Tag Archives: gmail

Gmail gets a new look and a redesigned interface

Gmail gets a new look too: New themes, Smart search box and more

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Gmail has been revamped and now has a new look. It is a part of Google‘s transitions to provide a rich new user interface across all its products, now Gmail has climbed aboard too.

Lets check out what new features have been introduced in the Gmail‘s interface.

New HD themes:

Firstly there are a lot of HD themes for you to check it out. I tried out some of the nice themes like Beach theme and Ocean theme. I loved those two a

lot. Go ahead and personalize your mailbox now.

Gmail's new look - new HD themes introduced

Smart Search Box:

Next feature is the search box. It is a whole lot smarter now. There is no need for you to remember anything. Just enter any word that you are searching for in a mail and Gmail will list out all the results for you.

Gmail's new look - smart search box

You can also filter your search criteria by providing the recipient’s name or an approximate date interval you received that mail. Gmail also gives you the option to search it from All Mail, Spam, Trash and other boxes.

Easily identify your conversations:

The next new change is the redesigned conversations. You can now see profile pictures embedded right beside your specific conversation. Now it becomes more easy for you to identify the person with whom you had a conversation.

Gmail's new look - redesigned conversations

Choose the appearance for your mails:

There’s also been a change at how you look at mails. Whether you want your mails to be spaciously arranged or in a cozy fashion or prefer a much more compact one. You can set it right away by accessing the Gears handle and choosing your arrangement according to your needs.

Gmail's new look - customize mail appearance

As an added advantage Gmail will automatically resize itself if you resize your browser window, so it looks nice in all cases.

Customize your chat area:

The last feature is the customizable chat area. Now you can resize your labels and chat box. For people who chat a lot you can leave the box to show up all the time or if you don’t chat a whole lot often you can hide it by accessing the chat icon in the lower left area.

Gmail's new look - resize chat area

So these are the new changes the Google team rolled out on Gmail today. If you enjoyed these features as much as i did, don’t forget to post a comment and share your views with us.

Source: Official Gmail Blog

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Gmail Preview Pane launched

Gmail Preview Pane launched. Browse mails faster

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Gmail just yesterday launched its new gadget or shall i say a Labs feature, the Preview Pane. As the name suggests its use, the widget is used to preview your mails rather than opening them completely.

Gmail Preview Pane enable

To enable this feature just goto your mail settings, select the Labs tab. Enter preview as your search word. Click on the Preview pane result. Mark the Enable checkbox and click Save changes.

gmail-preview-pane-settings

When the page gets reloaded, you will see a small list button at the side of your navigation buttons. Just click it and you will be shown with a dropdown box. Select Vertical Split or Horizontal split according to your desire. A new sidebar will be launched. Just click on any mail message and you will be previewing it on your preview pane in no time.

Gmail Preview Pane in action

Quite an easy way to check your messages isn’t it? I for one think its very arduous and time consuming to sit and open each unread mail and press back to return to the inbox. With this feature a lot of mails can be read in a short time.

Folks at TechCrunch and Mashable are regarding this as a messed up and an incomplete product but i beg to differ.

Tell us what you think about this new contraption! Is it a GO or a NO-GO?

4 Gmail labs that aren’t worth a Penny

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I recently came across a post on 5 Gmail labs you should enable to increase productivity. Well, this is an article response to that post. Gmail labs, though known for it’s innovations and awesomeness, has on the other hand also launched a few lab features that are… not worth a penny. Here’s the top four:

1. Back to Beta

Heh, not required – is it?

Back to Beta

Back to Beta - worth a penny? ;)

2. Old Snakey

Who’d like to play the old snakey game when tonnes of official mails are unread yet?

Old snakey game in Gmail

Old snakey game in Gmail labs

3. Signature tweaks

Signature tweaks - Outdated lab in Gmail

Signature tweaks - Outdated lab in Gmail

Yes, an outdated lab feature this one. After Gmail has introduced HTML signatures by default, this lab isn’t worth retaining it’s position on the labs as Gmail’s stable site without any labs has been tweaked.

