Note: This article will focus on the Linux implementation. Past the installation step, the usage should be identical.

Linux Installation

The software comes in a tarball for installation. Getting everything done is a simple process from the command line

#File and directory name vary by version
tar -zxvf googsystray-(version).tar.gz  
cd googsystray-(version)
sudo python setup.py install

If you’re returned to the prompt with no errors, installation was successful. Just run

googsystray

from the command line to begin.

Configuration

At first, Googsystray is unaware of your accounts. It’s got to have at least one to do its job, and that can be added by clicking the Add button in the top right corner of the General tab.

Place a check mark for any Google services you want Googsystray to monitor. From here on out, you can set up individual options for Google Voice, GMail, Calendar, Reader, and Docs.

Once you’ve chosen your preferred services and configured to your preferences, don’t forget to check out the Popup Window section. This is what you’ll see when you go to make calls or texts through Voice, or any other feature that requires a popup.

Go ahead and save your settings. If all went well, you’ll see the icons for your selected services appear on your panel.

The Fancy Parts

There are plenty of things that can show your email count in your panel, and if that’s all Googsystray could do, we wouldn’t bother writing about it. Where things get more interesting is with Google Voice integration. By right-clicking the Voice icon, you can bring up the menu offering several useful Voice options, such as initiating new calls.

Much like calling from the Voice homepage, the applet will call the number you desire and ring the phone of your choosing.

Similarly, you can use the same menu to bring up the options for SMS messages.

If nothing else, these two features alone make Googsystray worth the install for many.

Caveats

During testing, this author encountered a few bugs that caused a complete application crash. This seemed to mostly occur when taking actions quickly, such as starting and stopping a Voice call in a short amount of time. It’s been a few months since the last release, at least according to the Sourceforge download page, so it’s possible some of these issues are being addressed.

While minor, there were some graphical issues as well. The notification numbers are rather shoddy looking, especially at larger sizes. This may be due to the software’s multi-platform nature, as it can’t reliably depend on a particular graphics library. It might also help if the popup window took its color template from the system settings, but once again the platform independence might make that difficult to implement.

Conclusion

While there’s still room for polish, Googsystray is certainly very useful as-is. While it may not integrate very well into my particular OS/desktop combination, it’s nice to know I could run it as-is across any PC in my home with identical results. For those like me who rely heavily on Google for communications, Googsystray is the way to go.

Related Posts:

• Busy Docs Syncs Local Documents With Google Docs
• Relooking at Cairo Dock For Linux
• 11 Tips For Navigating The New Gmail Interface
• What You Need to Know About Google Drive

Busy Docs is a service that makes the move easier. Allowing you to edit documents locally and have the sync with your cloud storage will help ease your mind and still allow you to edit and house local copies.

Where to start

After you have downloaded Busy Docs and run the installer, you will be asked to select the Google or Google Apps account you would like to sync with. You must be logged into your Google account to have it show up here. Once you grant access, you are able to start syncing.

Initial sync

The initial sync can take a while if you have a tremendous number of documents to upload. I selected a folder with a small number of documents for this demonstration.

If you store all of your documents in your “My Documents” folder, you can simply select that folder to sync. It will go through your folder and catalog all of the documents.

Busy Docs is not a direct sync initially with Google Docs. Your documents will sync to the Busy Docs servers. If you have a document in your My documents folder and want revisions to be stored in your Google Docs space, you need to drag the file into the Google Docs section of the sidebar. From this point on, it should be in sync with the desktop version.

Search for docs

This is part of what makes Busy Docs so great. Being able to search for and easily find a document over both Google Docs, hard drive and your local network. The web application’s layout is really easy to use. Everything you will need is easily visible on all of the screens.

You have a search bar at the top center of the screen. All of your folders are accessible in the left sidebar.

Drag and Drop ease of use

All of your documents on Busy Docs can be moved by dragging and dropping it where you want it. If you want a document synced to your Google Docs, simply drag it to the Google Docs section of the sidebar. If you have a Google Doc you want to edit locally, drag it to one of the folders or sub-folders you are syncing from your network or hard drive.

