Official Gmail Blog
News, tips and tricks from Google's Gmail team and friends.
More Russian Gmail videos
December 15, 2009
Posted by Maya Moufarek, Regional Marketing Manager
Recently, I reunited with some colleagues in our Moscow office (the same team that brought you this
Gmail art video
last year) on a set of animated videos showcasing some of Gmail's features: messages grouped into conversations, great spam protection, built-in video chat, offline access, and themes. Some of the humor in these videos may be uniquely Russian — they revolve around a character who imagines what the world would be like if everyday objects worked like Gmail, like this video that compares unthreaded conversations to a mess of laundry:
In case the Russian version is too confusing, we've translated all the videos into English
here
.
New in Labs: Mark unread from here
December 14, 2009
Posted by Jenny Ross, Software Engineer
I subscribe to a lot of really active mailing lists. Oftentimes, an email in my inbox will get dozens of replies before I get a chance to start reading it. If I only have a few moments to look at a particularly long and interesting discussion, I'd like to start reading it then; later, when I have some more time, I'll pick up where I left off. However, if I mark the thread as unread, it will return to its
previously read state
without updating to show what I just read. When I come back to it, I'll have to search for the last thing I remember reading. If I star the first message I still want to read instead, I might not remember that it needs to be read when I'm in my inbox later (and when I do read it, I'll have to expand lots of messages before I can read the conversation properly).
There's a new feature in Gmail Labs that will help with this. When you enable Mark Unread From Here from the
Labs tab
under Settings, you'll see a new "Mark unread from here" option in the drop down menu found in the upper right-hand corner of messages.
Clicking this option on a message tells Gmail that you want that message to be the first one you see when you reopen the thread later, with all messages after it open for easy reading. So, when you leave partway through reading a long thread, figuring out where to start reading again is easy. Give it a try and
share your thoughts
.
Offline Gmail graduates from Labs
December 7, 2009
Posted by Aaron Whyte, Software Engineer
Almost a year ago, we launched
Offline Gmail in Gmail Labs
. By installing Offline Gmail, you're able to use the normal Gmail interface to read and write mail, search, and organize, even when there's no internet connection. And Flaky Connection mode speeds up Gmail when your connection is slow or unreliable.
Since we first launched in Labs, we've heard from a lot of you who tried Offline Gmail, and your feedback helped us make a lot of improvements. Aside from fixing bugs and making the whole offline experience smoother, we recently added two frequently requested features: an option to
choose which messages get downloaded for offline use
and the ability to
send attachments while offline
. Offline Gmail has proven particularly useful for business and schools making the switch to
Google Apps
from traditional desktop mail clients -- they're used to being able to access their mail whether or not they're online, and Offline Gmail brings this functionality right to the browser.
Now, we're happy to announce that Offline Gmail is graduating from Labs and becoming a regular part of Gmail. If you're already using it, then you're all set. While you'll no longer see it on the Labs tab, you can tweak your settings and turn it on and off from the Offline tab under Settings. If you'd like to get started with Offline Gmail on your computer now, here's how:
Click the "Settings" link in the top-right corner of Gmail.
Click the "Offline" tab.
Select "Enable Offline Mail for this computer."
Click "Save Changes" and follow the directions from there.
Thanks for all of the feedback over the last year -- and for putting up with the occasional bug or two. We're going to have a little toast, and then get right back to working on more improvements for 2010.
P.S. We received some interesting pictures in response to our call for photos of people using Gmail offline in our
last post
. Our favorite so far came from Ugo, who is at a
Saharawi
refugee camp in
south Algeria
, where he uses Gmail offline most of the time and connects via a satellite phone to our servers just once a day.
Happy holidays from the Picasa team
December 7, 2009
Posted by Zach Yeskel, Product Marketing Manager
Three weeks ago we made extra storage for Gmail and Picasa Web Albums
more affordable
, and now
we've partnered with Eye-Fi
to make it even easier to get your photos into the cloud. Eye-Fi offers WiFi-enabled memory cards which make your existing camera wireless, so it's easy to upload photos and videos right to Picasa Web Albums or to your computer -- no cables required. For a limited time, when you
buy 200 GB of Google paid storage for $50, you'll get a free Eye-Fi card
(a $95 value).
Visit
picasa.google.com/eyefi.html
to get yours today, and happy holidays from the Picasa team!
Spread some holiday cheer, one card at a time
December 2, 2009
Posted by Jason Toff, Associate Product Marketing Manager
Update (12/6)
: We're all out of free cards, but if you're feeling crafty, you can still
print and cut out your own
.
Every year around this time I start thinking about the annual holiday email I send to friends and family members. I usually email my mom, dad, sister, friends and co-workers. But the one person who appreciates my season's greetings the most — my grandma — is stuck in the pre-digital age of snail mail. Of course, I could go to a store, aimlessly wander through the aisles, choose a card, wait in line to pay for it, go to the post office, pick up some stamps, etc., etc. — but wouldn't it be so much easier just to fill out a form and have Gmail handle the rest?
This holiday season, as a token of our appreciation to our most enthusiastic fans, we'll snail-mail a free holiday postcard on your behalf. Yes, through the mail and everything.
To send a card, visit
gmail.com/holidaycard
. We'll only be able to send cards to US addresses and to a limited number of people (due to limited Gmail elf availability), so be sure to request one soon.
And if you're headed home for the holidays, consider spending some "computer time" with loved ones who aren't as up-to-date with technology. With some luck, maybe this time next year you'll be able to
email
them a holiday card instead!
