GMail: It’s The Small Details That Matter

Sure, Gmail is well-known for its 2.7 (and growing) Gigabytes of mail space and its threaded message views. But it’s not just those big things that matter. Coming from longtime Gmail users like ourselves, we can say that the overall goodness of Gmail also comes from the small details that add up. It’s like a mechanical watch. Each spring, each coil, each gear, while minor in itself, is important in making the whole thing work seamlessly.

Here are our favorite Gmail features, so far.

Viewing attachments as HTML. There are always virus scares when dealing with attachments. You can get Word, Powerpoint, or Excel documents that contain macros that can damage your computer. You can even get photos that contain meta-data that will let hackers control your computer. Gmail gives you an added layer of security–and convenience, of course–by letting you view attachments as web documents, instead of having to open the document itself in the application it was meant to be used on.

Simply click on the “view as HTML” link and attachments open in new browser windows (or tabs, depending on your browser).

Viewing attachments as HTML is a quick and easy alternative to downloading files. You can view the following types of files as HTML: .pdf, .doc, .xls, .ppt, .rtf, .sxw, .sxc, .sxi, .sdw, .sdc, .sdd, and .wml.

Google talk and Gmail integration. Gmail is probably the only webmail service that’s fully integrated with its instant messaging system. First, Gmail logs all your Google talk chats (unless otherwise specified), so you have a record of all your conversations for later reference. Second, offline messages are received in your Gmail inbox. Even better, you can actually reply to an email correspondent in an instant if both of you use Google talk, and you have Gmail+chat activated. This is useful in case you need to give urgent replies, or if ever you need to exchange information quickly. don’t worry, these chats are also logged, so you have a record of everything.

Changing the “send from” address. Most other webmail providers will charge you for the ability to change your “sender” address. While there are security concerns with the ability to change email sender addresses on the fly, Gmail will actually let you do this as long as you can verify that you are indeed the owner of the particular email address you want added. You can even use Gmail as your universal email inbox and outbox!

Labels and indicators. With Gmail, you get the information you need at a glance. The inbox view, by default, features indicators whether an email is sent only to your address, with your address iincluded in the “to” address field, or as part of a mailing list (meaning your email address doesn’t appear. From this, you will know what are the personal emails, bulk mail, and even spam (in case the spam filter doesn’t catch them). A > sign means your email address was actually included in the “to” field (along with other addresses). A >> sign means the message was only sent to your email address, and no other.

It’s also good that you can assign multiple labels to each email. This will prove helpful if a single message is related to more than one topic.

Other favorites. These are what we find as small things but useful nonetheless. What about you? What subtle features or details in Gmail do you like?