Get More Out Of GMail – A Simple Guide

25+ tips, tricks and more to get the best out of GMail. 

 
Google’s free email service, GMail, is a very useful web-based service you can use as an email client. Here are 27 tips and tricks to help you make the most of GMail.

1. Use GMail as a secondary hard drive with GMail Drive


GMail Drive is an interesting tool that allows you to use that extra space in your account as an online storage drive.

The drive will appear listed in My Computer. When you transfer a file to the drive, it generates an email and posts it to your account.

Filter emails from GMail Drive in a separate category in your GMail account to keep it clean and organized.

2. Check spam with a simple GMail trick

When you register for a new account with a website and would like to check in the future if that website is giving away your email address to irritating spammers, then you can try this simple trick.

When registering on a website say http://www.abc.com, give your email address as username+abccom@gmail.com when asked for an email.

The thing here is that you will still receive mails on your username@gmail.com normally with the plus sign making no difference, but when you search GMail for username+abccom@gmail.com to see any messages received for this particular email address that you registered with, you’ve just found out that abc.com gave away your email address to spammers.

3. Create and use GMail filters effectively

You can filter and categorize the emails you receive everyday automatically by making the best use of GMail Filters, and Labels. Designate certain emails to be of a specific category and set up a filter to automatically have those mails transferred to that label.

You can also create filters to check spam or auto-delete bugging emails.


For example, say abc@xyz.com is a troublesome email sender. Create a filter and provide his email address in the To: field in the filter.


Then select Next Step and choose from the various options provided. You can auto-delete those mails, archive them or apply a label. Select Create Filter and never bother above these emails again.

4. Multiple GMail email addresses - @gmail.com, @googlemail.com

When you register on GMail, you basically get two email addresses. For example, john@gmail.com and john@googlemail.com will send your emails to the same account.

To get the best out of this, you can probably set a filter (as explained above) in GMail to make these two addresses completely specific. For example, give username@gmail.com to your friends while keep username@googlemail.com for your business purposes.

5. The GMail Dot trick

You should also know that GMail completely ignores dots in your email addresses. For example, an email sent to user.name@gmail.com will be received by username@gmail.com. 

Again, you could take advantage of these glitches by using multiple email addresses at multiple places and setting a simple filter in GMail that can categorize your emails.

6. Access GMail when it’s blocked at work or school

There are a few ways to access GMail at places where it might be blocked, like work or school. Learn more here. 

7. Convert your GMail account into a portable online drive

Download gDisk, a free tool that helps you transfer and maintain your files through GMail hence making them accessible everywhere.  

8. Manage multiple GMail accounts and do more easily with the GMail Manager Firefox add-on

The GMail Manager add-on for the Firefox web browser is a simple and smart tool to help you get more out of GMail. Download it here. 

9. Back up your GMail account to your computer with POP and IMAP


You can back up your entire GMail account on your computer by enabling POP in Settings. You can do this without having to pay any money for the service. POP enables one-way communication between GMail and your email client (like Microsoft Outlook or Apple Mail). You can also use the IMAP protocol, which allows two-way communication. IMAP is recommended.

To do this, go to Settings and select Enable POP for all mails. Then set up your email client and follow instructions as provided.

All of your emails will now have a backed-up copy on your hard drive, which you can further back up to a secondary disk to never lose your emails.

10. Watch YouTube videos, see Flickr and Picasa picture streams in GMail


You can watch YouTube videos and check Flickr streams right from within GMail itself by enabling the specific Labs features. Select the green Labs image from the top-right corner of your GMail screen. [Shown above]

Do explore tons of other Labs features, provided in GMail.

11. Search Google, Yahoo, Bing or Twitter from GMail Chat

Add the Search Bot as a friend in your GMail Chat to search Google, Bing or Twitter from your mailbox itself. Learn more here.

12. Import existing mail into GMail

You can now import existing mail from any email client by using the Google GMail Loader. To import from web-based services, go to Settings –> Accounts and Import.

13. Upload files from another mailbox into GMail

Try this handy service, GMail Uploader, that allows you to instantly upload files of another mailbox to your GMail account.

14. Be notified of new mails in GMail

Download a simple tool called GMail Notifier that informs you of new emails you might have received in GMail, from your taskbar.

15. Use GMail Offline

Use GMail when you are not connected to the web by enabling the Google Gears option in Labs features in GMail settings. 

16. Set up GMail Voice and Video Chat

You can easily setup GMail Voice and Video Chat in your mail account. Read this to learn how. 

17. Stay Invisible in GMail Chat

To stay invisible in GMail Chat, simply select the Invisible option when you set your status. Note that this feature is not available in the stand-alone chat client Google Talk. 

18. Enable keyboard shortcuts in GMail 

You can use keyboard shortcuts in GMail. Simply enable them from settings and use them. Here’s a list of GMail’s keyboard shortcuts.

19. Set Email Forwarding to receive GMail emails in office


Go to Settings –> Forwarding and POP/IMAP and provide your office email address in the field to have your mails sent there. You can choose to also archive/delete them from GMail.

20. Add a cool signature to outgoing mails in GMail

Automatically add a custom signature to outgoing GMail messages with the WiseStamp Signature Add-On for Firefox. Learn more here.

21. Add a Facebook Profile Badge to your emails

You can put a Facebook account Profile Badge in your GMail messages. Learn how to do that here. 

22. Get things done efficiently in GMail with GTDGmail

GTDGMail is a simple freeware that allows you to change the way you use emails. The tool has unique features that allow you to speed up your daily activities in GMail and also helps you maintain your account. 

23. Create and manage a simple GMail To-Do list

GMail Todo is an open-source application that helps you effectively manage tasks in GMail. Download it now. 

24. Do everything with GMail for Mobile Phones

Enable GMail on your cell phone – download this simple GMail For Mobile client from your mobile phones. 

25. Use GMail’s advanced search operators


GMail has a list of advanced search operators you can do when you browse through your email archives to look for that relevant mail you had received a long time ago. Check out the list of search operators here. 

26. Add a Random Quote to your GMail signature

Read this to learn how a random quote is added to all your outgoing mails in GMail. 

27. Select Contacts from GMail address book

You can select contacts from your address book by simply pressing the To: tab when composing a new mail. Learn more here.

If you liked this post, do consider sharing it with your friends and family. Click the ShareThis button below this post to do the same.