRIGHT I think it needs quite some improvement so I am wondering if there is either a good alternative to it or if someone added features to it / modded it.
1) problem:
i can't select any text from any emails (written by others or myself) which isn't too great when writing emails.
is there any app for selecting text maybe? it's something i miss a lot on android. if i want to select text on a website I need to switch to Skyfire.
I just can't believe coding a text selection is really hard so I don't understand why google didn't add it themselves yet.
2) problem:
when I'm on the go and sending an email and the CONNECTION dies for a moment the Google Mail app will be stuck at "Sending..."
I guess it is stuck in a loop then and it won't send out my email but I also can't go back so I can only close Google Mail with a taskmanager.
Can't this be fixed, too?
I just want a GO BACK feature so that it won't get stuck in a loop. Maybe just an automatic Save Draft just when someone clicks Send and then goes to the Send process and then you get the option to force close that and just go back- I dont know.

not sure what phone you have or what apps come standard so.....
i dont use the gmail app period. turned off notifications and disabled gmail sync in the sync menu. I use the regular Mail app that came standard (HTC Hero) for all 3 of my email accounts, yahoo, gmail, and hotmail. never have any problems out of it.
EDIT: Mail app will select text and if connection dies when sending mail, it will pick up where it left off when the next scheduled sync takes place.

studdyhalllooser said:
not sure what phone you have or what apps come standard so.....
i dont use the gmail app period. turned off notifications and disabled gmail sync in the sync menu. I use the regular Mail app that came standard (HTC Hero) for all 3 of my email accounts, yahoo, gmail, and hotmail. never have any problems out of it.
EDIT: Mail app will select text and if connection dies when sending mail, it will pick up where it left off when the next scheduled sync takes place.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I too use the default mail app (this time CM6 on a nexus1), but if you don't like that one you might want to check out K9 Mail. I think its free from the market (or various places online if you don't have access/market enabler).

mik101 said:
I too use the default mail app (this time CM6 on a nexus1), but if you don't like that one you might want to check out K9 Mail. I think its free from the market (or various places online if you don't have access/market enabler).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
oh nice. k9 lets me select and copy text. im convinced. installed it and got rid of gmail.

facebook photos not showing up in contacts

is anyone else having this issue? My FB photos show up just fine under the persons name in the people app, but dont show up in the standard messaging app. stock rom

make sure you sync the facebook that's integrated into the rom and not the one from the app. then you should see the pics in the messaging apps.

tq745 said:
make sure you sync the facebook that's integrated into the rom and not the one from the app. then you should see the pics in the messaging apps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you mean the one that comes with touchwiz

Open Contacts, go to Menu > More > Accounts
If facebook isn't listed, then click Add Account and add your facebook. Then make sure it's set up to sync.

Yeah I’ve been working on since I purchased the phone last week and I’ve been having the same issues. I did the contacts > more > account deal to no avail (syncing phone contacts only). The really frustrating part about that is when you open up the facebook contacts group, you see all of your facebook friends with their pictures…so I don’t understand why it won’t sync.

When you are in your contact list pick menu and check display options.
If you have contacts with numbers picked, take check mark off and see if you see them in your contact list now. If you see them now long press on the facebook contact and pick merge, look for the matching contact.
You con only merge from a maximum of 5 sources.
Hope this helps.
Sent from my SGH-T959V using XDA Premium App

