Last year I told you about NudgeMail, a terrific reminder service that acts as a kind of “snooze” option for your inbox: it resends messages at a later time so you don’t forget about them.
If you’re a Gmail user, NudgeMail works just fine–but there’s an even better option. Boomerang for Gmail adds snooze options right to Gmail inside your browser, making it much easier to configure reminders. It also lets you delay outbound mail, delivering it at a later date/time instead of immediately.
The plug-in is compatible with Chrome and Firefox. Once installed, it adds a new button to your Gmail toolbar. If you want to send a new e-mail at a later time, you simply click that button and choose how long you want it held: one hour, two hours, two days, a week, etc. You can also enter an exact date and time, or even choose a random time (for what reason, I have no idea).
Boomerang works similarly for messages you want to “snooze”: Just click the button and choose a time for the e-mail to re-appear at the top of your inbox. That kind of convenience gives Boomerang a big leg up on services NudgeMail, which require to manually forward messages to specialized e-mail addresses. And I particularly like Boomerang’s option to let you review all your scheduled messages, just in case you want to revisit something before it’s slated delivery time.
What’s not so great about Boomerang? It’s not free. After the 30-day trial ends, it’ll cost you $4.99 per month for the Personal plan, which affords you unlimited messages. If you opt for the free Basic plan, you’re limited to 10 scheduled/delayed messages per month.
Much as I loathe the idea of paying yet another monthly bill, Boomerang is definitely worth having. Once you start using it, I think you’ll discover you can’t live without it.
Contributing Editor Rick Broida writes about business and consumer technology. Ask for help with your PC hassles at hasslefree@pcworld.com, or try the treasure trove of helpful folks in the PC World Community Forums.