Ultimate GMail Collection: over 80 Tools and Tips

It’s been four months since our first Gmail Roundup. And Gmail being as popular as it is, it’s time for a major update. So here you go, over 80 Gmail tools and tips, including Firefox extensions, Greasemonkey scripts, Desktop programs, Web applications and all-purpose ‘HowTo’ guides.

Firefox EXTENSIONS


Gmail Manager - manage multiple Gmail accounts, receive new mail notifications, view unread messages right from your browser statusbar. “…The Gmail Manager Firefox add-on obviates the need to keep your Gmail open in a tab all the time by displaying your email info in a statusbar pop-up…” [via LifeHacker]

GmailThis - excellent browser bookmarklet that lets you quickly forward highlighted text on any webpage via Gmail.

Better Gmail - integrates features of 10 Greasemonkey scripts into one firefox addon. These include: Google Reader integration, Mac-like skin, GCal integration, Fixed font and more.

GmailSkinz - powerful firefox addon with lots of cool features: change Inbox color , Add Google IG modules, insert images from Picasa albums, insert smileys, make navigation menu horizontal, hide unnecessary page elements, and more. (Note: some users reported having problems with this addon).

CustomizeGoogle - removes ads, switches you from http to https, hides the spam counter, quick contacts box, invite box and forces fixed font

Gspace - multi-platform firefox addon that turns your Gmail account into powerful online storage tool.

Gmail Search - search your Gmail account directly from the firefox search bar.

GcalQuickTab - toggle between Gmail and Google Calendar with keyboard shortcuts.

GTDInbox - turns your account into flexible and feature-loaded ToDo-management service (GTD = Getting Things Done)

DragDropUpload - this handy extension lets you quickly attach one or more files to your emails by dragging them over the “Attach a file” link.

Google Toolbar - official Google toolbar featuring one-click Gmail messages search.

FireGPG - integrates contextual menu with some useful functions: encrypt, decrypt, sign, etc. Read more on how to use it here.
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GreaseMonkey SCRIPTS (What is Greaseamonkey?)



( Click Here to Enlarge )

Gmail Super Clean - clean and distraction-free Gmail. Looks great, check it out here

Gmail Spam-count Hide - hides spam count link.

Google Reader Folders - adds a little box that lists the folders on Google Reader along with the number of unread items in each one.

Google Reader Integration - complete integration of GReader into Gmail. Excellent! (view). Jump to Google Reader Tools and Tips.

Google Calendar Integration - integrates GCal agenda into Gmail (view). Jump to Google Calendar Tools and Tips.

Conversation Preview - lets you quickly preview message contents right from the main inbox window (view).

Saved Searches - create ’saved searches’ (aka smart folders) and display them in the separate box in the navigation menu. Clicking on a search executes the saved query (view).

Folders4Gmail - allows you to create nested labels (i.e. labels and sub-labels) [via LifeHacker].

Gmail Date Search - adds a ‘Search by Date’ button to Gmail’s search form.

Label Colors - color menu labels to make them stand out better (view).

GMail Attachment Icons - adds attachment icons to emails, letting you see what kind of attachment an email has (HTML ,JPG, PDF….). Note: ‘Attachment icons’ isn’t a standard Greasemonkey script, it’s an addon for a similar Firefox extension known as Stylish. However it should work with Geasemonkey as well.

GmailTo - forces all ‘mailto’ links to open in GMail.

Fixed Font Toggle - adds a font toggle button so that messages can be viewed in a fixed-width font. Read more …

Gmail Macros - adds extra keyboard shortcuts to Gmail (i.e. “t” for move to trash, “r” for mark as read, “p” for mark as read and add to archive…etc). Read more…

Gmail Encrypt - encrypts your messages to prevent unwanted people from reading it. Just in case someone intercepts it while it’s on the way.

SSLGoogle - forces Gmail, Google Docs and GCale pages and their intra-links to open via secure connection (HTTPS).

Signature Float - moves your email signature to the top of the message rather than the bottom.

Attachment reminder - reminds you to attach a file to your Gmail, based on whether you have the word attach (ed, ment, etc) in the body.

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Desktop Programs and Web Apps



GmailDrive (Win) - adds a new virtual drive (’Gmail Drive’) to ‘My Computer‘ folder. Drag’n drop files on top it to store them in your Gmail account.

gDisk (Mac) - Mac alternative for the above mentioned GmailDrive.

