FAQ

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What is Sortd?

Sortd is the first ever smart skin for Gmail. It enhances your Gmail experience, providing a seamless, intuitive way to plan and prioritise email and tasks in a single Gmail workspace.

BTW, Sort(e)d according to the Urban Dictionary means “When a task or idea is completed” and the Oxford Dictionary ”organized, arranged, or dealt with satisfactorily.”  Of course the fact that you can Sort your email also helps!

How do I get Sortd?

Sortd is currently in Private Beta, so the only way to get Sortd is to apply to join the Beta program.

How much does Sortd cost?

Sortd is currently in Beta, and is completely free to use at the moment. Please see the section Sortd Fees and Pricing in the Sortd Terms and Conditions for more information.

Does Sortd work with other email accounts?

At the moment Sortd only works with Google Apps and Gmail accounts. For Google Apps accounts please also see "Sortd doesn't work for my Company Account".

Does Sortd work with multiple Google Accounts?

Sortd allows you to open multiple Chrome Tabs and have a different Gmail account running in each tab.

Is Sortd secure?

Sortd uses the industry standard OAuth process to access your Google account and as such we do not know or store your password. All communication between your web browser and Sortd is secured with SSL/TLS encryption.

What Gmail options does Sortd work with?

Sortd works best with the default Gmail options enabled.Sortd may not preview the correct email message if "Conversation View" is turned off, If the Inbox Type is anything other than "Default" or the "Preview" lab is installed, Sortd Fullscreen will work fine but the Sidebar and Sortd AddTask button may not work correctly.

How do I hide Sortd in  Gmail mode?/ How can I minimise or close Sortd?

Sortd shows a red or grey tab on the right hand side of the screen. There is a small menu on the bottom which allows you to select “Hide” “Sidebar” and “Full screen”. Selecting ‘Hide’, will reduce Sortd to just the red/grey tab. ‘Sidebar’ puts Sortd into Sidebar mode where as ‘Full screen’ opens up Sortd into full view.

Does Sortd Require IMAP?

Yes, Sortd requires IMAP to be enabled on your Google account and in particular on your 'Inbox' and 'All Mail' labels. IMAP is enabled by default, but to verify go to Settings -> "Forwarding and POP/IMAP" from within Gmail and ensure that "Enable IMAP" is selected. You can also confirm that IMAP is enabled on your labels by going to Settings -> Labels and confirming that the "Show in IMAP" box is ticked next to the "Inbox" and "All Mail" labels.

Does Sortd store my email?

Sortd does not store your email, but certain email information such as the Sender, Subject and Date are stored in Sortd when you drag an email into the organizer panel. We do not store the actual email, nor we do we store any information about your email unless you drag it into a List (and then only the information mentioned above).

Does Sortd work with other Chrome Extensions? (Update – 26 February 2015)

We have tested Sortd with various popular Chrome Extensions and we do try and keep them all working but its not possible to test them all so there may be some cases where Sortd and another Chrome Extension inside Gmail do not work and/or conflict with one another. In the case of Rapportive the Sortd Side Bar needs to be hidden.

UPDATE (15 January 2015)
In mid-December 2014 the Gmail team updated Gmail with certain security settings which now prevent some Chrome Extensions from working together simultaneously inside Gmail. You will see an error similar to the one shown in the image above for any Chrome Extensions that are being impacted by this change. There is a bug in Google Chrome which prevents us fixing this issue completely. In the meantime we have released a new version of Sortd which will work with Streak, Sidekick, Full Contact, MixMax and Yesware Gmail Chrome Extensions (Rapportive and Boomerang are not impacted by this problem). However in order to get some or all of these  extensions to work together simultaneously, Sortd will need to be uninstalled and then re-installed after all the others have been installed. i.e. Sortd MUST be installed LAST. If this is done the other Chrome Extensions will still complain that they are broken because of Sortd (as per the image above), but because Sortd includes their specific required permissions, the other Chrome Extensions SHOULD work correctly. Note that if you see the error above for the Sortd Chrome Extension then you will need to uninstall it and re-install it , as it has not been installed last and hence it will not work. Sortd has ONLY been enabled for the Chrome Extensions mentioned above, so any others impacted by this problem will still not work and or will break Sortd.

Unfortunately if one of these Chrome Extensions gets updated automatically behind the scenes by Chrome its possible that the update will break Sortd again and it will have to be re-installed, and or updated (if an update is available).

Certain functionality may not work together due to conflicts, such as the SideKick and Sortd sidebars but other functionality should work fine.

UPDATE (26 February 2015)
We are aware that at times Streak and Sortd clash and the Sortd tab seems to disappear, we are actively investigating this with the aim of providing a compatible solution. 

How do I ensure that I have the latest Chrome Extension installed?

Goto the Menu Icon -> More Tools -> Extensions
Ensure that "Developer mode" checkbox is ticked and Click on 'Update Extensions Now".

Does the Sortd Chrome Extension work in Incognito mode?

At the moment the Sortd Chrome Extension does not run in Incognito mode (even if Incognito mode is enabled on the Chrome Extensions page).  If you want to run Sortd independently of any other browser tabs or applications you can create a new Chrome Profile. Instructions can be found here. 

Does Sortd work with Google Tasks?

