Jun
8
Gmail Introduction: Webmail, Conversations, and Tags
Filed Under email, episode, gmail, how-to, screencast, tutorial, webmail | 1 Comment
Episode 4 -
At the time of this writing, Gmail is a free email account from Google that comes with 2.8gb of space that is continually expanding. I use it to manage all five of my email accounts every day. It is a tremendous email client and, yet, most people do not understand how easy and powerful it truly is because it has changed the rules in the game of email. In this article we cover the basics of Gmail and how to use it to simplify and empower our email experience.
The Anatomy of Gmail
You can get your Gmail account at Gmail.com. Below are diagrams of Gmail’s interface:
The “Top”
A. Quick links to other Google services. (Calendar goes to Gcal, Photos to Picasa web, etc)
B. Settings: This link is very important for tweaking the many settings of Gmail. Most notably, you can add additional email accounts with gfetch, change your accounts picture (for other Gmail users), and turn on keyboard shortcuts (nice!). C. Google’s search functions are incredibly deep. But even for basic searches, you will find locating old messages an absolute breeze (Ideas: Search for the author you are looking for to see only their messages. Or try searching for “Registering” or “Password” to find all your old sign-up emails.)
D. FILTERS! By far, the most useful and innovative feature in Gmail. Think of them as folders. But unlike folders, you can place multiple filters on a message, which makes it superior. Plus they really are easier to use once you get the hang of it.
The “Side”
A. Write a new email. B. Return to your Inbox view.
C. You can use “Stars” kind of like a temporary filter to remind you to read a certain email or keep an email you think is important for easy access . Each email has a little star icon next to it, so adding and removing stars is easy.
D. Some of the best conversations occur in your chat box! You can read, and even search, your chat logs here.
E. Access your “sent” mail here.
F. If you don’t have time to finish the email you are writing, clicking the “Save” button will save it to the “Drafts” area so you can finish it later.
G. ALL your email can be found here, including those which have been archived.
H. Gmail’s spam filter is great, but check here just to make sure nothing important accidentally got filtered.
I. Items you’ve deleted go here. Use the “Delete Forever” button to remove mail from your account for good.
J. Add/Remove your contacts here.
K. This is your quick-contacts box. You can see who’s currently online and available for chat or send an email to them by clicking their name.
L. Labels are the names of your tags. You can click through your different tags here. Treat them kind of like folders, containing the messages you tagged with those labels.
* The Reader link is only available with the fantastic Firefox Add-on from Life-hacker.com, “Better Gmail”.
The “Center” (Inbox)
A.
- Archive – Use this frequently! Keep your Inbox clean. Your inbox should be for new arrivals and pressing email; everything else should be archived. Remember, you can always “star” items for later if you want to look at a message at another time.
- Report Spam – If any spam actually manages to get past the Spam filter, use this to report the violation.
- Delete – Remember, unless you “Delete Forever” in the Trash area, your deleted messages can always be recovered.
- Mark Read/Mark Unread – Always mark messages “read” unless you want them to be counted as new messages. Mail items are automatically marked “read” if you click them to read them.
B. These quick links are useful for selecting multiple messages (rather than clicking each checkbox).
C.
- To select a message, click the checkbox.
- Star the item just by clicking the little star.
- From
- Subject
- Date
D. Use this drop-down box to quickly “tag” a selected message with a Label or to create new ones.
Basic Operation -
The following instructional items I consider “necessary” for Gmail to be your friend, and not a frustration 
. Understanding Conversations:
Check out this YouTube video from Google about conversations.
Here is the official explanation:
“Gmail groups all replies with their original message, creating a conversation.
Let’s say you’re planning to have dinner with three of your closest friends. You send all three a message asking for restaurant suggestions. With Gmail, each of your friends’ responses will be grouped with your original message, creating a single conversation in your inbox. This puts the entire conversation in context and makes your inbox easier to manage.
In other email systems, each of your friends’ responses appear as a separate message in your inbox, forcing you to wade through all your mail to follow the conversation. Gmail makes it much easier — you can view all your dinner plan messages at once.
When you open one message in a conversation, all of your related messages will be stacked neatly on top of each other, like a deck of cards. We call this Conversation View. In Conversation View, each new message is stacked on top of the ones that arrived before it, so that the newest message is always the one you see first.“
Understanding Labels:
Google has also provided excellent basics here:
“Labels do all the work of folders and give you an extra bonus: you can add more than one to a conversation. Once you’ve created a label, you can view all the messages with that label by searching, or by clicking the label name along the left side of any Gmail page.
You can easily create, edit, and delete existing labels. Here’s how
To create a label:
- Select the message(s) you’d like to label by checking the box(es) next to the sender’s name.
- Select New label from the More Actions… drop-down menu.
- Enter the name of the new label in the text box, and click OK.
The selected messages will automatically be categorized under the new label.
To edit a label:
- Log in to your Gmail account.
- Click Edit labels at the bottom of the Labels box.
- Click rename next to the label you want to edit.
- Enter the new label name, and click OK.
All the messages categorized under your old label name will now be categorized under your new label.
To delete a label:
- Log in to your Gmail account.
- Click Edit labels at the bottom of the Labels box.
- Click remove label next to the label you want to delete.
- Confirm that you’d like to remove the label by clicking OK.
* Removing a label doesn’t delete the messages previously categorized with that label.
After labeling a message or conversation, you can remove it from your inbox by archiving it. Then, you can view archived messages by clicking All Mail, or by clicking the label name along the left side of any Gmail page.“
Use Filters To Apply Labels:
Do you receive a regular newsletter in you inbox from a particular person or company? You can automatically have it tagged with a label so that it is easy to sort later.
- Click the “Create a Filter” button by the search bar
- Enter their email (eg: name@domain.com OR whatever name appears in its place) in the “From” field
- Click “Test Search” to see which emails Gmail finds under your criteria
- Click “Next Step” and check “Apply Label” and select (or create) a label
- Lastly check “Also apply to conversations below” (if you want) and click “Create Filter”
Beyond this -
You can find additional tutorials and information at Google’s own Gmail help page that are very helpful. You can do an incredible amount of things with Gmail that will improve your email experience, but it’s best to take it slow . If you’d like to blaze ahead however, check out these great tips from LifeHacker.com.
Stay tuned for my next article and video episode. For more tips and tricks, sign up for the Official Tech-Bites.com Newsletter! You will be the first to know whenever I release new articles and videos and receive special subscriber only articles and product reviews.