Label Documents

Labeling your documents will help keep everything more organized and easier to find later on. When you drag a document from your desktop to Google Docs, it will automatically be labeled GD. If you choose to label your them differently, you will need to add a label manually.

How Busy Docs stacks up

The web interface is really easy to use compared to some other services. However, the syncing isn’t very fast. Even when you manually initiate a sync, it still takes a while.

I started a document in OpenOffice and saved it as a Word file (.doc). When I uploaded it and moved it over to Google Docs, it changed some of the formatting.

I think there are some bugs still, but works well for an individual. I would keep it on my radar, but currently it doesn’t seem ready for large-scale use.

What are some of your tips for syncing local documents with Google Docs?

Busy Docs

Related Posts:

• InSync + Google Docs = Cheaper And Better Dropbox?
• Google Docs Tips For Beginners
• Sync And Listen To Your Music With Google Music Beta
• 5 Unique Ways Create A Presentation Without Installing Any Software

The other day I was scanning my Twitter stream and someone mentioned Syphir. Like I do most of the time, I bookmarked it until I got home. When I took a look at it and watched the demos, I was pretty excited at the addition control it adds to Gmail’s filters.

How it’s different

Right out of the box Gmail can sort incoming emails into folders or labels by sender, recipient, subject or if the email does or does not have a particular keyword.

For some people, these are not enough. What Syphir adds is more ways to filter incoming messages. Some of those new options are: number of recipients, arrival time and reply probability.

How to use it

Using Syphir is just as easy as using Gmail’s built in filters. To use these, go to Syhpir.com and sign in with either your Gmail or your Google Apps email address.

From the Syphir log in page, you are taken to your actual Gmail or Google Apps log in page.

Once you sign in, you are taken back to the Syphir site. If you want to look at a few samples before you dive in and make your own rules, a link with examples are provided. Otherwise, click on the big blue Create New Rule button.

Creating rules

Creating a rule is a two step process. You have a condition and an action. The combination of the two is where you can really get specific with how your inbox handles your email.

Conditions

These are things like who the email is from, to, if there is an attachment or what time the email arrives to you.

Choose all that apply to the incoming emails you want to target.

Actions

These what is done with the targeted email. Most of these are similar to the normal Gmail options. However, there are a couple additions; Remove Label, Alert iPhone, and Delay Email are the new choices.

The result

Using a combination of conditions and actions you can do things like, postpone work emails until first thing Monday morning. You can also sort all emails into a label based on the likelihood you need to reply.

Are you seeing how useful this could be? If you add a little creativity to creating some of the rules, you can really master your inbox.

Here is a sample rule I made up.

This rule will basically deliver any emails from my fictitious boss received on the weekend to me at 8:15 am on Monday. You could also make up a rule that postpones any forwarded emails from family and friends until you are on your own time.

Having this additional flexibility is can really open up the doors for some creative filters. Just don’t spend too much time trying to create overly complicated rules or it my be a little counter productive.

What tips do you have for taming your inbox?

Related Posts:

• Your Inbox Needs Help, Use OtherInbox
• How to Configure Gmail And Google Apps For Spicebird
• How to Manage Multiple Gmail Accounts and Check Email at One Place
• More Useful Gmail Productivity Tips

Download and install Spicebird. After you start it for the first time, you will be asked to set up new accounts. If you have skipped it at the start, go to File -> New -> Mail/News Account.

Adding a Google Apps Mail Account

I will be adding a Google apps account. Follow the steps below to configure it for your account.

1. Login to your Google apps email account. Now go to “Settings”.

2. Now in the “Settings” page, go to the “Forwarding and POP/IMAP” tab.

3. In the “POP Download” section, select “Enable POP for all mail (even mail that’s already been downloaded)” and then press the button Save Changes.

4. Now start the Account adding Wizard, select “Email Account” and press Next button.

5. Enter your name and email address and press Next.

6. Now in the next step where you are asked to configure Server Information, make the following changes :

• Select the type of incoming server you are using : POP.
• Incoming Server : pop.gmail.com
• Outgoing Server : smtp.gmail.com (In the screenshot, there is no such thing as I had configured it earlier. If you are adding it for the first time, it will be there.)