No, Sortd is completely independent of Google Tasks and we believe much better.

How can I get Sortd to work with Google Chat / Google Hangouts?

Although you can’t see your contact list when Sortd is in Fullscreen mode you will still receive messages if someone sends you a chat on Hangouts (the screen will pop up over Sortd), similarly if you leave a Hangout chat open.
You can just minimise Sortd or put it into Sidebar mode to see your contacts.

Alternatively you can install the Google Hangouts Chrome Extension or App for Hangouts.
Chrome Extension
App (Only works on Windows and Chrome OS)

Does Sortd work in other web browsers besides Google Chrome?

At the moment Sortd only works in Google Chrome.

Can I synchronize my Sortd Tasks with other apps?

At the moment Sortd Tasks can not be synchronized to any 3rd party tools. This will change in the future, so let us know which integrations you would like to see in Sortd.

Can I see my Sortd tasks on my mobile phone?

Unfortunately you cannot see your Sortd Tasks on your phone, but we are working on this and hope to have a solution soon.

The Sortd Tab has disappeared?

Its possible that Sortd is clashing with another Chrome Extension you have installed. Unfortunately it is not possible to make sure Sortd works with all other Chrome Extensions, and as Chrome Extensions can be updated in the background any change in one Chrome Extension can break another. This is not a problem unique to Sortd but affects all Chrome Extensions to varying degrees.

To isolate if this is the problem please try the running Sortd in a new ‘clean’ Chrome Profile. Instructions on how to do this can be found here.

Please  also see the section describing Chrome Extension compatibility.

Sortd is stuck in a 'loading' state or won't activate, what can I do?

Sortd needs 3rd party cookies to be enabled for *.sortd.com, please either enable 3rd Party Cookies in Google Chrome or add an exception to allow 3rd party cookies for *.sortd.com. Click here for instructions. See also "Sortd doesn't work for my Company Account".

If you have Third Party Cookies enabled and there are no issues with Sortd accessing your Company Account, please try re-installing the Chrome Extension. Instructions can be found in the section “How can I reinstall Sortd” below.

Sortd doesn't work for my company/Google Apps account

Sortd requires IMAP access to be able to access metadata about your email (See Does Sortd store my email) as well as access to the Google+ API's. If you are using a Google Apps domain account it is possible for your Google Apps Domain Administrator to deny access to IMAP and the Google+ API's in which case Sortd will unfortunately not work. Note that you don't actually need a profile in Google+, just access to the Google+ API's. This is because Google now do all authentication through Google+ and not simply through Gmail anymore.

For further information on validating Google Apps Domain settings, please view these instructions.

Sortd is only showing me the first/oldest email in a Conversation

Sortd works best if Gmail “Conversation View” is turned on. If you chose not to have Gmail “Conversation View” on then you can turn “Conversation View” off in Sortd as well (unfortunately you have to change the setting in both Gmail and Sortd).  In Sortd you can do this by clicking "View Controls” -> Settings (Cog Wheel) and then on the General Tab, setting the “Conversation View” Off. Sortd will still group the email in the Inbox, but it will show you the most recent message on the conversation/thread as opposed to the first one. 

You can then open the older emails using the Google “…" controls (that hide the older emails) in the conversation to view them. 

Unfortunately Sortd does not currently support a true single message Inbox, partly because Google actually always groups emails into conversations in the background and as such will require a different mail access strategy on Sortd’s behalf which we have not yet fully implemented.

How can I clear or remove  Sortd cookies,  cache and/or site data?

Please follow the instructions here.

How can I remove my Sortd account?

We would be sorry to see you go, so please reach out if you are having issues, but if you are sure Sortd is not for you, and you still want to remove your Sortd Account you will need to do the following:

• Remove all permission you gave to the Sortd App, by going to the following URL https://www.google.com/settings/security when you are logged into your Google email account and selecting "View All" next to "Account permissions" in the  “Connected apps and services” section and then selecting "Sortd" and clicking the "Revoke Access" button.
• Remove the Chrome Extension by type this in the address bar chrome://extensions/ )and selecting the trashcan next to the "Sortd Smart Skin for Gmail" entry.
• Unsubscribe from any emails by clicking here and filling in your email.

Note that Sortd does not actually have any access credentials other than those you revoke through Google, so revoking permissions through Google prevents Sortd from having any further access to your Google Mail.

How can I uninstall Sortd?

We would be sorry to see you go, so please reach out if you are having issues, but if you are sure Sortd is not for you, and you still want to uninstall Sortd you can go to your Chrome Extensions (or type this in the address bar chrome://extensions/ ) and select the trashcan next to the "Sortd Smart Skin for Gmail" entry.

You can also remove all permission you gave to the Sortd App, by going to the following URL https://www.google.com/settings/security when you are logged into your Google email account and selecting "View All" next to "Account permissions" in the  “Connected apps and services” section and then selecting "Sortd" and clicking the "Revoke Access" button.

How can I reinstall Sortd?

First you need to uninstall Sortd, though you don’t necessarily need to revoke permissions unless you want to, but it is recommended. You should then clear all of your Sortd cookies by following the instructions here.

If you have already been accepted into the Private Beta and been given an Access Code then you can download Sortd again here.