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Gmail makes e-mail easy and efficient
Access Gmail more securely
Access Gmail using https://mail.google.com/ (Note the ’s’ at the end of ’https’). To make Gmail use an encrypted HTTPS connection always and automatically: Follow the Settings link in Gmail. Go to the General category. Make sure ’Always use https’ is selected under Browser connection. Click Save Changes.
Secure your Gmail account
Worried that someone else might be reading your e-mails from the cyber cafe you went to and forgot to log out from? No more. Gmail provides ’Sign out all other sessions’ facility. Scroll down to the bottom of Gmail page after login. Click on ’Details’.
Add a picture to your profile
If you add an image to your Gmail profile, it will automatically be shown when another Gmail user gets an e-mail from you, looks you up in their address book, or chats with you. Go to Settings > General > My Picture > Select a Picture. Use the Browse button to select the desired image from your computer, or Picasa web album.
Append your current location to outgoing e-mails
Your e-mails travel the world, and so do you. Gmail can place the location from which you write at the bottom of each outgoing email automatically. First go to Settings > General and set up your Signature. Then go to Settings > Labs > Enable Location in Signature > Save Changes. Now, when you compose an email, Gmail will add ’Sent from:’ followed by its best guess for your current location to your signature. You can edit the town, state and country information, of course, or delete it altogether. Sender time zone Go to Settings > Labs and enable Sender Time Zone > Save Changes. After this you’ll see green phone icons next to people who are probably awake and readily reachable (if it’s between 9:00 am and 6:00 pm in the sender’s local time zone) and red ones next to those who could be sleeping or out of the office.
Clean up the inbox screen
Gmail has no preview pane like other e-mail programmes, but it has what it calls ’snippets’. The snippets show a few words from the message’s body so you can get a better idea what the message is about than from just the subject and sender alone. But if you prefer your inbox cleaner, you can avoid the snippets easily: Go to Settings > General > Snippets and enable ’No snippets’. Click Save Changes.
Create labels
Gmail has a flexible alternative to folders: labels. Each label operates like a folder. You can “open” the label and see all the messages in it. To create a label go to Settings > Labels > Create a new label. Type the desired name for the label. Click Create. To apply a label to a message (so the message shows up under the label): Check the message in the message list or open it. Click the Labels button. Click the desired label. To open a label: Expand the Labels box in the left column of Gmail. Click the desired label.
Spice up your inbox with colour and themes
Whether you spend hours using Gmail each day, or just 5 minutes checking your inbox, having a fun colour scheme can make it a more enjoyable experience. Go to Settings > Themes. Click on a theme that appeals to you, and Gmail will automatically apply it.
Print an individual message
If you open a message, Gmail automatically displays the complete thread. This is extremely useful as it lets you see the context immediately without having to search for previous correspondence. But if you follow the Print link from an e-mail, Gmail does the same. It displays all the messages in the thread, readily formatted for printing. But what if you don’t want to print all 37 messages, just one? Open the message. If the message is collapsed in a thread, click its headline to expand it. Click the down arrow next to Reply. Select Print from the menu.
Typing in Indian languages
Gmail now lets you type e-mails in Indian languages. If you’re in India, this feature is enabled by default. If not, turn it on in the ’Language’ section under ’Settings’. Once enabled, just click the Indian language icon and type words in the way they sound in English — Gmail will automatically convert them to their Indian language equivalent. Gmail currently support five Indian languages — Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam.
Use e-mail templates
First, go to Settings > Labs > Enable Canned Responses > Save Changes. To save a message as a template for future use, compose the message. You can leave both the Subject: and To: fields empty. They are not saved together with the template. (The subject, if you enter one, is suggested for the template name, though.). Click ’Canned Responses’ (beneath the subject line). Select ’New canned response’ under Save. Type the desired name for your template. Click OK. To send a canned message or reply: Start a new message or reply. Click ’Canned Responses’. Select the desired template under ’Open’. If prompted to overwrite what you have already typed in your message (and if you indeed want to replace it with the canned text), click OK. Make sure you fill the To: and Subject: fields. Edit the message as needed and click ’Send’.
