Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Hotmail tricks

Hotmail Tips, Tricks and Secrets

Handle your Hotmail like a hero! These tips, tricks and howtos are designed to make your life with this free web-based email account easier, faster and better.
Spam Fighting (10)
Most Popular Hotmail Tips, Tricks and Tutorials
Does it take money to be popular? Or fame? Do you need lucky breaks? Maybe... but no. None of this is necessary. Not in life, and not if you are a Hotmail tip. These tips have gained popularity by presenting their smart and sometimes surprising ideas in helpful ways — ways that let people like you profit instantly. The tips enjoy it, and they love their popularity, too.
Your Weekly Hotmail Tip
Too many tips to digest? Get the most from your Hotmail account with these hints delivered right to your email (Hotmail?) inbox. They come in small weekly doses, designed to nurture and amuse without being too heavy on stomach, eyes or mind.
See more links below...
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Access a Free Hotmail Account in Outlook Express
Using FreePOPs, you can download the messages in your free MSN Hotmail account in Outlook Express. Here's how to set this up.
Access a Hotmail Account with Outlook
Use Microsoft Outlook to fetch and send email messages through your MSN Hotmail account comfortably and with all the power and flexibility of a real email client.
Access Hotmail Help Without Window Resizing
Don't let Hotmail help take over your screen, but still get the info.
Accessing Hotmail from IncrediMail and the Web
Make sure you can still access your Hotmail messages via the Web after you have downloaded them to IncrediMail.
Address Messages with Quicknames in Hotmail
You can call me Berta in Hotmail, and address your emails to me quickly using that "quickname".
Apply Filters to the Hotmail Inbox Manually
Filter messages out of a crowded Hotmail Inbox by applying newly set up Hotmail filters to the messages in it.
Bookmark Mailing Someone in Hotmail
Open the Hotmail message composition page with the recipient's address already filled in via a bookmark or favorite in your browser.
Bookmark Your Hotmail Inbox
Bypass the Hotmail home page and get one-click access to your Hotmail Inbox.
Change the Font Size in Hotmail Messages
Use bigger fonts to make your Hotmail messages easier to read, or smaller fonts to make them look classy, or whatever you desire.
Change Your Hotmail Password Periodically
Make sure your Hotmail messages are accessible only to you.
Clean a Folder, Your Inbox Radically in Hotmail
Delete all messages (except those you want to keep) in a Hotmail folder quickly.
Close Your Hotmail Account
Say "Good-bye" to Hotmail. (You can say "Hello again" later.)
Continue Editing a Message Draft in Hotmail
Finishing unfinished messages from drafts is easy in Hotmail.
Create a Mailing List with Hotmail
Make sending Hotmail messages to groups of people easier by setting up a mailing list.
Create an Email Reminder in Hotmail
Let Hotmail help you remember.
Create Folders to Organize Your Messages in Hotmail
Tidy up your Hotmail by creating folders to file your emails in.
Display Remote Images in a Message in Hotmail
Even if you have blocked remote images in Hotmail for security reasons, you can selectively view messages with all their inline pictures.
File or Move a Message Quickly in Hotmail
Deletion is not the only way to keep your Hotmail Inbox clean. Here's how to file messages to appropriate folders.
Find Messages in Hotmail
Don't play hide and seek with email messages. Here's how to find any message in Hotmail.
Forward a Message Excluding its Attachments with Hotmail
Forward an email message, but not its attached files with Hotmail.
Forward Email Messages with Hotmail
Hotmail makes it easy to share great emails with friends by forwarding them.
How Many Emails You Can Send from Hotmail per Day
If you want (or have to) mail a lot of people from Hotmail, be aware that there is a limit to the number of messages you can send per day.
How to Access a Free Hotmail Account with IncrediMail
Download mail from a free Hotmail account to IncrediMail comfortably.
How to Access a Hotmail Account with IncrediMail
