TOP 5 Gmail Tricks

“If you are not using Gmail, you must be living in stone age” – This is what I say to my friends who are still reluctant to switch over to this wonderful web mail service. Most still believe that this is just another mailing service. It could be just that if one does not use the extensive features of this free Gmail account service.
Let’s looks at some of Gmail tricks today. By the way, all these tricks are legal. The post should have been appropriately titled “Getting the most out of your Gmail” But then I decided to go for a catchy phrase to grab your attention. Now that I have your attention, let’s get down to business.
Since this blog is looking for more viewership from youngsters, most of the tips are to entice that age group.
Gmail trick # 1: To impress a new acquaintance, you may give them an altered Gmail id which will still work. Let’s say my Gmail id is sri.jshm@gmail.com & I am giving this id to my new friend “Deepika”. I can give my id to her as sri.jshm+deepika@gmail.com. This is sure to take her by surprise & acts as a great conversation starter. What if the acquaintance tries this Gmail address? Relax, you will still get the mail because Gmail does not recognize any characters after ‘+’. This new Gmail address will work just fine. However your trick will be exposed when you reply from your Gmail account.
Gmail trick # 2: This trick will save you loads of time especially where the internet connection is slow. Even if one has a super fast connection, this Gmail trick will at least give rest to your fingers. Almost all of us are actually embarrassed of our first mail accounts. The exuberance of youth coupled with the creative juices of a 21st century mind forces us to create ids like “i_am_hot@Gmail.com”, “supercrazy@Gmail.com”. Such popular mail ids become a little uncomfortable to be listed in our resumes & we soon shift to more sober account names. For some reason or the other most of us ultimately end with multiple webmail accounts. Did you know that you can view & reply to all your mail accounts from just one Gmail address? What’s more, one can even view yahoo mail or rediffmail from your Gmail account.
This is how you can set it up:
Click on “settings” inside your Gmail account
Now click on the “Accounts” heading
You may add your new email id by clicking on the icon “add another email id that you own”
One can also choose to send replies showing your new Gmail address (default) or showing the original Gmail id from which the message was received.
The last step will be to confirm this change by going into your previous email address & clicking on a link mailed to you. This last step is to verify that the other account actually belongs to you.
Caution: After doing this you will also receive all the unread messages from previous mail id, which may take some effort deleting. But once this is done, you will never again miss any mail from all your email accounts.
You may watch a PowerPoint presentation of Gmail trick # 2 below
The Flash Player and a browser with Javascript support are needed.
Gmail trick # 3 : Did you ever receive a humorous message only to find that half the fun was over because the message was detached from the attached picture. It’s time to tell goodbye to attachments. The new version of Gmail allows you add pictures in your message itself.
This can easily be activated by going into settings & clicking on “labs”. Now, all that one has to do is just “enable” the “inserting Image” option. This may take some finding, because the insert image option is fourth last in queue.
Once activated, a new icon will be displayed in the Gmail tool bar.

You just need to click on the icon to insert the image from your desktop .


Gmail trick # 4 : Have you ever waited at the mall or theater for hours for your special someone to arrive ? Now, there is a cure for your friend’s forgetfulness! Create a Google calendar by visiting Google.com/calendar or from “More” options in the Google’s Homepage. Once the events are filled up, you can share it with your friend’s email account. (You can do all this from your Gmail account itself). Ha ha ….. I know what you are thinking… You cheats… here is the solution to the question that is troubling you. Yes you can hide the specific events from your friends too. Once the calendar is shared you may click on the “ edit event” tab go to options & set email reminder or pop-up reminder to your friends, If you are reading this in USA, then you have an option of sms reminder too !
View the Power Point illustration of Gmail trick # 4 below.
The Flash Player and a browser with Javascript support are needed.
Gosh!! While typing this I had forgotten the pancake on the stove. I guess Gmail can’t help in kitchen. ( )
Gmail trick #5 : This tip is about your favourite blog – www.friendly-tips.com. Let see how you will never miss any of the useful articles from this site.
On a more serious note, you may use this Gmail trick to get the latest information from your favourite news or information site.
Go to settings
Click on “Webclicks”
Under “search topic by url” type in www.friendly-tips.com
Click on search

5. Click on the add button
6. Now you can see the latest articles from this site on your gmail just above the inbox.

This is the certainly the most important Gmail tip for you.( )
Gmail accounts can be great source of fun too, if coupled with features like Orkut & Picasa. These can be dealt with in next article if desired. Do roll in your comments on this article. Ah! Just a last Gmail tip, do not waste your time by inserting the (. dot) in mail id, Gmail does not recognize this too. So a mail id sri.jshm is same as srijshm or s.r.i.j.s.h.m .