Official Gmail Blog
News, tips and tricks from Google's Gmail team and friends.
It's been real, 2009
December 23, 2009
Posted by Jason Toff, Associate Product Marketing Manager
Ah 2009...
turning five
, finally shedding that
beta
label, and adding more than 40 new features. As we wind down after a busy year, here's a look back at a handful of our favorite additions to Gmail. We hope you enjoy trying them out as much as we enjoyed building them.
Tasks
, onto your phone and out of Labs
An improved mobile experience, including
push Gmail
and a
complete redesign
Four new themes
to make Gmail sparkle
Offline Gmail
and its
graduation from Labs
Drag and drop labels
More fast previews, including
PowerPoint and TIFF
Multi-select attachments
for faster, smoother file sharing
A way to eliminate duplicate contacts with a
single button
More storage
for less moolah
Lots of new
labs experiments
, including
undo send
,
automatic message translation
, and "
Got the wrong bob?
"
On behalf of the entire Gmail team, happy holidays! See you next year.
One button to merge all duplicate contacts
December 15, 2009
Posted by Dominik Marcinski, Software Engineer
Managing a big address book can be a challenge, so it's no surprise that the top request for Google contacts is a fast, easy way to merge duplicate contacts. You've been able to
merge contacts one-by-one for a while
, but now we've added a single button that merges all your duplicate contacts at once. To clean up your contact list in one fell swoop, just click the "Find duplicates" button in the contact manager, review the merge suggestions (and uncheck any suggestions you don't want merged), and hit the "Merge" button.
If you've been considering getting all your contacts into Gmail or syncing your Gmail contacts to your phone, now's the time to do it. As we've written about previously, you can
sync your contacts
to a wide variety of devices (including Android, iPhone, Blackberry, SyncML, etc). So if you were dreading spending hours getting your contacts in order, now you can do it with a couple clicks.
More Russian Gmail videos
December 15, 2009
Posted by Maya Moufarek, Regional Marketing Manager
Recently, I reunited with some colleagues in our Moscow office (the same team that brought you this
Gmail art video
last year) on a set of animated videos showcasing some of Gmail's features: messages grouped into conversations, great spam protection, built-in video chat, offline access, and themes. Some of the humor in these videos may be uniquely Russian — they revolve around a character who imagines what the world would be like if everyday objects worked like Gmail, like this video that compares unthreaded conversations to a mess of laundry:
In case the Russian version is too confusing, we've translated all the videos into English
here
.
New in Labs: Mark unread from here
December 14, 2009
Posted by Jenny Ross, Software Engineer
I subscribe to a lot of really active mailing lists. Oftentimes, an email in my inbox will get dozens of replies before I get a chance to start reading it. If I only have a few moments to look at a particularly long and interesting discussion, I'd like to start reading it then; later, when I have some more time, I'll pick up where I left off. However, if I mark the thread as unread, it will return to its
previously read state
without updating to show what I just read. When I come back to it, I'll have to search for the last thing I remember reading. If I star the first message I still want to read instead, I might not remember that it needs to be read when I'm in my inbox later (and when I do read it, I'll have to expand lots of messages before I can read the conversation properly).
There's a new feature in Gmail Labs that will help with this. When you enable Mark Unread From Here from the
Labs tab
under Settings, you'll see a new "Mark unread from here" option in the drop down menu found in the upper right-hand corner of messages.
Clicking this option on a message tells Gmail that you want that message to be the first one you see when you reopen the thread later, with all messages after it open for easy reading. So, when you leave partway through reading a long thread, figuring out where to start reading again is easy. Give it a try and
share your thoughts
.
Offline Gmail graduates from Labs
December 7, 2009
Posted by Aaron Whyte, Software Engineer
Almost a year ago, we launched
Offline Gmail in Gmail Labs
. By installing Offline Gmail, you're able to use the normal Gmail interface to read and write mail, search, and organize, even when there's no internet connection. And Flaky Connection mode speeds up Gmail when your connection is slow or unreliable.
Since we first launched in Labs, we've heard from a lot of you who tried Offline Gmail, and your feedback helped us make a lot of improvements. Aside from fixing bugs and making the whole offline experience smoother, we recently added two frequently requested features: an option to
choose which messages get downloaded for offline use
and the ability to
send attachments while offline
. Offline Gmail has proven particularly useful for business and schools making the switch to
Google Apps
from traditional desktop mail clients -- they're used to being able to access their mail whether or not they're online, and Offline Gmail brings this functionality right to the browser.
Now, we're happy to announce that Offline Gmail is graduating from Labs and becoming a regular part of Gmail. If you're already using it, then you're all set. While you'll no longer see it on the Labs tab, you can tweak your settings and turn it on and off from the Offline tab under Settings. If you'd like to get started with Offline Gmail on your computer now, here's how:
Click the "Settings" link in the top-right corner of Gmail.
Click the "Offline" tab.
Select "Enable Offline Mail for this computer."
Click "Save Changes" and follow the directions from there.
Thanks for all of the feedback over the last year -- and for putting up with the occasional bug or two. We're going to have a little toast, and then get right back to working on more improvements for 2010.
P.S. We received some interesting pictures in response to our call for photos of people using Gmail offline in our
last post
. Our favorite so far came from Ugo, who is at a
Saharawi
refugee camp in
south Algeria
, where he uses Gmail offline most of the time and connects via a satellite phone to our servers just once a day.
Happy holidays from the Picasa team
December 7, 2009
Posted by Zach Yeskel, Product Marketing Manager
Three weeks ago we made extra storage for Gmail and Picasa Web Albums
more affordable
, and now
we've partnered with Eye-Fi
to make it even easier to get your photos into the cloud. Eye-Fi offers WiFi-enabled memory cards which make your existing camera wireless, so it's easy to upload photos and videos right to Picasa Web Albums or to your computer -- no cables required. For a limited time, when you
buy 200 GB of Google paid storage for $50, you'll get a free Eye-Fi card
(a $95 value).
Visit
picasa.google.com/eyefi.html
to get yours today, and happy holidays from the Picasa team!
Spread some holiday cheer, one card at a time
December 2, 2009
Posted by Jason Toff, Associate Product Marketing Manager
Update (12/6)
: We're all out of free cards, but if you're feeling crafty, you can still
print and cut out your own
.
Every year around this time I start thinking about the annual holiday email I send to friends and family members. I usually email my mom, dad, sister, friends and co-workers. But the one person who appreciates my season's greetings the most — my grandma — is stuck in the pre-digital age of snail mail. Of course, I could go to a store, aimlessly wander through the aisles, choose a card, wait in line to pay for it, go to the post office, pick up some stamps, etc., etc. — but wouldn't it be so much easier just to fill out a form and have Gmail handle the rest?
