Gmail Gems - The "Labs" Tab

If you haven't spent a few minutes scanning the Labs tab of Gmail settings, it is well worth your time. The Labs tab contains dozens of tools which can be used to customize the way Gmail behaves and to add functionality. While officially these tools are only experimental and may "change, break or disappear at any time," we have found that most are very stable and Google rarely removes a Labs feature.

To view the available Labs features click the gear icon in the top right corner of your Gmail screen and then select Mail settings. When in the Mail settings screen, click the Labs tab. Note that Labs also appears as an option right on the gear icon's drop down menu, but I'm not sure it will stay there whereas the Mail settings option will always be there. To enable a Labs tool, simply click the Enable radio button next to the tool and save changes.

Below are some of my favorite Labs tools. If you have a favorite that's not listed feel free to post its name and what it does in the comments section of this post.

Inserting Images
Standard Gmail still only allows you to include images as attachments, not embedded in your email (i.e. appearing in the body of your email). While including images as attachments is best if all you want to do is send someone some images, if you want to write a comment about an image then being able to insert the image into the body of your email is important. To do this, you need to enable the Inserting images Labs tool.

Canned Responses
If I were only allowed to enable one Labs feature, this would be it. Canned Responses allows you to create a clipboard of frequently used content and easily paste it into any location in the body of an email. Some uses include:

• Create multiple signatures that you can select from when replying to an email. I have a standard signature, a signature for posting to listservs, etc.
• Create email templates for messages you send often.
• Create boiler plate instructions for questions you commonly answer.

Undo Send

Did you ever click Send on an email only to realize you forgot to CC someone? Or worse, realize you sent your email to the wrong person? The Undo Send labs feature delays your email for a configurable about of time (5 to 30 seconds) during which time an Undo link appears at the top of your screen allowing you to cancel the send. However, once the message has been sent, there is no getting it back.

Mark As Read Button

This is a very simple feature which adds a Mark As Read button to your Gmail button bar. Without this Labs tool if you want to mark an email as read you either have to open it or select the option from the More drop down button. While a very simple tool, if you often have to mark emails as read it is a click saver.