Gmail tips and tricks
There are endless tricks for Google's email. Here are some of the least known ones.
Unsubscribe
There's an "unsubscribe" button next to the sender's address in promotional emails. It's a great one-click solution for decluttering your inbox.
Mass Unsubscribe
If a newsletters does not have the "unsubscribe" button: type "unsubscribe" into the search box, and you'll probably find every deal, discount, and event email notification you've ever signed up for. You can also select all (but make sure to click "select all conversations that match this search" too) to banish historic newsletters from your inbox for good.
Select Multiple Messages
In Inbox view, holding down the Shift key while selecting messages will check multiple email threads at once.
Default Reply All
If you're frequently part of mass emails, consider making "reply all" default. In Settings under the General tab, head to "Reply Behavior" and switch to "Reply All."
Is Someone Else Reading My Email?
If you've got a creeping suspicion that someone else is eyeing your inbox, check your "last account activity." In inbox view, scroll all the way down, and in the bottom right corner in tiny text, you'll see "Last account activity: X minutes ago." Click "Details," and Gmail will reveal exactly when each IP address accessed your account, plus what type of device they were using.
Email Search
Unread First
ou'll see your unread emails in one inbox on top, and everything else on the bottom. Head to Settings under the Inbox tab, then select "Unread First" under the Inbox Type drop-down menu.
Read Gmail Offline
Gmail Offline. It's a Chrome extension that allows you to read, respond to, search, and archive emails without an Internet connection.
Click on the gear icon (top right) > Settings, then click the Gmail Offline tab. You'll need to let the extension sync and download emails for a little while before you get offline. And don't worry — this extension doesn't take up any space on your hard drive.
Keyboard Shortcuts
head to Settings, and under the General tab, turn keyboard shortcuts to "on." Once you have these enabled, just type one letter or a combination of letters to
Set Up Filters
If you don't want to see emails show up in your inbox but would like to keep on receiving them (just in case): Select the message > More > Filter messages like these > Create filter with this search (you can add other keywords or filter out only messages with attachments, too) > Select Skip the Inbox (Archive It) and Apply the label (create a new label with the name of the company). Alternatively, you can set up emails from select friends and family to skip the inbox and be filtered into special labels.
Send Emails From Different Addresses
Send mail from multiple accounts by heading to Settings and selecting Account and Import tab. In the "Send mail as" section, click on the Add another email address you own button, where you can add and verify all your external addresses. When you compose a message within Gmail, you'll then be able to select which email address you want to use from drop-down menu.
Schedule Email to Send Later
Ready to write now but not ready to have the recipient read? Download theBoomerang Gmail plug-in to schedule when an email should be sent. Choose a specific time to send the message like 8:45 a.m. when you know the recipient is just sitting down to email, or a more general time like "next Tuesday." Boomerang will also push read messages back up to the top of your inbox at whatever date and time you schedule.
Undo Send
This feature could potentially save you from email blunder. Enable the "Undo Send" button by heading to Settings (the gear icon in the top right). Under the "Labs" tab, enable "Undo Send."
Send and Archive
Once you've responded to an email, that conversation will be moved away from the inbox into a digital filing cabinet. Archiving doesn't mean deleting mail. You can find archived messages in the All Mail tab on the left or with the search bar on top.
To enable Send and Archive, go to the gear icon (top right) > Settings. Under the General tab, find Send and Archive and select Show Send & Archive in reply.
Add Emails to Tasks
Make sure important emails get attended to by adding them to Tasks. In the upper left, click the Gmail drop-down menu to open your Tasks window. To add an email to Tasks, select it from the inbox or open it, then click the More tab at the top. Select Add to Tasks.
In your Tasks window, you'll now see a list of emails that need responding to. Click on the task to go directly to the thread without having to search for it.
There are endless tricks for Google's email. Here are some of the least known ones.
Unsubscribe
There's an "unsubscribe" button next to the sender's address in promotional emails. It's a great one-click solution for decluttering your inbox.
