Everyone loves Gmail! But are you getting the most out of it? There are multiple ways for work teams to maximize and manage Gmail. Allow us to geek out a little bit as we share with you some of the cool features and hacks to help with email management at work. Some may be familiar and some may be brand-new to you!
Let’s take a deeper look at some tools and tips you can use to streamline how you handle email flow while getting the most out of the platform. All these tricks work to improve personal Gmail accounts as well; these are just great ideas for everyone to make their lives easier!
Please note: Your user experience in Gmail might be different on a desktop versus on your mobile. You can download the app on your mobile device via the Google Play Store for Android devices or the Apple Store for iPhones and iPads.
Undo Sent Emails
Did you send that email that’s in all caps to your co-workers in haste? Well, Gmail provides a way to recall sent emails—if you do it a millisecond after you hit the Send button. Once you send an email, you have Undo and View Message options at the bottom left of your desktop. Choose Undo.
Schedule Your Emails
When you’re inundated with emails, it’s not uncommon to miss a few pertinent ones. In kind, you may want to send emails to co-workers or clients during off-peak hours when they’re not busy and less likely to miss your email. Scheduling your emails to be sent when your recipients may have some downtime is a great tool.
Inside your email template, click the arrow next to the Send button, which generates a Schedule Send option. There, you can set the date and time you want to send your email.
Save Time With Templates
Gmail templates are pre-written email formats that you can use as-is or as the starting point when drafting a new email. These are great for regular messages that follow a specific format. Instead of writing the same lines of text in several emails, you can choose any of the customizable templates with a click of your mouse.
Access your Gmail templates by composing a new email and clicking Templates > Insert Template. You may need to enable templates in Gmail’s settings. Click here for detailed information.
Send Large Email Attachments With Google Drive
Need to send a high-resolution RAW image to your team, but Gmail’s attachment size restrictions won’t let you? You can upload your files to Google Drive and click on Share to generate a link to send to your team.
Alternatively, you can click on the Google Drive icon at the bottom of your email composition window and choose the files you wish to send. Google Drive is a separate app from your Gmail app.
Hold Virtual Conferences With Google Meet
If you place your cursor in the upper-right corner of your Gmail, it will show you other Google apps such as Chat, Photos, Travel, Classroom, Calendar, and Meet. The latter, Google Meet, is one of the most popular video and audio conference tools businesses use. With this Google app, there are useful keyboard shortcuts that can easily improve accessibility or control. It’s seamless to use. You can email invites to your recipients or schedule Google Meet conferences for a later time.
Create Meetings Using Google Calendar
By choosing Calendar, you can schedule events and reminders for anything, from upcoming interviews to team meetings, which you can share with others. If you click Add Guests and then Find a Time, you will be able to see the times when everyone is available for a meeting. This feature requires that you have access to your work colleagues’ calendars (or anyone who has shared a calendar with you). The Google Calendar also has a Google Meet video meeting option you can add to your scheduled events and reminders.
Turn on Priority Inbox
The Priority Inbox feature organizes your messages by their importance using machine learning. You’ll be able to divide your inbox into five sections, where the messages will be displayed in the following order:
1. Important and unread messages
2. Starred messages
3. [Customizable section]
4. [Customizable section]
5. Everything else
Enable Multiple Inboxes
This feature allows users to separate their emails into categories using filters. For example, you can use this to separate your personal and work emails into different areas of the screen. This way you can see what you need at a glance.
To enable this feature, go to Settings > Inbox and then find the dropdown box called Inbox Type and scroll to Multiple Inboxes. This is a great way to stay organized without having dozens of tabs open on your browser.
Enable Reading Pane
The Reading Pane feature makes it easy to preview messages without having to leave your inbox. It places a small preview window to the right or below your messages, so you can read new emails as they come in. This allows you to get back to what you’re doing while still keeping an eye out for important messages that might need your attention right away.
To activate this feature, go to Settings > Inbox and scroll down to Reading Pane. You will now be able to see your emails in a small window while scrolling through your inbox.
Enable Keyboard Shortcuts
Custom keyboard shortcuts help you get around faster within Gmail by using different combinations of keys. With this feature, you can control Gmail with just a few keystrokes. To access this setting, select Settings > General > Keyboard Shortcuts. Click here for a list of Gmail shortcuts (or you can customize them in the Advanced tab). After doing so, pressing these keys will allow you to save time by quickly navigating within Gmail, formatting text, or archiving and deleting.
Place Your Emails in Confidential Mode
Confidential mode is a way of sending emails that can only be opened by the intended recipient. It’s designed for private communication and prevents recipients from forwarding, copying, or printing them. You can also choose expiration dates for when you want your email to expire and disappear from the recipient’s inbox. This is an extra layer of security that normally isn’t offered in a regular Gmail email. Let’s say someone gets into your account; they won’t be able to forward any confidential mode emails unless they find their way around the feature.
If you go to your advanced settings, you can choose this option by clicking the Enable button. You can reverse this feature by clicking the Disable button. Once confidential mode is enabled in settings, just open a new email by clicking Compose and select the confidential mode button at the bottom (the icon looks like a lock and clock timer).
Improve Your Gmail Experience With Cybersecurity in Mind
The features in Gmail are limitless. And while ClearFuze, a leading IT consulting firm, is excited to share all these cool Gmail hacks with you, we can’t emphasize enough that it is important to be cautious when opening unknown emails. Cybercriminals use malicious software, or malware, to infiltrate your company’s servers. With ClearFuze, you can receive either on-site or remote IT support. If you’re unsure about an email, ask a ClearFuze specialist.
Making Your Life Easier with Email Management Best Practices at Work
Email is an essential part of our lives. Some may say that it’s the lifeblood of running a business or project, while others feel it can be absolutely overwhelming. With so many features available in Gmail, there are many ways you can manage your email more effectively and make your work life easier! We hope these Gmail tips will help you feel more productive and less stressed.
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