This holiday season, as a token of our appreciation to our most enthusiastic fans, we'll snail-mail a free holiday postcard on your behalf. Yes, through the mail and everything.
To send a card, visit
gmail.com/holidaycard
. We'll only be able to send cards to US addresses and to a limited number of people (due to limited Gmail elf availability), so be sure to request one soon.
And if you're headed home for the holidays, consider spending some "computer time" with loved ones who aren't as up-to-date with technology. With some luck, maybe this time next year you'll be able to
email
them a holiday card instead!
Wishing a happy holiday to you and yours!
New in Labs: Default text styling
December 1, 2009
Posted by Darren Lewis, Software Engineer and Jon Kotker, former Software Engineering Intern
In the early days of email, messages were simple text meant to be read on a terminal. But with the growth of the web came the advent of HTML email, and overnight people began expressing themselves through bold and italics, colors and images, and whatever else their creativity inspired.
If you like to use a specific text style for your messages, you've had to change the font every time you're about to start typing out an email. Now, you can turn on default text styling from the
Labs tab
, then go to Settings and set your preferences just once.
Try it out and
tell us
what you think. If you live and breathe code, now you can set your default text style to a monospace font. If your life is purple, your email can be, too. But remember: whatever you see is what your recipients will see, so be nice to them and try not to clog the intertubes with ginormous bold italicized red script. ;)
Send attachments while offline
November 24, 2009
Posted by Andy Palay, Software Engineer
One of the most requested features for Offline Gmail has been the ability to include attachments in messages composed while offline. Starting today, attachments work just the way you would expect them to whether you are online or offline (with the exception that when you're offline you won't be able to include inline images). Just add the attachment and send your message.
If you have Offline Gmail enabled, you'll notice that all your mail now goes through the outbox, regardless of whether you're online or offline. This allows Gmail to capture all attachments, even if you suddenly get disconnected from network. If you're online, your mail will quickly be sent along to its destination.
If you haven't tried offline access yet, visit the
Labs tab
and follow these instructions to get started:
Select Enable next to Offline Gmail.
Click Save Changes.
After your browser reloads, you'll see a new "Offline" link in the upper righthand corner of the Gmail page, next to your username. Click this link to start the offline set up process and download Gears if you don't already have it.
Now that you can send attachments while offline, we'd love to see pictures of you using Gmail in unusual places while you're disconnected from the web. Pictures of you using Gmail in an airplane, igloo, or submarine are all welcome. Email your photo to hikingfan@gmail.com and we'll post the most interesting ones here.
New in Labs: Green robot icon
November 18, 2009
Posted by Chad Yoshikawa, Software Engineer
Gmail
chat status
(those green, orange, and red bubbles) indicates if your friends are online or not. But sometimes my buddies appear green when they're not really "online online" — they just have chat open on their Android phones.
Turn on Green Robot, a new experiment in Gmail
Labs
, and you'll see a robot icon next to people who are currently using Android phones. In the case below, Shirley is online with Android, Nicolle R. is using regular Gmail chat, and Chris I. is currently away but also on Android. Slatka is not an angry robot — she's online with Android but currently busy.
These icons can help you decide whether to tailor your conversation to the type of device that your chat buddy is using. For example, when you know the guy on the other end is using his Android phone, you may decide to send shorter, more concise chat messages.
When your chat buddies log into Gmail, their presence icons will revert to the traditional red, green, and orange status bubbles. In addition, if your chat buddy happens to be logged into both Gmail and Android chat then the traditional Gmail status icons will be shown. Try it out and
let us know
what you think.
More extra storage for less
November 10, 2009
Posted by Elvin Lee, Software Engineer
When Gmail
launched
five years ago, it came with a gigabyte of storage space. A gigabyte doesn't seem like very much any more, and now every Gmail account comes with more than seven gigs of space (and
growing
). Still, some people manage to use up all of this (that's a lot of email...), so for over two years
we've offered
the option to purchase even more storage. This extra storage acts as an overflow that you only start using when you reach the limit of your free storage, and is shared for use between Gmail and Picasa Web Albums. Picasa has always come with a gigabyte of free storage to share photos, but people need even more storage as they start taking more pictures and moving full resolution backups of their photo collection into the cloud.
While storage costs have been
dropping naturally
, we've also been working hard to improve our infrastructure to reduce costs even further. Today, we're dramatically lowering our prices to make extra storage more affordable. You can now buy 20 GB for only $5 a year, twice as much storage for a quarter of the old price, and enough space for more than 10,000 full resolution pictures taken with a five megapixel camera. And if you need more than 20 GB, you can purchase up to 16 terabytes!
So if you're running out of space in your overflowing inbox, or want to keep full resolution copies of thousands of photos, visit
www.google.com/accounts/PurchaseStorage
to see all the plans and to buy more storage.
Choose which messages get downloaded for offline use
November 4, 2009
Posted by Maria Khomenko, Software Engineer
Like an increasing number of people these days, I like to stay productive during my flights (even those without
wifi access
). A long flight is a perfect opportunity to go through everything in my inbox and catch up on older mail. I use Offline Gmail in Gmail Labs to access my mail while disconnected. However, up until now, Offline Gmail heuristically picked which messages get downloaded for offline use. This meant that sometimes not enough mail from my Inbox would be available, but the Chat logs that I certainly didn't need on the flight would be there.
From now on, once you enable Offline Gmail from the
Labs tab
under Settings, you can choose which messages get downloaded. On the Offline tab under Settings, you'll see your current settings and be able to set how much mail you want to download from each of your labels. I chose to download everything in my Inbox and important labels, as well as recent messages from the last month from other labels.
When you hit save, Gmail will synchronize new messages you didn't have downloaded before and remove the ones you're not planning to read from your hard drive. You can always change your settings back to keep fewer or more messages later on -- fewer messages means Offline Gmail runs faster. Questions or comments?
Let us know
!
Gmail account security tips
October 27, 2009
Posted by Sarah Price, Online Operations Strategist
As part of
National Cyber Security Awareness Month
, we recently posted about
how to pick a smart password
. Having a strong password goes a long way in helping to protect your data, but there are a number of additional steps you can take to help you keep your Gmail account secure:
1. Remember to sign out.
Especially when using a public computer, be careful to
sign out of your Google account
when you're finished. Just click the "Sign out" link at the top right corner of your inbox. If you're using a public or shared computer and want to be extra thorough, you can also
clear the browser's cache, cookies and history
. Then, completely close the browser. On your personal computer, you can also lock your computer with a password-protected screensaver if you need to step away momentarily. Learn the best ways to lock your screen in
Windows
or in
Mac OS X
. Forgot to sign out? Open up a new Gmail session on another computer and use Gmail's
remote sign out feature
to close any sessions that might still be open elsewhere.
