Gmail How-To: 7 More Basic Tips And Tricks Every User Should Know

Ever since we published our first batch of Gmail tips, the Captain Gadget inbox has been flooded by curious and frustrated Gmail users with questions of their own. Captain Gadget's gonna do his thing and answer seven more Gmail how-to's right here, from the basics of BCC'ing to the nitty-gritty of finding and deleting big emails in Gmail.

Below, check out 7 more basic tips and tricks for Gmail beginners. And if you have any everyday tech questions, email me at [e-mail], and your name just might be featured in boldface in a HuffPost slideshow.

Comments

[Edward Capuz]

03:45 AM on 03/01/2012

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[Donald Ong]

10:10 PM on 02/28/2012

this gmail tutorial really helps, it solve some of my common doubts..

http://quickconstipationremedies.com/

[beyondinbox]

12:43 AM on 02/14/2012

Interesting and Helpful article...
E-mail is fast becoming a predominant means of personal and business communication.It is very tedious work to organize thousands of mail.
Through Beyond Inbox, you can remove all unnecessary emails from your primary inbox by archiving, transferring or taking their backups to another location easily.for more detail http://www.beyondinbox.com/documentation/mail-backup--organize-your-inbox.html

[perianhamlet]

06:58 PM on 02/03/2012

Wait, you ignore the "Delete all spam messages now" link and encourage users to add two unnecessary steps?

[holdin5aces]

06:00 PM on 02/01/2012

I'd like to be able to delete my Spam folder without opening it. Just a one click boom its gone from the inbox.

[blyan]

11:17 AM on 02/02/2012

http://support.google.com/mail/bin/static.py?hl=en&page=suggestions.cs

This page is great for suggesting new/potential Gmail features (at the bottom I believe you can add your own)

[Always For Real]

05:50 PM on 02/01/2012

Given Google's new 'privacy' policy (effective Mar 1st) I'd say the best tip is to be really, really sure you know what you're getting into with a Gmail account in the first place.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/24/google-privacy-policies_n_1229470.html

http://www.google.com/intl/en/policies/privacy/

Cheers!

[blyan]

04:44 PM on 02/01/2012

If this is seriously all it takes to write tech articles for you guys, I'll go ahead and send in my resume. One of the worst articles I've ever seen. It sounds like it was written by someone who has used Gmail once for people who have never used Gmail before. How much is this guy getting paid? I'll work for less.

:D

[geminidavid]

03:15 PM on 02/01/2012

On slide 5 of 9 you point to the box in the upper left to select all messages, that only does the screen you are on, so if you are set to view 25,50,100 that it just that screen. After that you would see something appear "All (25,50,100) conversations on this page are selected. (Then there is a button) Select all ### conversations in [The box you page you are in]".

Conversely there is an easier option, hit that blue link that says "Delete all spam messages now", or if you are in the trash hit the "Empty Trash Now" to get rid of them all. Saves a few clicks.

I have used gmail for 8+ years now, you should get used to Conversation view, Outlook 2010 added it because it was such a good feature. Also for searching for people's sent/received just use the Chat box on the left (or right if you moved it), type their name/address till you see who you want, then hit "View Recent Conversations", why you would bother typing it all when it does for you will confuse new users.

Finally there are only 3 folders in gmail, All Mail, Spam and Trash. The rest are like small searches or subsets, whenever you make Labels (ie folders), it is just a tag on the message, it doesn't physically reside in that Label. Also, when you email please put the keywords you will later remember to use to search for that email later.

[blyan]

04:44 PM on 02/01/2012

This comment by itself was better than the entire article.

[Twopennygal]

03:10 PM on 02/01/2012

I love chaining of emails, but I wish I had control over what emails to include, like something similar to stars, but to turn off or on a specific email's inclusion in a chain. Also, I would like to be able to add emails to a chain that might have gotten separated. The biggest culprit for separating an email from a chain is the sender's changing the subject line.

[battlinbob]

02:41 PM on 02/01/2012

The phone is not available anymore... at least in mine..

[gemini68]

12:56 PM on 02/02/2012

It is in mine.

[six seven]

02:16 PM on 02/01/2012

Well, sometimes when a person really loves their gmail very, very much, the two get together, and an ad is born.

http://youtu.be/9x4_dozWkq0

[BannedInBoston]

02:05 PM on 02/01/2012

I absolutely detest the way g-mail automatically chains email threads. Whose bright idea was this? I now know how to manage them and I STILL don't like them for the reason the questioner stated. The old fashioned method of presenting each email as a new email containing the previous replies as a thread is far, far easier to manage....

[blyan]

04:46 PM on 02/01/2012

Whose idea was it? People who like getting things done in a more efficient manner, rather than doing something just because that's the way it's always been done. It may be easier to manage for you, but a majority of the rest of us like things the new, more efficient way.

[rumple4skin]

03:35 PM on 02/03/2012

blyan -

I think a serious problem with chaining has nothing to do with efficiency. It is/was new mail from a sender not being highlighted. Several important mails to me were buried in the chain and I didn't realize they were there. Perhaps the rest of us never had this problem??

[gemini68]

12:57 PM on 02/02/2012

That's actually one of the things that most people love about Gmail. This way you don't waste time hunting for that e-mail so and so sent you two weeks ago.

[cityprole]

02:01 PM on 02/01/2012

The thing I hate about gmail is that sure, I can delete Span, but there seems to be no way of blocking it permanently, like Hotmail, so the same ones keep coming back..or am I missing something?

[BannedInBoston]

02:07 PM on 02/01/2012

As far as I can see, you can't do a "Block Sender" in gmail. Even my silly, WAY old-fashioned BlueLight email lets you do that....

[madcap freedom]

01:47 PM on 02/01/2012

Sort emails by sender or subject? See Labels, set up to add Labels by and/or subject when receiving email, archive by sender, search by subject... All are possible ~ Easy as 1, 2, 3...

[odra]

01:44 PM on 02/01/2012

This was probably the worst tech article I have seen in years.

[mashud]

07:57 AM on 02/02/2012

i agree

[gemini68]

12:58 PM on 02/02/2012

Agreed. And what person who uses e-mail everyday doesn't know how to BCC? Really??