Put Inbox by Gmail in the dock

Here are three simple methods to put Inbox by Gmail into your dock. I’ve become so spoiled by Mailplane over the years that I just can’t keep my email relegated to a tab in my browser — it’s gotta have it’s own icon in my dock:

We’re going to be creating two site-specific browsers, the first powered by Safari’s rendering engine, the other by Chrome. You only need ONE of these methods, not both. I’m providing both for completeness.

Method A: Fluid + Safari

1. Get Fluid

First, download and install Fluid. Fluid is a site-specific browser generator that’s free to use. You can also send the developer, Todd Ditchendorf, $5 for a few extra features, but they’re not really necessary.

2. Setup your new SSB

Run Fluid and enter these settings:

URL: https://inbox.google.com
Name: Inbox
Location: Applications

Here’s a better looking icon to use than the Website Favicon:

Here’s an alternate icon (download) from Fabrizio Rinaldi:

Hit Create and you’ll see this dialog:

Launch your new app. Here’s what you may see:

3. Trick Inbox into thinking you’re using Chrome

Fixing this is simple. Just browse your newly created Inbox’s main menu and switch your User Agent from Default to Google Chrome Mac — 37.

Hit ⌘-R or relaunch the app and you’ll be all set!

All the primary functionality works totally fine this way. I did have some problems with Google Hangouts — specifically video and voice chat, but for those I just hopped over to Chrome.

(Note: the instructions for changing the User Agent should be unnecessary as of Feb 19, 2015 as Inbox now works in Safari, but Fluid may confuse Inbox and still require this trick.)

Method B: AppleScript + Chrome

These steps are based on instructions I found from 2010. You’ll need Chrome installed for this to work.

1. Download Mait Vilbiks’s createGcApp.dmg
2. Open this disk image and double click createGcApp:

3. You’ll probably get a security prompt like this:

Go ahead and open this file. You may also need to visit your Security & Privacy System Preferences depending on your security settings to open this file.

4. Name your app something like “Inbox”:

5. Set the web address (URL) to https://inbox.google.com:

6. Use the icon from above.

7. You’ll get a confirmation dialog (with a typo, oops):

Now you can launch this app right from Alfred, Spotlight, or your /Applications directory. You’ll need to sign in to your Google account, but you’ll be all set now.

Method C: Install a Chrome App

Here’s a method that didn’t exist when I first wrote this — install a Chrome App! Just click “Add to Chrome”:

An icon for Inbox will be added to your Chrome Apps Launcher window:

The end

So, there you go.

What with Gmail for Mac raising 13 of $20K on Kickstarter (with 26 days to go) and appearing on Product Hunt, I thought I’d provide a cheaper, immediate, (and yet less full-featured) way of getting Inbox by Gmail into your Dock.

I hope you’ve found this useful — and that you realize that you can copy these steps for any other web app you want in your dock (Facebook, Twitter, Google Calendar, etc)!

If you’ve got feedback, drop me a note or send me a tweet.

P.S. I would have told you how to do this with Firefox, but it looks like XULRunner — no wait, WebRunner! no wait, Prism! no wait, Chromeless! — has been mothballed. Oh well.