Gmail Tips & Tricks (5-10)

5. View unread messages first

Search on the string “label:unread label:inbox” to force all of your unread messages to the top of the list, writes Matt Cutts. (Note: you don’t have to create any labels for this to work.) Try bookmarking Cutts’s search and dragging it to your bookmarks bar to view all unread messages first.

6. Streamline adding attachments

Wouldn’t it be great if you could drop attachments directly into the attachment box? Check out the Firefox extension Dragdropupload if you are running Firefox 2.0 (as of this writing, it hadn’t been updated for 2.0.0.12).

7. Quickly switch between Google accounts

If you have multiple Google accounts—a Gmail with Google Apps account and a regular Gmail account, for example—streamline them with this script for Firefox with Greasemonkey. The script adds a “change user” drop-down bar in place of the “sign out” link.



You can also try Gmail Manager (also a Firefox extension), which adds a Gmail menu bar to the Firefox window. Juggle multiple accounts, sign in and out.

8. Bookmark a single email

As of November 2007, all Gmail messages have dedicated URLs (according to the official Gmail blog). Rather than killing a tree by printing the message or laboriously copying down the info, you can CTRL-D (or ?-D) an important email and refer to it at your leisure.

9. Automate frequently repeated text

Signature functionality is built into Gmail, but frequently typed phrases can be automated with Firefox extension Signature, which allows you to insert designated text with a keystroke. (As of this writing, Signature is not yet compliant with Firefox 2.0.0.12.) Also try a Windows app called AutoHotKey or Mac app TypeIt4Me. Both apps allow you to create keystrokes to automate text in virtually any application.




10. POP3 & IMAP forwarding

“I recommend using IMAP (where the mail is both on the server and on your local machine(s)/device(s)) and uploading all your email onto Gmail,” writes Mark Wheeler, a Gmail power user. “You can keep copies on the Google servers and your desktop/laptop/phone so that they are all efficiently accessible and available anytime anywhere. Don't have to worry about backups, or disk space...I have 25,000 emails and have only used 9% of my space!”

To upload old email like my friend did, set up a Gmail IMAP account in your desktop email client. In the client, establish folders that correspond to your Gmail labels, and drag and drop your non-Gmail into the folders. If you're using Outlook with .PST format or Outlook Express, you will have to convert or export the emails to mBox data file format before the messages will translate. The process may take some time, and your client may hang. Also, the original dates and times attached to the messages will appear in Gmail as the dates and times that the messages were imported into Gmail. But it's worth the trouble to utilize your tricked-out Gmail, right? Click here for a tutorial from My Digital Life.