That's where IncrediMail gets really hot: receive and send Hotmail from within IncrediMail.
How to Access a Hotmail Account with Outlook Express
Use Hotmail with the power and comfort of Outlook Express. Here's how to access your Hotmail account from Outlook Express to send, receive and archive mail in your Hotmail account.
How to Access Free Windows Live Hotmail in iPhone Mail
Set up access to a free Windows Live Hotmail or MSN Hotmail account in iPhone Mail. Working transparently, you can even use your custom folders in addition to fetching and sending mail.
How to Access Free Windows Live Hotmail via POP or IMAP with IzyMail
IzyMail brings fully access to any Windows Live Hotmail account to any email program or mobile device. You can even play with all your custom folders using IMAP access.
How to Access Free Windows Live Hotmail via POP with FreePOPs
Use FreePOPs and these settings to download mail from a free Windows Live Hotmail account to just about any email program.
How to Access Hotmail with Mac OS X Mail
Fetch and read and reply to Hotmail messages from within Mac OS X Mail.
How to Add a Sender to Your Hotmail Address Book Quickly
If somebody has sent you an email and you want to add them to your Hotmail address book, here's an easy way to go about doing it.
How to Add an Alternate Email Address to Your Hotmail Account
If you have added an alternate email address to your Hotmail account, you can receive a link to a personal password resetting page at it that will allow you to restore access easily should you forget your password.
How to Add Recipients from Your Address Book Easily in Hotmail
No need to remember email addresses. Hotmail does it for you, and makes it easy using them, too.
How to Bookmark "New Message" in Hotmail
Creating a new message with Hotmail has never been faster.
How to Change the Name in the From Line of Mail You Send from Hotmail
Whether your name has changed, whether you want to take off your corporate hat and be aunt Julie for a while, or whether you just seek some fun, in Hotmail changing the name that is displayed in the From: line of emails you send is easy.
How to Change the Sort Order of Your Hotmail Inbox
Sort your Hotmail Inbox (and any other Hotmail folder) by date, size, status, sender, subject, importance or attachment.
How to Check Other Email Accounts with Hotmail
Access your POP email accounts from anywhere with Hotmail.
How to Contact Hotmail Support
Can't log in to your Windows Live Hotmail or Hotmail account? Plagued by a glitch that prevents you from composing messages? Here's how to contact Windows Live Hotmail tech support for help.
How to Delete a Folder in Hotmail
If a Hotmail folder you have created is no longer needed, here's how to get rid of it.
How to Export Contacts and Email Addresses from a Free Hotmail Account
Are your contacts trapped in Hotmail, and do you have to type them all anew if you need them anywhere else? Not if you export them smartly using a print view and your spreadsheets program. Here's how.
How to Insert an Image Inline in an Email with Hotmail
Instead of sending the photo as an attachment, why not insert it right into the email? Here's how to trick Hotmail into allowing that.
How to See Full Email Headers in Hotmail
See all the header lines in Hotmail to trace spam, for info, or for fun.
How to Send a Message in Plain Text from Hotmail
Concentrate the power in your words, not in their appearance. Here's how to compose and send plain text emails with Hotmail.
How to Set up Your Hotmail Signature
An email signature can include contact info, witty quotations, or even some self-marketing. Here's how to set up your signature to be automatically included in messages you compose in Hotmail.
Import Contacts and Email Addresses from Hotmail
Keep your contacts in sync. Here's how to export email addresses and contact details from Hotmail so you can import them in your email client.
Insert Graphical Smileys in Your Hotmail Messages
Share your emoticons graphically with Hotmail by inserting cute little smileys in your email messages.
Know When Your Hotmail Account Becomes Inactive
Be sure to log in to Hotmail before your account (and your mail) disappears.
