Smart reminders for responding to emails
Systems and methods herein provide for improved email efficiency. Based on selections made while drafting an email, a user requesting a response can cause a calendar reminder to be generated and sent to a recipient for automatic entry on that recipient's electronic calendar. When the original sender indicates that an appropriate response has been received, the system can cause the calendar entry to be removed from the recipient's calendar. The system can also generate automatic reminder emails to prompt the recipient to respond to the sender. The sender can access a list of outstanding email responses that are still due from various recipients and modify the associated reminders as desired.
1. A graphical user interface (GUI) displayed within an application executing on a user device having a hardware-based processor, the GUI comprising:
a recipient section of a draft email, having a field in which a user can enter at least one recipient;
a subject section of the draft email, having a field in which the user can enter a subject;
a body section of the draft email, having a field in which the user can enter text; and
a first GUI element of the draft email that, when selected by the user, causes a first recipient GUI element and a second recipient GUI element to display, the first and second recipient GUI elements being specific to first and second individual recipients listed in the recipient section of the draft email, wherein selection of the first recipient GUI element causes a first date GUI element to be displayed in the draft email,
wherein selection of the second recipient GUI element causes a second date GUI element to be displayed in the draft email,
wherein the first and second date GUI elements suggest deadlines that the user can accept or decline, the suggested deadlines being based on detected content within the body section of the GUI,
wherein the user can select first and second deadlines for the first and second recipients using the first and second date GUI elements, respectively, the first and second deadlines being different from one another, and
wherein selection of the first and second deadlines causes:
a first calendar file to be automatically generated and attached to the draft email when sent to the first recipient, the first calendar file setting the first deadline for responding to the email, and
a second calendar file to be automatically generated and attached to the draft email when sent to the second recipient, the second calendar file setting the second deadline for responding to the email.
2. The GUI of claim 1 , wherein the first date GUI element comprises a grid with multiple rows and columns of potential deadlines corresponding to a plurality of response times.
3. The GUI of claim 2 , wherein each of the plurality of response times comprises time periods, dates, or both.
4. The GUI of claim 1 , further comprising a header section, wherein the header section is automatically added to the body section of the draft email based on the selection of the first GUI element.
5. The GUI of claim 1 , wherein each, or both, of the first and second recipient GUI elements can be selected independently of the other.
6. A non-transitory, computer-readable medium comprising instructions executed by at least one processor to display an interactive graphical user interface (GUI) on a device, the GUI comprising:
a recipient section of a draft email, having a field in which a user can enter at least one recipient;
a subject section of the draft email, having a field in which the user can enter a subject;
a body section of the draft email, having a field in which the user can enter text;
a first GUI element of the draft email that, when selected by the user, causes a first recipient GUI element and a second recipient GUI element to display, the first and second recipient GUI elements corresponding to first and second recipients listed in the recipient section of the draft email, wherein selection of at least one of the first and second recipient GUI elements causes a calendar file to be automatically generated and attached to the draft email when sent to the corresponding at least one recipient, the calendar file setting a deadline for responding to the email; and
a header section that identifies the first and second recipients corresponding to the first and second recipient GUI elements and identifies the corresponding deadline for responding to the email, wherein the header section is automatically added to the body section of the draft email based on the selection of the first and second recipient GUI elements.
7. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 6 , the GUI further comprising a second GUI element that is displayed in response to selection of the first GUI element, wherein the second GUI element comprises a plurality response times, and wherein selecting one of the plurality of response times causes the calendar file to set the deadline in accordance with the selected response time.
8. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 7 , wherein each of the plurality of response times comprises time periods, dates, or both.
9. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 6 , wherein the deadline set by the calendar file is based on detected content within the body section of the GUI.
10. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 6 , wherein each or both of the first and second recipient GUI elements can be selected independently of the other.
11. A computing device comprising:
a processor;
a display;
a GUI presented on the display, the GUI further comprising:
a recipient section of a draft email, having a field in which a user can enter at least one recipient;
a subject section of the draft email, having a field in which the user can enter a subject;
a body section of the draft email, having a field in which the user can enter text; and
a first GUI element of the draft email that, when selected by a first selection action of the user, causes a first recipient GUI element and a second recipient GUI element to display simultaneously, the first and second recipient GUI elements specifically identifying first and second recipients listed in the recipient section of the draft email,
wherein the first and second recipient GUI elements are independently selectable by a second selection of the user,
wherein the first and second recipient GUI elements both remain visible and available for further selection on the GUI after the second selection by the user; and
wherein selection of the first and second recipient GUI elements causes a calendar file to be automatically generated and attached to the draft email when sent to each recipient, the calendar file setting a deadline for responding to the email.
12. The computing device of claim 11 , wherein the GUI further comprises a second GUI element that is displayed in response to selection of the first GUI element, wherein the second GUI element comprises a plurality response times, and wherein selecting one of the plurality of response times causes the calendar file to set the deadline in accordance with the selected response time.
13. The computing device of claim 11 , wherein the deadline set by the calendar file is based on detected content within the body section of the GUI.
14. The computing device of claim 11 , the GUI further comprising a header section, wherein the header section is automatically added to the body section of the draft email based on the selection of the first GUI element.
15. The computing device of claim 11 , wherein each of the first and second recipient GUI elements can be selected independently of the other.
16. The GUI of claim 1 , wherein the first GUI element is embedded within the body section of the draft email.
17. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 6 , wherein the first GUI element is embedded within the body section of the draft email.
18. The computing device of claim 11 , wherein the first GUI element is embedded within the body section of the draft email.
19. The GUI of claim 1 , wherein the detected content comprises at least one non-text element.
20. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 6 , wherein the deadline set by the calendar file is based on at least one non-text element detected within the body section of the GUI.