For all of you Gmail fans out there who write to me often, I am going to write a series of articles regarding Gmail features. A 15 article series, as a matter of fact. So sit back and enjoy over the next weeks. You may not be familiar with them; however, you will find some of them quite useful. Experiment as you see fit.
Before Gmail was released to the public, they tested the system, originally called, “Project Caribou”, by sending out invitations for people to test in March 2004. For some unknown reason, I was asked to test the new Google email program. I have been using it ever since and find it is becoming better all the time. I still use the same account today that I created then.
The first two today are very useful and are already set up in all Gmail accounts, so nothing to “cut on.” First up is “Schedule send.” Say that you have an important email to send to someone later. I use this one a lot with my columns at the DN-R. I do not want to bombard them with three or four emails if I ever finished that many ahead of time. I can set up each one to go out to them on the day and time I want them to be emailed. Some people use an app to do this. But it is available and ready to use in Gmail, now.
First, write the email, add who is to receive it (as many people as you want), and add any attachments (maximum files size is 25 MB) you need to the email. Look at the “Send button” and notice the down arrow to the right of that button. Click it, then click “Schedule send.” You may now choose one of the pre-filled dates and times to send that email. These are usually early or later the next day, or the next Monday morning. But if you dislike those choices, say to send it 17 days from now at 6:48 AM. Click the “Pick date and time” link to choose your emailing time. Choose your date from the calendar and then type in the time. Do not forget to add the time with AM or PM after it. If not, it will go on the correct date, but at the time you created the email.
A new folder/label will be created in your Gmail titled “Scheduled” which will contain all your emails to send in the future. So, you can forget about them, and they will be sent at the proper date and time. I sometimes use it to send emails to me. If I need to be reminded of something. However, 95% of the time I use the Google Calendar or Tasks for that.
Next today is “Snooze,” which is set up like a scheduled email but has a different use. When you receive an email in Gmail that you do not have to react to now, but you do in the future, snooze it. Open the email in Gmail and look at the icons at the top of the email. One of them appears to be a clock, hover your mouse over it and you will see, “Snooze.” When clicked, it will provide you with similar date and time choices you had for schedules. Choose the date/time you want the same way. You will have a new folder/label created in your list of folders on the left, titled “Snooze” that contains that one, or many snoozed emails.
Do you need to delete or edit any of the above emails? Easy, go to the correct folder, open the emails found there and click the one to edit. You are on your way to more efficiently handling your emails.
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