Load Mailboxes Faster in Hotmail
Small is beautiful. Small is fast. Here's how to load Hotmail mailboxes faster by reducing the number of messages per page.
Make Hotmail Indent Original Text in Replies with '>'
It's a matter of good manners to include the original text when you compose a reply. It's also a matter of good manners to indent this text with '>' characters. Here's how to make Hotmail do this for you.
Make Hotmail Sessions Expire Automatically
Enhance the security of your Hotmail account by making it log you out automatically after a certain time.
Make Hotmail Your Default Email Program
Say good-bye to superfluous email programs and make Windows use Hotmail for your email tasks (reading and sending mail) automatically.
Mark Messages Unread in Hotmail
Reset a message you have opened, but not really read, in Hotmail to a highlighted unread state.
Move Mail from "Sent Messages" in Hotmail to Keep It
If you intend to keep a copy of a message you sent in Hotmail, saving it to the "Sent Messages" folder is not enough.
Print a Message in Hotmail
Send Hotmail messages to your printer without ads or visual clutter.
Protect Your Privacy Against Web-Bugs and Remote Images in Hotmail
Remote images in emails (downloaded when you open the message) are a security and privacy problem. Find out how to prevent Hotmail from downloading such images automatically.
Save a Copy of a Sent Message in Hotmail
Always know what you said, to whom, and when — save copies of outgoing messages in Hotmail. Here's how to do it.
Save Drafts of Longer Messages in Hotmail
Be safe and save your Hotmail message as a draft so you can continue editing it later.
See Only Mail from People You Know in Hotmail
If your Hotmail Inbox is cluttered with newsletters and spam, turn on this view that shows you only the important messages from people you know.
Send a File Attachment with Hotmail
Send documents, pictures, programs, and any other file around the world in seconds easily with Hotmail.
Send a Message to a Group of Recipients with Hotmail
Have your message delivered to a group of people with Hotmail and with ease.
Send a Message to Someone in Your Hotmail Address Book
Select the desired email recipients comfortably from the Hotmail address book, and start composing a message to them quickly.
Send a Web Page Link with Hotmail
If you discover a great site on the web, don't you want to let you friends know? Here's how to share web sites easily via Hotmail emails.
Set Up an Incoming Mail Filter in Hotmail
Have Hotmail organize incoming mail for you by moving it to the appropriate folder automatically.
Set Up Hotmail for Lazy but Correct Replies
Make sure replies you write in Hotmail, while easy to compose, are also nicely formatted and a pleasure to look at.
Specify a Reply-To Address in Hotmail
Receive replies to your Hotmail messages at a different email account.
There's a Size Limit When Sending Attachments with Hotmail
You can send anything with Hotmail by attaching it to a message — unless it's too big.
Try Hotmail in a Different Language
Hotmail, parle-t-il Français? Hotmail probably knows more languages than you.
Turn on the Rich-Text Editor in Hotmail
Get a text formatting toolbar for Hotmail and write your emails using custom fonts, bold face, graphical smileys, and more fun tools.
Use Fancy Fonts in Hotmail Emails
Hotmail says good-bye Courier, hello Lucida Handwriting, and Garamond, and Verdana, and... Here's how to use custom fonts in emails you compose in Hotmail.
Use Rich Formatting in Your Hotmail Signature
In Hotmail, you can beef up your signature with custom fonts, with bold face and italics, with graphical smileys even.
Use the Hotmail Spell Checker
Let Hotmail correct your spelling mistakes (and make fun of its silly suggestions in return).
What the Question Marks Mean in Hotmail and How to Remove Them
Is your Hotmail Inbox full of question marks and you do not know why? Here's how the envelope icons became questionable and how to get rid of them.
When You've Forgotten Your Hotmail Password
If you cannot remember the password to your Hotmail account, here are ways to create a new one — and get to your mail, too.

