Official Gmail Blog
News, tips and tricks from Google's Gmail team and friends.
Learn why a message ended up in your spam folder
March 19, 2012
Posted by Ela Czajka, Software Engineer
Many of our users say the accuracy of our spam filter is one of the key reasons they love Gmail. And while we think you should never have to look in your spam folder, we know some of you may want to know why the messages there were marked as spam.
So starting today, we’ll be showing a brief explanation at the top of each of your spam messages. Simply look at any message in your spam folder and now you can find out why it was put there and learn about any potentially harmful content within the message.
We hope that this is not only interesting, but also helps you learn about scams and other harmful messages that Gmail filters out. Whether you prefer to leave your spam folder untouched or do some educational digging, the information will be there for you. And if you're interested in learning more, check out our
new series of spam articles
in the Gmail help center.
Star and label messages before you send them
March 14, 2012
Posted by Craig Prince, Software Engineer
Have you ever sent an important email that you wanted to follow up on, but a couple days later realized you hadn’t? Starting today, you can organize your messages before sending them by starring them or adding a label, making it easy to keep track of your sent messages.
When composing a new message, you can assign labels or star it by using the labels drop-down menu. As you’d expect, recipients of messages organized this way won’t see your labels or stars.
The Gmail Forum’s new look and first 100k poster
March 13, 2012
Posted by Sarah Price, Gmail Community Manager
The
Gmail Forum
is a place where you can discuss Gmail, get advice, and help each other out. Recently, we've celebrated two major events.
First forum poster to hit 100,000 answers
Everyone needs a little help occasionally, and many of us get a warm, fuzzy feeling when we’re able to provide assistance to someone in need. Brett, or “bkc56” on the forum, has helped so many people he must be on fire! The Gmail team is thrilled to congratulate Brett on becoming the first person to post 100,000 answers in any of our forums.
To celebrate, we invited Brett to come by the Google offices in Mountain View for lunch and a day with the team. While he was here, Brett shared his insights on Gmail, the forum, and the Gmail community; those he met with described his observations as “brilliant” and “invaluable.” He met with Googlers in many different roles, from support specialists and engineers to vice presidents. We learned a lot from speaking with Brett and we are all very grateful that he shared his time with us.
Lunch with the team: Emmanuel, VP; Alex, Product Manager; Mark, Director;
Brett, Top Contributor; Dave, VP; Sarah, Community Manager
Brett is one of our
Top Contributors
, the forum volunteers who are especially knowledgeable and helpful. Remember to say “thanks” if you see them around the forum. Want to lend a hand yourself? Brett suggests “Find a question where you know the answer and post it. Everyone starts with just one helpful post. Perhaps you'll enjoy it and do another, and another, and...”
Launch of the new forum interface
Right on the heels of Brett’s achievement, we launched a
new interface
for the
Gmail Forum
, powered by Google Groups. The update brings new features, including “me too” voting, rich text posts and editing, and easy sharing on Google+. Stop by and check it out, whether you have a question or just want to chat.
Open email links directly in Gmail using Chrome
February 27, 2012
Posted by Michael Davidson, Software Engineer
I used to avoid clicking on email links on the web because an application on my computer that I never used would pop up and interrupt me. Instead, I would copy the email address, switch to Gmail, click compose and paste it in.
Starting today, thanks to the
magic of HTML5
things are getting simpler. Now, when you go to Gmail in Chrome, you will be asked if you want Gmail to open all email links. Say yes, and clicking on email links in any application on your computer will open a fresh Gmail compose window.
You can set Gmail as your default mail client in
Firefox
and
Internet Explorer
, too.
Landing another blow against email phishing
January 29, 2012
Posted by Adam Dawes, Product Manager
Email phishing, in which someone tries to trick you into revealing personal information by sending fake emails that look legitimate, remains one of the biggest online threats. One of the most popular methods that scammers employ is something called
domain spoofing
. With this technique, someone sends a message that seems legitimate when you look at the “From” line even though it’s actually a fake. Email phishing is costing regular people and companies millions of dollars each year, if not more, and in response, Google and other companies have been talking about how we can move beyond the solutions we’ve developed individually over the years to make a real difference for the whole email industry.