ntxchick said:
Open Contacts, go to Menu > More > Accounts
If facebook isn't listed, then click Add Account and add your facebook. Then make sure it's set up to sync.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
facebook is listed twice, one from touchwiz, and one from the actual facebook app
drumice said:
Yeah I’ve been working on since I purchased the phone last week and I’ve been having the same issues. I did the contacts > more > account deal to no avail (syncing phone contacts only). The really frustrating part about that is when you open up the facebook contacts group, you see all of your facebook friends with their pictures…so I don’t understand why it won’t sync.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
exactly, when people call me, there facebook photo shows up. it also shows their info if I actually go into the contacts app. But text messaging? yeah right, the only photos that show up are the contacts where I have manually picked a photo from the album. None from facebook.
cmhjr said:
When you are in your contact list pick menu and check display options.
If you have contacts with numbers picked, take check mark off and see if you see them in your contact list now. If you see them now long press on the facebook contact and pick merge, look for the matching contact.
You con only merge from a maximum of 5 sources.
Hope this helps.
Sent from my SGH-T959V using XDA Premium App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks, but ive done all these things already. I really dont wanna wipe my handset if its not going to fix it. I would like some feedback from others to see if theres is working correctly or not. I never had this isse with any other android handset. its bugging the **** out of me.

going to bump this thread. i can't seem to sync my facebook contacts from the integrated accounts after flashing my new rom. not sure why, but i get the red error sync circle for it every time i try to sync. tried syncmypix, but the app only fc's...

I've never gotten that to work for my default SMS either. I don't really care for that anymore though, since I use handcent for SMS now anyways.
I had a problem with syncing my actual contact pictures once, but that was fixed by clearing my facebook data and relogging in.

yea, its definitely hit or miss.

so heres what happens for me...twitter contacts photos show up fine in the messaging app. Facebook still only shows from WITHIN contacts. But not in the messaging app.
I took someones recommendation and tried an app called syncmypic thats free from the market. It actually worked pretty good. Heres where it sucks though. I try to keep all of my contacts by first and last name to make it easier for apps to sync with fb and twitter. Well syncmypic syncs alot of data correctly. But some of them, it just cant get right. So it will tag the pictures to the wrong name. So i thought, "okay, no big deal, ill just manually fix em".
After I made all the corrections, the next time it went to sync, it changed everything i did back to what it wanted it to be. So in the interim, I have SOME FB photos for contacts in the messaging app, but they are a few weeks old, because Im scared to let syncmypix sync again and overwrite all the corrections ive made AGAIN. I dont know why I cant get the native messaging app to show FB photos. Ive tried countless roms, Ive tried every way recommended to fix it. Twitter works fine. FB just doesnt show in the messaging app for some reason.
Sucks because I feel like Samsung makes better phones, but HTC Sense phones have the contact sync feature down packed

The only pictures that show up for me with messages is people in my Google Talk list.

I tried something that worked, but its not 100%. First remove your facebook accounts in accounts and sync from both the program and the integrated accounts. Sign into the facebook app, but make sure not to sync contacts. Then go back to integrated accounts and login to facebook and when it asks to sync contacts, deselect "SYNC ALL CONTACTS". This will allow you to manually choose who to sync. When the new screen shows up that lists all of your friends, choose select all and sync. Do the same for twitter. Does this work?
Sent from my SGH-T959V using XDA Premium App

There is an app called syncmypix. It will download your friends' pictures and set them to the appropriate contacts in your phone. All of my contacts have pictures in stock sms and their picture shows on an incoming call too.
EDIT: Didn't see there was a second page with this info. My bad

yea, syncmypix fc's a lot on my rom no matter what i do. it does a good job when it works though.

Gmail Query

I hope this isn't a really silly question.. does anyone know how to empty the recycle bin in the GMail app on the transformer?? I have the dustbin icon available on other folders but can't find one here (or an empty option).
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using XDA Premium App

Galoot said:
I hope this isn't a really silly question.. does anyone know how to empty the recycle bin in the GMail app on the transformer?? I have the dustbin icon available on other folders but can't find one here (or an empty option).
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using XDA Premium App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I dont have a recycle bin on mine (that I see) so I'm not sure I can help.

Galoot said:
I hope this isn't a really silly question.. does anyone know how to empty the recycle bin in the GMail app on the transformer?? I have the dustbin icon available on other folders but can't find one here (or an empty option).
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using XDA Premium App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Because when you "Delete" emails from the Gmail app they aren't deleted, they are archived. At least that's my guess.