2. Be careful about sending certain sensitive information via email.
Once you send an email, you're no longer in control of the information it contains. The recipients, if they so choose, could forward the email or post its contents in a public place. Even if you know and trust the people you're emailing, that information may become exposed if their accounts become compromised or they get a virus on their machines. As a rule of thumb, should you need to provide a credit card number or financial account number to respond to a message, provide it over the phone or in person — not over email. And never share your password with anyone. Google does not email you to ask you for your password, your social security number, or other personal information — so don't send it!
3. Enable "Always use HTTPS."
Any time you visit a webpage, your computer needs to send and receive information across the Internet. HTTPS is used to encrypt data as it is transmitted between computers on the Internet, so look for the "https" in the URL bar of your browser to indicate that the connection between your computer and Gmail's servers is encrypted. We use HTTPS on the Gmail login page, and you can
choose to protect your entire Gmail session with HTTPS
as well. HTTPS can make your mail slower, so we let you make the choice for yourself. Open
Settings
and choose "
Always use HTTPS
" on the General tab if you want to turn it on.
4. Be wary of unexpected attachments.
To help protect you from viruses and malware,
Gmail automatically scans every attachment
when it's delivered to you, and again each time you open a message. Attachments you send are also scanned. That said, no system is foolproof, so if you happen to get an email from a friend with an attachment you didn't expect, don't be afraid to ask the sender what it is before you decide whether to open it.
5. Make sure your account recovery information is up-to-date.
Your
account recovery information
helps you regain access to your account if you ever forget your password, or if someone gains access to your account without your permission. We currently offer several paths to account recovery. Every Gmail user must select a
security question and answer
— be sure to choose a combination that is easy for you to remember, but hard for others to guess or come across by investigating. Don't choose a question like "What is my favorite color?" as others may easily guess the answer. We also encourage you to provide a secondary email address and/or a
mobile phone number
, so we can send you a link to reset your password if you lose access to your account.
You can find additional security tips for Gmail in our
Help Center
. Learn more about protecting your computer, website, and personal information by checking out our
security series on the Google blog
or visiting
http://www.staysafeonline.org
.
What's new with Gmail on iPhone and Android
October 26, 2009
Posted by Heaven Kim, Product Marketing Manager, Google Mobile
Back in April, we
released
a new version of Gmail for mobile, re-designed to be faster, more usable, and offer basic offline support on iPhone and Android devices. The improvements we made to its underlying architecture have made it possible for us to rapidly release new features and further improve performance since then.
Over the last six months, we've added a lot:
mute
,
label management
,
keyboard shortcuts
,
smart links
, an
outbox
, and the ability to
move
messages (label and archive in one step). Some new features, like
swipe-to-archive
and
auto-expanding compose boxes
, take advantage of these mobile phones' unique properties. We also made
address auto-complete faster
,
enhanced refresh
capabilities, and sped up loading so Gmail for mobile starts in under three seconds on newer smartphones.
We'll continue to add more functionality —and there's no need to download or update anything as long as you have iPhone/iPod touch OS 2.2.1 or above or are using an Android-powered device. Just go to
gmail.com
from your mobile browser as you do on your PC. To make it easy to access your Gmail account, try creating a
home screen link
.
New in Labs: Google Docs previews
October 15, 2009
Posted by Steven Saviano, Software Engineer
Being an avid
Google Docs
user, I receive a ton of emails with links to documents that my co-workers and friends share with me. From technical design documents at work to my roommate's expenses spreadsheet, my inbox is full of document links that I need to view as I reply to my mail.
Opening these links in another tab or window is kind of annoying, plus it can be tough to keep the context of the email in mind while viewing the document.
Starting today, you can preview the contents of a Google document, spreadsheet, or presentation right in your Gmail inbox — just like you've already been able to do with
YouTube videos, Yelp reviews, and Picasa and Flickr albums
. Gmail will automatically detect when you receive a document link and display the name and type of doc below the email.
Just click "Show preview" and the contents of the document will display right there — no need to switch back and forth between email response and document.
To enable Google Docs previews, go to the
Labs tab
under Settings.
Let us know what you think
and what else you'd like to see while viewing docs in Gmail.
New in Labs: Got the wrong Bob?
October 13, 2009
Posted by Ari Leichtberg, Software Engineer and Yossi Matias, Head of Israel Engineering Center
When's the last time you got an email from a stranger asking, "Are you sure you meant to send this to
me
?" and promptly realized that you didn't? Sometimes these little mistakes are actually quite painful. Hate mail about your boss to your boss? Personal info to some random guy named Bob instead of Bob the HR rep? Doh!
"Got the wrong Bob?" is a new Labs feature aimed at sparing you this kind of embarrassment. Turn it on from the
Labs tab
under Gmail Settings, and based on the groups of people you email most often, Gmail will try to identify when you've accidentally included the wrong person — before it's too late.
If you normally email Bob Smith together with Tim and Angela, but this time you added Bob Jones instead, we'll warn you that it might be a mistake. Note that this only works if you're emailing more than two people at once.
While we were at it, we also changed the name of "
Suggest more recipients
" to "Don't forget Bob" — the two related Labs features just kind of went together better this way.
If you want to test "Got the wrong Bob?" out, try faking a mistake like this:
1) Think of three people you often email together.
2) Compose a message to two of them.
3) Start typing the third member of the group (for help you can use one of the people we suggest in "Don't forget Bob"), but then
auto-complete
on the wrong name.
If you have suggestions
please let us know
. And if "Got the wrong Bob?" happens to save you from making a really bad mistake, we want to hear about that too.
Getting Gmail on your phone
October 12, 2009
Posted by Shyam Seth, Product Manager, Google Mobile
Checking Gmail on your phone isn't reserved for those of us with extra fancy mobile devices — sure, it's easier to use Gmail when your iPhone has a
touchscreen
or there's a
downloadable app built especially for your BlackBerry
, but Gmail is available on almost all mobile devices today. If your phone has a data plan, it can get Gmail. There are two main ways to check your messages on the go:
(1) Go to gmail.com in your mobile browser
The easiest way to check Gmail from your phone is to go to gmail.com in your device's mobile browser. That opens a version of Gmail built especially for small screens, where you can see messages grouped into conversations, search through your mail, or flag important messages with stars. On some devices (iPhone and Android), Gmail offers some additional features like the ability to add and remove labels and basic offline support.
Text the link to your phone
to get started.
(2) Use your phone's built in email application
Many mobile devices come with native mail applications pre-installed. Setting up Gmail to work with them is usually pretty straight-forward and there is often a wizard to help. If you have an iPhone or Windows Mobile device, you can get
push Gmail using Google Sync
. Otherwise, you can set things up using IMAP with these
step-by-step directions for specific devices
. Depending on your particular phone, you may notice features such as search, conversations, and stars missing. On the plus side, these applications tend to start up quickly and work even when you're not connected to the internet.
