10 Useful Gmail Features Many Don't Know About

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Whoever says anything, Gmail is still the most popular email service. At the same time, many users, working with it for years, do not know about a good half of the useful features. Let's try to fix this situation.

Ignore notifications from group conversations

There will always be people who abuse and misuse the Reply All feature by replying to one or more members of a group chat. When one of these clever people discusses something with others, a real mess begins in everyone's input.

And getting rid of the pouring notifications that you don't care about at all is very simple. It is enough to mute them through the menu "More" → "Ignore". At the same time, messages will be received, only without distracting notifications.

Mark messages with a right click

The panel above the message list contains buttons for various actions, and they are really handy for handling multiple messages. But when you need to archive or mark a certain letter, reaching for the buttons on the panel is an impermissible waste of time.

For these purposes, it is much easier to make the usual right-click on the desired message and select the required action from the context menu.

Use the preview pane

By default, Gmail displays all emails in a list, and when you select one of them, it immediately opens it. When a large number of messages have to be processed, this approach is useless. Fortunately, you can use the preview pane, which allows you to see the contents of the emails and the list of messages at the same time.

This function is initially inactive, but it is easy to enable it in the settings, in the "Laboratory" section.

Bookmark emails and searches

If you need to periodically return to certain threads and searches, it is very convenient to use the quick links function for this. It adds a block of links to the sidebar that allows you to instantly jump to specific posts or searches.

Quick links are also included in our familiar lab section. Letters or requests are added to the block on the sidebar via the "Add quick link" button.

Switch between accounts from the address bar

It's more of a trick that's just good to know. If you use multiple Gmail accounts, you can switch between them by clicking on the profile icon. But there is another way.

Pay attention to the URL of your inbox displayed in the browser. See the number after / u /? This is the account number. The default box is numbered 0, the rest are 1, 2, 3, and so on. We just change the number in the link and get into the desired account.

Highlight personal letters

To reduce the distraction of unimportant messages, you can filter emails with multiple recipients from those sent to you personally. This is possible thanks to the "Personal letter icons" function, which is enabled in the settings, in the "General" section.

After enabling it, all incoming messages will be marked with the symbol » for mailings and > for personal messages. Simple and effective.

End remote sessions for security

For those who use Gmail on multiple computers and often forget to log out of their account, the ability to remotely end all active sessions is very useful. This will keep your mail safe from prying eyes and something worse.

Click on the More Information link in the main Gmail window and see which devices you've recently used your mail from. Clicking on the "Log out of all other sessions" button will end all active sessions except the current one. So it's okay if you forget to log out of your account next time on your work computer. This can be done from any device.

Use authentication

Spammers and various scammers often abuse the trust of ordinary users and pass off their letters as messages from banks, payment systems and other large services. You can take a close look at the sender's address, spelling it out, or you can simply use the authentication function.

Enable this feature in the settings (section "Laboratory" → "Verified message icon"), after which all letters from large services and online stores will be marked with a characteristic key, and the sender's name will be green.

Customize the sidebar for yourself

Don't like the layout of the sidebar shortcuts or want to add your own? No problem. There is a whole section in the settings dedicated to shortcuts. Go there and change everything as you please.

Options allow you to hide or remove unnecessary labels, as well as customize their behavior: for example, show a label only when there are new messages with it. After spending a few minutes setting up, you can get the sidebar in perfect order.

Pause mail

Why not? If the flow of letters is too large or you just want to get an hour or two of peace of mind, you can temporarily pause the receipt of incoming correspondence. This cannot be organized using standard means, so you have to use a special extension.

After installing it, the magic Pause button will appear on your main box. Click on it and get something like the "Do not disturb" mode. In this case, you can additionally turn on the answering machine with the specified message. Shutdown occurs using the same button.

Know other useful Gmail features that everyone can use? Don't be greedy, share with the rest of the readers in the comments!