Gmail ToDo - handy desktop application that allows you to quickly add and save todo’s in a ‘ToDo’ label in your Gmail account.

FlipMail - free service for forwarding some/all of your emails to your mobile (US Only).

Gmail Loader - cross-platform (Win, Mac, Linux) tool to help you load all your old message archives from other email accounts into Gmail. [via LifeHacker].

Icon Generator - minimize spam exposure by getting an image for your email address and safely publish it wherever needed.

Blogsigs - lets you auto-include the title of your latest blog post in your email signature. Works with Gmail.

GMail Mobile - access Gmail from your mobile.

Google Talk - Google’s IM service which is fully integrable with GMail.

You’ve Got Gmail - Gmail plugin for Trillian (IM client)

Unbl0ck - web-based proxy for accessing Gmail from places where it’s blocked (work, school,…)

iPhoto2Gmail (Mac) - allows you to instantly email images from within iPhoto. Send either original or optimized (resized) image versions.

MailPlane - “…A full fledged mail client for Google Mail and Mac OS X “. Mail client combining best of Gmail with Mac’s simplicity anduser interface. It’s still in beta though, but you can request invite from here.

GmailFS - mountable Linux filesystem which uses Gmail as its storage medium

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GMail Notifiers



- for Windows: GMail Notifier (official), GTray, Notifier2
- for Mac: GMail Notifier (official), GCount, Gmail+Growl 2.0
- for Linux: KCheckGmail
- for Firefox: E-Mail Notifier Toolbar, Gmail Notifier

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GMail HowTo’s (over 20 all purpose HowTo guides)

HowTo: Build advanced Gmail filters and persistent searches.
HowTo: Import your archived emails into Gmail.
HowTo: Access Gmail account of someone who dies.
HowTo: Force Gmail notifier to use SSL (instead of HTTP).
HowTo: Import contacts from Hotmail to Gmail.
HowTo: Redownload Gmail messages into outlook.
HowTo: Backup your Gmail messages using Google Groups.
HowTo: Create Google Calendar events from Gmai.
HowTo: Set Gmail as default mail client in Ubuntu (without any additional software).
HowTo: Sync. Google Calendar and Gmail contacts to your desktop.
HowTo: Use rich HTML email signatures straight from Gmail (req. Better Gmail extension).
HowTo: Manage all your email account with Gmail. (Excellent guide for folks with several emails.)
HowTo: Back up Gmail with Fetchmail (Windows).
HowTo: Configure and access Gmail on Mozilla Thunderbird.
HowTo: Use Gmail over IMAP and tag your mail, too.
HowTo: Sync. Micr. Outlook, GCal, Gmail, iPod, and mobile phone.
HowTo: Encrypt and sign Gmail messages using FireGPG extension (see above).
HowTo: Work with Gmail Attachments like a PRO.
HowTo: Attach and send blocked file types, i.e. ‘*.exe’.
HowTo: Find that ’someone’ who gives away your email address to spammers.
HowTo: Gmail on Home Linux Box using Postfix and Fetchmail.

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Gmail Shortcuts



- Secret keyboard shortcut for deleting messages [labnol.blogspot.com]
- Shortcuts for Special Gmail Labels [googlesystem.blogspot.com] - for ultra quick navigation
- Gmail Shortcut List: handy, printable list of keyboard shortcuts for the Gmail [comp.nus.edu.sg]

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Tips

- Three solid Gmail productivity tips [mattcutts.com]
- What to do if your Gmail is nearly full [bnura.blogspot.com]
- Jim’sTips: huge collection of basic gmail tips [g04.com]

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Awesome Gmail tip You Don’t Know about.

Just about when I thought I got everything out of Gmail, I discovered my top favorite feature. We have published over 30 tools in Gmail RoundUp 1 and almost 80 tools and tips in Gmail RoundUp 2 but never mentioned anything similar to this one. Tribute for this one goes to my ‘I am not into computers‘ type girlfriend.

Let’s say that your email address is ‘GeorgeBush@gmail.com’, basically everything sent to any of the following email addresses will be forwarded to your primary email.

