We have been using our good friend Gmail for years for writing and checking emails. Although you use the application on a daily basis, there are still things that are easily overlooked. Fortunately, we have five hidden features of Gmail ready for you, which you should definitely check out.
Gmail is an application that regularly presents new features that make sending emails feasible and fast. Thanks to the most recent version, you can keep an eye on your inbox directly from your home screen. You can read more about your favorite mail application here.
You probably don’t know these 5 Gmail functions yet
With new Gmail functions all the time, it is difficult to keep an overview. You can arrange these 5 tips ‘n tricks within a few clicks and save you a lot of time. This way you take your inbox to the next level.
1. Save time with help from Gmail templates
You probably know it: you want to send different emails with the same information. Normally you type this entire email over and over again or copy and paste it. Fortunately, this can be done much faster thanks to special Gmail templates. This is a standard e-mail that you can always refer to when composing an e-mail. You can store about fifty templates at once on Gmail.
In order to create a template on Gmail, you must first enable the feature. You do this by navigating to the settings via the gear icon. Then select ‘view all settings’. Click on ‘advanced’ at the top. Here you will find the option ‘templates’ at the bottom of the page. You must enable this option; after which you select ‘save changes at the bottom of the page.
Now that the option is enabled, you can start creating your first template. You do this by clicking on ‘compose’. After that, you can start writing the template. When the text is ready, click on the three dots at the bottom right. Then select ‘templates’. Finally, click on ‘save the draft as template’.
Do you want to use your template when writing an email? Then click again on the three dots at the bottom right. Then select ‘template’ and you can choose from the templates you have written.
2. Create and manage labels
This option is of course already known for the organized types among us. Yet there are still many people for whom this option is completely new. In Gmail, it is possible to add labels to an email, so that you can find it more easily later. The e-mail in question then ends up in a kind of folder, together with the e-mails that have the same label.
To label an email, you must first open it. Then select the label icon below the search bar (this is literally a small label). You should now see a small list with different labels, from which you can choose the desired one. If there is no suitable label in the list, you can choose to create a new one yourself. You do this by clicking ‘create new’ at the bottom of the list.
The individual labels can be found in the navigation of Gmail. You can also manage these by clicking on the three dots that appear when you mouse over the label. Note: Removing a label will not affect the emails. They just continue to exist.
3. Skip your inbox
Sometimes you just want to find that one email, without having to scroll through a crowded inbox. Fortunately, Gmail has a special filter for that. Filters can be applied to incoming emails, so you can land on the email you’re looking for in no time.
To enable the filters, first, click on the right icon in the search bar. A list will then appear in which you can enter your search criteria in great detail. If you are satisfied, click on ‘Create filter’. There it is the email you’ve been looking for so hard.
4. Add a photo to your signature
It is well known that you can select your own signature in Gmail. This is a list of your name and contact details that appears under every email you send. It is also possible to upgrade this signature with a nice photo.
First, go to the settings. Here you select ‘view all settings’. In the ‘general’ tab, scroll all the way down to the ‘signature’ option. Press ‘create new’ so that you can enter the text of your signature. After that, select the image icon so that you can upload a photo of your choice.
5. Undo Message
This secret feature will save you a lot of stress. Thanks to a simple trick in Gmail, you can undo an incorrectly sent email. It is important that you have this function set correctly, otherwise, it will not work.
Undo send can be turned on via the settings. Then select ‘view all settings’. Quite high in the ‘general’ tab you will find the option ‘undo send. Here you can select the undo send cancellation period. You can choose from 5, 10, 20, or 30 seconds. Now that you’ve set this up, every time you’ve sent an email, you’ll see the “message sent” image appear in the bottom left-hand corner. Next to it is written in black ‘undo’.
