Gmail gets auto-replies
This is probably more useful than GMail's last goofy new experimental feature (Mail Goggles): Canned responses (see Official Gmail blog). You can now save a reply you're writing as a "canned response" and then quickly select one of these responses when you're replying to a future e-mail.
You can also have your Gmail filters auto-reply to messages for you with these reponses. I quickly set up a filter, for example, to reply to people who send me an e-mail with "pitch" in the subject line with a message asking them to reach me on my work account.
It's easy to stuff a canned message into your replies.
The canned response feature is useful and nicely done. If you often have to send people the same (or close to same) e-mail, you'll find it useful. The auto-reply filter is a bit more complex and potentially dangerous, although it is useful. To set up an auto-reply, you have to first save the response as you're replying to an email, and you have to make very sure that your filters aren't going to get you in to trouble by sending out your message to the wrong people. Fortunately, Gmail lets you pre-run your filter on your exisitng inbox to show who which messages would be swept up in your filter if it was already running.
If you use Gmail to handle work-related e-mail with a lot of typical queries, it's worth trying.
To turn on the Canned Responses feature go to Settings | Labs. To use the auto-reply feature go to Settings | Features.
Once you've written some canned responses, you can set up filters to sent them automatically.
Rafe Needleman writes about start-ups, new technologies, and Web 2.0 products, as editor of CNET's Webware. E-mail Rafe. 
All the ways, good step from GMail team though into making this gmail service more productive .. But will they compete Microsoft Office Live Wave 3 which can run on Desktop, Mobile and Cloud as will they will extend as promised their Live Object Model to include more access to Live Mail Web Services which means allow people to make much powerfull Mail Systems that are fully integrated with Live IDs. Don't forget that with new Windows Live Wave 3 your Email Storage is Unlimited !!!!! .. and with the new Calendar you can track your Friends Birthdate and Events that has public access which is WoW ..
Let's wait and see the two Giants what will bring !!
But I would like it to keep the incoming text in my response.
Francesco.
- by GlennAllen October 22, 2008 11:52 AM PDT
- Looks sorta like a template function (which is good).
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