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Yahoo! Mail Classic Tips, Tricks and Secrets

You know how to send and receive email with Yahoo! Mail Classic. Now find out how to add a picture to your signature, how to set up your own mailing lists, how to filter spam, powerful keyboard shortcuts and so much more. With Yahoo! Mail Classic and if you know how, it's all easy!
Free E-Course: Your Weekly Yahoo! Mail Tip
Get the most out of Yahoo! Mail with tutorials delivered right to your Yahoo! Mail inbox. The tips come in weekly doses, to nurture and amuse without overwhelming stomach or attention span.
Most Popular Yahoo! Mail Tips, Tricks and Tutorials
The people have voted. With their eyes and their hands they have voted. Now you can reap the results and profit from the most popular Yahoo! Mail tips, tricks and tutorials right away.
How to Access a Free Yahoo! Mail Account in Mozilla Thunderbird
Download mail from your Yahoo! Mail account into Mozilla Thunderbird and send messages through the former from the powerful desktop email program, too.
How to Access a Free Yahoo! Mail Account with Outlook Express
Using YPOPs!, you can download messages from your Yahoo! Mail account in Outlook Express and send mail conveniently, too. With IzyMail, you can even access all your online folders as if they were local.
How to Access a Free Yahoo! Mail Account with Outlook
Your Yahoo! Mail account is not made for the web alone. Here's how to download mail from a free Yahoo! Mail address into Outlook — and how to send through Yahoo! Mail, too.
How to Access Free Yahoo! Mail Classic via POP or IMAP with IzyMail
Download incoming Yahoo! Mail Classic email to any email program or access all your Yahoo! Mail Classic folders transparently. Both is easy and elegant with IzyMail.
How to Access Free Yahoo! Mail with IncrediMail
Fretting over Yahoo! Mail not offering POP access so you can use it with IncrediMail? Don't. Here's how to access a free Yahoo! Mail account in IncrediMail.
How to Access Free Yahoo! Mail with Mac OS X Mail
Web-based or desktop email? It's great to have the choice, and with Yahoo! Mail, IzyMail and Mac OS X Mail you do have the choice. Here's how to set up a free Yahoo! Mail account in Mail.
How to Access Free Yahoo! Mail with Windows Mail
Would you like to receive your Yahoo! Mail in Windows Mail? With YPOPs!, you can.
How to Access Free Yahoo! Mail with Windows Live Mail
If you love Yahoo! Mail, make your Windows Live Mail like it, too, and download messages or even get seamless access to all your online folders.
How to Add Bcc: Recipients to an Email in Yahoo! Mail
Using the "Bcc:" line, you can send an email to multiple recipients in Yahoo! Mail without revealing their addresses.
How to Add Nicknames to your Contacts in the Yahoo! Address Book
What's your nick, Nick? Let me add it to my Yahoo! Mail Classic address book to make just about everything easier.
How to Add Your Signature to a Yahoo! Mail Classic Message
A message without a signature is only half a message. Here's how to append your Yahoo! Mail Classic signature to an outgoing email.
How to Address Messages with Nicknames in Yahoo! Mail
Just call me Fred in Yahoo! Mail, and address your emails to me quickly using this nickname.
How to Automatically Add Your Signature to Yahoo! Mail Classic Emails
No email message can escape Yahoo! Mail Classic unsigned (unless you want it to).
How to Avoid Downloading Yahoo! Mail Classic Bulk Mail via POP
Download only good Yahoo! Mail Classic to your email client and leave the spam in its 'Bulk Mail' folder online.
How to Block a Sender in Yahoo! Mail Classic
Start a Yahoo! Mail email boycott.
How to Bookmark 'Compose Message' in Yahoo! Mail
With a nifty shortcut to Yahoo! Mail's composition screen in your browser, you can start writing emails super fast.
How to Bookmark Mailing Somebody in Yahoo! Mail
If you send somebody emails frequently, here's how to do it particularly fast, too, in Yahoo! Mail.

Yahoo Mail Tips: 11 Tricks To Get More Out Of Yahoo Mail

yahoomaillogo.jpgSince the new version of Yahoo Mail Beta was released, I have been finding myself using it more often than GMail. The interface is slick and the use of tabs when opening messages is probably one of the best features compared to other web based email applications. Also the RSS feed views are far better that the clunky Web Clips with Google's GMail.