Now press Next to proceed.

7[a]. Now enter your usernames in the following window. Say your mail address is xyz@your_domain.com then your user will be xyz@your_domain.com. Press Next.

7[b]. Enter a name for the account. I will be naming it MTE Mail as this is my MakeTechEasier account. Press Next.

8. Cross check the details in the next window and press Finish if they are alright.

9. Now as the account gets created, go to Tools -> Account Settings. And click the item, Server Setting below MTE Mail in the left pane. Now make the necessary changes as shown in the screenshot below.

The account is now successfully added to Spicebird. Now every time you wish to fetch mail from that account, Spicebird will ask for the password of the account. Provide the password and all the mails will be fetched.

Adding a Gmail Account

1. I will be adding a GMail account now. Follow the steps below.

• Login to your Gmail account. Now go to “Settings”.

• Now in the “Settings” page, go to the “Forwarding and POP/IMAP” tab.

• In the “IMAP Access” section, select “Enable IMAP” and then press the button Save Changes.

2. Open the Account Wizard, select Email account and then press Next.

3. Enter your name and email address and press Next.

4. Now in the next step where you are asked to configure Server Information, make the following changes :

• Select the type of incoming server you are using : IMAP.
• Incoming Server : pop.gmail.com
• Outgoing Server : smtp.gmail.com

Now press Next to proceed.

5[a]. Now enter your usernames in the following window. Say your mail address is xyz@gmail then your username will be xyz@gmail. Press Next.

5[b]. Enter a name for the account. I will be naming it “hsoumen@gmail.com”. Press Next.

6. Cross check the details in the next window and press Finish if they are alright.

7. Now as the account gets created, go to Tools -> Account Settings. And click the item, Server Setting below “hsoumen1985@gmail.com” in the left pane. Now make the necessary changes as shown in the screenshot below.

The account is now successfully added to Spicebird. Every time you wish to fetch mail from that account, Spicebird will ask for the password of the account. Provide the password and all the mails will be fetched. There is also an option to save your password.

That is all, if you face any problems configuring your own accounts feel free to ask via comments.

Related Posts:

• How to Add More Control To Your Gmail Inbox With Syphir
• How To Send Emails Using Another Gmail Account
• Check Your Gmail on Mac Without Opening The Browser
• Taskforce For Gmail Converts Your Emails Into Tasks, And Helps You To Stay Organized

By following this tutorial, you can also configure it to sync your contact and calendar.

Before you start, please note that Google sync only work with iPhone firmware 3.0 and above.

Getting Started

1. Tap on the Settings.app icon on the home page

2. Scroll down and open Mail, Contacts, Calendars.

3. Tap Add Account

4. Select Microsoft Exchange.

5. In the Email field, enter your Gmail address.

Leave the Domain field blank.

Enter your Google’s Username and Password.

Once done, tap Save. You might see the “Unable to verify certificate” error message. Select Accept.

6. A new Server input field will now appear. Enter “m.google.com“. Tap Next to continue.

7. Select the Google services that you want to sync. For me, I activated all the available synchronization services. Tap Done.

Your Google sync Push notification services is now set up.

To activate the push notification, you need to turn the Push feature on in the iPhone Settings section.

At the Mail, Contacts, Calendar section, tap Fetch New Data

Make sure that the Push is turned to ON.

Done.

Few things to note:

1. Google sync requires you to be constantly connected to the Web. You have to keep your 3G or WIFI connection ‘Always ON’ for the best result.

2. The push notification can be very draining on your battery life. If you value your battery life much more than the push technology, turn the Push feature OFF for optimal performance.

Related Posts:

• Sparrow: Probably The Best Gmail App For iPhone
• How to Add More Control To Your Gmail Inbox With Syphir
• How to Configure Gmail And Google Apps For Spicebird
• A Comprehensive Guide to iTunes U [iOS]