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Use Gmail effectively

Googles e-mail service, Gmail is one of the most popular webmail services online.  Yet there are many features in Gmail that is not used, even though they will probably make you more effective and give you a better overview of your e-mails.

It is quite common to have several e-mail accounts, for example from your ISP or maybe one for your blog or website. In Gmail you can connect all those accounts to your Gmail, which means that you can get an overview of all your email accounts from one account.

Click “Settings” in the upper right corner and then click the “Accounts “-tab, choose “Add another mail account”. A form will appear where you fill out the login details for your external e-mail.  Check “Label incoming messages” and Gmail will label the incoming messages from that account. It is possible to add up to five accounts.

Sometimes you might want Gmail to forward your messages, for example to a work-email. In the settings menu, click the “Forwarding” tab and then choose to forward your mails to an address of your choice.

Many users of Gmail do not know that it is possible to use keyboard shortcuts to create an effective workflow. This setting is not on by default, in the settings menu click the “General tab” and then choose “Keyboard shortcuts on”, voila!

Some common shortcuts:

c Create new e-mail
u Return to your inbox
r Reply
a Reply all
Ctrl + s Save draft

For more shortcuts turn to the Gmail help section.

If you get loads of e-mail it can be interesting to know if a message needs to be opened ASAP or if it can wait. One way of knowing is by using the “Personal level indicators” in Gmail. If a message has been sent to your address among others an arrow will appear in front of it. If the message was sent to your address solely two arrows will appear.  This feature can be activated in the “General” –tab in the Settings menu.

Sometimes it is neat to have your Gmail in your mobile phone; this can easily be done by downloading the Gmail mobile client (by pointing your mobile web-browser to: http://gmail.com/app). The client is a small application that installs on a cell phone, when you run the client it will connect to the Internet through using the phone and retrieve the latest e-mails.  Since it is possible to connect any pop3 e-mail account to Gmail you can have all your e-mails available from anywhere.

It can be a security risk to surf the web using public networks, such as wireless networks in cafes or airports.  However Gmail can be protected by turning on the https feature in.  Https will encrypt your connection to the Gmail server. This can be turned on in the Settings menu under the “General”-tab.  It is recommended having it on all the time, even if you are not surfing public networks (better to be safe than sorry).

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