OK, my bad. I just became a member and I wasn't aware of the fact that as a member I could have access to some additional plugins.
I've installed the plugin and I've had to uninstall it immediately because it does something that for me is very inconvenient: it deletes the messages from the server.
I work in 3 different locations and with more than 3 computers so managing and synchronizing my mail can get a bit complicated. I have found a good solution with an option that comes with Thunderbird (and other e-mail clients) which allows you to delete mail from the server only when you delete it from the trash folder. This way when I move from computer to computer I still have messages that are relevant to continue working with them (reading them, answering them). The ones that I have already dealt with and I know I won't have to do anything with them at a different location, I delete and then they don't get downloaded again when I check my mail in a different computer.
I know that one of the sacred principles in GTD is "thou shall keep your inbox clean" but I thin that the way the e-mail plugin works right now is very problematic. Independently of working with different computers what to me is a big problem with the current e-mail plugin is that by deleting the messages from the server it prevents you from working with the messages in your e-mail client.
What do you do if you need to reply or forward the message? To make things worse, when the messages are imported into TR, all the important information from the headings (such as who the sender is) is lost. So in some cases you might not even know who has sent you the message if the person doesn't sign. You cannot directly reply messages but you have to write the address by hand and you would have to do a cut and paste if you wanted to quote the message in your response. Furthermore, if the message has an attachment, the attachment is lost.
As I said, I had to uninstall it immediately because the consequences could be pretty unpleasant.
Are there any plans to continue working on this plugin? I think the idea is brilliant and fundamental for a good GTD system since e-mail is so connected to all our projects and tasks, but in its present implementation I don't think it is very useful.
Perhaps I'm doing something wrong, though. Am I correct in what I'm saying?
Ideally, a good integration between e-mail and a GTD system should look like something like this:
http://tinyurl.com/9d9lsx
I realize that is a pretty expensive solution and it is easier to implement since e-mail, calendar and task management are all part of the same integrated software package. You have to admit, though, that it would be pretty nice to achieve something like this with ThinkingRock. I might be dreaming but perhaps it would be possible to achieve it with other open source applications such as Thunderbird.