If you mean the 'trash' label, it does not appear there is a function to delete all. Across the board in the app, there's no 'check all' option to delete multiple messages under a label.
I would guess if you want to empty it, you'd have to do it from a PC, or at least in the desktop version of the website.

Thanks all.. yeah looks like it's not an option on the Gmail App then.
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using XDA Premium App

Rushed job
I dont know. I find the gmail for tablet a little disturbing. There certainly stuff lacking. The amount of emails downloade is only few. And when you scroll down, there's a "download more" button. That's pretty damn annoying. When you're offline you can't go back very far.
On my EVO4G, there's a setting to download weeks worth, months worth, whatever you specify. There's none of that settings on the asus mail or the gmail for tablet. But at least you can set exchange limits.
Also you can't select a range of emails. But you can select multiple and move it to another folder by putting check marks by the ones you select then hold down a couple of seconds...then drag it to trash can...the trash can will empty itself when you exit the email.

I use the stock email app for my gmail instead of the actual gmail app. Seems to work better and have more options.

nxp3 said:
I dont know. I find the gmail for tablet a little disturbing. There certainly stuff lacking. The amount of emails downloade is only few. And when you scroll down, there's a "download more" button. That's pretty damn annoying. When you're offline you can't go back very far.
On my EVO4G, there's a setting to download weeks worth, months worth, whatever you specify. There's none of that settings on the asus mail or the gmail for tablet. But at least you can set exchange limits.
Also you can't select a range of emails. But you can select multiple and move it to another folder by putting check marks by the ones you select then hold down a couple of seconds...then drag it to trash can...the trash can will empty itself when you exit the email.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The setting is under Settings > Your Gmail Account > Labels to Sync.
Lets you set the number of days, and then you can either set each label to 'Sync all' or the amount of days you set in the top setting option.
Works fine for me. I don't have but maybe 10 emails in my inbox, and they stay synced just fine.
If you've already set the above to 'Sync all', then likely it's the data-phobic behavior built into the app. Notice there's no setting to automatically display images? Likely because they don't want the application to suck down a ton of data while you're on 3G or 4G (which costs you money).
IIRC, I think Honeycomb 3.1 has some advanced settings to differentiate between being on WiFi (where you probably don't care about data limits) and 3G/4G.

FrayAdjacent said:
The setting is under Settings > Your Gmail Account > Labels to Sync.
Lets you set the number of days, and then you can either set each label to 'Sync all' or the amount of days you set in the top setting option.
Works fine for me. I don't have but maybe 10 emails in my inbox, and they stay synced just fine.
If you've already set the above to 'Sync all', then likely it's the data-phobic behavior built into the app. Notice there's no setting to automatically display images? Likely because they don't want the application to suck down a ton of data while you're on 3G or 4G (which costs you money).
IIRC, I think Honeycomb 3.1 has some advanced settings to differentiate between being on WiFi (where you probably don't care about data limits) and 3G/4G.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not getting that setting for gmail. My exchange account has amount of days to sync, but the gmail does not. How are you setting up the gmail with number of days to sync? I don't have "labels to sync" nor do I have "sync all" in my settings. Are we talking about the transformer here?
EDIT: OK nevermind...you are talking about the GMAIL app, not the email app set up with gmail account. Yeah, I guess there's more options in the original gmail app than the one from asus.

Facebook for sense contact problem

Even though i quickly unselect facebook for HTC to sync contacts, it does it anyway.
Am i the only one with this problem ?
I know i can unselect facebook contacts under the people tap, but i want them gone from the dialer.

Yeah it happens to me also. Even when i uncheck it the contacts sync anyways and when i go back to the htc facebook Sync options sometimes it shows its still checked.
Sent from my HTC ⓢⓔⓝⓢⓐⓣⓘⓞⓝツ using XDA Premium App

There's two ways for the contacts to get there: the integrated facebook for sense & the app in the market. if you want to get rid of the contacts make sure to uncheck the sync & then go to Settings>Applications>Manage & delete the data for Contacts Storage. This will delete all of your contacts on the phone. Then just resync with what you want.

