10 Gmail Tools So Important You’ll Use Them Every Day

Even though apps like Zoom and Slack have taken over, email is still an important part of most of our work and personal lives. And there’s a good chance that at least one of your email accounts is through Gmail, which has more than 1.5 billion users.

While you probably know the basics of Gmail, there are lots of features and tips you might have missed that can help you streamline your digital life. (There are also third-party apps such as Kiwi for Gmail, which combines multiple accounts into one app.)

Here are 10 tools to help you work smarter – not harder – in Gmail.

Synchronize with calendar

If I don’t put an appointment in my Gmail calendar, I won’t remember it. Even though you usually paste an upcoming event or reminder into your Google Account on your phone, these events automatically sync with your Gmail calendar on all devices. You can find your Gmail calendar on the desktop by clicking the button Google apps waffle icon and choice Calendar. You can also download the Google Calendar app for your iOS or Android device – your Android phone may have it by default.

Access multiple accounts at once

If you have multiple active Gmail accounts, you can switch between them effortlessly. Simply click on your profile icon at the top right (mobile or desktop) and choose Add another account. From there, you’ll just log in and be able to access it when you click on your profile icon in the future. If you don’t access any of the accounts frequently enough, you will be logged out.

Configure filters

With so many websites asking for your email address these days, your inbox might be starting to look like the Wild West. You might also want to organize emails better and prioritize certain people’s emails. This is where filters come in handy. To configure a filter, open Gmail, click on the settings gear and choose See all settings. From there, click Filters and blocked addresses> Create a new filter.

You can customize your filter to organize emails by sender, recipient, subject, keywords, and more. When you have it conformed to your specifications, click Create a filter.

Configure a signature

Setting up a signature in Gmail can save you a step when composing a message and make your email look more professional. To configure a signature for all outgoing messages, open Gmail> Gear Settings> See all settings. From there, scroll down until you see Signature and click Create New. All the signatures you created will be visible in the settings where you can edit or delete them at any time.

Cancel a sent message

If you are like me, you guessed after clicking the send button. Fortunately, Gmail has a grace feature called Cancel Send. Right after pressing Send, a message at the bottom of the screen will appear stating that the message has been sent, but there is also the option to Cancel or View Message. When you click Cancel, Gmail stops sending the message. You can also change the time you have to cancel a message. To configure the cancellation of the sending, go to Settings> Show all settings and scroll to Cancel sending. From there, you can set a five, 10, 20, or 30 second cancel send window.

Schedule the shipment

Scheduling a message is handy if you have coworkers or friends in different time zones and you don’t want to risk disturbing them with an email notification at odd hours. To schedule a message, just type in what you want to say, and instead of clicking send, click the little down arrow. Gmail will suggest possible times, but you can also manually enter a specific send time.

Smart composition

Gmail’s smart composition works like predictive text and aims to streamline your writing process. For example, while you type “I’ll call you”, Google Smart Compose will suggest “tomorrow”. Just tap the tab to accept the suggestion, otherwise just keep typing. If you are not a fan of Smart Compose, you can turn it off in Settings.

Spell check

Gmail’s spell checker can reduce the stress of sending important emails. The spell checker can help you with words you are not sure about, as well as simple hiccups caused by typing too fast. And Gmail will keep the word underlined if it changes it so you can choose to undo if it’s not a change you want to make. On top of that, Gmail also has grammar and autocorrect features. Everything can be enabled or disabled in Settings > Spelling check.

Mute conversations

We’ve all been stuck in a messaging group that just can’t seem to calm down. If that’s the case for you, just open the pesky email, click on the three-dot settings icon just above the email’s subject line, and choose Mute from the drop-down menu. Just like with cancel send, you will have the option to unmute the sound if you clicked by accident.

Labels

Labels can make your inbox much more manageable. These are kind of like filters (and you can configure a filter to email certain labels). The labels are in the sidebar where you will find Inbox, Sent, Junk mail, and other folders. Scroll down with one click Create a new label. From there you can name your label as well as the group labels. For example, if you are organizing for school, the main wording might be Biology Class, and you might group together wording on submitted class projects and homework.

For more information, see Gmail and Other Android Apps Crash on Phones: Here’s Google’s Simple Solution and our list of the best Android phones to buy for 2021.