11 Cool Gmail Tricks You Didn’t Know About

Google Gmail needs no introduction. And e-mail service in the world's most widely used, and there are a number of reasons for that. It brings a simple interface, but attractive, Google packs in a lot more than meets the eye. Yes, there are some big Google tricks that a lot of people do not realize. So, if you're a Gmail user, here are 13 tricks Google fascinating that you should know about:

1. Enable Preview Pane

Preview pane is the much-loved feature in Outlook, but a lot of people do not know that the feature is available in Gmail, too. Preview Pane brings an additional part to your inbox, so you can view your e-mail messages right to your inbox. This is definitely useful because if you want to shuffle through multiple e-mail messages in Gmail, you'll have to open an e-mail message, and then come back and open the next one. Well, that changed with the preview pane.

Step 1: To enable the preview pane, go to Gmail's settings by hitting gear symbol at the top right and click on "Settings".

Step 2: Here, go to the "Labs" tab and scroll down below to find or search for the "Preview Pane" option. Just select "Enable" and click on "Save Changes".

Then, Gmail will reload the page and you will find a new icon next to the Settings icon. You can click on its drop-down menu button to choose from "Vertical Split" or "Horizontal Split".

I personally recommend you to use the vertical split option because that lets you see all the emails you'd normally see, while also letting you check all your emails.

2. Use Different Colored Stars

I'm sure you are aware of the ability to star e-mail messages in Gmail, but chances are, you do not know that there is more of the other stars of the yellow star. Yes that's right! To enable more stars in Gmail, you can go to Gmail's settings. Here, scroll down in the "General" tab to find the "stars" section mark. After that, you can just drag and drop the different stars to "in use" section to enable it. When finished, just hit the "Save Changes" button at the bottom.

Now, you can click on the star icon next to the e-mail messages several times to get different stars. You can use different colored stars to celebrate the e-mail messages in the important and urgent nature or something you are done with. For example, you can use the MDA for emails urgent, yellow star for important messages and green stars to emails e-mail you are done with, but we want them to "Stared" and section.

3. Enable Undo Send & Set Cancellation Period

There are times when we are typing an email and accidentally hit the send button. While that’s fine for informal emails, it’s bad if it happens when you are sending an important formal mail. Thankfully, Gmail includes a very cool “Undo Send” feature, which as you might have guessed, lets you revoke sent messages.

To enable Undo Send, head to Gmail Settings and in the General tab, find the “Undo Send” option and enable it. Here, you can also set the time period for cancellation. You can set it to 5, 10, 20 or 3 seconds.

Once done, save the changes and send a test email. Alongside the sending message alert on top, you will find an “Undo” button, which you can click on to stop the message.

The Undo Send feature is also available in the iOS Gmail app. However, you don’t need to enable it or set anything up. When you send an email from the Gmail app on an iPhone or iPad, you see an undo option at the bottom. On the other hand, the Gmail app on Android surprisingly still does not feature the undo option but you can enable the “Confirm before sending” option in “General Settings”.

4. Create Disposable Email Aliases for Sign Ups

When you sign up for different services and sites, there are simpler way to create a temporary e-mail and make sure the e-mail messages from the sign ups land up in spam. Well, it's easy, if your e-mail address is "example@gmail.com", you can only use "example+website@gmail.com" as the title your email available. Google is not seen in any text after the "+" and e-mail addresses, so when you get a letter on example+website@gmail.com, and they will hit the ground in example@gmail.test.

So, when you’ve signed up to a service you don’t want to receive emails from, you can set up a filter that makes sure emails to the disposable address automatically get archived.


All you need to do, is hit the drop-down button in the Gmail search bar. In the advanced search page, type in the example+website@gmail.com address in the "To" section and then, click on the "Create filter with this search" option.

In the next page, you can choose the option to "Skip the Inbox (Archive it)" or "Delete it" and click on "Create filter". That is it, now whenever you receive an email on the disposable address, it will be automatically deleted or archived.

5. Send Encrypted Emails

If you happen to use Gmail to exchange a lot of data and sensitive conversations, you must make sure that there's no way any person can spy on. Well, this is where you SecureGmail extension comes into play. It allows you to send encrypted e-mail messages from Gmail.

First, download the extension from the Chrome Web Store. Once done, just open up Gmail or refresh it if it’s already open. Then, you will see a lock icon alongside the Compose button. Just click on it to start composing an encrypted email.

When you hit the "Send Encrypted" button, you will be prompted to enter the "Encryption Password" and the password hint, which will be required by the recipient to decrypt the email.

