10 Pros and Cons of Gmail’s New Compose Feature

Gmail rolled out its new Compose feature in October, allowing users the option of a cleaner, more efficient format. Some users rejoiced, while others found the changes difficult to use.

Thankfully, Gmail hasn't made the new feature mandatory; you can order your email in whichever flavor you choose. So, which will it be?

5 Reasons to Switch to Gmail's New Compose

Click to expand.

1. Multiple Drafts at Once

If you're trying to juggle multiple discussions, or copy text from one email to another, having multiple drafts is incredibly convenient. Drafts can sit right next to each other on on your Gmail screen, or you can choose to pop them out for easier resizing.

2. Minimize Drafts

If you are working on draft over time, for example, to maintain a casual list of dinner recommendations to send friends, Gmail's new feature makes it easier to put tasks on the back burner. Users can now minimize drafts to the bottom or their Gmail windows, similar to how Gchat conversations already function. Emails in process that you need to put on hold can sit on your screen until you end your session, making it harder to forget about your unfinished emails while still keeping your day organized.

3. Background Activities Can Continue Uninterrupted

If you wish to search for something while composing an email, Compose won't interrupt the draft you're working on. You can also check and respond to more pressing emails while keeping your original draft intact. This definitely makes Gmail's web client more competitive with email programs like Outlook, in which multitasking can hinder productivity.

Click to expand.

4. More Focused Interface

Compose mode features a much more streamlined email interface. Gone is the top row of buttons. Most of the options you'll need are nested next to the send button on the bottom-left corner, accessible based on priority. The result is a cleaner interface for your message.

5. Switching Between the Two Interfaces Is Easy

Don't like change? One of the best features is that you can easily return to the old interface by clicking on the small arrow in the right corner of the emails and select "switch back to old compose." It's not for everyone, and there are lots of reasons to stick to the old Gmail formula.

5 Reasons to Stay With Old Compose

Click to expand.

1. The Bigger Tool Suite

While the clean, minimalist format for Gmail's new Compose is nice, tools like changing your font seem buried. You'll find that it takes a little longer to access the tools you need. And you'll be disappointed if you're an active user of canned responses (buried in the additional options) or emoticons (not in the new Compose). This format is meant to hide the bells and whistles.

Click to expand.

2. CC and BCC Tucked Away

In that vein, the CC and BCC fields are much harder to access. It's easy to overlook them, tucked in the far left corner. The option to edit your email's subject is now buried unexpectedly under your reply or forward options.

3. More Room to Write

We all appreciate a distraction-free environment when writing. Opening a new email in the old mode brings up that large blank canvas we're all used to, and it can definitely curb urges to look at your other incoming emails while writing.

4. Doesn't Play Nice With All Labs

If you use Gchat regularly and have activated right-hand chat — a popular app for those who want to reduce clutter — you'll be disappointed by the new Compose. New emails cover the entire chat column.

5. Clutter for Heavy Chatters

The one thing new Compose doesn't clean up is the bottom of your Gmail window. If you are a heavy chat user, you'll soon find that you have many chats and emails all vying for space, it might be easy to lose one if you have too many windows open.

Have you switched to Gmail's new Compose? Why or why not? Please share your own pros and cons in the comments.

Thumbnail image courtesy of Wilson Afonso, Flickr.