If you have been using Yahoo Mail and find yourself looking for some shortcuts, check out Download Squad web site for 11 tips and tricks. Of the eleven tips, you can find ways to:

  • Instantly add a contact to your address book by dragging a message.
  • Compose messages on the fly by pressing N or R to reply.
  • Holding CTRL lets you scroll through messages in folders without selecting each message.
  • Find text within a message by using CTRL+F (using the enter key allows you to scroll through each instance of the word within the message).
  • Mark all messages as read.
  • Keyboard shortcut keys for the Inbox: Ctrl + Shift + Up Arrow or Down Arrow - jump to messages in the same folder that have the same subject line: Ctrl + Shift + Alt + Up Arrow - choose another factor to filter on (such as flag) when using Ctrl + Shift to navigate.
  • Hide and show Preview Pane by pressing V.
For more Yahoo Mail tips see How To Save And Forward RSS Articles In Yahoo Mail and Find What Your Looking For With These Yahoo Mail Search Tips.


Gmail Tips, Tricks and Secrets

Using Gmail is simple, but Gmail is also powerful. Want to make sure you make the best use of your Gmail account? Here are my tips, tricks, secrets and howtos for getting the most efficiency, comfort, power and fun out of Gmail.
Your Weekly Gmail Tip
Get the most out of Gmail with tutorials delivered right to your Gmail inbox. The tips come in weekly doses, to nurture and amuse without overwhelming stomach or attention span.
Most Popular Gmail Tips, Tricks and Tutorials
If they know something about Gmail that you don't know, their advantage will be short-lived, because here are the 10 Gmail tips and techniques most frequently requested. If you have a Gmail account, get the most out of it.
Add Bcc Recipients in Gmail
Send a message from Gmail to multiple recipients (or copy yourself) while hiding some or all of the email addresses from the prying eyes of the other addressees.
Attachment Types Supported for Viewing as HTML in Gmail
Gmail lets you open many types of attachments right in your browser, without the need for a download or a special viewer.
Change the New Mail Sound for Gmail
Want to hear when new mail arrives in your Gmail account? Want to hear something special? Here's how to specify the sound to play when new Gmail messages come in.
Check Your Gmail Account with a Keyboard Shortcut
Refresh your Gmail Inbox and see whether new mail has arrived by pressing no more than one key.
Create Labels As and When You Need Them in Gmail
You don't have to know the labels you will want to have in Gmail before you want to have them. Here's how to create new labels on the fly.
Find Out When a Message Was Sent Exactly in Gmail
Is "10/15/04" not precise enough and "12:43" lacking the date? Here's how to see the full and exact date of a message in Gmail.
Get Gmail Notifications (Even Per Label) in Your RSS Feed Reader
If you can track all the news of the world in your RSS feed reader, why not also your Gmail Inbox? There's even a way to watch and get notified about the new messages arriving in particular labels.
Go to the Next or Previous Message Quickly in Gmail
The index and the middle finger can take you through your Gmail messages with astonishing speed and quickness.
How to Access Gmail More Securely via HTTPS
Make sure the girl on the next table sharing the public WIFI connection cannot read your emails. Gmail can even enforce such secure connections so you're safe by default.
How to Access Gmail Offline in Your Browser
Want to take Gmail on a flight and through a tunnel or eliminate the distraction incoming emails are? With Gmail offline, you can read and compose messages while disconnected and have Gmail sync automatically when you're back on.
How to Access Gmail Tasks on Your Phone or in Your Browser
You take your Gmail with you in your phone, and you've brought your to-do list to Gmail. Here's how to access these tasks on your phone — or as a stand-alone web page in your browser.
How to Access Windows Live Hotmail Plus in Gmail
Windows Live Hotmail Plus Gmail: access messages arriving at your Hotmail address in Gmail and send messages using that address right from within Gmail, too.
How to Add a "Gmail This" Bookmarklet to Your Browser
Send interesting pages you find on the web via Gmail with unprecedented speed and ease not previously experienced.
How to Add a Picture to Your Gmail Profile
Decide on how you want to be seen and upload a picture to Gmail, which others will see when they get mail from you or when you chat with them.
How to Add an Image to a Contact in Gmail
Identify people by image, not by email address. Here's how to make Gmail display pictures (you get to choose which) when you position the mouse over a name or address.
How to Add an Invitation to an Email in Gmail
If you just send an email in Gmail, you can add an event to your Google Calendar and invite all recipients of the message to it at the same time and automatically, too.
How to Automatically Label Mail in Gmail with POPFile
POPFile can automatically label your incoming Gmail messages — learning from your example whenever you apply a label manually.
How to Block a Sender in Gmail
Are you getting nothing but jokes you did not ask for and amazing stories you don't read from a particular sender? Here's how to block them in Gmail and have all their mail sent right to the "Trash" folder, or at least out of the way for later review.
How to Bookmark "Compose Mail" in Gmail
Create a shortcut to composing new emails with Gmail in your browser.
How to Bookmark any Label, Folder, Search or Message in Gmail
Create shortcuts to the Gmail labels, searches or messages you visit most often in your browser.
How to Break Down Tasks into Manageable Pieces in Gmail
Conquer your inbox, your tasks, yourself and the rest in single, simple steps. Here's how to create sub-tasks to tasks (and sub-sub-tasks) in Gmail Tasks.
How to Change Font Face, Size, Color and Background Color in Gmail
Make your fine print small and your birthday greetings colorful: here's how to change the font face, its size and color as well as choose a background color for highlighting in Gmail.