GeorgeBush@gmail.com G.eorgeBush@gmail.com Ge.orgeBush@gmail.com … … GeorgeBus.h@gmail.com

GeorgeBush@googlemail.com G.eorgeBush@googlemail.com Ge.orgeBush@googlemail.com … … GeorgeBus.h@googlemail.com

And that’s not all, you can place as many dots as you want, it can be even something like ‘G.e.o.r.g.e.B.u.s.h@gmail.com’ and you’ll still get it on ‘GeorgeBush@gmail.com’

Additionally, I just also found out that you can embed random text to your email ID using ‘+’ sign. That is to say ‘GeorgeBush+anythingyouwant@gmail.com’ can be used as your email address, as well.

Ok I got it. Now what ?

1. One email for every purpose

Instead of using different email addresses for various purposes (work, school, friends, etc.) you can use different variations of your Gmail and filter incoming mails by ’sent to’ address. For instance, all incoming mail sent to ‘Name.Surname@gmail.com’ can be put to folder ‘work’, messages sent to ‘NameSurname@gmail.com’ can be put to ‘friends’, ‘N.ameSurname@gmail.com’ can be used for newsletters, and so on.

2. Track/Block spammers

When signing up for some website, say thatwebsite.com, you can add thatwebsite to your Gmail user ID (eg. GeorgeBush+thatwebsite@gmail.com). This way you can block your subscription whenever you want and even identify those websites that distribute your email address to spammers.

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How To And Where To Find Answers Online

Among many other things, the internet provides us with tons of information. Unfortunately, there is no friendly librarian who knows the ins and outs of the collection, understands just what we’re looking for and can guide us. Of course there are search engines, but sometimes a search engine won’t do because what we’re looking for is too complicated or random or requires the knowledge and experience of an expert.

When searching for answers, there are three basic principles that you should follow to yield great results:

I. Know what your question is.

That’s simple, right? Wrong! Often that is the toughest part.

For example when trying to solve a problem you’re having with a piece of software, you need to understand very well what the problem is. You may assume that it’s caused by this and that, however this assumption may limit the pool of answers. The root of the problem may not be related at all to the problem you’re seeing. So as long as you’re searching for answers that deal with the software you’re using, you will be stuck.

On the other hand, if your search is too general, you will have a hard time spotting the right answers among the thousands of results you’re receiving.

Hence, the key is to ask precise questions, including the right keywords.

II. Know how to ask your question.

When entrusting a search engine with finding the right answer, this is the most critical point. Your goal is to filter out all unrelated information, but nothing more than that.

So after figuring out what your question is, you now have to translate it into search engine lingo. Please refer to my article Master the Google Operands for details on how to speak to the world’s most famous oracle search engine for answers. Many of these tricks will work with other search engines, too.

III. Know where to ask your question.

While this part isn’t difficult to decide, it does deserve a thought. If you’re good at points one and two, stick with a search engine. However, if your question is rather challenging or too general to yield good results, turn to an expert or specific sources.

These are the top five destinations besides Google and Wikipedia to learn more about a subject or have your specific question answered:

A wealth of information packed into handy articles. The site is maintained by experts and each article contains links for further reading. The site can be searched by category (channel), topic or keyword.

Similar to About.com, but different. In general, articles are much longer, containing a lot more basic and background information. These articles are not to the point, but therefore very thorough. A great resource to get familiar with a topic.

Anyone can ask anything and anyone may answer. The asker can pick the best answer and rate it, other users may comment on and vote for all answers. A very flexible system and often you’ll find answers from real experts.

Similar to Yahoo! Answers, but here your question will be answered by experts and the best part is that you can pick the expert yourself. Start by selecting the respective categories until you reach a list of experts. Read their profiles and past answers, then pick the one who appears most suitable to answer your question. The wiki-based how-to manual contains instructions on how to do just about anything. The manuals are sorted by category, the wiki is available in different languages, and naturally anyone can contribute. There are dozens or maybe hundreds more sites that provide information and expert knowledge. Which one is your favorite? Tina is a regular MUO author. In her offline life she's a PhD student interested in unraveling signaling events that determine cartilage and bone development.

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Linux XP

Linux XP is a Fedora-based Russian distribution with the goal of porting the Windows XP user interface to the GNOME desktop. The latest version is 2008, released earlier this week: "Linux XP Desktop 2008 is officially released. It includes many new features and modern desktop themes. There are several exclusive applications in Linux XP to simplify system administration and user data migration from Windows to Linux XP. Features: Windows-like interface; 3D desktop; advanced control panel, simple file system layout, Windows migration tool; advanced network functions; easy installation; full NTFS file system support; easy program installation; advanced security functions; support for all modern file formats..." See the brief release announcement on the distribution's home page and the more detailed release notes with screenshots for more information. Currently only the Russian edition is available for free download: LXPD-2008-RU-R-639-i386-DVD.iso (1,528MB, MD5, torrent).