4. Default text Styling

Default text styling - A lab feature for the egoistic Gmail'ers

Default text styling - A lab feature for the egoistic Gmail'ers

Facebook doesn’t allow users sending HTML mails though they can view HTML e-mails, I’ve seen many people opting for their @facebook.com mail address lately. Let us not leave them envious by sending HTML mails to them – let’s learn to be generous, my friends. :P

The above listed were the Gmail labs that I most hated. Let me know in the comments which of the Gmail labs do you hate and which one you love.

If you’d like to read more articles on Gmail, you might want to subscribe to Chaaps via Email.

What is Fb.com all about? [Rumor]

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And yes, the breaking news all o’er the web is that Facebook acquired the domain fb.com, earlier today. But what was puzzling me is not why Facebook took this domain, but I wonder what is fb.com going to be used for?

Facebook's newly bought domain fb.com

Facebook's newly bought domain fb.com

What I’ve Spotted

I made a status update which you can find at http://www.facebook.com/murugappan.meiyappan/posts/168365589853827

When I replace ‘facebook.com’ with ‘fb.com’, again it redirects to the same status update. [See: http://www.fb.com/murugappan.meiyappan/posts/168365589853827]

I suppose, let me say I wish fb.com can be used as a URL shortener to point permalinks just like each article is given it’s unique URL in StumbleUpon’s su.pr.

What they say

Mashable said this may be intended for E-mail address for facebook employees similar to Yahoo! using yahoo-inc.com for their employees. Some say it is only for internal use, some say it will be made public in few weeks. Some say it is a good move, some say this move wasn’t as necessary.

Well, this rumor’s hitting nine walls and Facebook freaks have started to go psychic at it. We are looking forward to hear from facebook about this. Also, we’d love to hear from you on this news through your comments. :)

How to access Gmail older contact manager

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We all are aware of gmail getting a new look and there were many people started criticizing about its change in the contacts tab, and Chaaps’ major author Shaquille Ray was one among them. Here’s how you can access your old and favorite contacts manager:

Access older gmail contacts manager

Click the highlighted text to access the older contacts manager

  • Log in to your Gmail account
  • Scroll down to the footer
  • Next to turn off chat and turn of buzz you can find older contacts manager, click it and you can now access the older contacts manager!

Are you one among those who are disappointed with the new interface or who are happy with the new interface? Do let us know your thoughts about the all new gmail.

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Add Images to your Gmail Signature [Now default in Gmail]

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Just a couple of days ago, I had written an hack regarding how to add images and custom HTML to your gmail signature without the use of any extensions or add-ons.
But now the gmail team themselves are allowing to add images in signatures.

Google WYSIWYG signature

Google's WYSIWYG signature

Here’s how to configure it:

  1. Head to your gmail settings
  2. Under Signature, you can see a WYSIWYG editor
  3. Edit your signature and save the changes
  4. There you go, you are done with creating your gmail signature.

But still there is a limitation: You can add images only that are hosted on the web and cannot add images from your desktop. We strongly recommend that you upload your pics to flickr or picasa and then give its URL rather than use some other third-party image hosting services.

Anyhow bloggers and IT professionals may consider to stick to the canned responses method, as they might have two mailing streams: personal and official.

Though this is a very good move by Gmail, Which method are you looking forward to? The default one or the canned responses method? Drop your views in the comments.

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Add custom HTML signature in Gmail [No extensions]

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We all must be aware of Firefox and chrome extension WiseStamp used to add a signature at the end of any email. Here is another method to add signatures in Gmail:

  • Head your address bar to Gmail labs
  • Enable Canned responses and Inserting images
  • Go to Compose mail and prepare your signature just as you compose any other email:
Custom signature is composed

Custom signature is composed

  • Select all text by pressing Ctrl+A
  • Click the Canned responses drop-down list next to Insert Invitation button
  • Click New canned response under Save
  • Give a relevant name and save it
Saving the signature

Saving the signature

And now you are done saving your signature. Whenever you want you can insert that particular signature into your email by clicking the canned responses drop down list and click the saved signature’s name under Insert and your done! You can create as many signatures as you want that too with images and many other eye-catching features enabled. Isn’t that pretty amazing?

