GMail tips and tricks

[Linkmeister]

I ran across this post at a friend's blog; it's got links to a whole bunch of stuff the coders have done for GMail, including a "new mail" display for your systray, a converter into Outlook Express, and a GMail blog.

For those not faint of heart, somebody's even written code to upload your existing e-mail client to your GMail account.

[adrian]

Re: GMail tips and tricks

BTW, who uses gmail?

I've been using hotmail and yahoo mail, but I've heard good things about gmail.

Can someone send me an invitation?

[pzarquon]

Re: GMail tips and tricks

I use Gmail. Dropped Yahoo! Mail when I got an account, although Yahoo! soon followed with a boost of their free accounts to 100MB. I like Yahoo!'s spam controls better, but I sure like Google's mail search capabilities. No longer do I need to wonder who mentioned what when!

Invitations were coming fast and furious at one point... I gave out maybe twenty a couple of weeks ago. Fresh out now, but by all accounts, it's going to get easier and easier to get in... with a public rollout not too far behind.

[Mocha]

Re: GMail tips and tricks

Never heard of Gmail but that link sure looks interesting. I read a lot of Neil Gaiman stuff and it's interesting to see what he's got planned for the Comic Con later on this month. Keep posting stuffs about Gmail.

[adrian]

Re: GMail tips and tricks

Can you give me one pzarquon? To get my email, just drop me a PM.

[mel]

Re: GMail tips and tricks

While I recently got a Gmail account, I decided not to drop my various Yahoo accounts since I am almost intimately connected to a few of them. That said the big attraction to Gmail is the 1 gig of mail storage space. The downside for me is that Gmail does not work with my slightly older version of the Safari browser for Mac OSX. For me to have Gmail work with Safari I would have to get the latest Safari browser and upgrade to OS X 10.3... the latter will set me back at least $129. I am not ready to move to a new OS just because the marketing gurus at Apple say I should.

So... for those of you (and I know there are a few) who are using Mac OS X or even OS9, can you tell me what other browser works with Gmail (other than Explorer in OSX)?

I can access Gmail with the PC at work, but rarely use it. I have sent myself some emails to Gmail and it works nicely. So far no spam because hardly anyone knows my address and I certainly haven't shared it with marketers and other websites.

[Quester]

Re: GMail tips and tricks

So... for those of you (and I know there are a few) who are using Mac OS X or even OS9, can you tell me what other browser works with Gmail (other than Explorer in OSX)?

You should give Firefox a try (http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/). It's one of the most complete, cross-platform browsers available. While it's a 0.x release (currently 0.92), it's matured greatly, and I currently use it as my preferred browser.

Another popular browser is Camino (also built on the Mozilla Gecko engine), but I haven't tried it with Gmail.

[pzarquon]

Re: GMail tips and tricks

Firefox got the thumbs up here, like in this thread on the latest round of Internet Explorer security problems. I can confirm it works with Gmail on a PC, but not on a Mac.

Interestingly, this blog post on Yahoo!'s acquisition of Oddpost notes that their interest was piqued by what Gmail does with DHTML and JavaScript as far as interface design goes (since Oddpost did similar things). While I like Gmail quite a bit, I actually find its reliance on fancy code a bit discouraging. If only it could do what it does with an interface as simple as Yahoo! Mail (or at least Yahoo! Mail circa 2002).

[Glen Miyashiro]

Re: GMail tips and tricks

Not sure whether to jump ship to Gmail, or to stick it out with my Hotmail account until the autumn, when Microsoft has promised to raise the free storage limit to 250MB. Email address inertia is really, really powerful.

[Linkmeister]

Re: GMail tips and tricks

Not sure whether to jump ship to Gmail, or to stick it out with my Hotmail account until the autumn, when Microsoft has promised to raise the free storage limit to 250MB. Email address inertia is really, really powerful.

Don't I know it. I'm shuddering at the thought of informing half the known universe that the prodigy address I've been using for 4+ years is gonna switch. On the brighter side, by far the bulk of my spam goes to that address.

[pzarquon]

Re: GMail tips and tricks

I used my Yahoo! Mail address for everything, and dreaded making the switch... but it turned out to be easier than I thought. I now only check it weekly just in case, but have only four or so message waiting (compared to maybe fifty a day when it was my active address)... two of them spam.

If Hotmail lets you (1.) set a separate "Reply-To" address, and (2.) a signature for all outgoing messages, the transition will be less painful than you think. Have any mail people reply to go to your new address (which is good, as "replies" are primarily real people you correspond with), and have all messages you send out include a "P.S. I'm changing e-mail providers. Please put new@address.com in your addres book."

The only real work will be catching all your automated subscriptions and newsletters... and those, I imagine, you could live without.

And Link's right, the resetting of your "spam beacon" online is a big plus.

[Quester]

Re: GMail tips and tricks

Firefox got the thumbs up here, like in this thread on the latest round of Internet Explorer security problems. I can confirm it works with Gmail on a PC, but not on a Mac.

Interestingly, this blog post on Yahoo!'s acquisition of Oddpost notes that their interest was piqued by what Gmail does with DHTML and JavaScript as far as interface design goes (since Oddpost did similar things). While I like Gmail quite a bit, I actually find its reliance on fancy code a bit discouraging. If only it could do what it does with an interface as simple as Yahoo! Mail (or at least Yahoo! Mail circa 2002).

I've been able to successfully use Gmail on Firefox 0.9.1 on Mac OS X 10.3.4. Which version were you trying? It may very well not work on other versions of Firefox or OS X, but it looks fine on the latest versions of both. I've also run it successfully on Safari 1.2.2 (v125.8).

Was there any particular feature that wasn't working for you?

Interestingly enough, my friend's been having difficulty running Gmail on IE 6.0 on XP with ActiveX turned off -- probably related to the fancy code you mention that Gmail employs.

I'm just happy it works on plain ol' Javascript on Firefox (on both OS X and Windows).

[pzarquon]

Re: GMail tips and tricks

Gmail unveiled a few minor tweaks!

• Import Contacts: Move all your contacts from Yahoo! Mail, Outlook, and others to Gmail in just a few clicks. Then simply rely on our auto-complete feature to prefill all your addresses for you. Keep all your contacts in one place and keep in touch with all of them using Gmail. Learn more
  
• Signature options: From the settings page, create a signature that's automatically added to the end of all your outgoing messages. Change it as often as you like, but always get the last word. Learn more
  
• Safari browser support: Everybody's gone surfin'… now Mac OS X's Safari is surfing Gmail as well (versions 1.2.1 and newer).

I think that last one will be of interest to a few folks here!

[Timster]

Re: GMail tips and tricks

This gmail thing is something i'd consider, if someone has an extra invite laying around drop me a PM. You'll have my undying gratitude!

[pzarquon]

Re: GMail tips and tricks

Tim, you and Adri above are on my waitlist, at least! Gmail users get a batch every so often... if there are any other Gmail users here with invites to spare, feel free to do some HawaiiThreads.com gifting!

Note that to complete an invite, one needs a name (first and last) and a working e-mail address. The name can be anything, of course, as the invitee can change it to something else. But to make getting invited easier on the inviter, make sure your profile here has all the relevant information (I don't think e-mail addresses are displayed by default).