"Hello world" as a Gmail plugin?

Question

I am trying to find out what the tech is like to create a Gmail plugin that accesses my attachments. Just to get started, what would be "Hello world" as a Gmail plugin? What would be the steps to create it?

Answer 1

Google has recently introduced add-ons for Gmail (probably on Oct, 24 2017). It can be developed with Google Apps Script. Google's documentation says

What Gmail add-ons can do ?

Displaying additional information for the user in the Gmail UI. Connecting to non-Google services, to retrieve information or take other actions. Providing an interactive interface to allow the user to control the add-on or send information to another service.

I am not pretty sure (will go deep into it in coming days) whether you can deal with attachments. But I logically feel you can do that as well, because GAS supports handling attachments.

As of now, Google is not allowing to publish new add-ons however they will allow it in future.

While a few add-ons have been made available in the G Suite Marketplace for users to install, it is not currently possible to publish your own add-on to the Marketplace.

How can you publish your own add-on ?

As of now (26th Oct, 2017), they consider it on request basis. If you have a cool idea, fill this form to let them know about it. You will get notified once they accept your listing.

Here is how the add-on interface looks like inside Gmail

Answer 2

Yes, you can creates plugin for Gmail, and two types:

• Sidebar
• Contextual

Look for Gadgets in gmail. After learning how to use these, you can add them to your gmail or anybody that wants to can do the same, to do so you can have Google host it.

It's easy if you know some HTML, JavaScript, and XML.

Good Luck

Take a look at these links:

• https://developers.google.com/google-apps/gmail/contextual_gadgets
• https://developers.google.com/gadgets/docs/basic

Answer 3

You cannot create Gmail plugins.
(Unless you work for Google)