Industry groups come and go, and it’s not always easy to tell at the beginning which ones are actually going to generate good solutions. When the right contributors come together to solve real problems, though, real things happen. That’s why we’re particularly optimistic about
today’s announcement
of DMARC.org, a passionate collection of companies focused on significantly cutting down on email phishing and other malicious mail.
Building upon the work of previous mail authentication standards like
SPF
and
DKIM
, DMARC is responding to domain spoofing and other phishing methods by creating a standard protocol by which we’ll be able to measure and enforce the authenticity of emails. With DMARC, large email senders can ensure that the email they send is being recognized by mail providers like Gmail as legitimate, as well as set policies so that mail providers can reject messages that try to spoof the senders’ addresses.
We’ve been active in the leadership of the DMARC group for almost two years, and now that Gmail and several other large mail senders and providers — namely Facebook, LinkedIn, and PayPal — are actively using the DMARC specification, the road is paved for more members of the email ecosystem to start getting a handle on phishing. Our recent data indicates that roughly 15% of non-spam messages in Gmail are already coming from domains protected by DMARC, which means Gmail users like you don’t need to worry about spoofed messages from these senders. The phishing potential plummets when the system just works, and that’s what DMARC provides.
If you’re a large email sender and you want to try out the DMARC specification, you can learn more at the
DMARC website
. Even if you’re not ready to take on the challenge of authenticating all your outbound mail just yet, there’s no reason to not sign up to start receiving reports of mail that fraudulently claims to originate from your address. With further adoption of DMARC, we can all look forward to a more trustworthy overall experience with email.
Improvements to the Gmail offline Chrome app
January 12, 2012
Posted by Dave Stewart, Senior Software Engineer
When we
first announced
Gmail offline last August, we told you that it was only the beginning of our HTML5-powered offline journey. Since then, we’ve been listening to your feedback and today, we want to let you know about some of the key updates we’ve made to the Chrome Web Store app.
The first update - and a personal favorite of the team- is the addition of a settings page (look for the new settings icon
). You can now choose whether you want to synchronize 7, 14 or 31 days worth of mail. So the next time you get on an airplane, you can sit back and tackle up to 31 days of mail all while offline.
We’ve also made a number of other updates to Gmail offline:
Improved attachments
: All attachments are now downloaded and available for offline use
Keyboard shortcuts support
: If you have keyboard shortcuts enabled in Gmail, your setting will transfer over to the Gmail offline app. If you're not sure what you can do with keyboard shortcuts, try pressing ‘?’ next time you’re using Gmail or Gmail offline.
Numerous performance enhancements
: Messages and attachments now download at a faster rate and some bugs have been fixed.
If you haven’t tried it already, you can
install the Gmail offline app
from the Chrome Web Store. If you’re already using Gmail offline, you'll see these improvements the next time you open the app. To get the best experience using Gmail offline, please make sure you are using the latest version of Chrome as some features may not work on older versions.
One more present under the tree—custom
video messages
from Santa
December 20, 2011
Posted by Trevor Claiborne, Product Marketing Manager
Last Friday
Santa opened up the Ho Ho Hotline and teamed up with Gmail to send
personalized holiday phone calls
to anyone you know who has been nice (or naughty, for that matter) in the U.S. or Canada. In just a few days Santa has made hundreds of thousands of calls to your friends, family and loved ones, and received many a message from you at his Google Voice number (
855-34-SANTA
).
Santa has one more surprise in store. Starting today, anyone in the world can
create and send
a personalized cartoon video message (in English only) from Santa to anyone you know, anywhere in the world, and share them through email and Google+. Watch our sample video below and create your own at
SendaCallFromSanta.com
.
The Gmail team wishes you a happy holiday!
Scribbles for Gmail for mobile - a creative way to email
December 19, 2011
Posted by Donna Dupuis, Software Engineer
From prehistoric humans etching in caves to the modern-day thinker sketching a stroke of genius on a napkin, scribbling is a natural form of human expression. Not constrained by formatting or font styles, scribbling is a versatile outlet for expressing individuality and creativity. Not to mention it's a lot of fun.
Now you can quickly convey that eureka moment to a colleague, or simply brighten a loved one's day with a personal scribble in
Gmail for the mobile web browser
and the
Gmail app for iOS
. In the compose view, click on the scribble button to open up the drawing window. A lightweight interface makes it easy to get your idea down.