For more information, check out this new
beginner's guide
.
Choosing a smart password
October 6, 2009
Posted by Michael Santerre, Consumer Operations Associate
As part of
National Cyber Security Awareness Month
, we'd like to take this opportunity to remind you about smart password practices. Help ensure you're protecting your computer, website, and personal information by checking out our
security series on the Google blog
or visiting
http://www.staysafeonline.org
.
Phishing, a topic that's been in the news, is unfortunately a common way for hackers to trick you into sharing personal information like your account password. If you suspect you've been a victim of a phishing attack, we recommend you immediately change your password, update the security question and secondary address on your account, and make sure you're using a modern browser with anti-phishing protection turned on. Keep an eye out for the
phishing warning
Gmail adds to suspicious messages, and be sure to review these tips on
how to avoid getting hooked
.
Creating a new password is often one of the first recommendations you hear when trouble occurs. Even a great password can't keep you from being scammed, but setting one that's memorable for you and that's hard for others to guess is a smart security practice since weak passwords can be easily guessed. Below are a few common problems we've seen in the past and suggestions for making your passwords stronger.
Problem 1: Re-using passwords across websites
With a constantly growing list of services that require a password (email, online banking, social networking, and shopping websites — just to name a few), it's no wonder that many people simply use the same password across a variety of accounts. This is risky: if someone figures out your password for one service, that person could potentially gain access to your private email, address information, and even your money.
Solution 1: Use unique passwords
It's a good idea to use unique passwords for your accounts, expecially important accounts like email and online banking. When you create a password for a site, you might think of a phrase you associate with the site and use an abbreviation or variation of that phrase as your password — just don't use the actual words of the site. If it's a long phrase, you can take the first letter of each word. To make this word or phrase more secure, try making some letters uppercase, and swap out some letters with numbers or symbols. As an example, the phrase for your banking website could be "How much money do I have?" and the password could be "#m$d1H4ve?" (Note: since we're using them here, please don't adopt any of the example passwords in this post for yourself.)
Problem 2: Using common passwords or words found in the dictionary
Common passwords include simple words or phrases like "password" or "letmein," keyboard patterns such as "qwerty" or "qazwsx," or sequential patterns such as "abcd1234." Using a simple password or any word you can find in the dictionary makes it easier for a would-be hijacker to gain access to your personal information.
Solution 2: Use a password with a mix of letters, numbers, and symbols
There are only 26^8 possible permutations for an 8-character password that uses just lowercase letters, while there are 94^8 possible permutations for an 8-character password that uses a combination of mixed-case letters, numbers, and symbols. That's over 6 quadrillion more possible variations for a mixed password, which makes it that much harder for anyone to guess or crack.
Problem 3: Using passwords based on personal data
We all share information about ourselves with our friends and coworkers. The names of your spouse, children, or pets aren't usually all that secret, so it doesn't make sense to use them as your passwords. You should also stay away from birth dates, phone numbers, or addresses.
Solution 3: Create a password that's hard for others to guess
Choose a combination of letters, numbers, or symbols to create a unique password that's unrelated to your personal information. Or, select a random word or phrase, and insert letters and numbers into the beginning, middle, and end to make it extra difficult to guess (such as "sPo0kyh@ll0w3En").
Problem 4: Writing down your password and storing it in an unsecured place
Some of us have enough online accounts that we may need to write our passwords down somewhere, at least until we've learned them well.
Solution 4: Keep your password reminders in a secret place that isn't easily visible
Don't leave notes with your passwords to various sites on your computer or desk. People who walk by can easily steal this information and use it to compromise your account. Also, if you decide to save your passwords in a file on your computer, create a unique name for the file so people don't know what's inside. Avoid naming the file "my passwords" or something else obvious.
Problem 5: Recalling your password
When choosing smart passwords like these, it can often be more difficult to remember your password when you try to sign in to a site you haven't visited in a while. To get around this problem, many websites will offer you the option to either send a password-reset link to your email address or answer a security question.
Solution 5: Make sure your password recovery options are up-to-date and secure
You should always make sure you have an up-to-date email address on file for each account you have, so that if you need to send a password reset email it goes to the right place.
Many websites will ask you to choose a question to verify your identity if you ever forget your password. If you're able to create your own question, try to come up with a question that has an answer only you would know. The answer shouldn't be something that someone can guess by scanning information you've posted online in social networking profiles, blogs, and other places.
If you're asked to choose a question from a list of options, such as the city where you were born, you should be aware that these questions are likely to be less secure. Try to find a way to make your answer unique — you can do this by using some of the tips above, or by creating a convention where you always add a symbol after the 2nd character in the answer (e.g. in@dianapolis) — so that even if someone guesses the answer, they won't know how to enter it properly.
New in Labs: Hide read labels
September 25, 2009
Posted by David de Kloet, Software Engineer
A lot of people want to see their labels in order to see which ones have unread messages, but they don't want a long list of label names cluttering up the left hand side of their inboxes. To help out with this, we've made a Gmail Labs feature called "Hide read labels." Turn it on from the
Labs tab
under Settings and all your labels without unread messages will be hidden under the "More" menu. Labels with unread messages will automatically show up, unless you've explicitly chosen to keep them hidden.
This is particularly handy if you use your inbox as a to-do list where unread messages are the outstanding things you need to take care of. If you use that method along with labels like "Home" and "Project X," it's easy to see all your to-dos in context. With this Labs feature on, labels with outstanding to-dos will be bold and have a number next to them; everything else will be hidden in the "11 more" section:
We think this is a nice addition to the new
labels navigation bar
and hope you like it. Tell us what you think in the
Gmail Labs forum
.
Push Gmail for iPhone and Windows Mobile
September 22, 2009
Posted by Marcus Foster, Product Manager, Google Mobile
Those of you who live in your Gmail inboxes usually want to know what's happening with your email more instantly than standard fetch mail on your phone allows. Sure, using Gmail in your mobile browser gives you all the benefits of conversation threading and starring, but you still have to refresh every time you want to check for new mail.
When we
launched Google Sync
for Contacts and Google Calendar earlier this year, an over-the-air, always-on connection to sync mail was noticeably absent. We heard
your
requests
loud and clear, and starting today you can use
Google Sync
to get your Gmail messages pushed directly to your iPhone, iPod Touch, or Windows Mobile device.
You can set up push Gmail by itself or choose to sync your Contacts and/or Calendar as well. If you're using an iPhone, make sure you're running iPhone OS version 3.0 or above (on your device, click Settings > General > About and scroll down until you see Version). If your software is out of date, follow
Apple's upgrade instructions
. Then, visit
m.google.com/sync
from your computer for set up instructions. If you're already using Google Sync, you can just enable push mail.
