Gmail a go go
Despite my concerns about Google’s überdominance (All Your Data Are Belong To Us), I think many of their web apps are pretty darned useful, and Gmail tops my list.
I have Gmail set up with the IMAP mail protocol, using Google Apps for my domain name, so that I can use the Evolution client on Ubuntu, and then when out of the office I can use the Gmail webmail functionality. Evolution also allows you to “Copy folder content locally for offline operation”. As I have yet to enter the mobile internet age (how remiss), I use this feature quite a bit.
My top handy hint for using Gmail is to set up all your filters from within Gmail, not from your email client. This way, all your messages are filtered before reaching your client, and if you ever need to upgrade/change your client, then you don’t need to worry about copying over your filters.
And then, fashionably late again to the party, I found Gmail labs, a testing ground for all sorts of tweakery and noodling goodness. Here are my top features:
Filter import/export, by Luke B, Slava C and the Data Liberation team
“Export your mail filters as a file: back them up, share them or save them before deleting so you can restore them later. Import one of these files to add or restore filters quickly. These options become available under Settings/Filters when you enable this Lab.”
Mark as Read Button, by Mark K
“Tired of spending all that effort to click on the More Actions menu
every time you want to mark messages as read without reading them? Now
just enable this label and that is just a button click away!”
Mark Unread From Here, by Jenny R
“Adds a new option to a message's drop-down menu that allows you to set
the message and all following messages as unread, so when you return
to the conversation later you can pick up where you left off.”
Navbar drag and drop, by Anatol P
“Allows you to re-order the items in your navbar using drag and drop.”
Undo Send, by Yuzo F
“Oops, hit "Send" too soon? Stop messages from being sent for a few
seconds after hitting the send button.”