Tried that.. same problem.. still showing in the dialer..

There's no way to get rid of them. I tried everything. The dialer will show all of your facebook contacts that have phone numbers regardless of whether you uncheck the option to display them.
Unchecking that option removes them from showing in your Contacts app, but they will still show in the Dialer app.

Aspeds2989 said:
There's no way to get rid of them. I tried everything. The dialer will show all of your facebook contacts that have phone numbers regardless of whether you uncheck the option to display them.
Unchecking that option removes them from showing in your Contacts app, but they will still show in the Dialer app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had that same problem but I solved it. I don't remember exactly what I did but try running set-up again and don't sync Facebook for sense or something like that. Don't be such in hurry to finish set-up. Read it carefully before you press anything

I've unsynced them in "accts and sync" as well as in the contacts app I've changed the "view" to only display gmail contacts. but after a reboot they always come back as synced....I HATE HTC SENSE and it's annoying when I am using gmail to send and email, I start typing the email address of a contact and it displays contacts from facebook that I have never emailed in my life also the dialer app shows pics from facebook rather than the default pic that I have for my contacts

guess I'm not the only one with this problem after all

Bendo84 said:
Even though i quickly unselect facebook for HTC to sync contacts, it does it anyway.
Am i the only one with this problem ?
I know i can unselect facebook contacts under the people tap, but i want them gone from the dialer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Where did you put your Facebook credentials? The HTC Facebook app or the official Android Market Facebook app?

Tried Both....

nccu_eagles said:
I've unsynced them in "accts and sync" as well as in the contacts app I've changed the "view" to only display gmail contacts. but after a reboot they always come back as synced....I HATE HTC SENSE and it's annoying when I am using gmail to send and email, I start typing the email address of a contact and it displays contacts from facebook that I have never emailed in my life also the dialer app shows pics from facebook rather than the default pic that I have for my contacts
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Go into those contacts and unlink them. You just tap the little chain link in the upper right. That will get your default pictures back. Also sense keeps all of your most frequently used contacts at the top in the dialer.
I love sense because its way more intuitive than stock gingerbread in regards to your dialer and contacts. For instance in the dialer you type the letters for a contact name and it pulls them up. No scrolling through to find contacts.
Sent from my Xoom using XDA Premium App

This is simple
Click on Contact
Click on View
Scroll to the bottom Uncheck Facebook and any other account you dont want to see in your dialer. Bam all gone

tn6478 said:
This is simple
Click on Contact
Click on View
Scroll to the bottom Uncheck Facebook and any other account you dont want to see in your dialer. Bam all gone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Still in the dialer...

Lollipop email app really this bad?

Hey all!
Just got my Galaxy S6 yesterday and not sure if I am not just used to the changes in lollipop or if the changes are really that bad!
What happened to the organization of the old email app?
This may be the wrong thread and if so, please point me in the right direction.
I get a lot of spam at work, and sometimes it is easier to click on the date ticker, which selects all of the emails for that day and I can mark them as read or delete them.
Now it is just one huge stream of emails with no way to pick multiple emails at once to delete or mark as read.
Am I just missing something?
Is there anyway to select multiple emails or do I really have to go through each email individually?
And , if this functionality is not available, can anyone recommend a good email app where I can select multiple emails at once, particularly by date? Otherwise the app is pretty much useless to me.
I have an out of the box Sprint Samsung Galaxy s6 that is unrooted.
Thanks all
Mikeinstlouis

Been using the Gmail app for my Google and external accounts. No issues whatsoever. Stopped using the Galaxy email app built in since the S5 version started acting funky with read mails randomly becoming unread.
Sent from my SM-G920I using XDA Free mobile app

Gmail app looks too clunky and doesn't allow me to pick multiple emails with one click..