Once you're set up, new messages are normally pushed to your phone within seconds. While this type of speed is pretty awesome, push connections tend to use more power than fetching at intervals, so don't be surprised if your battery life isn't quite what it used to be. We've done a lot of work to optimize power usage, but if you prefer to save battery life, you can always turn off push in your phone's settings and fetch mail every 30 or 60 minutes instead.
New in Labs: Play Google Voice messages in Gmail
September 9, 2009
Posted by Vincent Paquet, Google Voice Product Manager
Google Voice
helps you manage your communications with a unique phone number that rings all your existing phones, a single voicemail inbox with online access and automated transcription, and
lots of handy features
like the ability to block spammy calls and easily record personalized greetings for your callers. Think of it as Gmail for your phone calls and text messages (watch this
video
to learn more). Google Voice is currently available via invitation, which you can request
here
.
For those of you who already use Google Voice, you're probably used to receiving voicemail notifications via email. A couple of minutes after someone leaves a voicemail on your Google Voice number, you'll receive an email showing who called, an automated transcript of the voicemail, and a link to play the message. You can click the link to listen to the message right from your computer.
Previously, clicking "Play message" opened a new page in your browser, but starting today, you can play voicemails right in Gmail. Just turn on the Google Voice player from the
Gmail Labs tab
under Settings and whenever you get a voicemail notification, the player will appear right below the message itself.
Best of all, your message status will stay synced: messages played from Gmail will appear as read in your Google Voice inbox and won't be played again when you check new messages via your phone. If you already use Google Voice, try it out and
let us know
what you think. If you don't have a Google Voice account yet,
sign up for an invitation
and we'll get you one ASAP.
Four new themes
September 3, 2009
Posted by Jake Knapp, UI Designer and Manu Cornet, Software Engineer
Manu
: Hey Jake, you still using that same old theme?
Jake
: Well, yeah. I mean, I like it -- but I don't know... I guess it just doesn't feel as new as it used to.
Manu
: I hear ya. Well, good news! Today four new themes are out there for everybody. Just go to the
Themes tab under Settings
...and ta da!
Jake
: (click, click) There we go!
Manu
: Should we tell people about why we created these four themes?
Jake
: We should.
Manu
: Assuming they're still reading.
Jake
: Right. Okay, well,
Gmail themes
have been out since November, and I know we were ready for some new ones.
Manu
: And we heard some of you asking for new ones too. So we thought about what we wanted to stare at all day long, since we work on Gmail.
Jake
: I've been living in Zurich for the last year, and I missed Washington State, where I grew up. The Orcas Island theme definitely takes away a little bit of that homesickness with a new image each day of the week.
Manu
: Homesickness eh? What about timesickness?
Jake
: There's such a thing?
Manu
: Totally. Sometimes I find myself timesick.
Jake
: For when?
Manu
: For a simpler time. For a time when processors weren't too fast. When graphics weren't too realistic.
Jake
: Sounds like a real bummer. Too bad there's no cure for timesickness.
Manu
: That's where you're dead wrong, my friend. Take a look at High Score. It's like being in a time machine isn't it?
Jake
: (click, click) Aren't these colors a little bright?
Manu
: Aren't you supposed to be a designer?
Jake
: We'll have to agree to disagree, my friend. This one just isn't for me. I need something soothing. Something like laying face down in the grass.
Manu
: I suppose you're talking about Turf now. What's the story behind that one?
Jake
: Well, who doesn't like the color green?
Manu
: And it doesn't change every day, so it was easier for us to make.
Jake
: Are you suggesting we're lazy?
Manu
: Prove that we're not.
Jake
: We just made four new themes. How about that?
Manu
: It took us ten months. And the fourth theme (Random) merely cycles through all the others.
Jake
: Well, enjoy these themes for now. And, of course,
let us know
what you think. Maybe we'll have some more for you in the next ten months ;)
More ninja tips in more languages
September 3, 2009
Posted by Zach Yeskel, Product Marketing Manager
When we published the
Gmail tips guide
in July, we promised it would help you become a Gmail ninja. Now, if you want to become a Gmail ниндзя or 忍者, you can do that too: these tips are now available in
Spanish
,
French
,
Brazilian Portuguese
,
Japanese
,
Russian
, and
UK English
.
We've also added a handful of new tips to the English site, culled from suggestions you submitted. Some of the new tricks to help manage your email efficiently include
sending and receiving mail from multiple addresses
,
adding formatting to chat messages
, and
selecting multiple messages at once
using shift-select. Thanks to everyone who submitted ideas, and please
keep them coming
.
Update (1/12)
: The Gmail tips guide is also now available in
German
,
Italian
,
Polish
,
Dutch
,
Simplified Chinese
and
Traditional Chinese
.
New in Calendar: Sports schedules and contacts' birthdays
September 2, 2009
Posted by Ian Whitfield, Software Engineering Intern
People keep track of lots of things in their Google Calendars — meetings, business trips, due dates and conference calls. But when I started my summer internship at Google, I wondered why it wasn't easier to add calendar events for the fun stuff in life, like birthdays and sports schedules.
Now, when you look under "Other Calendars," click "Add," then "Browse Interesting Calendars" (or use this
link to the Calendar directory
), you'll find calendars for hundreds of teams in dozens of sports leagues — everything from the National Football League to the Korean FA Cup.
When you subscribe to your favorite team's calendar, you'll see every game listed, updated in real time with the score as the game progresses.
You can also subscribe to a "Contacts' Birthdays and Events" calendar, which will add all of your contacts' birthdays to Google Calendar. Data is pulled from your Gmail contacts and your friends' Google
profiles
.
Finally, we also have two new Calendar Labs features for you to check out: "Dim future repeating events" makes recurring meetings more transparent over time, helping more important meetings pop out, and "Add any gadget by URL" gives you the flexibility put any gadget you'd like in your calendar.
More on today's Gmail issue
September 1, 2009
Posted by Ben Treynor, VP Engineering and Site Reliability Czar
Gmail's web interface had a widespread outage earlier today, lasting about 100 minutes. We know how many people rely on Gmail for personal and professional communications, and we take it very seriously when there's a problem with the service. Thus, right up front, I'd like to apologize to all of you — today's outage was a Big Deal, and we're treating it as such. We've already thoroughly investigated what happened, and we're currently compiling a list of things we intend to fix or improve as a result of the investigation.
Here's what happened: This morning (Pacific Time) we took a small fraction of Gmail's servers offline to perform routine upgrades. This isn't in itself a problem — we do this all the time, and Gmail's web interface runs in many locations and just sends traffic to other locations when one is offline.
