Automatic Draft Email Notification System
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Solution Overview
Problem
Users often forget about unfinished email drafts due to their being out of sight, leading to proliferation in the draft folder and potential loss of context, as they may be intended to be sent later but are not sent due to timing or internet connection issues.
Innovation Solution
An automatic draft email notification system that retrieves a value from the current email as a search term, matches it with draft emails, and presents matching drafts as selectable options, allowing users to resume or send them, while also providing alerts and options to manage draft status.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If draft emails are automatically saved to the draft folder, then the user can retain unfinished messages for later completion, but the user forgets about the drafts and they proliferate in the draft folder
Solution Approach 1:
The system provides feedback to the user by displaying notifications about saved drafts in the notification area. When a draft is saved, a notification appears showing a preview of the draft content, reminding the user of the unfinished message and its context, thus preventing information loss while maintaining the automatic save functionality
Solution Approach 2:
The notification area serves as an intermediary between the draft folder and the user. Instead of requiring users to manually check the draft folder, the system mediates by actively presenting draft information through notifications, bridging the gap between automatic saving and user awareness
2Ease of operation
If draft emails are saved without notification, then the system operation is simple and automatic, but users are not aware that emails were saved as drafts and may not send them
Solution Approach 1:
The system maintains ease of automatic operation while adding feedback through notifications. The automatic save process continues unchanged, but now users receive timely notifications with draft previews, ensuring they are aware of saved drafts and can promptly send them, reducing time loss
3Reliability
If users manually check the draft folder for unfinished messages, then they can find and send forgotten drafts, but this requires additional user effort and time
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs self-service by automatically notifying users about saved drafts and providing quick access to them. Users don't need to manually check the draft folder; the system serves them by presenting draft information in the notification area with direct access capabilities, reducing user effort while ensuring reliability
Data Source
AI summary
A system and method for automatic draft email notification includes the following steps or acts performed while a user is engaged with a first email in an active email session: retrieving a value from the first email to use as a search term; accessing draft emails associated with the user; determining if the search term from the first email matches a corresponding string in the draft emails associated with the user; and presenting the draft emails that match the search term as a listing of selectable draft emails.