Gmail: Lesser known tricks and tips

Gmail,the world`s most popular email service, has certain features which are unknown to most users. Although it provides unsurpassed search capabilities, great spam filtering, and loads of free storage, it also offers much more.

Google web mail service can jump through hoops in many ways, which you have never thought of, with just a little know-how and some key add-ons. Here are some little known tricks and tips built right into Gmail: Easy Access of host files in your email inbox: Nowadays storing of emails has become easy with the services of Dropbox for quick access of host files. However even if you don`t use Dropbox, the files can be stored by attaching them to a draft in Gmail and leave them there. Keyboard shortcuts: Accelerate your Gmail operations by not using mouse operations. Learn the keyboard shortcuts like R for reply, Ctrl-K to insert a link and Ctrl-Enter to send for the easy usage of the webmail. And if you’re a Chrome user, you can learn shortcuts much faster by installing the `KeyRocket for Gmail` add-on, which teaches you while you work. Restore old buttons: Gmail has replaced most of its buttons—Archive, Delete, Spam with icons which some users found it confusing. But fortunately Gmail lets you restore the text buttons. If you’d rather have buttons with icons instead of text, you can restore them: Just go to Settings > General, scroll down to Button Labels, and change the setting to Text. One click and mark messages as read: Marking of read messages is now easy with just one click without even going into the more menu, enable Labs feature Mark as Read Button. After selecting one or more messages, you will see that click button on the toolbar. Smart triggers: Gmail also lets us create smart triggers to notify email marked ``urgent`` via smartphone. And it could automatically save starred messages in our Evernote account. Those are just some of the "recipes" available on the Gmail channel, which lets you create your own triggers to make Gmail do all kinds of things. View messages without clicking: It is annoying to click any email you want to read and then go back to the inbox and click another. It is a slow, time-wasting process. But Gmail has Labs feature Message Sneak Peek that simplifies things a bit just by right-clicking any message to immediately see its contents in a preview window. Branded messages out of inbox: Filter all the clutter in your inbox that comes from stores, social networks, and other "branded" sources to an icon-laden Gmail sidebar where you can review it later. It is a quick and easy way to excise inbox clutter, while still keeping the stuff you might want to see. Compiled by: Irengbam Jenny