However, as we now know, we had slightly underestimated the load which some recent changes (ironically, some designed to improve service availability) placed on the request routers — servers which direct web queries to the appropriate Gmail server for response. At about 12:30 pm Pacific a few of the request routers became overloaded and in effect told the rest of the system "stop sending us traffic, we're too slow!". This transferred the load onto the remaining request routers, causing a few more of them to also become overloaded, and within minutes nearly all of the request routers were overloaded. As a result, people couldn't access Gmail via the web interface because their requests couldn't be routed to a Gmail server. IMAP/POP access and mail processing continued to work normally because these requests don't use the same routers.
The Gmail engineering team was alerted to the failures within seconds (we take monitoring very seriously). After establishing that the core problem was insufficient available capacity, the team brought a LOT of additional request routers online (flexible capacity is one of the advantages of Google's architecture), distributed the traffic across the request routers, and the Gmail web interface came back online.
What's next: We've turned our full attention to helping ensure this kind of event doesn't happen again. Some of the actions are straightforward and are already done — for example, increasing request router capacity well beyond peak demand to provide headroom. Some of the actions are more subtle — for example, we have concluded that request routers don't have sufficient failure isolation (i.e. if there's a problem in one datacenter, it shouldn't affect servers in another datacenter) and do not degrade gracefully (e.g. if many request routers are overloaded simultaneously, they all should just get slower instead of refusing to accept traffic and shifting their load). We'll be hard at work over the next few weeks implementing these and other Gmail reliability improvements — Gmail remains more than 99.9% available to all users, and we're committed to keeping events like today's notable for their rarity.
Today's Gmail problems
September 1, 2009
Posted by David Besbris, Engineering Director
Update (2:37 pm)
: We've fixed the issue, and Gmail should be back up and running as usual. We're still investigating the root cause of this outage, and we'll share more information soon. Thanks for bearing with us.
We know many of you are having trouble accessing Gmail right now — we are too, and we definitely feel your pain. We don't usually post about minor issues here (the
Apps status dashboard
and the
Gmail Help Center
are usually where this kind of information goes). Because this is impacting so many of you, we wanted to let you know we're currently looking into the issue and hope to have more info to share here shortly. If you have
IMAP
or
POP
set up already, you should be able to access your mail that way in the meantime. We're terribly sorry for the inconvenience and will get Gmail back up and running as soon as possible.
Find great stuff to read in Google Reader
August 28, 2009
Posted by Zach Yeskel, Product Marketing Manager
Have you ever clicked the "Reader" link at the top of your Gmail inbox and ended up in
Google Reader
, kind of unsure about what to do next?
We realize this happens from time to time, so to help people get started with Reader, we asked a bunch of prominent journalists, techies, fashion critics, and foodies for their lists of favorite sites and blogs. We compiled their reading lists and
made them accessible
to everyone at
google.com/powerreaders
, where you can explore and subscribe to lists from
Thomas Friedman
,
Arianna Huffington
,
Paul Krugman
, the editors of
Lifehacker
,
Boing Boing
,
Kottke.org
, and many more.
Whether you're new to Google Reader or already have an extensive reading list, we hope this will be a good place to find great stuff to read. And if you want to
create your own reading list
to share with others, you can do that too.
Composing a message? Try the contact chooser
August 25, 2009
Posted by Benjamin Grol, Product Manager
When composing messages, you probably rely pretty heavily on
auto-complete
to add recipients. Auto-complete is convenient and fast, and usually does the trick. But sometimes seeing your list of contacts can help you remember all the people you want to include on your email. So, we've added a contact chooser to Gmail. Click the "To:" link (or Cc:/Bcc:) when composing a message and you'll see something like this:
You can click on the contacts you want to add or search for others.
If you use contact
groups
, your groups will appear in a drop-down menu in the contact chooser, so you can select contacts from the groups you've already created. And if you happen to use Gmail in Chinese, Japanese or Korean, being able to pick from your list of contacts should be particularly useful since auto-complete doesn't offer the same search as you type experience that it does in other languages.
Email a task list
August 21, 2009
Posted by Michael Bolin, Software Engineer
Sometimes you need to get your tasks out of Tasks. Although you already know
how I feel about paper
, we decided to add support for printing with
Tasks's graduation from Gmail Labs
. Today we're offering another export solution which doesn't kill trees: emailing a task list.
Like most Tasks features, "Email task list" can be found in the Actions menu.
Clicking on it will open a new compose window with the contents of your current task list. This works in all views (my order, sort by date, completed), so to email your mom to explain why you've been so busy and haven't been able to return her calls, just choose "View completed tasks" from the Actions menu, then "Email task list" and send away. (Note: this may not be very convincing if you haven't actually checked anything off your list recently.)
If you want to let us know how Tasks is working for you, we're now available on Twitter at
http://twitter.com/googletasks
. Like most
Google accounts on Twitter
, we won't be able to respond to every question or feature request, but sometimes you might get lucky and we'll have an answer for you. Oh and
@sayanghosh
, today is your lucky day.
Mail and contact import for everyone
August 19, 2009
Posted by Marcin Brodziak, Software Engineer
A few months ago, we added the ability to
import your old mail and contacts to Gmail
. We made this feature available for all newly-created Gmail accounts first, since people new to Gmail benefit most from being able to move their stuff with them. Friends who wanted to use Gmail but kept telling us how painful it would be finally made the switch!
But many old time Gmail users (including us) also have old accounts lurking. Often, these accounts predate Gmail, and occasionally we have to log into them to look at some old confirmation email or find the email address for someone with whom we've lost touch.
Now, with just a few clicks anyone can copy all of that to your Gmail account. It's easy — just go to the
Settings > Accounts & Import
page and click "Import mail and contacts." A window will pop out to lead you through the short import process. If you want us to continue to forward any new mail your other account gets for 30 days, we can do that too.
Copying mail over usually takes a couple days, occasionally up to a week — but eventually it all arrives. And once it's done, you can forget your old account and enjoy having everything in one place.
New in Labs: Hide labels, see subject lines on netbooks
August 4, 2009
Posted by Christopher Semturs, Software Engineer
Some time ago I bought a netbook. It's perfect in terms of portability, weight and space usage, but the natural drawback is the size of the screen. It's so small that sometimes I find it hard to read the subjects of emails in my inbox. It looks something like this:
Now, there are some ways to work around this, like using Google Chrome's
full screen mode
, but I wanted a way to do more. So I created a new Gmail Labs feature called "Remove Labels from Subjects" that automatically hides the labels from messages in your inbox, leaving plenty of space for the messages' subjects.
To turn it on, just go to the
Labs tab under Settings
and look for the following icon:
Enjoy the new screen real estate and
tell us
what you think!
