Comments on: Gmail Labs: The great and the small

Want to extend the functionality of Google's e-mail service? Check out these great applications.

[bonesbautista]

Some of the Labs contributions really stink, and a few work pretty well. Good blog, and I agree on the useless options.

I really, really, REALLY wish that one of those guys would devote a few minutes to figuring out how to define a default font, font size, and font color - it can't be that tough. Can it?

[La reina]

Agreed! What's so hard about that? They've been doing it for years in other programs. Thanks!

[scoobyonthebeach]

Yes, please. How hard can it be to offer a default font option? With so much innovation, why are some of the most basic features being overlooked?

[levavie]

You can actually set a default font, color, etc... with the canned repsonses option.

[jeshack]

I disagree for making Superstars as a useless product. In fact it is much useful, the editor just don't know how to use it.
In fact, it is a perfect tee for Superstars with Quicklinks and the 'Go to labels'. Example if you've received an email and there's a need to response, to question and to inform then definitely you'll need to use these products. How to organize? If you have starred an important message as a red !, you can search them with Gmail search as "has:red-bang" (you can also try yellow-bang, green-check, purple-question and more terms, just try hovering the stars with your Settings) and make a Quicklink and label it as Important. (Want to easily search them then tap G L (as in Go To Label) then type Impo as in important then you'll be able to searched for Important messages....) It is like labels the other way around. I've always used these especially as a student, I'm encountering too many follow-up emails.

My Great Products:
1. "Mail Goggles".. So that the next time you'll send a message, it should be with confidence.
2. "Offline Gmail 2.0", I wasn't much affected with the outage cause everything that you need to send were safe in Gmail's Outbox.
3. The ever honest "Location in Signature"
4. Go to label, Quicklinks and Superstars
6. "Add any gadget by URL".. Guess what, I'm using Facebook and Note gadget.
7. "Tasks"
8. "Navbar Drag and Drop". It makes your Gmail as YOUR Gmail.
9. "Mark as Read"
10. "Canned Responses": It is like an email on the go, example: birthdays, sympathy, reports
11. "Custom label colors"
12. "Title Tweaks". I still don't know why Google need to put this on the labs.

My Useless:
13. "Old Snakey"
14. "Email Addict": Why not simply close that tab!
15. "Mouse Gestures": Too bad, I'm much using keyboard shortcuts.
16. "Reply to all".

Other remaining lab products were also great but not much useful.

[R_Parson]

Reply All is handy when you get those forwarded emails. You can send the link to a snopes.com article to everyone.

[mark_925]

That's funny, I use and like two of your "The Useless" features. It might depend on whether you're using Gmail as a work or personal account (me). Hide Unread Count: The first place I usually read an e-mail is not in Gmail, it's on my blackberry. Sometimes I'll reply from my phone, or if it's a more involved e-mail I'll reply once I'm at the computer. Thus the 'Unread Count' was kind of meaningless. I'd rather just not have it there. Reply to all: again, using gmail for personal, so usually when I'm in a e-mail to with my group of friends I want to reply back to all of them. However, I can see how if it was my primary work account I might not want that.

[yanchineseguy]

I think Don's list and the comments above clearly show that GMail is doing a great job of letting people customize their email experience, because it's obvious that we all use email in different ways.

[AmyStrecker]

I think title tweeks is the best! I've been waiting for this. It makes life easier for those of us who surf with multiple tabs open at a time!

[cautioninc]

I mostly agree. I do like random sigs, though. Of course, I miss fortune from Linux shell logins, too.

[dexter_birdbrain]

I like GMail and its impressive set of features (growing day by day), but a part of me always longs for Yahoo Mail. May be I am just paranoid about letting my entire online world rest in Google's hands :). Come on Yahoo, get your act together.

[annemarieee]

I have the philosophy "try anything once" and use quite a few of the Labs, especially Forgotten Attachment Detector, Mail Goggles, Title Tweeks, Superstars and Multiple Inboxes.

Everyone uses their mailbox differently, and that's evident from this article.

[FroZone]

Another reason why I don't pay attention to Don's articles.

[LamendolaM]

Didn't Don mention the "Gmail addict" in a previous article, where he listed out some useful apps for controlling your Gmail usage? So, in that article it's useful, and here it's not?

[La reina]

Well, hide unread counts works well for anal people! I can't stand to know I've go spam in there so when I hid it I just ignored it for a week or so - wasn't obsessed with deleting it! Asi es.