The uber geeks

Midnight Inbox

As somewhat of a preface let me say; Please remember that I’m writing this review while this application is still under development. While the developer has claimed that they’d like to release a full version of this application later this month, I’ve found that Midnight Inbox is definitely a shacky beta - but a shacky beta that I really like.

The main interface [zoom]

The interface is not unlike many other applications for OS X. Upon inspection you can see similarities between it and iTunes and Mail. So using Midnight Inbox follows most of the rules you are used to with the applications that you already have.

Collections list

You’ll notice the main areas of the application are Collect, Process, Organize, Daily review, Work, Reference, and Trash. Each of these areas have very specific, and independent uses - yet they all interact too.

The collection area by default is set to collect files, recent email, and new notes. The files and email collection areas are fairly self-explanatory. They collect files and email messages based on certain criteria. So if you have Midnight Inbox watch your Documents directory for any new documents (say within the last day), it will automatically collect those into one location. Similarly with email messages - you can set the criteria and Midnight Inbox will make those email messages available to you.

The notes section is where the interaction with other areas of the application takes place. Files and email messages are created with other applications, but Notes are created with Midnight Inbox and can be used for a variety of purposes. Hitting COMMAND+ENTER will give you this pane, which allows you to quickly jot down some notes. It doesn’t matter if it is an URL, small paragraph on something your researching, or a quick note to pick up eggs later in the day.

The processing area seems to be still under construction. From what I can tell though, this area will eventually allow you to sort all of your items into specific collections. For instance, if you wanted specific notes, email messages, and files to sort themselves as “Important” - I believe this is where you’ll be able to do it. I’ve not been able to get this area to work correctly yet, so I’ll review it again when a new build is released.

The organize area is where you bring all of your collections together into specific projects. This kind of sounds like the process area, but it gives you the ability to keep project-specific items together in a collection.

Lets say that you have 10 projects going at any given time. Those projects could include a web site you’re building for a client, your own blog’s redesign, a logo for another company, and a tree house you’re building with your kid and you haven’t yet picked up all the materials. The organize area is where you’d enter each of these projects into, and all of their respective Notes, email messages, and files would bring themselves together. You can go a little further and setup Start and End dates for the project, categorize the project as Personal, Work, etc., and even describe what you think your best possible outcome for the project will be.

A few of the features in this section are still not available, but after using the application for a few minutes you can kind of see the implications of those features though not beheld.

The daily review area is an overview of the stuff you created and finished within Midnight Inbox for the day. It gives you an overview of everything you were able to accomplish throughout the day. By default this area gives you reviews for the day, week, month, quarter, year, and leap year (or ever four years). Extensive enough for just about anyone I would think, though you can add your own. Perhaps a fortnight review?

The work area would be the place to go to begin working! If you have added your notes, got your emails collected, and your files in place - you can begin working on your various projects that you’ve added. What is nice about this area is its overview of all your current projects. Lets say you have two projects that have similar to do items, you can work on both of them at the same time and mark them both done. Or, you can separate each set of projects by context. By default Midnight Inbox sets up contexts for work for home, thinking, macintosh, errands, and office. It also allows you to pick specific times you’d like to work on each context. Perhaps from 8am to 9am in the morning, while you are drinking your coffee, you’d like to review and work on your items for home - personal projects that you’ve started and would like to make some headway on. From 9am to 5pm might be time to work on projects for the office - and everything else might be up for grabs for your errands and other miscellaneous to dos.

The work area is a really good way to save yourself from being distracted while working.

The reference area still perplexes me, but I think it is because it has yet to take full form in this application. From what I can tell, and from the description found in the overview (or help section), the reference area is almost like an area to tag your projects and files with specific keywords to help you find them later. I’ll have to wait for another build before I can give my thoughts on this section.

The trash area is also self-explanatory. It is not very functional yet (partially because most of the keyboard shortcuts in the application do not work yet), but it does keep the items you’ve tossed in the trash.

Overall, I really think this application has tons of potential as being the ultimate GTD application for the Macintosh. Many of its areas do things automatically based on your interaction with other applications, which is something I think it should do more of. Having one application that allows you to interact with many other applications, giving you an overview of everything you need to get done, and allowing you to mark things completed - is a huge step forward.

I’d like to see some integration with iCal (perhaps assigning specific projects due dates with events in iCal or something). I’d also like to see a lot more synergy between the various areas in the application. This application could easily suffer from gloat, and I’m hoping that nothing else gets added to this version before it is released. Actually, I wouldn’t mind if some of the areas were combined, reclassified, and simplistically described for those of us that have no idea what some of the areas do.

As an example the Process and Work areas could probably be combined in some manner, unless I’m incorrect in my thinking of how the two actually function.

At the very least, Midnight Inbox is worth a look if you are looking into pulling all of your “stuff” together in one area to help you focus on specific projects during a specific time period.

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