I use Kaiten.
I tried gmail briefly after I got my S6 but it's awful by comparison. I don't know how people use such a limited app for email.

mikeinstlouis said:
Gmail app looks too clunky and doesn't allow me to pick multiple emails with one click..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It definitely does. You press and hold one mail and the colours kind of go grayish. Then go tapping on multiple mails to select them. From here you can perform various actions like mark as read, delete etc.
Sent from my SM-G920I using XDA Free mobile app

twisted_mind said:
It definitely does. You press and hold one mail and the colours kind of go grayish. Then go tapping on multiple mails to select them. From here you can perform various actions like mark as read, delete etc.
Sent from my SM-G920I using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is not the what I am looking for. With the KitKat stock email, you can pick the date...say Weds April 22. You click the box next to that date and every email on that date is selected. You are suggesting that I click each indvidual email which is exaclty what I don't want to do.
Any other suggestions?

Kaiten does not have that either.
That's an interesting filter/option. Not something I've needed before.
Have you tried some of the top rated email apps in play store?

meboy said:
Kaiten does not have that either.
That's an interesting filter/option. Not something I've needed before.
Have you tried some of the top rated email apps in play store?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes...they all are the pretty much the same and don't do the things that the email app did before.

email
Mike, I use the email exactly as you do. I'd click on a day and the app would check all of the emails . I'd then uncheck the ones I wanted to keep our read and then hit delete. This was magic. I'm lookin at all email apps. Have you found anything yet?

adwilson said:
Mike, I use the email exactly as you do. I'd click on a day and the app would check all of the emails . I'd then uncheck the ones I wanted to keep our read and then hit delete. This was magic. I'm lookin at all email apps. Have you found anything yet?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can activate the select/multi-select option by holding your fingertip on the date bar. The selection boxes will slide in on the left side of the screen.

What?
attila_roman said:
You can activate the select/multi-select option by holding your fingertip on the date bar. The selection boxes will slide in on the left side of the screen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What date bar? I've held my fingertip all over the screen. Nothing slides in from anywhere.

Hi. All. I need also for the stock Samsung Galaxy S6 the button to select/mark All mail at one time.
In HTC Sense i didn't get this problem.

I was wondering if anyone found a solution yet. I am in same situation...nice new phone but painful to go through emails. I used to select all from he date...same as OP ..then just uncheck the five or so I wanted to keep. Now I have to check 80 boxes. Any new info would be appreciated.

Use the official outlook app or cloudmagic. Problems solved.

SilkyJohnson said:
Use the official outlook app or cloudmagic. Problems solved.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Neither outlook nor CloudMagic solves the stated problem. Looking for a way to force the reinstall of the email version i had on my S4--any ideas?

myMail
Please try myMail its best and have all the missing option..
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.my.mail&hl=en

Been using K9 email for a long time...never have a problem

might help
I know this is not what you were looking for but it might help someone looking for this...
to delete all emails you can long press on one email, until it is highlighted grey (or tick the box (to enable this box you can press the 3 dots and go to settings of that email and it is in there to enable tick box))
once you have one email highlighted, the top bar will turn orange and show the number of emails selected and the trash can etc...
if you tap on the number of emails selected (one at this point) there will be a drop down to say 'select all'...
I know it is not what OP wanted but I ended up here looking for this info so maybe someone else will too...

Bobro said:
I know this is not what you were looking for but it might help someone looking for this...
to delete all emails you can long press on one email, until it is highlighted grey (or tick the box (to enable this box you can press the 3 dots and go to settings of that email and it is in there to enable tick box))
once you have one email highlighted, the top bar will turn orange and show the number of emails selected and the trash can etc...
if you tap on the number of emails selected (one at this point) there will be a drop down to say 'select all'...
I know it is not what OP wanted but I ended up here looking for this info so maybe someone else will too...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't have this option! Wish I did...

Cyrene said:
I don't have this option! Wish I did...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
strange... I am using the default Android Lollipop Email app... just tested on another phone too...