Send mail from another address without "on behalf of"
July 30, 2009
Posted by Emmanuel Pellereau, Software Engineer
Quite a few of you use Gmail's
custom "From:"
to send messages with one of your other email addresses listed in place of your Gmail address. Since these messages are sent by Gmail's servers but "from" a non-Gmail address, we have to include your original Gmail username in the "Sender" field of the message header to comply with mail delivery protocols and help prevent your mail from being marked as spam. Most email programs just display the "From" address and not the "Sender" field, but some (including versions of Microsoft Outlook) show these messages as coming "From username@gmail.com On Behalf Of customaddress@mydomain.com" which really annoyed people.
We heard your request for another option that wouldn't show the "on behalf of" text loud and clear, and now there's a new option that does just that. Instead of using Gmail's servers to send the message, we'll use the servers where your other email address lives. Since Gmail isn't the originating domain, we don't have to include "Sender" info in the header. No more "on behalf of."
Here's the difference. All custom "From:" addresses used to work like this:
Now, if your other email provider supports POP and/or IMAP access, you can choose to send your message like this instead:
To switch to this new method, go to the
Accounts page under Settings
, and click "edit info" from the "Send mail as" section. Then choose the option to "Use your other email provider's SMTP servers."
We recognize that your other address might not have a server that you can use to send outbound messages — for example, if you use a forwarding alias rather than an actual mailbox, or if your other email provider doesn't support
authenticated SMTP
, or restricts access to specific IP ranges. For this reason, we've kept the original method as well. Check out our
Help Center
for further details on these two "send mail as" configuration options.
If you use
Google Apps
Premier or Education edition and would like to send mail as another address within your domain or within an aliased domain, no sweat. We do all the work behind the scenes so your original username won't be listed in the "Sender" header, and your recipients won't see "on behalf of."
Unsubscribing made easy
July 23, 2009
Posted by Brad Taylor, Gmail Spam Czar
We believe you should only get the mail you want to get. Some of you already use the "Report Spam" button on all kinds of unwanted email, and for that we're very
thankful
: the more spam you mark, the better our system gets at weeding out junk mail.
Unsubscribing from mailing lists and newsletters you subscribed to a while back but no longer want to receive should be just as easy. Searching through individual messages for little unsubscribe links is too big a pain —you should be able to unsubscribe with a single click.
So we just launched something that makes this all work better, both for Gmail users and big email senders. Now, when you report spam on a legitimate newsletter or mailing list, we'll help you unsubscribe. After clicking report spam, you'll see a little dialog like this:
Clicking "Unsubscribe" will automatically send a request back to the sender so they'll stop emailing you.
This only works for some senders right now. We're actively encouraging senders to support auto-unsubscribe — we think 100% should. We won't provide the unsubscribe option on messages from spammers: we can't trust that they'll actually unsubscribe you, and they might even send you more spam. So you'll only see the unsubscribe option for senders that we're pretty sure are not spammers and will actually honor your unsubscribe request. We're being pretty conservative about which senders to trust in the beginning; over time, we hope to offer the ability to unsubscribe from more email.
For those of you senders who are interested in this feature, the most basic requirements are including a standard "List-Unsubscribe" header in your email with a "mailto" URL and, of course, honoring requests from users wishing to unsubscribe. You'll also need to follow good sending practices, which in a nutshell means not sending unwanted email (see our
bulk sending guidelines
for more information).
With an easy way to unsubscribe, everybody wins. Your spam folder is smaller, and senders don't waste time sending you email that you no longer want.
Update (1:50pm)
: If you want to unsubscribe without reporting the message as spam, click "show details" in the top-right corner of the message, then click "Unsubscribe from this sender."
Submit a video: "So much email, so little time"
July 22, 2009
Posted by Sarah Price, Online Operations Strategist
Like many of us nowadays, I get a lot of email. So much email that going on vacation can be a little scary because I know I'll have a mountain to wade through when I get back. A few messages I receive each day are time-sensitive or very important — but only a few. Lots of my mail can wait a few hours or a few days or even a few weeks, or in the case of that mailing list I've always meant to unsubscribe from, forever.
Thankfully, Gmail has a lot of features that keep me organized, from filters to archiving to keyboard shortcuts to Tasks, as well as a whole bunch of Labs features, like Superstars. I've developed my own system for dealing with all my incoming mail, but I'm always curious to hear about how other people manage their messages.
If you're a Gmail expert and an organizational wizard, we want to see how you do it. So submit a short video at
youtube.com/gmail
to showcase your tips and tricks for managing your inbox. Submit a great one by August 15th, and your video could end up in our
Help Center
, our
forum
, or even on this very blog. And if you aren't into making your own video, check out the videos that others have submitted and let us know what you like.
You can discuss these videos in the
official thread
in our new forum. The
Gmail Help Forum
isn't just about "help" -- it's also a great place to connect with other Gmail users and share tips and tricks. We recently gave it a complete makeover, so if you haven't been there in a while, check it out.
Now displaying images in messages from your contacts
July 20, 2009
Posted by David de Kloet, Software Engineer
When an email references external images, Gmail usually doesn't display them automatically. Instead we show placeholders and present you with the option to "Display images below" or "Always display images from" that sender.
We do this to help protect your privacy from spammers, who can use images and links to verify that your email address is real.
But often the messages you get with images are from friends or family and there's no reason to worry about your privacy — you just want to see the photo of your newborn niece or the invitation design they're sending you. So, in these cases, we've decided to start displaying images by default. Now, whenever someone you've emailed at least twice sends you a message containing images, you'll see them right away. Note that we picked this threshold of two messages to start with, but we may tweak it if it doesn't seem right going forward. And we only display images by default for
authenticated
messages (using SPF or DKIM). Gmail and other big mail providers usually authenticate their mail, but other services might not, so it's possible you'll get an email from one of your contacts where images aren't displayed by default.
If you prefer to go back to the way things were, you can choose not to display images from certain senders or from anyone. To disable images from an individual sender, click "Don't display from now on" under the "Show details" link of an email from them with images. To disable images from everybody, select "Ask before displaying external content" under "External content" on the general Settings tab.
Tasks graduates from Gmail Labs
July 14, 2009
Posted by James Watts, Software Engineer
Our little baby's all grown up.
We
launched Gmail Labs
as a forum for delivering useful (and maybe
not so useful
) features that might not be quite ready for prime time. The idea was always that the most popular and viable Labs features would graduate and be made more readily available to all users...and that some of the less used, less viable ones would disappear forever.
I'm proud to announce that Tasks is in that first bucket — it's been one of the most popular experimental Gmail features and it's now the first graduate from Labs.
To access Tasks, starting today you can just click "Tasks" under the "Contacts" link above your chat list (no need to turn it on from the Labs tab anymore).
We've been continually improving Tasks since it
first launched
in Labs. We believe simple and fast is best, so we've been working to make Tasks more responsive and get basic interactions working better: we've added
mobile and gadget
views, made
improvements to task editing and management
, launched in
more languages
, and
integrated with Google Calendar
. We've also added a printable view for those people compelled to do things away from their computers or mobile devices.
