When choosing an electronic mailbox, we focus primarily on its capacity and user-friendliness. Google’s email client, Gmail, came out with some useful new features last week. And all you need is a right-click.
Gmail is used by a total of 1.5 billion users worldwide, according to the latest announcements from the end of 2018. Just to give you an idea, that’s about one-fifth of the population. There are currently almost 7.7 billion people on planet Earth. Therefore, Gmail strives to come up with innovations that not only improve the user experience for existing clients, but also attract new ones.
Hidden Secrets of the Right Button
With its latest update, Gmail has elevated the right mouse button from almost unused to practically indispensable. When you click on an email, it opens a total of 12 functions:
- reply to sender/reply to all;
- forward message;
- archive;
- delete;
- mark as unread;
- send/save email;
- move to;
- mark email as;
- mute message;
- see all emails we have received from a given sender;
- search for emails with the same subject;
- open an email in a new window.
If you’re not a traditional desktop or laptop user, don’t despair. Gmail has prepared the equivalent of a right-click for you. If you’re used to working on, say, a Mac Book, use Ctrl + mouse click to open the extended menu.
How will this new feature make our lives easier?
While it’s nice that Google is trying to develop a better, more user-friendly experience, how will the right mouse button actually make our jobs easier? The main positive we can see is clearly at the end of the search. With just one simple mouse click, we can immediately see what we can do with a message. This feature is especially useful for gmail newbies who are not yet familiar with the system.
The handy search by sender name or message subject can also be very useful. You will definitely use this feature for regular duties, such as communicating with the authorities, but it will also make it easier to stay in touch with colleagues on a daily basis.
What you may not have known about Gmail…
Gmail, or Google Mail, is a free email service that has been part of Google’s portfolio since April 2004. Back then, we could only become a user by invitation. The beta version of webmail was launched in February 2007 and allowed to operate with 1 GB of space (a revolutionary size at that time). Today, the average Gmail user has 15 GB with the option to purchase upgrades ranging from 100 GB to 30 TB.
Like any electronic mailbox, Google’s has its limitations. A single email can be addressed to a maximum of 500 recipients, a maximum of 500 emails can be sent in a single day, and the maximum attachment size (or sum of attachments) is 25 MB. For larger attachments, there is an option to save them to Google Drive, which gives us a nice 10 GB space. In order to exceed these limits, we would have to try really hard. That’s why we rate the user interface as very friendly and adapted to the average person and companies.
We open our email inbox several times a day. That’s why we are glad for new features that make working with email easier. Do you think the Google developers got it right this time? Or are you a conservative and liked the old setup?