Gmail Tips : How to better manage your inbox (part 1)

If you are like me, then you probably use Gmail for work and personal use. The proliferation of Android smartphones has also increased the appeal of gmail accounts, and why not? After all, it is in my experience (and I still use outlook as well) the best email system out there, especially its spam filter. The great thing about gmail is that there is a constant sense of improvement, which is largely absent from rival email platforms. Moreover, Gmail also manages to integrate its email system with a variety of other superb services including Google Drive and Google Calendar.

There is also the emergence of a plethora of Gmail enhancing apps and labs that few people seem to use or even know exist. This is probably the worst fault one could find about Google - it has great services that no one seems to know about. Naturally, this hack has taken it upon himself to reveal some interesting gmail enhancing features that you might find quite useful yourselves.

Apps:

Key Rocket for Gmail

Clicking around gmail, especially when you are impatient or too exhausted from a day’s work, is not a very pleasant feeling. It’s bad enough you need to email annoying co-workers, but should you really need to suffer doing so?

Now Gmail has plenty of apps but do you really want to sit down and start memorising all of them? Fortunately, this app is meant for all the lazy people who answered negative.

The app conveniently reminds you the alternative keyboard shortcut that is available each time you click on a button. For instance, if you click reply to an email, the app will helpfully remind you that pressing “r” in the future, will create the same result.

This learning-on-the-go system is quite easy and since it is constantly reminding you of the shortcuts, it eventually begins to stick in your head.

mxHero Toolbox

Many of us send emails to lots of people, but it would be nice to know whether the intended recipient actually opened the email. This is where mxHero Toolbox comes into play.

The app, which integrates with gmail, allows users to track emails. So as soon as an email is opened, users are sent a notification. Importantly, the whole process is silent, so the reader doesn’t have to fill out a form or go through any cumbersome process.

The app also features other features including the ability to send emails at later times (great for those birthday wishes or standard reminders), self-destruct (users are sent a notification indicating the email was read and then it self-destructs in 5 minutes), and even reminders when users have not read their emails within a preset time.

By Navam Niles