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KNOPPIX

Klaus Knopper has announced the release of KNOPPIX 5.3.1. From the changelog: "Dist-upgrade to Debian 'Lenny' (testing + unstable); changes initial boot system from initrd to initramfs for easier customisation; kernel 2.6.24.4 with custom modules - GSPCA, QEMU, KVM, VirtualBox, NDISwrapper, AVM; updated WiFi drivers and firmware for ipw*; Compiz 3D window manager 0.7.3 with experimental Compiz Fusion modules; KDE 3.5.9, KDE 4.0 as experimental boot option; ADRIANE, audio desktop with text-to-speech and Braille support, first release; Cloop 2.624 realtime decompression with threads and experimental 'suspend' feature; OpenOffice.org 2.3.1; VirtualBox OSE edition; Orca as screen reader for GTK+ programs; updated hard disk installer '0wn'; updated NTFS-3G." Download: KNOPPIX_V5.3.1DVD-2008-03-26-EN.iso (4,241MB, MD5, torrent), KNOPPIX_V5.3.1DVD-2008-03-26-DE.iso (4,241MB, MD5, torrent).

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FreeBSD

FreeBSD 7.0 has been released: "The FreeBSD Release Engineering Team is pleased to announce the availability of FreeBSD 7.0-RELEASE. This is the first release from the 7-STABLE branch which introduces many new features along with many improvements to functionality present in the earlier branches. Some of the highlights: dramatic improvements in performance and SMP scalability shown by various database and other benchmarks; the ULE scheduler is vastly improved, providing improved performance and interactive response; experimental support for Sun's ZFS file system; gjournal can be used to set up journaled file systems, gvirstor can be used as a virtualized storage provider; read-only support for the XFS file system; the Unionfs file system has been fixed...." Read the release announcement and release notes for further details. Download (FTP mirrors, torrents): 7.0-RELEASE-i386-disc1.iso (509MB, MD5), 7.0-RELEASE-amd64-disc1.iso (499MB, MD5).

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Fedora

Jesse Keating has announced the availability of the alpha release of Fedora 10, the first development milestone leading towards the stable distribution release in late October 2008: "In an ongoing effort to prevent premature kitten death, the Fedora Project is ecstatic to present the availability of Fedora 10 (Cambridge) Alpha. Test now, make it better now, keep Cambridge on schedule, and protect the kittens in the future. Some highlights: many improvements, bug fixes, and enhancements from upstream; new graphical boot environment; wireless connection sharing; audio improvements to remove glitches; security audit tool; improved webcam support; better IR remote control support; RPM 4.6; OCaml; Haskell." See the release announcement and release notes for further information. A set of live and installation media is available for download from Fedora mirrors or via BitTorrent: Fedora-10-Alpha-i686-Live.iso (697MB, SHA1, torrent), Fedora-10-Alpha-i686-Live-KDE.iso (689MB, SHA1, torrent), Fedora-10-Alpha-x86_64-Live.iso (701MB, SHA1, torrent), Fedora-10-Alpha-x86_64-Live-KDE.iso (693MB, SHA1, torrent).

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Slacware

Patrick Volkerding has announced the release of Slackware Linux 12.1: "Well folks, it's that time to announce a new stable Slackware release again. So, without further ado, announcing Slackware version 12.1! Since we've moved to supporting the 2.6 kernel series exclusively (and fine-tuned the system to get the most out of it), we feel that Slackware 12.1 has many improvements over our last release (Slackware 12.0) and is a must-have upgrade for any Slackware user. Among the many program updates and distribution enhancements, you'll find better support for RAID, LVM, and cryptsetup; a network capable (FTP and HTTP, not only NFS) installer; and two of the most advanced desktop environments available today: Xfce 4.4.2, a fast, lightweight, and visually appealing desktop environment, and KDE 3.5.9, the latest 3.x version of the full-featured K Desktop Environment." More details in the release announcement. Order the official installation DVD from Slackware store (US$49.95) or download it via BitTorrent: slackware-12.1-install-dvd.iso (3,862MB). Happy slacking!