Which one do you prefer – Riding on an extension or something stored right in your Gmail account? I hope you like the latter better. Do let me know in the comments.
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Gmail Pops Hover Card for your Messages

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Gmail is The Most Used Email Service on Web. Gmail was kept in beta for more than 5 years. and came out of it very recently. Even After Coming out of Beta, Gmail has continuously tried to make updates.. Say, Integrating Google’s Sharing Service “Buzz” by placing it just below the inbox.

Today Gmail has done a New addition (You Can Call this as a Minor Update) by Introducing first of its kind Hover Cards for your Messages.. If you Hover Over any Messages on your Gmail account you can see a small Hover Card Popping up with the details of Email, like email ID, Recent Conversations etc.. Here is how the Gmail’s HoverCard looks like.

The Hover Card Looks Similar to Gtalk’s Contact Card as it uses the Same Design. It Consists of Email id and Two Clickable Options “Email” and “More”. You can directly compose Emails by Clicking on “Email” option or Expand “More” to Find “Recent Conversations” and “Send SMS” options!

With This Update one could still easily navigate by just hovering and choosing the Right Option!

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2 Updates on Gmail – Insert Calendar Invitation, Drag and Drop Attachments

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Yesterday, Google introduced two new updates for Gmail users. One is integrating Gmail and Calendar, making it easier to create Calendar events from within Gmail. Another one is drag and drop attachments when you compose a message on Gmail.

First one, Integration of Calender with your Gmail account. If you want to invite your friends for some party’s or some event, you don’t need to switch between Gmail and Calendar in order to check their availability and send an email invitation.

Now, when you compose an email message, there’s now an “Insert: Invitation” link right under the subject line. Just click on it and a pop window will display your availability as well as that of the people you’re emailing provided you have permission to see their calendars.

The second one, This feature is awesome because it saves more time. Hereafter you don’t need to click on attach files link everytime. Just drag and drop the file from your PC to the compose message window. It will automatically attach the files to your message.

For now, you can drag and drop attachments in Chrome and Firefox 3.6 only. For other browsers, Google will enable as soon as they support this feature.

If you’re gmail account doesn’t have this update, please wait for few days.
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Source 1 & 2

Soon 7400 Mb of your GMail Free Space will be Consumed by Buzz

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Gmail, Email from Google!
Gmail is the Leader of all Email Services on Web. Gmail has Integration of GTalk, POP3, IMAP and Provides a Free Space of 7400+ Mb.

Gmail Recently launched Buzz, which is a Twitter/Facebook like Sharing service.. where you share your Status Updates and your Follows can like and Comment your Updates…You are also allowed to Integrate your Picasa Albums, Twitter and many other accounts and feeds with Google Buzz… Buzz provided you a feature to follow anyone on Buzz … and you could see their live news feed on your Buzz Section….

Buzz’s Activity is Drastically Increasing day by day… with increased number of people whom you follow.. you are obviously stuffed with their updates straight to your Gmail’s Buzz Section…

If You have Forgot let me Remember you… Though Gmail boasts that it is a Free Email service with Free Storage.. But only provides Free Storage Upto 7400+ Mb.. Later You will be charged some $$$ to extend the Free Space!

Having Said That, Buzz’s Hyper-activity could Soon Ruin your Free Space on Gmail. If You want to Check How Much Free Storage is available for you on Buzz, Just Navigate down in your Gmail’s HomePage to see The Available Free Space and Spent Space…

I found that 2% of Free Space was Consumed from past one month and I suspect it is all due to Google Buzz effect! Soon You and Me will be Notified by Google to Upgrade the Space Paying some $$$ for space! How is That? Would You Go for it?

The More You follow in Google Buzz, The More Updates you get from Them, The More Space it Consumes… Also, Do Mind Seeing your ‘Sent Items’… If You use Google Buzz extensively and Comment on your Friends Statuses … All those will be Present in Your Gmail’s ‘Sent Items’ … Which Clearly Shows How Much Memory are you wasting Just because of this new Service Buzz!

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