Custom From
Gmail’s ’From:’ feature lets you send messages with any of your other e-mail addresses listed as the sender in place of your Gmail id. This makes it easier to manage multiple accounts from the Gmail interface. Go to Settings > Accounts > Send mail as, click on Add another e-mail address. Enter your name and the e-mail address you’d like to send mail from. Click Next Step and then click Send Verification. Gmail will send a verification message to your other email address to confirm that you own it. Open your other account and either click the link in the message Gmail sent or enter the confirmation code in the Accounts section of your Gmail settings. To use a custom ’From:’ address when composing a new message, pick an address from the drop-down menu in the ’From:’ field.
Get a Forgotten Attachment reminder
To get an alert from Gmail when you promise a file in your message but fail to attach any files: Go to Settings > Labs > Enable Forgotten Attachment Detector > Save Changes. This feature scans for words like “attachment”, “find attached” etc. to detect missing attachments.
Multiple attachments
To send a few files from the same folder, simply hold down the Ctrl key and click on each file you want to attach to your message. You can also hold down the Shift key to select a continuous list of files. You’ll not only save a few mouse clicks selecting files, but you’ll also see progress bars on each file as it uploads.
Insert an image inline
You can now stick a picture into your messages, not as an attachment, but so that others will see the image upon receipt. Enable the feature in Settings > Labs. Position your cursor where you want the image to appear. Click the Insert Image button on the toolbar. Select the desired image. (You can click Choose File again to add another image while others are already uploading in the background). Make sure the desired image is highlighted. Click Add Image.
Create events and invite guests
Gmail offers an easy way to create events from your inbox. If you’re reading an email that contains info you’d like to add to your Google Calendar, just follow these steps: Open the email. Select Create Event from the More actions drop-down menu. Edit and add event details as desired. Click Save Changes.
Google Calendar lets you create invitations for special events, send those invitations to friends, and keep track of responses and comments all in one place. To invite someone to your event: Go to Calendar in your Gmail account. Click on the event (or create a new event) and select ’edit event details’. In the ’Guests’ section, click on ’Add Guests’. Enter the email addresses of the guests, separated by commas. Click ’Save’. If you’d like to notify your guests of the event, click ’Send’.
Keep track of tasks
Keep track of what you need to do, right from within Gmail. To enable tasks, go to Settings > Labs. Click Save Changes. You’ll see a ’Tasks’ link, below the ’Contacts’ link. Enter a new task by just clicking in an empty part of your list and start typing. No buttons to click and it’s saved automatically. You can also convert emails into tasks: select one or more messages and go to More Actions > Add to Tasks.
Quick Tips
Compose messages in a new window Hold down the Shift key when clicking ’compose’ or ’reply’ to pop a separate window, and search and browse your existing mail in the parent window while you write. You may need to enable pop-up windows from the site if you get an alert/nothing happens.
Go invisible on Gchat Want to chat online, but not with everyone you know? Google has rolled out ’invisible mode’ on Gmail chat. You can appear offline, and still send and receive messages.
Get notified of new e-mail Use Google Notifier to get notified the next time a new mail pops in your inbox. It’ll show an alert above your system tray with a preview of who sent the mail with its subject. Click the alert to open that mail.
Previewing YouTube videos, Flickr, Picasa photos Gmail also allows you to preview YouTube videos, Flickr and Picasa photos right inside Gmail messages. Go to Settings > Labs. Enable the features.
Turn an e-mail into a Google doc Go to Settings > Labs, enable Create a document > Save Changes. No more copying and pasting text from your e-mail — just open the message you wish to convert, click the ’Create a document’ link on the right side of the page, and you have a new document which you can then modify.
Unsend an e-mail You can ’unsend’ an e-mail and recover from false recipients, spelling mistakes. Go to Settings > Labs > Enable Undo Send > Save Changes. After sending an e-mail, click Cancel or Undo when it appears.
