20 Essential Gmail Tips You Probably Don't Use (but Should!)

Posted 12/24/2009 at 10:00am | by Paul Lilly

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Import Mail From Thunderbird into Gmail

So you're ready to ditch your email client, but aren't so keen on giving up all of your saved mail? No problem! Thanks to a nifty program called Gmail Loader, it's pretty easy to import your old mail into your Gmail account. Here's how.

First, download and extract Gmail Loader from here. Fire up the program and click the Find button. You'll need to navigate to the Local Folder, which is buried in your Thunderbird Profile folder. To locate the Profile folder, follow Mozilla's instructions here.

What we're looking for is the Inbox file, which on our Windows 7 testbed is located here:

C:\Users\Paul\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles\zlkd62ok.default\Mail\Local Folders

Once you've located the Inbox file, enter in your Gmail address where indicated. The rest of the settings you can leave alone, and all that's left to do at this point is hit 'Send to Gmail.'

Troubleshooting

If you receive errors when attempting to import your mail, you'll need to change the SMTP Server field and input your ISP's info. Check the 'Requires Authentication' box and input your username and password.

Host Your Domain's Email at Gmail

If you own a website, chances are you also want to use your personalized email address (you@yourdomain.com, for example). At the same time, Gmail's feature set typically trounces all over most other email services, including the one that comes prepackaged with your domain. One solution is to simply forward your email to a Gmail account, but that isn't exactly elegant. Nor is it necessary, because Google allows you to host your domain email at Gmail, giving you the best of both worlds.

To get started, you need to sign up with Google Apps Standard Edition (it's free) by following this link. Click the 'Administrator: I own or control this domain' radio button and type in your domain name in the specified field.

When you're finished setting up your account, you'll be required to verify that you own the website you just registered. You can do this in one of two ways - either by uploading an HTML file to your website, or changing the domain's CNAME records with your domain host. It doesn't matter which one you choose, though if you choose to go the CNAME route, Google provides specific instructions for several popular hosts here (scroll down and expand 'Specific instructions for popular domain hosts).

Once you've verified your site, you'll need to configure your domain's MX (Mail Exchange) records. How you get there will depend on which host you're using, and so will the records you need to input. Find your host here and follow the instructions exactly as Google lays them out, or if you don't see your host listed, follow these general MX record instructions:

1. Sign in to your hosting account and navigate to the MX record maintenance page
2. Delete all existing MX entries
3. Enter the MX records depicted above

It might take a little while for all the changes to take effect, but when they do, you'll be able to log into your email account by navigating to http://mail.google.com/a/YOURWEBSITEHERE.COM/#inbox, where YOURWEBSITE.COM is the name of your domain.

After you log in, spend some time familiarizing yourself with the Dashboard and the different settings available. For example, you can create up to 50 email accounts, set up groups, enable contact sharing, and more.

Track Which Sites are Sharing Your Email Address

Interested in learning which sites are sharing your email address? There's an easy way reveal which sites and services aren't living up their privacy promises. All you have to do is append your email address with +xxx, replacing xxx with whatever you want. For example, if your Gmail address is JohnDoe@gmail.com, you could use the email address JohnDoe+BestBuy@gmail.com when registering at Best Buy. Emails sent to JohnDoe +BestBuy@gmail.com will still show up in your regular inbox, and if you start receiving all kinds of unsolicited junk mail at that addy, you'll know the culprit.

Discovering who's sharing your email isn't the only thing this trick is good for. Pre-labeled emails also come in handy for sorting your messages and using a unified account in place of several email addys. If you wanted to keep your work messages separate from your day-to- day email, just append the word 'work' to your email addy. To use our above example, you would use JohnDoe+Work@gmail.com when communicating with co-workers. Take it a step further by creating labels and setting up filters to automatically sort your work, personal, and any other types of email addresses you set up.

Sorting with Labels and Filters

Few email services come close to offering the same flexibility and management options as Gmail, and it's mostly due to Google's implementation of labels and filters. In short, labels act like folders, while filters act like, well, filters.

If you're using Gmail, you've probably already created a few labels. Here are some good ways to utilize them:

1. Create an 'Ideas' label and setup a filter to auto-archive any emails sent to JohnDoe+Ideas@gmail.com to the corresponding label. This will prevent you from cluttering up your inbox every time you email yourself a fantastic idea you want to be sure not to forget.
2. Create a label called 'Needs Response' and attached it to any emails that you've sent out and, once you hear back from, will require another response. This way you can quickly and easily view which emails are still in need of a followup and not have to worry you'll forget about them.
3. Gmail organizes labels in alphabetical order, but this may not always be the way you want them. Take control by adding a number or letter prefix in front of your labels. For example, if you want your 'Work' label to appear at the top, rename it to '1 Work' or 'a Work.'
4. Color code your labels to better manage your email. Just click on the box next to the label and select a color. To make better use of this one, combine certain labels with filters so that incoming emails from work appear in one color, while emails from immediate family members appear in another.
5. Still sporting a small monitor? Use the Labs feature 'Remove Labels from Subjects' so that emails in your inbox will have their labels hidden, leaving more room for the subject line.