Whether it is for work, school or personal hobbies, many of us check on our email every day to send and receive important messages.
Gmail is one of the most popular email services among Internet users. That is because by signing up for Gmail, Google automatically gives you many other helpful features that may be rare to find in other email providers. It has transcended the obligatory bounds of electronic communication to give us more than what we essentially need, and all for free. From cloud storage, to road maps where we can save the directions we need, and to platforms allowing us to create documents of many formats with others, perfect for group activities. All of these are possible just by creating a personal Google account.
With Gmail’s own wide selection of features, however, it is easy to overlook the simple things here and there that would have been very helpful to us if we had been aware they existed. In fact, despite the huge popularity of Gmail, there are many people who use it just as they would use any other email platform. While that is good in itself, you are definitely missing out if you think that is all there is to Gmail. You would be surprised at the number of things you can do if you only knew how to do them. Here are just a few tips and tricks of Gmail that may simplify your email experience even more.
Get Notifications on Your Desktop
Forget about having to open a web browser every ten minutes just to check on your Inbox. You can actually choose to have Gmail send you notifications on your desktop for new emails that you receive. From your Gmail settings, you can choose to be notified when any new message or only important message is sent to you.
Preview Files before Downloading
You don’t have to download a file and clutter your Downloads folder just to view what someone has sent you. You can view attachments in Google Docs-supported formats like Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Excel, PDF and RTF files without having to download by simply clicking on them. This keeps you from downloading files that you wouldn’t need permanent copies of in your computer. It also keeps you from unknowingly downloading the same file twice because you were not sure of its content.
Import Mail and Contacts
By going to your Account Settings and clicking on the Accounts and Import tab, you will discover that you can actually add your other email accounts to Gmail. This lets you retrieve messages and contacts from your other accounts, gathering them all up in one convenient location.
Send from Other Addresses
In the Accounts and Import tab, you can also “add another email address you own” to the “Send mail as:” option. The next time you compose mail, you can choose which address to send it from by choosing from a drop-down list beside the “From:” field.
Unsend Mistake Messages
Again, in your settings, if you go to the Labs tab and scroll down the many Available Labs (have a look through them as well), you will see one named “Undo Send”. By enabling this, the next time you accidentally send a premature message or change your mind after clicking the Send button already, you can choose to undo the action for the next few seconds. Your supposed recipient wouldn’t even have a clue!
There are a lot more neat tricks that you may not know yet about using Gmail, so have a look around. Tweaking with your account and reading through your settings will definitely do you some good.
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