Gmail Labs
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I think everyone I know has a Gmail account. Do you use it? Do you like it? If so… why? I’m interested in hearing your responses.
If you’re not familiar with the Labs feature, it’s something that will extend the capabilities of your Gmail account. Jamie submitted a top five list of Labs tips and features. I wanted to pass them along to you. Jamie has tried almost every Lab script there is, and compiled the following list of what he feels are the five best ones that you should be using.
- Title Tweaks – This moves the “Inbox (n)” element of the page title to the front, meaning that when you have lots of tabs open you can still see when new emails come in. I’ve found this to be really handy as it means I no longer have the title “Google Mail” taking up space unnecessarily in my tabs… and I don’t have to open a tab/window to see if I have any new email. Really simple, but very helpful when you’ve right-clicked a number of links into new tabs.
- Old Snakey – Email can be, and often is, dull. Sometimes it’s nice to distract ourselves with a simple game to take our mind off things for a couple of minutes. Old Snakey does exactly that. As long as you have keyboard shortcuts enabled pressing Shift + 7 (= & – which sort of resembles a snake, I guess!) will open up a simple game of Snake right inside your email window. No pop-ups, no new windows or tabs – and you can still see your inbox right behind the game. It’s an excellent stress reliever during the course of your day, as well.
- Remove Labels from Subjects – This one is especially useful if, like me, you have a netbook with a small screen that you often use to check your email. This script hides the labels from the subject line, meaning that not only can you see more of the subject and snippet of an email, but also the subjects are properly aligned with each other – not zigzagging like they are when labels are enabled. I found that before using this script I’d started to almost ignore the subject completely, instead I was paying more attention to who an email was from and the labels it’d been assigned by my filters.
- Inbox Preview – Inbox preview shows a static list of the emails in your inbox as Gmail is loading. Whilst Gmail is usually very fast to load, this allows me to see if I’ve got any new email immediately, and even provides a “Sign Out” link if I should decide there’s no need to go any further. This might also be useful to those that have Chat turned on in Gmail, and want to check their email quickly without popping up as “Available” in Chat. If there’s nothing that demands your attention, just sign out.
- Mark as Read Button – I’m constantly marking email as read without actually opening them up. Notifications from sites such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube often don’t actually need to be read, but I still prefer to have them sent to my inbox as unread just in case. Of course, Gmail has had the “Mark as read” feature since the beginning, but this has always been hidden away in the “More Actions” menu. This script adds this option as a button next to “Delete”, so I can quickly clean my inbox of those emails that I don’t need to read. This Labs feature gets the number one spot not because of how amazingly technical or clever it is, but simply because it’s almost certainly the feature that I use the most.
If you’re using Gmail Labs, what are your favorites? Do you find that they are fun – or functional? Do they make your email experience better? Let’s hear what you have to say.
- Rock & Roll Is Stupid
- Freestyling at the Red House
- Super Happy Adventure Club
- Charlie Rose – Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google (March 6, 2009)
- Charlie Rose – Marissa Mayer (March 5, 2009)
- Email for Seniors: a step-by-step guide for the computer shy
- JAVOedge Anti-Glare JAVOscreen Protector for the Archos 9 PC Tablet
- JAVOedge Ultra-Clear JAVOscreen Protector for the Archos 9 PC Tablet
- Gear Gadget Gmail Keyboard Shortcut Stickers
- Stereo Headset Headphone with Microphone
- ABC Univorm Shirt
- Google Business Solutions All-in-One For Dummies
- Google Apps Hacks
- Getting Productive With Google Apps: Increase productivity while cutting costs
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6 Comments
Will Conley
August 8th, 2009
at 8:24pm
Dude, this is the first time I have seen you and I like your style. Where the hell have I heard your name before? Probably many places, which is why I can’t place a finger on it. Whatev.
Gmail. OK. Firefox, right? Firefox. They’ve got mad addons. Yeah, I know. Addons. Yawn. They slow your Firefox browsing experience down and blah. People add addons like its crack. Whatever.
And then there’s Greasemonkey.
By the way, yes, I am going somewhere with this.
So then there’s Greasemonkey. It’s a Firefox addon that basically lets you install new addons without going through Firefox’s taste makers.
One of these Greasemonkey “scripts”, as the kids like to call them, is “Better Gmail”. Right?
Or is it an addon. Whatev.
Better Gmail. It tweaks things. Changes Gmail. BUT. But. It doesn’t change the overall Pirillo-esque yawn-ness of Gmail.
So here’s my point: What we need is not just Gmail, not just Better Gmail, but…drumroll…AWESOME Gmail.
We need some kind of Firefox addon or Greasemonkey script that makes it possible to turn Gmail into a tri-pane U.I.
Or whatever else you want to do with it. It needs to be a chameleon and a changeling. That would be awesome.
Awesome Gmail. Somebody get on it. Piece owt.
Will Conley
@willconley777
Ian Haynes
August 8th, 2009
at 8:42pm
i think g-mail is ok or i would if it would let me create a g-mail address but hotmail was easier to sign up to i would get it … NOW (when i fix my computer) it seems cool
Jim
August 9th, 2009
at 2:07am
Forgotten attachment detector.
Offline GMail
Right Side Chat
Marc
August 9th, 2009
at 7:11am
I have long been a fan of Google Labs tweaks to Gmail. My current favorites are:
1. Multiple Inboxes: Add extra lists of emails in your inbox to see even more important email at once. The new lists of threads can be labels, your starred messages, drafts or any search you want, configurable under Settings. I like having a list of my unread emails up on top as well as one of my favorite mailing lists.
2. Signature tweaks: Places your signature before the quoted text in a reply, and removes the “–” line that appears before signatures. I am a top responder just cause I hate to have to scroll down past everyone else’s conversation. I want my signature with my post.
3. Random Signature: Rotates among random quotations for your email signature. Add some style to your signature.
4. Navbar drag and drop: Allows you to reorder the items in your navbar using drag and drop. I want these boxes in the order that suits me best.
Now the one that I would like to see Google Labs add to Gmail is stylized signatures. Currently signatures are only in plain text. . . How boring!
- Marc
Pat
August 9th, 2009
at 10:12am
Actually, I read and post GMail messages through Thunderbird, as i like the interface better. TBird can handle newsgroups as well if the user has access to a newsgroup server.
Colby
August 9th, 2009
at 9:34pm
I like the send and archive button in gmail. Hotmail is okay but too many banner ads….gmail FTW!