Most people use Gmail daily, but it’s hardly the most eye-catching productivity tool. It doesn’t appear to have much to offer at first glance.
Sometimes you read about new features for Gmail, but you don’t utilize them. Before you know it, you start to focus on newer features. You missed some of the following Gmail features on your desktop. Several aspects are hardly noticeable and are just below the surface. It’s a shame, as many of these features may improve productivity and make Gmail a more effective tool.
The new Gmail Features
There are many new features in this redesign to explore, so let’s go over some of the more significant ones:
1. Email Organization using Hover
The flash of icons that occurs anytime you highlight a line in your inbox will likely catch your eye as you scroll through it. These icons are probably already recognizable to you, but just in case, they are: Archive, Delete, Mark as (Read/Unread, depending on the email’s current status), and Snooze.
These one-click actions take the place of the necessity to open the email first or to manually select each email and take action after it has been highlighted.
2. Snooze
Snooze was mentioned in the previous section since it can be selected in-line for any email in your inbox. When you click Snooze, you’ll have the choice to postpone receiving the email until later. Google will suggest several times, or you can choose your day and time.
These one-click actions take the place of the necessity to open the email first or to manually select each email and take action after it has been highlighted.
Google will remove the email from your Inbox and resend it to you at the specified time and date after you select them. You may always view all of your Snoozed emails by selecting Snoozed in the left column if you’re concerned that you could lose information in the interim. You can even view the time that each email is scheduled to arrive!
3. Proposed Responses
Do you ever struggle with what to write in response to an incoming email? Or do you feel like you constantly repeat the same things? You might benefit from Gmail’s new “recommended answers” feature.
Google may provide you with numerous text clip suggestions at the bottom of some emails, which may help you decide how to respond to the email at first. For instance, a recommendation or instruction is sent in an email.
When you click on it, any of these will start a draught email with the selected text. And don’t worry; you’ll be able to modify the message further as necessary.
4. Nudges
If Google’s algorithm determines that an email you haven’t replied to in a few days is important enough to demand a response, it may jump to the top of your inbox with a brief prompt. Many users would appreciate this helpful new feature of Gmail reminders.
You can disable Nudges if you find them more annoying than beneficial. You can toggle on/off emails to “respond to” and “follow up on” separately by going to Settings. Nudges have their area under the General tab.
5. Densities for new Displays
The old Gmail allowed you to vary the Inbox’s display density, but the new Gmail has new styles that can change your primary choice. “Display density” is one of your first options when you go to Settings. You can switch between Default, Comfortable, and Compact there quickly.
6. Open the menu or hide it
By default, the menu on the left resembles the one from the previous iteration of Gmail. To give you more room to read your Inbox emails, click the hamburger menu symbol in the upper-left corner of the screen. It will immediately collapse into a small column of icons.
By hovering over these icons, you may view the entire menu. Alternatively, you can return the old menu permanently by clicking the three horizontal lines at the top once more.
7. Add Google Calendar Integration
You’ll notice several new icons on the right side of the screen, each of which stands for a different new productivity-enhancing function. You can connect to Google Calendar using the calendar icon at the top.
When enabled, you can easily browse all your upcoming events in your Inbox and add new events whenever possible.
Conclusion
We discussed the seven most useful new features of Google’s web-based email version. Gmail will be more effective if you learn more about each one.