Once done, you will be sending e-mail and the receive will enter the password to open the e-mail.

6. Send Self-Destructing Emails

Self-destructing messages snapchat is a great feature if you like it, there is a way to get this in Gmail too. This should certainly be useful for e-mails that you do not want anyone to be saved. To send e-mail messages self-destruct, you can use Snapmail extension (download).

The recipient will receive your secret message via a link. Once the recipient opens the link, the 60-second countdown will begin, after which the message will be deleted forever. Now, that’s cool!

7. Set up Mail Delegation

A lot of people do not know about Gmail Delegation feature, which is a shame because it really useful. Lets you grant access to your Gmail account to several people advantage, without having to share your password or other details. In addition, delegates only get limited access to your account. Rep can send or reply to e-mail messages sent by you, and read e-mail messages, and deleting e-mail messages and contact management. However, a delegate can not change your Gmail password, and account settings or chat with anyone.

To add a delegate, head over to Gmail Settings. Then, head to the "Account and Import" tab and in the "Grant access to your account" section, click on "Add another account".

Then, you will have to enter the email address of the person you want to add as delegate. After you’ve entered, click on "Next Step".

Then, click on "Send email to grant access", after which an email will be sent to the email address you entered. The recipient will have to accept the invitation from the email. Once done, it should take a few hours before the delegate can access your account.

Note

Gmail users can only add 10 delegates but if you are using a Google apps Gmail account, you can add 25 delegates but these delegates can be only from the same organization as you. Also, some companies disable the delegation feature.

8. Track Emails and Check Who’s Tracking You

There are times when you are sending an important message, but I was worried if I had read the e-mail, or if landed in the spam. Well, do not worry more, because there are many extensions Gmail that lets you keep track of e-mail messages for aka bring you read receipts.

If you just want to keep a check on the emails you sent, you can install the extension Mailtrack, which allows you to keep track of e-mail messages is unlimited in the free version. You can just install the extension, give the permissions and you are good to go. It works automatically, and you do not have to do anything. I also symbols mark the sent e-mail messages, which tell you if your e-mail has been read or not. Get notified when you read your e-mail. The only caveat with Mailtrack is the fact that it does not allow you to keep track of e-mails specific disabled.

If you’d like more features like the ability to track the links inside emails, more statistics, then you can check out other extensions like Bananatag Email Tracking, Boomerang etc.

Apart from track your e-mail messages, you can also check e-mail messages that have any trace enable code in them. For this, you can use Uglymail extension, which shows the eye icon next to the e-mail messages that have some kind of trace enabled. It's not guaranteed, so do not blindly trust the extension. However, it is the best solution to see if anyone follow you.

9. Move Chats to the Right Side

Interface Gmail mailbox usual can seem to be very busy, especially on the left side, and that can really put you off. The left side of the inbox featuring various labels and conversations below. However, you can transfer chats to the right side, making for a much cleaner look more.

To do this, head to Gmail Settings and go to the Labs tab. Here, find the "Right side" option and click on the "Enable" radio button. Once done, save the changes, after which Gmail will be reloaded.

Then, you must find the chat box on the right and the mailbox Gmail, which looks much cleaner.

10. Advanced Gmail Search

Gmail search capabilities of some great features, which is certainly not a surprise, considering it Google offers. You can search for e-mail messages in Gmail by size, date and file name of the attachments, read or state illegible, people, content etc. For example, you can type "larger: 5 MB" to search for e-mail messages to more than 5 megabytes bytes in size. You can "File name: PDF" Write to search for PDF with the file name entered files. This search parameters operate even in the Gmail application, which is great.

You can hit the drop-down button in the search bar to open up a more advanced search option. Here, you can search based on who the email is from, the words in the email, attachments etc. You can even create a filter with this search.

11. Get Notifications for Specific Labels only (App)

If you receive a lot of e-mail messages in a single day, you can be notifications from Gmail application on your iPhone / iPad or your Android to be very troublesome. Fortunately, in the Gmail app, you can be sure of receiving notifications from only certain labels. This way, you can make sure you can disable notifications of labels, such as promotions, spam etc.

To do this on Android, head to Settings in the Gmail app and tap on "Manage Label". Then, you can go into different labels and enable or disable "Label Notifications".

On an iPhone or iPad, you can select if you want notifications for "All New Mail", "Primary Only" or "None".

Ready to experience these tricks Google?

Well, those were 11 Google tricks that are sure to enhance your email experience on the Google platform. You can try them out and let us know those found useful. Also, if you know of any other cool Google trick that we've missed, please let us know in the comments section below.