You already know that Gmail beats all other email providers with its endless customization capabilities, Google product integration and fantastic spam filter. Take it to the next level with these Gmail power user tips and Greasemonkey extensions for Firefox. We haven’t forgotten the Mac users, either. For more great resources, check out the official Gmail blog and the Gmail Power Users group on Google Groups. If you'd like to learn more about other email programs, check out the email category at the web directory.

1. Master the Gmail keyboard shortcuts

If you haven’t already, master the shortcut keys. Compose, mark as read, archive and much more with the press of a button. Sure, you know c for compose and ! for report spam, but do you know g + t for the sent mail folder? You can find a complete list at the official Gmail shortcut page.

2. Google Code Macros

The Greasemonkey extension for Firefox, familiar to many power users, allows JavaScript functionality on any web page. Piggybacking off of this capability, the generically-named Macros script enables a number of keyboard shortcuts. Google apparently integrated some of Macros shortcuts when revamping Gmail, but there are still functions that the Macros programmers believe Gmail needs. “I firmly believe this is *the* essential Gmail trick to end all Gmail tricks,” writes David Chartier at DownloadSquad.


3. Create bookmarklets for frequent searches

This form created by Steve Rubel generates a bookmarklet for searches in Gmail. (By the way, a bookmarklet is a baby bookmark that acts a single click tool for a webpage or browser—thanks, Wikipedia). Take Rubel’s form further by dragging the bookmarklets to your bookmarks bar.

4. Resize your compose box

The aptly-named Resizeable Textarea Firefox extension allows you to click and drag the edge of your compose box without resizing your browser window. Note that any browser built with the newest Opensource.org webkit—Safari, for example—will already have this capability. For more browser info, check out the internet software category.


5. View unread messages first

Search on the string “label:unread label:inbox” to force all of your unread messages to the top of the list, writes Matt Cutts. (Note: you don’t have to create any labels for this to work.) Try bookmarking Cutts’s search and dragging it to your bookmarks bar to view all unread messages first.

6. Streamline adding attachments

Wouldn’t it be great if you could drop attachments directly into the attachment box? Check out the Firefox extension Dragdropupload if you are running Firefox 2.0 (as of this writing, it hadn’t been updated for 2.0.0.12).


7. Quickly switch between Google accounts

If you have multiple Google accounts—a Gmail with Google Apps account and a regular Gmail account, for example—streamline them with this script for Firefox with Greasemonkey. The script adds a “change user” drop-down bar in place of the “sign out” link.



You can also try Gmail Manager (also a Firefox extension), which adds a Gmail menu bar to the Firefox window. Juggle multiple accounts, sign in and out.


