mail is the most used e-mail service in the world and is certainly the most complete and fastest of all those available. While considering Yahoo Mail as a more than valid alternative, one cannot fail to admit that Gmail's features are many more, thanks also to the continuous developments that are being made to increase its features and functions. By now there is no longer any talk of mailbox space because Gmail as well as Yahoo Mail are practically infinite and the problem of having full e-mail is now part of the past and of those who use different mail services. Gmail, however, has several additional hidden functions, which are not tricks but which are part of the " Labs " or experimental ones that have yet to be tested before being available to everyone, publicly.
We see in this post the main new features of Gmail implemented this year and those still in Labs that should start using and that make this mail client unique and better than the others.
Remember that to activate the functions of Google Labs To see the functions of Gmail Labs you have to go to the settings on the "Labs" tab.
In an article updated to 2013 the best features of Gmail Labs to be activated for Google Mail are described (today the Labs section no longer exists, but in Gmail settings there are advanced settings that are practically very similar and can be considered hidden functions .)
The most important novelty of Gmail is the function to import emails and contacts from other accounts such as Hotmail in a simple and painless way.
There are several times when I recommend to those who use Italian e-mail services, to switch to Gmail and the most frequent answer is: " I have all my messages and contacts on another e-mail provider, how can I possibly change"> Google made this extremely simple and automatic for all new accounts and just go to the "Settings" tab and then to the " Accounts and imports " tab. On the available text field, you must write the email address used from which to import contacts and messages and complete the wizard.
The new messages that arrive at the old address will be automatically turned to the new gmail but, for 30 days they will also remain on the old box so that you have time to go back and disable this automatic import.
If you want to turn the messages of another mail account instead , to Gmail, but leaving it alive and working, you can use the function "Add an E-mail account you own", always from the settings and from the " Accounts " options screen. ".
From that moment, all messages received on the indicated mailboxes will be redirected to the Gmail account.
A side feature to this is the ability to send messages from Gmail that report the imported mail account as the sender.
In practice, in this way, it becomes possible to use the Google mail platform, without changing the e-mail address.
Preview of received messages can be activated from the "Labs" functions
For those who complain about the initial loading of the Gmail web page, the preview function can be useful, which allows you to view, during the upload, the last 10 messages received so that you can immediately get into action and see the mail.
This feature is very useful for slow connections that cause Gmail to load slowly.
Always from Labs you can activate the function of inserting images in the message .
Practically you add a button, by clicking which you can upload an image and insert it in the layout of the email so that it is immediately viewable and that is the background of the message. Therefore not as an attachment but just as a text kit.
For those who have to deal with messages from other countries and with other languages, from Labs you can activate the functions to see the real time when someone sent a message according to the time zone of the sender's country and that for the translation automatic message.
The time zone of the sender allows you to see the current time in the part of the world, from where the person who sent the email lives.
To see this time, you have to click on the details of the message.
Automatic translation, as the name implies, helps to translate e-mails written in a different language and a bar is added above in which to choose the language in which to translate.
You can also click on the "Translate message" link that appears if Gmail detects another language.
Gmail has always had the opportunity to view Doc and Xls as an HTML file or by placing a link to open the file in Google Docs.
Not long ago, Gmail added an online PDF viewer that presents the file as it is with image viewing and proper formatting. PowerPoint and TIFF files can also be viewed recently.
Downloading Gmail mail and attachments to your computer and browsing it offline is another Labs feature that was discussed in another article that brings gmail closer to Microsoft Outlook.
For those who are used to Outlook, a plugin will soon be available that will import the mail and contacts in synchronization with the famous client included in the Office suite, for the moment instead you have to operate manually by creating the account on Outlook, setting it as POP3: pop. gmail.com, as SMTP: smtp.gmail.com, putting the address and the password and the flag on the option "Authentication to the server required" on the "Server" tab in the property.
Finally, the ports of the advanced card are: for the pop3 the 995 and for the smtp the 445.
A very important new function of Labs is that of " activities " which allows you to open, in a small window at the bottom right, a notebook in which to mark the things to do in a temporal sequence, with the expiry date, by placing a sign when they were made.
Another new implementation is the calendar integrated with Gmail which allows you to mark appointments and provide a reminder that can be consulted from the same email interface.
What functions do you consider most useful but above all, what do you think this functional and professional mail service is missing?
