Gmail

Gmail Introduction (05:28)

Gmail

Videos / Guides / FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions

Composing a Message (05:27)

How can I flag messages for follow-up later?

There are several strategies for flagging messages for follow-up in Gmail:

1) Use the "*" to tag messages that need follow-up and use the "Starred" label view to review those items. Un-star them when completed.

2) Apply a "Follow up" or "To-do" label to messages that need special attention. Enable the "Multiple Inboxes" lab and add the following to one of the "Panes":

label:Follow up

OR

label:To-do

These messages will now always display along with your regular Inbox. Simply remove the label on messages to remove them from view.

3) Turn a message into a "Task" by opening the email and clicking the "More" option and selecting "Add to Tasks". Once you add an item to the tasks list, assign a due date. Finally, enable the display of your "Tasks" calendar in Google Calendar to see your "Tasks" in your calendar.

How can I designate a message as "Important" or "Urgent"?

Gmail does not directly include this feature. To enable something similar, it is recommended to have everyone pre-pend their subjects like this:

Important: Subject of email

OR

Urgent: Subject of email

Then, in your Gmail "Filters" area, create a new Filter to look for "Important: " or "Urgent: " and then apply a label called "Important" or "Urgent". Finally, set the color of this label to be one that will stand out in your Inbox and be easy to see.

How can I search for my email most efficiently?

Searching effectively takes just a few moments to learn the keywords that will get you the information that you are looking for. Review the following page and print out the list of search keywords and practice using them. Searching Gmail

How can I "recall" an email that I have sent?

Recalling email rarely works in the real world. Once the message is delivered, it is not possible recall it. Gmail does provide an "Undo Send" feature, however. To enable this feature, go to Mail Settings and then to Labs. Enable the "Undo Send" lab. Once this is enabled, go to your mail General Mail Settings page and configure how long you want to be able to undo sending a message. Once you enable this, you will have "X" number of sections, after clicking Send, to cancel the send and continue editing your email.

What's the most effective way to use the Vacation Responder?

The Vacation Responder should be used any time you are unable to respond to email in your normal time frame. Set a "Start Date" and then put in a message to people that explains you are unable to respond to emails in a timely manner. You may be specific and tell people that you are on vacation or you may simply state you are out of the office as long as the recipients will be understanding. Otherwise, be very generic. Any text in your "Signature" will be applied to your Vacation message so there is no need to enter that information again. It is generally best practice to enable the "Only send a response to people in my Contacts" and/or "Only send a respond to people in <my company>" so that unknown senders will not receive these messages. However, if you deal with a lot of "random", non-regular people, you would not want to enable these last two options.

Inbox Types (02:00)

Labels (04:42)

If I Archive an email, how do I find it again?

Archived emails move to your "All Mail" label but they will also exist in any other labels that you have applied to the email. Email NEVER leaves your Gmail account unless you "delete" it or move it to the "trash". Use Search if you are unable to locate the email.

Can I search for emails in the Trash?

Yes, however they will not be returned in the main search results. Look at the bottom of the first page of results and you'll see a small trash can icon along with a link to view search results from the Trash. You can directly search the trash by searching for "in:trash" along with your keywords.

I always have to change the font, color, or size of my text. How can I make these settings permanent?

There is a lab feature called "Default Text Styling". Go to the Mail Options and then Labs and enable this lab. Once it is enabled, return to the "General" settings and you'll find the option to set your font, color and size preferences.

Is there a way for Gmail to know which message, in a conversation, to open up at when I return to it later?

Yes, locate the individual message you want to start reading from the next time and click the "arrow" on the right side of the message and select "Mark unread from here". When you open the conversation, next time, Gmail will open to this particular message in the conversation.

If I want my email organized, what's the best way to do this?

The easiest way to manage your Gmail is to "Archive" anything that you no longer need to take action on. However, you can also create some labels to help you classify your email. You can get as specific as you like, but selecting "big buckets" is often the best option. For example: "Customers", "Team", "Projects", "Expenses". A few labels might be enough because you can then locate your emails through Search.

What's the best way to keep my Inbox from reaching the limit?

Attachments are what use up your email space the most. One 20MB attachment might use up the space of 2000 emails. Whenever you need to "attach" a file, consider if it might make more sense to upload it to Google Docs and then "Share" it rather than simply email it. Not only will it save space in your mail file but it will also save space in your recipients mail files.

I receive a lot of email every day. How can I best manage my Inbox?

