4 Gmail Tricks You Need to Know

Technology has short-circuited the Monday-Friday work week: Many bosses expect you to keep in touch on the weekend. If you use Gmail, here are some clever ways to get time off and keep the boss happy.

1. Mail Goggles
Gmail can help you avoid regrettable emails with this feature. Once enabled, you set a schedule for when you want Google to watch your back – which it does by making you solve simple math problems and asking if you’re sure you want to send that email before it goes out.

How to get it: Go to “Mail settings” in Gmail by clicking on the gear icon in the upper right. Click on the “Labs” tab, search for “Mail Goggles,” and check the enable box. Then go to the “General” tab, where you can set the times and days you want Gmail to check on you. There’s an option to raise the difficulty too.

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2. Undo Send
If you happen to send a regrettable email, there’s one last line of defense you can enable: the undo button. But be warned. You only have a maximum of 30 seconds to use it – and only 10 seconds by default.

How to get it: Go to the “Labs” tab as described above and look for “Undo Send.” Click to enable and head over to the “General” tab. You should see a section for “Undo Send” options, where you can set the time limit for clicking “undo” from 5 to 30 seconds. Now, right after you click to send an email and your inbox comes up, at the top you’ll see a box that says, “Your message has been sent,” with options to undo or view the message. Click anywhere but “Undo” and the option will disappear.

3. Filters and Labels
Do you get a lot of email on the weekend, and tend to ignore it all until Monday? Gmail can make sure important messages stick out at a glance in a few ways – and one of the most useful is with labels.

Labels are what they sound like: They mark certain emails with a labeled, colored box next to the subject line. You can decide what kind of emails will get marked that way before they come in. After you set it up, it’s automatic.

How to get it: Go to “Mail settings” and the “Filters” tab. Click “Create a new filter,” and you’ll see some options including filters based on who the message comes from and what words are used in the email. Easiest way to do this: Put your boss’s email address in the “from” field. (You can list multiple addresses by putting a comma in between them.) Click “Next Step,” and check the box “Apply the label.” In the dropdown box to the right of that, click “New Label” and name it something short like “Boss.” Click “Create” to close that box, then “Create filter” to finish up.

Now you should see the label listed in the left column under your folders (Inbox, Sent Mail, etc.) with a colored box next to it. Click that box and you can customize the colors – we recommend bright red for this one. Now whenever the boss emails you, you’ll see the red alert without having to read a word.

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4. Auto-responses

If you know you’re going to be out of town or away from the computer for the weekend, you can make sure the boss doesn’t chew you out for not responding. Anybody who sends you an email when it’s enabled will get an automatic reply saying you’re out of town and will reply Monday, or whenever you want.

How to get it: It’s on the “General” tab near the bottom, called “Vacation responder.” Check the box to turn it on, and tell it when to start and what to say. And don’t worry about spamming the boss’ inbox with several automatic replies – he’ll only get an auto response to the first message sent and once every four days.

Source: MoneyTalksNews.com