Gmail Tips and Tricks

If you’re reading this as a Google Gadget, chances are you’re using Gmail. If you’re not, then here are a few features that may make you want to get a free Gmail account.

Unlimited Unique Email Addresses
Once you’ve registered for a free Gmail account, you can create an unlimited number of unique email addresses based on your main address. Simply enter your main address, then add a “+” sign and follow it with any text you like. The message will be delivered to your inbox. For example, if my main email address is "joesmith@gmail.com" I can use "joesmith+amazon@gmail.com" as the email address attached to my Amazon purchases. Or, I can use "joesmith+bank1@gmail.com" as the User ID and email address attached to my online bank account. To see exactly which address is attached to a particular email, click the “view details” link in Gmail. This feature is handy for creating unique hard to guess User IDs for applications that require your email address be your User ID. It is also useful for testing software applications where you need multiple unique User Accounts attached to unique email addresses. You can also create email filters based on these unique addresses.

Priority Inbox
If you haven’t turned this Gmail feature on, definitely give it a try. Priority Inbox separates your incoming messages into two levels-- priority and regular. You teach Google over time (by elevating or demoting messages) which emails you think are important. Google displays the important unread messages on top so you see them first. To enable it, go to Gmail Email Settings, and click the “Priority Inbox” tab.

Email Unsend
If you’re ever hit “reply all” by mistake, hit send too soon, or regretted an email the second you sent it, this Labs feature is for you. It puts a 10 second delay on sending any email, during which time you can click a “cancel” link to abort the send. To enable this feature, go to Gmail Email Settings, click the “Labs” tab, and scroll down the page to the “Undo Send” Lab, select the “enable” radio button then click the “save changes” button at the bottom of the screen.

Other Cool Google Labs
The Labs tab contains other cool Gmail features that Google calls “experimental” and “not quite ready for prime time.” But many of them, like the “Google Beta,” have been around for years. You can use Labs to create canned responses, enable a “mark as read” button, tweak your signature, or even see each email sender’s time zone.

For more tips, check out the Gmail Tips Page.