There are many ways to manage your Inbox but the two techniques that will have the largest impact is to:

1) Enable Priority Inbox and then use the "Mark Important" and "Mark Not Important" options to train Gmail about which types of emails you need to regularly respond to.

2) Create filters to apply labels to emails automatically or apply labels when you are reading your email so you do not have to do it later.

Gmail Settings (14:55)

Searching (04:30)

With these two techniques you should be able to tame your Inbox significantly. You would keep an eye on the Priority Inbox content throughout the day and then read the non-important emails during breaks or before/after your day.

Is there a limit to the number of emails that I can send in a given day or a limit to how many people can receive a specific email?

You can send up to 2000 emails per day to "external" recipients. For a specific email, you are limited to 500 recipients unless you use a "group" to send the email and then each group counts as a single recipient. This restriction is in place to prevent the use of Gmail accounts to send spam.

I like using keyboard shortcuts. How can I see what they are?

Simply press SHIFT + ? to bring up a display of the shortcuts on your screen. To use the shortcuts you must enable the use of shortcuts in mail settings.

How can I sent encrypted email with Gmail?

It depends on how your IT group implemented Google Apps. Google does have the ability to do message encryption, but it must be purchased separately (called Google Message Encryption) and then enabled. Check with IT for that question.

In the interim, you can do the following:

Conversation View (03:08)

Put the confidential information in a file

Use WinZip (version 11 or later) to create a new WinZip archive (aka: "zip file")

CHECK (enable) the WinZip option to "Encrypt added files"

Add the confidential information file into the WinZip archive

WinZip will prompt you to assign a password to the WinZip archive

Attached the WinZip archive file to your email

Provide the password by the telephone, or separate communication channel.

What size and types of attachments can I use in Gmail?

Gmail has a 25MB total message size. So, the total message size including any number of attachments cannot exceed this limit. There are also some files that cannot be sent due to virus protection rules in Google. If you need to send a larger file, upload it to Google Docs and share it.

How do I change my signature so that on replies, it puts my signature immediately after my response instead of at the very end of the entire email chain?

By default, Gmail puts your signature at the bottom of the thread when it sends the email, even in replies. Some users like to have it appear immediately following their message when replying. You can do this by going to Settings in Gmail. Click on the Labs tab. Then find the gadget called "Signature Tweaks". Remember, gadgets added through Google Labs may not be supported by your Help Desk at this time.

Can I send a fax from Gmail?

Yes, but you must first have a service in place such as myFAX or eFAX or some electronic fax service. In almost all cases to send a fax you simply create an email and put the receiving fax number as the "TO" recipient, and the subject line then contains your fax subject. You attach the file you would like to fax, and hit "Send."

How do I add images to mail messages?

Go to Settings in Gmail and then go to the Labs tab. Scroll down until you find the "Inserting Images" gadget. Enable that gadget, then save your changes. Now, when you compose a new message, you will see an "Add an Image" button on the tool bar. Remember, Google Labs may not be supported by your organizational Help Desk.

How does Threading or Conversation View work?

This is a key benefit of Gmail and also one of the more misunderstood items. Let's define what a thread (or conversation) is in Google terms. This is a set of emails with the same subject line. In Gmail, it collapses these messages into one line in your inbox with the number of related messages in parentheses. If you receive 10 messages with the same subject line, you will see one line item in your inbox with a (10) in parentheses.

When replying or forwarding a message, you choose the particular message you want to respond to, then click Reply, Reply to All or Forward link. It will create a new message and allow you to start typing. In that message box, you can scroll down to see exactly what will be sent to the other party. Anything you do not want to send can be deleted before sending.

How can I see my entire company address book or how can I email anyone in the company?

Your company directory can be viewed in your "Contacts" area. Locate the "Directory" item to see everyone in your company's address book.

When sending email to someone in your company, simply start typing their first name or last name to see a list of matches. If you do not recall their name, browse the Directory as noted above.

How can I sort my email by Sender, Subject, Date, etc?

Gmail does not using sorting to locate email. Make use of the powerful search options to locate your messages. For example, if you want messages from a particular person use "from:<name>" in the search box.

Is there a "read receipt" in Gmail?

Read receipts must be enabled as a feature for your company. If available, the option will appear when sending a new email. If you do not see the option, your Google Apps administrator has chosen not to enable the feature.

Can I share contacts with others?

You cannot directly share your personal contacts. You can, however, export your contacts and then email the file to other people so that they can import them into their contacts.

Gmail Labs (04:38)

Gmail Contacts (06:21)