Need a bit of inspiration to get started? With the holidays just around the corner, it's a great time to send a handmade, festive greeting:
Or, perhaps your wit is better-expressed pictorially than textually. Use scribbles to send original comics to your friends, or generate a new meme:
Simple requests are that much more appealing from someone who puts in a bit of effort:
It’s also great for simply emoting beyond the limitations of plain text:
At the end of the day, it's a blank canvas. What do you want to share? To get started, head to
mail.google.com
on your iOS 4+, Android 3.1+ or Playbook device, or download the Gmail app for iOS from the
App Store
today.
We want to see what you can do! Send your scribbles to
gmailscribbles@google.com
and then share them with the world using #GmailScribbles.*
Brought to you by the Gmail team. Happy Holidays!
*By emailing your scribble to gmailscribbles@google.com, you give us your permission to upload, share or reproduce your scribble both digitally and physically. Unfortunately, we will not be able to showcase all submitted scribbles, and will have to pick and choose amongst the ones that we receive. Remember: have fun and be cool about it - nothing offensive and nothing that violates the law. Thanks!
Ho-ho-hold the phone: Santa’s on the line
December 16, 2011
Posted by Trevor Claiborne, Product Marketing Manager
Last year,
Santa got his very own Google Voice number
, and people around the U.S. received a special personalized holiday phone call from Santa Claus.
This year, Santa wants you to reach out to him (after all, reindeer are only so-so conversationalists). If you or your family members have a special request for Santa, you can
call him right from Gmail
* and leave him a message at his Google Voice number: 855-34-SANTA. Santa won't be able to return messages himself—it’s a busy time of year for him—but he's promised to keep us up to date on happenings in the North Pole day by day.
You also can
create and send a unique, customized phone call
from Santa to anyone you know, from your nieces and nephews to old college friends, over the phone (to U.S. numbers only).
Listen to a sample phone call
, and send a message of your own from
SendaCallFromSanta.com
.
Of course, Santa is never one to fall behind the technological times (word on the street is that Rudolph’s nose was recently upgraded to an energy-efficient LED). So while the red suit may never go out of style, this year Santa has come up with an extra special way to spread the holiday cheer. But you’ll have to wait until it’s closer to Christmas to find out what it is. So no peeking—but keep checking
the site
!
Happy Holidays from your friends at Gmail.
*Calls from Gmail are free for U.S. and Canadian users, but will cost people outside those areas $.01/minute (plus any applicable VATs).
Cross-posted on the
Official Google Blog
Updates to the Gmail app for iOS
December 14, 2011
Posted by Ingrid Fielker, Software Engineer
When we
launched
the Gmail app for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch, we said we were just getting started and would continue to release updates regularly. Today we updated
the app
with some new features and interface improvements.
We've added the ability to set a custom signature for your mobile messages and a vacation responder, both available through the gear icon at the top of the menu view. We've also improved labels with support for nested labels:
Additionally, if you are using iOS 5, we've changed the notification sound so that it’s easier to distinguish when you've received an email.
We’ve also got another fun feature to make your language even more colorful (in a good way!). In the Gmail app and Gmail for mobile you can now open up a canvas and scribble a message that will be attached to your email. It's perfect for sending a quick sketch that is hard to express in words or adding a fun graphic to make your email more personal.
Scribbles support different colors, brush sizes, lines, erasers and spray paint. This example was created in the Gmail app on an iPad:
Behind the scenes, we're continuing to work on highly requested features like banner notifications, multiple login support and the ability to send-as from any account already configured in Gmail. We want to make sure these are done right as we continue to improve the Gmail app.
The update is available in the
App Store
and works on all devices running iOS 4+.
Labels
buzz
calendar
Gmail Blog
Google Apps Blog
Google Calendar
googlenew
Inbox
Inbox by Gmail
labs
mobile
Offline
reader
tasks
tip
Archive
2016
Sep
Aug
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2015
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2014
Dec
Nov
Oct
Aug
Jul
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2013
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
2012
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2011
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2010
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2009
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2008
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2007
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Feed
Google
on
Follow @gmail
Follow
Give us feedback in our
Product Forum
.
Get posts via email
Email:
Powered by
Google Groups
Useful Links
About Gmail
Gmail for Mobile
Gmail for Work