Mass Unsubscribe
If a newsletters does not have the "unsubscribe" button: type "unsubscribe" into the search box, and you'll probably find every deal, discount, and event email notification you've ever signed up for. You can also select all (but make sure to click "select all conversations that match this search" too) to banish historic newsletters from your inbox for good.
Select Multiple Messages
In Inbox view, holding down the Shift key while selecting messages will check multiple email threads at once.
Default Reply All
If you're frequently part of mass emails, consider making "reply all" default. In Settings under the General tab, head to "Reply Behavior" and switch to "Reply All."
Is Someone Else Reading My Email?
If you've got a creeping suspicion that someone else is eyeing your inbox, check your "last account activity." In inbox view, scroll all the way down, and in the bottom right corner in tiny text, you'll see "Last account activity: X minutes ago." Click "Details," and Gmail will reveal exactly when each IP address accessed your account, plus what type of device they were using.
Email Search
- To find messages matching keyword A or keyword B, type "OR" in all caps, for example: from:mary OR from:mark,
- Find specific types of files with "filename:" for example: filename:jpg.
- Search messages within a certain period with "after:" and "before:" for example: after:2014/04/12 before:2014/09/05
- to: example to mary. meaning all messages sent to mary.
- from: example. from mary. meaning all meassage from marry
Unread First
ou'll see your unread emails in one inbox on top, and everything else on the bottom. Head to Settings under the Inbox tab, then select "Unread First" under the Inbox Type drop-down menu.
Read Gmail Offline
Gmail Offline. It's a Chrome extension that allows you to read, respond to, search, and archive emails without an Internet connection.
Click on the gear icon (top right) > Settings, then click the Gmail Offline tab. You'll need to let the extension sync and download emails for a little while before you get offline. And don't worry — this extension doesn't take up any space on your hard drive.
Keyboard Shortcuts
head to Settings, and under the General tab, turn keyboard shortcuts to "on." Once you have these enabled, just type one letter or a combination of letters to
- j to go to older messages
- k to go to newer messages
- e to archive
- shift + # to trash
- / to type in the search bar
- a to reply all
- r to reply individu
Set Up Filters
If you don't want to see emails show up in your inbox but would like to keep on receiving them (just in case): Select the message > More > Filter messages like these > Create filter with this search (you can add other keywords or filter out only messages with attachments, too) > Select Skip the Inbox (Archive It) and Apply the label (create a new label with the name of the company). Alternatively, you can set up emails from select friends and family to skip the inbox and be filtered into special labels.
Send Emails From Different Addresses
Send mail from multiple accounts by heading to Settings and selecting Account and Import tab. In the "Send mail as" section, click on the Add another email address you own button, where you can add and verify all your external addresses. When you compose a message within Gmail, you'll then be able to select which email address you want to use from drop-down menu.
Schedule Email to Send Later
Ready to write now but not ready to have the recipient read? Download theBoomerang Gmail plug-in to schedule when an email should be sent. Choose a specific time to send the message like 8:45 a.m. when you know the recipient is just sitting down to email, or a more general time like "next Tuesday." Boomerang will also push read messages back up to the top of your inbox at whatever date and time you schedule.
Undo Send
This feature could potentially save you from email blunder. Enable the "Undo Send" button by heading to Settings (the gear icon in the top right). Under the "Labs" tab, enable "Undo Send."
Send and Archive
Once you've responded to an email, that conversation will be moved away from the inbox into a digital filing cabinet. Archiving doesn't mean deleting mail. You can find archived messages in the All Mail tab on the left or with the search bar on top.
To enable Send and Archive, go to the gear icon (top right) > Settings. Under the General tab, find Send and Archive and select Show Send & Archive in reply.
Add Emails to Tasks
Make sure important emails get attended to by adding them to Tasks. In the upper left, click the Gmail drop-down menu to open your Tasks window. To add an email to Tasks, select it from the inbox or open it, then click the More tab at the top. Select Add to Tasks.
In your Tasks window, you'll now see a list of emails that need responding to. Click on the task to go directly to the thread without having to search for it.