GMail is one of the most popular e-mail service on Internet with millions of users across the globe. It has been a long time since it is in beta stage. Google is adding new features to it at fairly consistent pace and it has become the favorite mail service for many of us. As our contacts grow, so do inflow of mails in our inbox. Let's see some useful GMail Tips and Tricks to effectively manage our GMail accounts.GMail Security Tips
Last month, we saw many stories covering domain hacks due to some vulnerability in GMail. Although GMail has officially clarified that their mailing system has no such flaw, still many of us are concerned about their sensitive data in the account. Here are some security measures that can be implemented to harden the security of our GMail account.
Switch on 'Always use https' option to make your your GMail data stream encrypted. If you have old sluggish system, your GMail experience may become slow afer activating this option. For activating this option go to 'Settings -> General (tab)'.
Disable mail forwarding option to avoid auto-mail forwarding to any unknown mailing address. You can turn on this feature from 'Settings -> Forwarding and POP/IMAP' and selecting the 'Disable forwarding' radio button. Once this option is enabled, it will override any other mail forwarding rule created in your account.
Disable IMAP to prevent access of mails from any e-mail client like Outlook or Thunderbird. To turn off IMAP, go to 'Settings -> Forwarding and POP/IMAP'. It may happen that sometimes you configure any e-mail client in office PC or some other place and later forget to flush all the information. In this case any third person can easily get access to your account. It is always advised not to configure any e-mail clients on a shared computer, and in case you have to do that, make sure you erase all your accounts settings when you do not use that system.
GMail filters have amazing power for better management of mails. Last month, when several domain hacks were reported on makeuseof dot com, hackers used GMail filters to get the sensitive information. How they managed to do it is still a question for debate. Learning a lesson from these incidents, now I always check my filters once in 24 hours to make sure there is no suspicious mail forwarding filter which is not made by me. I strongly suggest you to do the same on regular basis and do not open any unsolicited mails.Adding Multiple E-Mail Addresses To GMail
Interestingly, you can use GMail as a central hub for all your e-mail communication including personal and business correspondence. GMail gives you the flexibility to use external e-mail addresses for sending mails. Let's see how to do it.
1. Go to 'Settings -> Accounts' and click 'Add another email address' link.
2. A pop-up window will be opened and you will be asked to provide 'Name' and 'EMail Address'. Click the 'Send Verification' button to receive a code for verifying your email address.
3. Enter the verification code in the text box provided in the pop-up window to complete the process. Now you can use this email address in the 'From:' field.
You can go ahead one step further by forwarding all your emails coming on external email addresses to your GMail account. Now you never have to leave your GMail inbox for using any external email addresses. Creating Folders/Labels In Gmail
Another very useful feature in GMail is 'Labels', that can be used to get the functionality of folders. Combining it with the power of GMail filters, you can automate the process of sorting and segregating the mails.
Labels can also be compared to TAGS that are associated with item. To create a label choose 'New label...' from 'More Actions' drop down list. To apply label to any email, simply open or select that mail and choose the appropriate label from 'More Actions' drop down list. You can see all mails associated with a particular label by clicking that label name from the list of labels on left hand sidebar. Automating Tasks With Gmail Filters
GMail filter is one of the most powerful feature that can make your life easy by automating day-to-day activities. With the help of filters you can automatically delete, archive, forward, label and can do many other similar tasks. GMail filters support advanced filtering supported by pattern searching that can fine tune your filter giving you the desired result you want from it.
To build a fresh filter, click the 'Create a filter' link and follow the simple step by step wizard to create a filter as per your requirements. Some common filters are,
1. Deleting mails received from certain domains
2. Deleting mails containing certain words
3. Forwarding specific mails to specific accounts. (May keep a copy too)
4. Applying labels to mails according to their address and content
5. Archiving mails according to their address and content
and much more...
With filters we can automate these common tasks and can reduce our burden to great extent.
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