14 Hacks to Get The Most Out of Gmail

HomeGmail14 Hacks to Get The Most Out of Gmail

14 Hacks to Get The Most Out of Gmail

Gmail is still become the most favorite email service for most internet users. And I am pretty sure you are also one of those who use Gmail.

Since launched in 2004, Gmail has transformed the way people sending letter. Only few years later, the Google-owned email service has overlapped Yahoo! Mail to become the most used email service in the world.

Gmail comes with a clear, simple interface but rich of features. Speaking of features, have you ever explored Gmail to find out what features are actually existing in Gmail?. This article will show you some hidden features of Gmail that you can maximize.

1. Undo a sent message

You write an email and send it to your colleague. After clicking the Send button you suddenly realize that you entered the wrong address.  Don’t panic, you can prevent this to happen again by enabling Undo Send feature. This feature will hold your message for some seconds before it’s really be sent.

  • Go to the Settings menu. From the General tab, check the “Enable Undo Send”. Click Save Changes.

2. Access your mails offline

You probably didn’t know this. That you can read, explore and respond your mails without an internet connection. Seriously, you can do it  — offline. However, you need a Chrome extension to make it possible.

  • Go to the Settings menu. From the Offline tab, click Install Gmail Offline link to install the Gmail Offline extension.

3. Work quicker with keyboard shortcuts

Keyboard shortcuts is a great feature to enable you working quicker. Gmail also comes with this kind of feature but didn’t activated by default so you have to activate it by your self.

  • Go to the Settings menu. From the General tab, scroll down until you find Keyboard shortcuts section and choose Keyboard shortcuts on option. Click Save Changes.

Here are some of the useful shortcuts:

  • j: go to older messages
  • k: go to new messages
  • e: archive
  • shift+3: delete
  • a: reply all
  • r: to reply individually

4. Find out which mails that burdensome your storage space

Gmail gives you 15 GB free storage space. It’s include Google Drive and Google Photos. You can always check your available space by visiting this page. How to check which emails that burdensome your storage space?. No, you don’t need to check your emails by one one. There is simpler way to do that. Just type the following syntax on the search bar of Gmail.

size:Xm

Be sure to include the quotes. Replace X with the amount of email capacity you want to check (in megabytes). That command will show you all emails that are bigger than X.

5. Never miss any message

Every message is basically important. Even the ones that contains promotion materials. You can set your inbox to show the unread messages at the top so you will no longer miss any message.

  • Go to the Settings menu. From the Inbox bar select the Important first at the Inbox type section. Click Save Changes

6. Filter the messages

If you don’t want the messages with a specific word or phrase to appear on your inbox, you can filter them in order to delete, archive or star them.

  • Click on the small arrow icon on the right side of the search bar. A drop down menu will appear.

  • Then, fill out any of the search boxes in the menu with information about the email you want to filter out. Once you’ve filled everything out, click “Create filter with this search” in the bottom right corner of the drop-down. You’ll then have a number of options, such as “Archive it,” “Mark as read,” “Delete it” and more, and can check the box at the bottom to apply it to all messages matching those keywords.

7. Send email from different address

You may didn’t know this. You can send an email to anyone from a different account (email address). So, you don’t need to sign out and re-sign in to send an email from different account.

  • Go to the Settings menu and choose the Accounts and imports tab. Click the “Add another email address” link on the Send mail as section. There will be several steps you have to follow.

  • Once everything is done, you will have an option from which account you want send an email every time you create a new message.

8. Find out how special you are

When receiving an email from the source that you don’t know personally, you can check whether the email was sent directed to you or just a mass email. You can turn on the “Personal level indicators” feature to check this.

  • Go to the Settings menu. Choose the General tab and scroll down until you find the “Personal level indicators” section. Choose the “Show indicators” option and click the Save Changes button.

9. Respond the message later

You are a busy person and can’t always respond every message right away. You can add the messages to your Tasks in order to avoid you forget from responding them. You will be reminded when the time to respond the messages in coming.

  • Open the message you want to add to your Tasks. Click on the More option at the top side of the message and choose Add to Tasks.

10. Import contact and emails from different service

Aside of Gmail, you may also have an email account on other service such as Yahoo!, Hotmail and AOL. To simplify your life then you decide to consolidate all of the contacts and messages in one account, and you choose Gmail. There is a simple way to import your contacts in Gmail that will not waste your time.

  • Go to the Settings menu and click on the Accounts and Import tab. Click the “Import mail and contacts” link on the “Import mail and contacts” sections and follow the instructions.

11. Mute the conversation

Working with a team sometimes require you to join on a conversation. If you feel annoyed by a specific conversation, you can always mute it anytime.

  • Select a message thread you want to mute and click the More menu and choose Mute. You will no longer see this message unless you search for it.

12. Make your message be more life

Don’t be stuffy with your message. You can add some fun on your message by inserting emoji to make your message looks more life.

  • Click on the emoji icon at the bottom of your message editor. Choose the best emoji that describe your feeling. (emoji only available for desktop version of Gmail).

13. Quote a specific part of a message

If you have a long message and want to quote a specific part, instead of replying the whole message, you can also do it with Gmail.

  • Go the Settings menu and click the Labs tab. Scroll down until you find the “Quote selected text” section and choose the Enable option.

  • Go to the message you want to reply and highlight the specific phrase that you want to quote. While your desired phrase keep highlighted, go up to find the reply menu.

14. Set a to do list

If you have some tasks to do with Gmail today, why not creating a to do list? Gmail has a built in feature to allow you creating a to do list.

  • Click on the Mail menu on the top left corner of your Gmail and select Tasks. A small pop up will appear at the bottom right. Write all of your tasks you have to do today.

hand-picked weekly content in your inbox

.

related posts

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here