Multitasking often seems the name of the game in today’s always-connected world, but Kukoo takes the opposite view. This email management tool is all about single-tasking: concentrating on one thing at a time and answering your email only at predefined times. To get started, type in your email address. Kukoo gives you a Kukoo.com suffix to this where people can email you. The key to managing your email is to set up rules for when you are going to check email (we set three time bands per weekday) and when you are going to ignore it and get on with your other tasks.
When email comes in, senders receive an auto response which says when you will next be checking email, so they are not hanging around waiting and you don’t have to drop everything to respond straight away. Kukoo does not store your email, so there are no security worries. However, using the service means that senders have to change their address books, and it’s also easy for them to bypass Kukoo altogether simply by omitting the suffix. For that reason, Kukoo remains a three star application in our book.
Practical Uses:
- Treat your email inbox like a real mailbox, and check it only at set times
- Let people know automatically when you won’t be responding to email
- Collect statistics on the people who email you most
Insider Tips:
- Set up multiple addresses within Kukoo to manage all your mail
- Try the Egg add-ons for additional functionality; the first one allows you to manage Kukoo by IM
What we liked:
- There is nothing to install
- Kukoo does not store your mail, so your data remains secure
- You can manage several email addresses
- You can set different email management rules for different days
What we didn’t like:
- It’s an interesting idea, but adds one more filter to the email process
- It’s not a easy to use as other email applications
- Senders can easily bypass Kukoo by omitting the Kukoo.com suffix
Alternatives:
There is nothing exactly like Kukoo but another application to consider is:
- OtherInbox – http://otherinbox.com
Company Info:
- Launched: June 2009
- Privately Held
- Headquarters: Belgium
- Founded by: Piet Jaspers, Tijs Vrolix
- Web site: http://www.kukoo.com
Costs:
- Free
All articles are curated and personally reviewed by Dave Onkels. Dave is tech addict and has a passion for rich web applications. He has cultivated several tech startups and runs