Killer Tech Tips

You <3 Gmail, don’t you? Gmail is the best thing ever since sliced bread. With plenty of features and lots of addons, Gmail has become a power house that can not just manage your email, but can also be used for a lot of other tasks.

This piece will tell you about 5 lesser known things about Gmail. Some of you might have known them already, but I think a large number of Gmail power users still don’t realize that Gmail can do the following things:

Gmail Tip #1: Select a series of Gmail messages with the Shift key

If you want to select a range of emails in Gmail, just select the first email using your mouse, hold down the Shift key and select the last one. All emails within this range get selected.

The screencast above explains it all. This was first discovered by Simple Help

Gmail Tip #2: Search Messages sent during a certain time interval

Sure, you’ve got a bunch of Gmail operators for effective email searching, but how many of you use the date operators? The after: and before: operators can be used to search only for emails sent within a stipulated time period.

For instance, to search Gmail messages sent between March 25, 2009 and March 27, 2009 only, add this to your Gmail search query: after:2009/03/25 before:2009/03/27.

Gmail Tip #3: Search the Web from Gmail

Think about it: There’s a Search the Web button in Gmail. But how many times have you used it? You always do a Ctrl+T and open google.com to do a web search, right?

Save some seconds by using the Search the Web button in Gmail instead. The results open in a new window, so your Gmail workspace is still intact.

Gmail Tip #4: Desktop Gmail Shortcut

The first thing that most of us do in the morning is typing gmail.com after opening our browser. Why not create a desktop shortcut for Gmail so that you can access it a bit quickly? Go to Settings > Labs and enable Offline Gmail. You’ll have to install a program called Google Gears. Once you’ve done that, go to Settings > Offline and click Create a Desktop Shortcut for Gmail.

In the window that appears, choose where the Gmail shortcuts should appear: Desktop, Quick Launch or in the Start Menu. Click OK. If you’ve activated the Flaky Connection Mode, you’ll be able to access your email even when offline.

Gmail Tip #5: Tell Gmail to use HTTPS always

From day one, Gmail has had HTTPS mode which encrypts traffic to and from Gmail servers. But it’s active only when you sign in. The HTTPS mode is deactivated once your inbox gets loaded. The reason, they say, is that HTTPS makes Gmail slow.

However, by going to the Settings tab choosing Always use HTTPS from Browser Connections area, you can force Gmail to use SSL encryption all the time. This encrypted mode could protect you from potential Wi-fi snoops and data hijacking.

Discovered anything new here? Or found this post boring? Use the comments section and shout out!

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