Wishing a happy holiday to you and yours!
New in Labs: Default text styling
December 1, 2009
Posted by Darren Lewis, Software Engineer and Jon Kotker, former Software Engineering Intern
In the early days of email, messages were simple text meant to be read on a terminal. But with the growth of the web came the advent of HTML email, and overnight people began expressing themselves through bold and italics, colors and images, and whatever else their creativity inspired.
If you like to use a specific text style for your messages, you've had to change the font every time you're about to start typing out an email. Now, you can turn on default text styling from the
Labs tab
, then go to Settings and set your preferences just once.
Try it out and
tell us
what you think. If you live and breathe code, now you can set your default text style to a monospace font. If your life is purple, your email can be, too. But remember: whatever you see is what your recipients will see, so be nice to them and try not to clog the intertubes with ginormous bold italicized red script. ;)
Send attachments while offline
November 24, 2009
Posted by Andy Palay, Software Engineer
One of the most requested features for Offline Gmail has been the ability to include attachments in messages composed while offline. Starting today, attachments work just the way you would expect them to whether you are online or offline (with the exception that when you're offline you won't be able to include inline images). Just add the attachment and send your message.
If you have Offline Gmail enabled, you'll notice that all your mail now goes through the outbox, regardless of whether you're online or offline. This allows Gmail to capture all attachments, even if you suddenly get disconnected from network. If you're online, your mail will quickly be sent along to its destination.
If you haven't tried offline access yet, visit the
Labs tab
and follow these instructions to get started:
Select Enable next to Offline Gmail.
Click Save Changes.
After your browser reloads, you'll see a new "Offline" link in the upper righthand corner of the Gmail page, next to your username. Click this link to start the offline set up process and download Gears if you don't already have it.
Now that you can send attachments while offline, we'd love to see pictures of you using Gmail in unusual places while you're disconnected from the web. Pictures of you using Gmail in an airplane, igloo, or submarine are all welcome. Email your photo to hikingfan@gmail.com and we'll post the most interesting ones here.
New in Labs: Green robot icon
November 18, 2009
Posted by Chad Yoshikawa, Software Engineer
Gmail
chat status
(those green, orange, and red bubbles) indicates if your friends are online or not. But sometimes my buddies appear green when they're not really "online online" — they just have chat open on their Android phones.
Turn on Green Robot, a new experiment in Gmail
Labs
, and you'll see a robot icon next to people who are currently using Android phones. In the case below, Shirley is online with Android, Nicolle R. is using regular Gmail chat, and Chris I. is currently away but also on Android. Slatka is not an angry robot — she's online with Android but currently busy.
These icons can help you decide whether to tailor your conversation to the type of device that your chat buddy is using. For example, when you know the guy on the other end is using his Android phone, you may decide to send shorter, more concise chat messages.
When your chat buddies log into Gmail, their presence icons will revert to the traditional red, green, and orange status bubbles. In addition, if your chat buddy happens to be logged into both Gmail and Android chat then the traditional Gmail status icons will be shown. Try it out and
let us know
what you think.
More extra storage for less
November 10, 2009
Posted by Elvin Lee, Software Engineer
When Gmail
launched
five years ago, it came with a gigabyte of storage space. A gigabyte doesn't seem like very much any more, and now every Gmail account comes with more than seven gigs of space (and
growing
). Still, some people manage to use up all of this (that's a lot of email...), so for over two years
we've offered
the option to purchase even more storage. This extra storage acts as an overflow that you only start using when you reach the limit of your free storage, and is shared for use between Gmail and Picasa Web Albums. Picasa has always come with a gigabyte of free storage to share photos, but people need even more storage as they start taking more pictures and moving full resolution backups of their photo collection into the cloud.
While storage costs have been
dropping naturally
, we've also been working hard to improve our infrastructure to reduce costs even further. Today, we're dramatically lowering our prices to make extra storage more affordable. You can now buy 20 GB for only $5 a year, twice as much storage for a quarter of the old price, and enough space for more than 10,000 full resolution pictures taken with a five megapixel camera. And if you need more than 20 GB, you can purchase up to 16 terabytes!
So if you're running out of space in your overflowing inbox, or want to keep full resolution copies of thousands of photos, visit
www.google.com/accounts/PurchaseStorage
to see all the plans and to buy more storage.
Choose which messages get downloaded for offline use
November 4, 2009
Posted by Maria Khomenko, Software Engineer
Like an increasing number of people these days, I like to stay productive during my flights (even those without
wifi access
). A long flight is a perfect opportunity to go through everything in my inbox and catch up on older mail. I use Offline Gmail in Gmail Labs to access my mail while disconnected. However, up until now, Offline Gmail heuristically picked which messages get downloaded for offline use. This meant that sometimes not enough mail from my Inbox would be available, but the Chat logs that I certainly didn't need on the flight would be there.
From now on, once you enable Offline Gmail from the
Labs tab
under Settings, you can choose which messages get downloaded. On the Offline tab under Settings, you'll see your current settings and be able to set how much mail you want to download from each of your labels. I chose to download everything in my Inbox and important labels, as well as recent messages from the last month from other labels.
When you hit save, Gmail will synchronize new messages you didn't have downloaded before and remove the ones you're not planning to read from your hard drive. You can always change your settings back to keep fewer or more messages later on -- fewer messages means Offline Gmail runs faster. Questions or comments?
Let us know
!
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