8. Bookmark a single email

As of November 2007, all Gmail messages have dedicated URLs (according to the official Gmail blog). Rather than killing a tree by printing the message or laboriously copying down the info, you can CTRL-D (or ?-D) an important email and refer to it at your leisure.


9. Automate frequently repeated text

Signature functionality is built into Gmail, but frequently typed phrases can be automated with Firefox extension Signature, which allows you to insert designated text with a keystroke. (As of this writing, Signature is not yet compliant with Firefox 2.0.0.12.) Also try a Windows app called AutoHotKey or Mac app TypeIt4Me. Both apps allow you to create keystrokes to automate text in virtually any application.




10. POP3 & IMAP forwarding

“I recommend using IMAP (where the mail is both on the server and on your local machine(s)/device(s)) and uploading all your email onto Gmail,” writes Mark Wheeler, a Gmail power user. “You can keep copies on the Google servers and your desktop/laptop/phone so that they are all efficiently accessible and available anytime anywhere. Don't have to worry about backups, or disk space...I have 25,000 emails and have only used 9% of my space!”

To upload old email like my friend did, set up a Gmail IMAP account in your desktop email client. In the client, establish folders that correspond to your Gmail labels, and drag and drop your non-Gmail into the folders. If you're using Outlook with .PST format or Outlook Express, you will have to convert or export the emails to mBox data file format before the messages will translate. The process may take some time, and your client may hang. Also, the original dates and times attached to the messages will appear in Gmail as the dates and times that the messages were imported into Gmail. But it's worth the trouble to utilize your tricked-out Gmail, right? Click here for a tutorial from My Digital Life.


11. Mute a conversation

Ever found yourself subscribed to a mailing list and the current conversation has nothing to do with you? If you don’t want to unsubscribe, you can easily stop the friendly spam with the Gmail mute function. Select a message in the thread and hit the m key to auto-archive all incoming messages in the conversation. The thread will stay muted until you unmute it; it will also un-mute itself if your address appears in the To or CC box.

12. Get it all in one place

Gmail’s built-in Mail Fetcher allows you to receive and send from up to five different accounts via POP3. Unlike a simple forwarding feature, Mail Fetcher allows synchronizing of your Gmail actions with the home server. Go to your Gmail Settings ? Accounts, then Add another mail account. One caveat of sending from non-Gmail accounts: the recipients may see FROM you@Gmail.com on behalf of you@otherdomain.com, especially if the recipients are using a client like Outlook.


Archiving

Gmails best function (according to me) is definitely the Archiving feature. This allows you to mark a Email-message, as "not important enough to keep in the inbox, but not unimportant enough to delete", which just keeps a copy of your mail, but not in the inbox. That way you can keep a clean inbox, without losing any data. (When search, archived mail is automatically searched as well)

Searching

The search-function of Gmail, is its strongest side to-date. The search function easily and quickly searches through several gigabytes of emails in a matter of microseconds. When using it together with some of its more special features, you can easily find almost any email ever sent or received, based on the few things you remember about it.


Special Things

There are a few special search phrases that really can be useful. For example to find an email-message you wrote, with an attachment, sometime around december in 2007, the search-query would be "from:me has:attachment after:2007-11-30 before:2008-01-01".

from:me # Mail is sent by you
has:attachment # The message has one or more attachments
after:
# The email was recieved/sent sometime after the specified date
before: # The email was recieved/sent before the specified date

Special search-tags

The search-tags that are available are:
  • to:
  • from:
  • subject:
  • in:inbox
  • is:starred
  • has:attachment
  • before:
  • after:
Any other words, phrases that are included in the search-field will be full-text-search, that means, it can be part of the subject, sender, reciever or message body. As of now, it does not search through attachments.

Any search-tag can be negated by the use of a "-" before the searchtag.

Labels

Gmail has decided against using conventional folders, and instead uses "Labels", also known by the public as "tags". This means that you can assign a message several labels, and use any (or many) labels in the search to find these messages.