Rest assured there's more on the way for Tasks— just because we're graduating from Labs today doesn't mean we're done.
We've received a lot of positive feedback about Gmail Labs, and we've found that testing something in Labs can be a good way to help decide whether it should become a regular part of Gmail. So we decided to extend the same model to
Google Calendar
. Beginning today, you can add Labs features to your calendar too, such as Free or Busy, which lets you see which of your friends or coworkers are currently in meetings or World Clock, which helps you keep track of different timezones when you schedule meetings. Take a look at the
Google Apps blog
for more info.
New in Labs: The super-trustworthy, anti-phishing key
July 13, 2009
Posted by Brad Taylor, Gmail Spam Czar
We're always looking for new ways to protect Gmail inboxes from spam and phishing. Last year, we started taking
extra steps to protect you from fake eBay and PayPal emails
, requiring that any email claiming to come from one of eBay's or PayPal's domains actually comes from them. We do that by looking at the "From" header, and when it says "ebay.com" for example, it means it really did come from
ebay.com
. Anything else is rejected; it won't even appear in your spam folder because Gmail won't accept it.
Now, unless you are a regular reader of this blog with a photographic memory, you may not be aware of this extra protection. So, we thought we'd add a little something to remind you. Turn on "Authentication icon for verified senders" from the
Labs tab under Settings
, and you'll see a key icon next to verified emails that are super-trustworthy.
"Super-trustworthy" is a technical term I just invented that means: (1) the sender, usually a financial institution, is a target of phishers, (2) all of the sender's email is authenticated with DKIM, and (3) Gmail rejects any fake messages that claim to come from this sender, but actually don't.
It's a bit of work for senders to make their email super-trustworthy, which is why this feature is limited to just eBay and PayPal right now. We hope to add more senders in the future, and when we do, you'll know because you'll see the super-trustworthy key icon magically appear by those senders too. Give it a whirl and
let us know
what you think.
Tip: Recover your password via text message
July 9, 2009
Posted by Cristelle Blackford, Online Operations Strategist
Even the best of us forget our passwords from time to time. In fact, recovering passwords is one of the top reasons people visit the
Gmail Help Center
. To help with these situations, we recently added the ability to recover your password via text message.
To turn this on for your account, just
sign in
, select 'Change Password Recovery Options,' enter your cell phone number and click 'Save.'
Next time you forget your password, enter your username on the
password-assistance page
, and Google will text you a recovery code. No need to check another email account or even leave the page.
In general, it's a good idea to add as many
password recovery options
to your Google Account as possible, like a secondary email address and security question. And don't forget to keep them up-to-date.
Gmail leaves beta, launches "Back to Beta" Labs feature
July 7, 2009
Posted by Keith Coleman, Gmail Product Director
We get asked all the time why Google keeps its products in beta for so long. And Gmail, five years after launch, is consistently a subject of this questioning, even of jokes.
Some people thought that once we
opened sign-ups
, Gmail should have come out of beta.
Others said that once we
integrated chat
, developed new
anti-spam technology
, expanded to
53 languages
, shipped a
mobile app
, added
group chat
, launched an
iPhone UI
, added a vacation autoresponder, launched
Gmail Labs
, subsequently modified the vacation autoresponder with a Gmail Lab, launched 48 other Labs, launched
video chat
, enabled open protocols and APIs (
POP
,
auto-forwarding
,
IMAP
, and the
Contacts Data API
), let you POP mail in from other accounts, added a delete button,
rearchitected our entire javascript code base
, and added
key functionality
to get large companies, startups, universities, and many other organizations (in addition to Google itself) running on Gmail, we should have come out of beta.
Some people think we should wait until we launch < one of ongoing secret projects >.
Others say that, over the last five years, a beta culture has grown around web apps, such that the very meaning of "beta" is debatable. And rather than the packaged, stagnant software of decades past, we're moving to a world of rapid developmental cycles where products like Gmail continue to change indefinitely.
The end result (many visible and invisible changes later) is that today, beta is a thing of the past. Not just for Gmail, but for all of
Google Apps
— Gmail, Calendar, Docs, and Talk.
However, we realize that after five years, this leaves some of you wrestling with some tough questions. How will you ever get used to using Gmail without that familiar grey "BETA" text greeting you when you log in everyday? What example will you cite the next time you make an internet joke about perpetual betas? Don't despair... for those of you long-time Gmail-ers who might feel some separation anxiety, we've got a solution. Just go to Settings, click on Labs, turn on "Back to Beta," and it'll be like Gmail never left beta at all.
Labels: drag and drop, hiding, and more
July 1, 2009
Posted by Damian Gajda, Software Engineer
A few months ago
Gmail got some new buttons and keyboard shortcuts
to make
labeling
easier, especially for those of you accustomed to that familiar folder feel. Now we're making some more changes to Gmail's labeling toolkit.
1) New location for labels
You'll notice your labels in a new location on the left of your inbox (or on the right, for those of you using the Arabic, Hebrew, or Urdu versions of Gmail). Instead of having their own section, your labels are now above your chat list, grouped together with Inbox, Drafts, Chats and other system labels.
2) Label hiding and showing
You now have control over which of your labels show. We've done our best to get you started by automatically showing the labels you use most and hiding the rest. Label hiding is my favorite new feature, since it saves me from having to look through labels I rarely use. If I ever need to reach any of my old labels, I just click the "more" link.
You can show, hide, or delete a label by clicking the down-arrow to the left of that label.
If you want to make a lot of changes at once, go to the
Labels tab under Settings
where you can edit labels in bulk.
For those of you who created label names like _stuff or ++todo++ to force your most-used labels to the top of the list (come on, you know who you are, I did it too...), you don't have to come up with clever tricks like that anymore ;)
3) Drag and drop
You can now drag messages into labels, just like you can with folders. This does the exact same thing as "Move to" — it labels and archives in one step.
You can drag labels onto messages too. It's the same thing as using the "Label" button. To label or move many messages at once, first select the messages and then drag and drop the label.
It's also possible to drag labels into the "more" menu to hide them and vice versa. If you only want to move a couple labels around, I've found it quicker than going to Settings.
All of these changes also mean the end of
Right-side Labels
, an experimental Gmail Labs feature. This is the first Labs feature we're retiring. (The idea behind Labs was always that things could break or disappear at any time or they might work so well that they become regular features. More on that soon...) Now that labels aren't in their own little box and take up much less space, moving them around the screen didn't seem as important. We realize quite a few of you used and liked Right-side Labels, so if you feel strapped for left nav screen real estate without it, try turning on Right-side Chat in Labs instead.
We hope these new changes make labeling even easier and help you stay organized. We'll be rolling out these labeling features for everyone throughout the day, so if you don't see them right away please check later today.
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