A few years ago I would’ve sworn I’d never give up a rich desktop email program like Microsoft Outlook or Thunderbird to check my email in a web browser. But here I am in 2009, a full-time web-based Gmail user. Back when I was a zealous Thunderbird evangelist, I said it was T-bird’s extensibility and the endless things it could do with add-ons that made it better than any fixed-feature webapp. But Google launched its own set of “add-ons” in the form of Gmail Labs features, and some of them have become such an important part of my email workflow I’ll never look back. Where Labs falls short, Greasemonkey user scripts via the Better Gmail 2 Firefox extension fill in the gaps.
The list of available Gmail Labs features seems to lengthen by the week, but there are quite a few “meh” items that drown out the really good ones. Here are the five I’ve got enabled, plus the Better Gmail 2 options I’ve got checked off.
My Favorite Gmail Labs Features
Send & Archive–There’s nothing more satisfying than replying to a message and making it disappear out of your inbox in a single click, and the “Send & Archive” button does just that. For Inbox-zero-ers, this one is a godsend.
Forgotten Attachment Detector–I always forget I have this one enabled, until I write a message about that document I’ve attached and hit send without attaching it.
Canned Responses–For someone who sends tons of repetitive email like myself, scripted responses means I write back to people asking the same questions faster. I’ve got generic canned responses set up for bug reports, press releases, and just general “thanks for your note” replies.
Quote selected text–If you get long email and want an easy way to snip out sections to reply to selectively, Quote Selected Text will do the job. Select text in the message you want to respond to, then tap the R key to quote it and only it.
Calendar gadget–Put your Google Calendar’s agenda in Gmail’s sidebar with this one. It’s a no-brainer, helpful add-on to your Gmail dashboard.
I’ve also been giving the impressive Tasks Labs feature a test-run this past week as my todo.txt on the go; I access it from my phone’s web browser. So far so good, but I’m not committed yet.
My Favorite Greasemonkey User Scripts for Gmail
As for the Better Gmail 2 Firefox extension, I’ve got the following options enabled:
- Inbox Count First: Gmail Labs’ “Title Tweaks” isn’t as good as this script, which puts the number of unread items in your inbox FIRST. Title Tweaks shows the label you’re in THEN the number of unread messages.
- Show Unread Message Count in Favicon: Another easy way to see how many unread items you’ve got in your inbox, direct on the favicon, great for someone who has a LOT of browser tabs open all the time (or who uses FaviconizeTab to save tab bar real estate).
- Add Row Highlights: Adds a nice visual as you mouse around Gmail.
- Attachment Icons: This is the one I’m shocked Gmail Labs hasn’t offered yet; visual cues in message lists as to what type of file attachment comes with the message. (Zip, PDF, Word, text, and image file types all get icons with this one enabled–try a search for
has:attachmentto see them). - Folders4Gmail: This is the killer feature in Better Gmail 2–it enables you to make hierarchical labels, like folders. For example, I’ve got smarterware/comments and smarterware/registrations labels. Here’s what Folders4Gmail makes them look like:
- Hide Chat, Invites Box, and Spam Count: I like to keep my Gmail dashboard clean, I don’t use Gmail chat, and I don’t ever check my spam label, so all of these options clean out the unneeded clutter. Labs offers a “Hide Unread Count”, but it doesn’t apply just to Spam–it applies everywhere.
If you use Gmail, are you accessing it on the web, or through IMAP or POP elsewhere? What’s your favorite Labs feature or Greasemonkey script for Gmail? Testify in the comments.
8 Comments
Mitch Wagner
I use Gmail as my primary e-mail, and I access it through the Web. I don’t use any Greasemonkey scripts. My favorite Labs features:
Quick Links – I don’t use it often, but I use it as a work around for Gmail’s lack of a “stop processing filters” rule.
Muzzle – Since I access Google’s chat through Adium, I have no need to see my friends’ chat statuses through Gmail.
Default ‘Reply to All’
Vacation Time – let’s you specify a start date and end for vacation scripts.
Mark as read button. For marking messages read with fewer clicks.
Send & Archive.
But my ultimate fave is “multiple inboxes.” It allows me to keep a couple of mailboxes open on my desktop in my peripheral vision (metaphorically speaking) while only the most important mail triggers a new mail alert. Allows me to do that Merlin Mann thing of not being a slave to the incoming-email bell.
I’ve been messing around with the PR blacklist you started, btw; let me know if you’re interested in hearing more.
digitalman
Nice list!
I use Gmail on the web, but download it to Outlook Express for Archival purposes once a month or so (I would LOVE to use Thunderbird for that, but it messes up some of the dates in much older mails in the archive. I’ve been seeking a fix for that for ages…)
What I use that you don’t in Labs are:
-Superstars (very handy to prioritize certain mails).
-The Mark as Read button. There are some things I know I don’t need to read at the time, but could come in handy when searching for them later.
My favorite functions of Better Gmail 2 are Row Highlights and Attachment Icons.
I’m also committed to the Tasks Lab feature. I was a happy “Remember the Milk” user for quite some time, but it seemed sensible to use Gmail’s own task manager once it became available. I’m very happy with it and haven’t looked back.
ryandscott
Honestly, the Title Tabs gmail labs features seems sufficient. I guess I never have enough tabs open to make the tab width less than the width of “inbox (5)”. Not only that, but I avoid greasemonkey whenever I can on my netbook since my little atom processor and Firefox can’t handle the javascript… still waiting for that quad core atom 🙂
ShadyPghGuy
I was also a die hard desktop email person for years. I used Thunderbird and still do for some of my email accounts, but not Gmail. The things I love the most about it are labels and grouping messages into conversations. I access my account via IMAP on my iPod touch and am always missing the flexibility of the web interface.
I use Better Gmail 2 and my labs features are:
Signature tweaks
Custom date formats
Forgotten Attachment Detector
Text Messaging in Chat
tanjadebie
Quicklinks and Multiple Inbox are my favs with Send & Archive (that one rocks!).
I going to give Folders4Gmail a try now.
Charles McPhate
I use both the web interface and IMAP to access Gmail via Apple Mail. My problem with the web interface is that I frequently have to send screenshots to clients. I like to be able to write text, show the screenshot below, write more text, next screenshot, etc. I can’t do that with the web interface, so I keep Mail open so I can compose emails like that when needed. Otherwise, I prefer the web interface. (Gmail’s IMAP implementation leaves a lot to be desired.)
I do love the power of Gmail’s search functions. I don’t even bother with labels now, unless it’s something I really need to keep up with. I just type “from:adam” for instance to see all the emails Adam has sent me. I often use searches like “from:jfm search_term” to find all emails from coworkers that contain the search_term. This is so much more powerful and easier to use (for me) than Mail’s search functions.
And I’ve gotten so used to the keyboard shortcuts that I keep trying – unsuccessfully – to use them in Mail.
slevy
Very helpful thanks!
Joshua Fryer
Has anyone yet figured out how to fix the “Ooops! “Google Calendar” failed to load. Try again” problem with the Calendar-gadget that me (and many others) are still facing?