One neat way to use this, is to have a label for work-related mail, another for account information (login-information, and account-registrations), and another for an interest organization, for example...

Then you can search for "label:work label:account" to find any work-related account-emails.

IMAP

When using IMAP and labels together, Gmail will show your labels as folders. If you then copy an email to a folder you will in effect, add that label to the mail. If you delete a message from a folder, you will remove that label.


Filters

When you start to receive large amount of mails, filters are your friend. You can use filters to automatically assign labels, forward, archive, star, remove, or mark emails as spam. If you are part of some email-based newsgroup, you can set up a filter that automatically assigns those emails an label for that newsgroup, If you're forwarding emails from another email-account, you can create a filter so that those mails get a label for that... You can create a filter that automatically deletes mails that comes from your ex-girl/boyfriend... With filters you can automate a lot of your otherwise manual labor.

Second Email-address, and more

Gmail has support for acting as another email-account. As long as you have POP-access to the account, you can manage that email-account through Gmail. That works by Gmail fetches you'r emails via POP from that account, presents it to you in the Gmail interface.

And you can also configure your gmail account to send emails, posing as your other email account. (But first you must via Gmail send that account an confirmation code, that you must give back to Gmail).

You configure this in the Settings menu, accounts-tab.
Gmail help about Accounts.

Security

Gmail has the support for using SSL-connections (and even enforces it, at some times) which means that you are safe against man-in-the-middle-attacks (These are web-attacks where someone in the way between you and Gmail, that has the possibility to listen to you traffic) by encrypting the connection between your browser and Gmail.

SSL-connections are enforced when logging in via the web-interface, and whenever you are accessing Gmail via POP/IMAP/SMTP. However after you've logged in, you might be bounced back into a standard HTTP-connection (NON-SSL). If you go to gmail with a https-address then you will use an SSL-connection the enitre time, and will be secure from man-in-the-middle-attacks.

Now Gmail offers an option to force the use of SSL connection all through the web-interface session. This is selected in the settings, menu, general-tab. Near the bottom.
(thanks to Aksha Kini for pointing out that I had missed this feature)

Third-party clients

Gmail has support for using third-party clients to access your email via POP/IMAP/SMTP over SSL-connections. This feature allows you to use any email-client of your choice. For example, if you are not a fan of the conversation-threading in Gmail, or you want to sort your emails, you need to use a third-party application.

IMAP

With IMAP you only download what you need for the moment. Almost every IMAP-client starts with only download the header of the email (who it was to, subject, date, and if it has attachment), and then when you open the email, downloads the body and attachments (Some email-clients, don't download the attachments, until you specifically tells it to). IMAP is generally the preffered way to use a third-party client that is constantly online.
Google help about IMAP.

POP

With POP you download the enitre message, and attachment at once... And you cannot access the message until it's fully downloaded. This is great for offline usage, since it allows you to sync up your email once you have access to the net.
Google help about POP.

Other Settings

Vacation Message

When you are going to be away from your email-account for an extended period of time, A wise rule would be to put up an "vacation" message. The vacation-message works by sending out an email to everyone* that sends you an email message, with a predefined message. During the time-period you are in "vacation-mode". They will only get one message per vacation-period.

The vacation-period will reset if you disable/enable the vacation-message, or change subject or body of the vacation-message.

Gmail Help -- About Vacation Message

Signature

Signatures are a simple way to add some bulk-text to every outgoing email-message.
According to General Netiquette Rules signatures shall start with double-dash and a space, and a carriage return ("-- ↵"), and should not contain more than 4 lines.

You can set your signature in the Settings-menu, under the General Tab.

Gmail Help -- About signatures

Keyboard Shortcuts

Gmail has a lot of keyboard shortcuts, which can help you save A LOT of time, if you use Gmail a lot. To see the shortcuts, make shure it is enabled in the settings (under the General-tab), and then press "?" on your keyboard. An overlay will appear, to show you which keyboard shortcuts are available to you.