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Mint

Clement Lefebvre has announced the release of Linux Mint 5.0, an enhanced and user-friendly desktop Linux distribution based on Ubuntu 8.04: "It is with great pleasure that I officially announce the release of Linux Mint 5 Elyssa." Among the many new characteristics of this release the most notable are: miscellaneous improvements to mintMenu, mintUpdate and mintInstall; various feature enhancements on the GNOME desktop; performance improvements through reduced memory usage; improved usability compliant with the GNOME Human Interface Guidelines; more available software and better localisation; changes in default software selection (Transmission, Rhythmbox, Brasero...); upstream improvements, including the PulseAudio sound server and a new command-line firewall configuration tool. Read the brief release announcement and check out the comprehensive release notes for further information. Download: LinuxMint-5-r1.iso (691MB, MD5). Besides the standard edition, Linux Mint 5 "Light", containing no proprietary software and restricted file formats, is also available.

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Debian

Daniel Baumann has announced the availability of the first set of live CD images for Debian GNU/Linux 5.0 "Lenny", complete with a hard disk installer and available in three desktop variants (GNOME, KDE and Xfce): "The Debian Live team is pleased to announce the first beta of Debian Lenny's Live images. This is the first official release of Debian Live and the whole team has been working hard during the past 2.5 years to make Debian's own live systems become a reality. Main features: 100% Debian; Live Magic - a GUI front-end around the live-helper scripts, offering a subset of the features of live-helper in an easy-to-use graphical user interface; Live Installer - a special udeb for the Debian Installer that installs the system from the live image." Read the full release announcement for more details and known issues. Download (MD5): debian-live-lenny-i386-gnome-desktop.iso (733MB), debian-live-lenny-i386-kde-desktop.iso (702MB), debian-live-lenny-i386-xfce-desktop.iso (503MB). ISO images for the amd64 architecture are also available.

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PC-BSD

Kris Moore has announced the availability of the first beta release of PC-BSD 7.0, a user-friendly desktop operating system based on FreeBSD 7.0: "The PC-BSD team is pleased to announce the immediate availability of PC-BSD version 7-BETA1! This release marks the first PC-BSD based on FreeBSD 7-STABLE and the KDE 4.1 desktop, and also provides many new ways to install, including DVD, USB and network/Internet installation choices. Our PBI site has also been updated with a wide variety of software ready for PC-BSD 7, with more being added weekly. This release is beta, which means things are still being worked on and fixed in preparation for the final release. Users are encouraged to report bugs to our bug database or our testing mailing list." More information can be found in the release announcement, release notes and changelog. Download the installation DVD image from here: PCBSD7-x86-BETA1-DVD.iso (1,989MB, MD5, torrent).

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Mandriva

Adam Williamson has announced the availability of the second beta release of Mandriva Linux 2009: "Mandriva is proud to announce the release of Mandriva Linux 2009 Beta 2 'okapi'. This beta includes a completely new installer for the Free (and, in the final release, Powerpack) edition, and is testing the Fedora system-config-printer printer configuration tool as an alternative to printerdrake. The new beta also brings Firefox 3, OpenOffice.org 3.0 beta, and support for the Ethernet adapter used in many new Eee PC (and other netbook) models. As always, Mandriva reminds you not to use pre-releases in any critical situation; install them only on a test system or partition, or in a virtual machine. Additionally, we strongly discourage using this pre-release to upgrade from any earlier release of Mandriva Linux." Read the release announcement and release notes for more details. Download: mandriva-linux-free-2009-okapi-dvd-i586.iso (3,950MB, MD5), mandriva-linux-free-2009-okapi-dvd-x86_64.iso (3,982MB, MD5).

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Ubuntu

The fourth alpha release of Ubuntu 8.10 "Intrepid Ibex" is ready for testing: "New features: X.Org server 1.5 brings much better support for hot-pluggable input devices such as tablets, keyboards, or mice; Linux kernel 2.6.26; encrypted private directory; guest session - the GNOME user switching applet now provides an extra entry for starting a guest session, this creates a temporary password-less user account with restricted privileges; Network Manager 0.7 which comes with long-expected features, such as managing system-wide settings, 3G connections (GSM/CDMA.), multiple active devices, PPP and PPPoE connections, devices with static IP configurations, routes for devices." Read the release announcement and release notes for more details and known issues. Download (MD5): intrepid-desktop-i386.iso (691MB, torrent), intrepid-desktop-amd64.iso (692MB, torrent). As usual, other Ubuntu sub-projects, including Kubuntu (download) and Xubuntu (download), have also released new alpha builds.

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