[waldr]

It really depends on how you manage your inbox, one of the drivers behind us building Tray was the customisation it offers. The triggers that define the rules can cover as many or as few contacts as you wish ie 'anyone I have a meeting with in the next 48 hrs' can be a trigger, or simply based on email content, pre-defined contact groups etc. In most cases this is a handful of rules.

Email rules that are setup within the client or service restrict filtering to contact, folder, content (in some cases). We can react to data that's outside of your inbox, anything from your relationship to the contact based on another web service, to accessing, storing, and sharing with services you use regularly. Beyond this triggers such as time, email load (driven from analytics), location can all come into play. We are really just getting started with the possibilities, a way to interact with custom web apps would be great for developers/companies that use bespoke tools.

[JoelMarsh]

I can't decide whether to focus on the interesting aspects/potential of your tool, or the fact that you circumvented the concern I presented, but thanks for the answer nonetheless.

The ease of this tool is inversely related to the need for it. i.e. — the more complex/high volume your inbox, the more you suffer while trying to set it up.

Maybe it would be worth implementing some "starter rules" or a "wizard" that allows the first-timer to leverage many basic rules at once, immediately.

It's the Pinterest approach, if you will. :) "Pick 5 things you like" and then they auto-follow 50 people based on your choices. Voilá! Good first experience.

Remember that features ≠ power ≠ satisfaction.

I apologize for the unsolicited suggestions; you hit my area of interest right in the middle. ;) Good luck with everything and congrats on getting to the alpha in the first place!