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Google refreshes Inbox with new integrations to boost efficiency

Google's Inbox email service now has the ability to attach files stored in Google Drive directly into emails.
Written by Natalie Gagliordi, Contributor
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Google's updated Inbox app.

Google's Inbox email service now has the ability to attach files stored in Google Drive directly into emails. The update is among a bevy of features designed to improve productivity, speed and efficiency of the two-year old Inbox platform.

Inbox users will also find improved functionality with project management app Trello and open software site GitHub. For instance, with Trello, users will be able to get a summarized update of their projects via one single notification. Similarly, GitHub users will find all of their notifications consolidated into a single card view.

Additionally, Google Alerts, which were recently made near real-time, are getting made more newsletter-like with Inbox.

"New alerts are summarized right in the inbox. If one of them catches your eye, you can click to read more. If not, you can quickly mark it as done," Google product manager Thijs van As wrote in a blog post.

Elsewhere in Inbox, Google added the ability to drag-and-drop contacts between to, cc, and bcc in compose on web. And in a small but useful change, users can now delete emails from the inbox, whereas previously they had to select a message first in order to trigger the trash icon.

Overall, today's changes could help position Inbox as a more appealing alternative to the usual email interface. Obviously, Google's Gmail is not without its fan base, but with Inbox there's an opportunity to try a more contemporary approach to organizing your communications.

The new Inbox is available today for Android, iOS and web.

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