Gmail Craze: 40 + Tools and Hacks for Gmail
All for Gmail: handy Firefox extensions, best Greasemonkey scripts, some desktop tools and lots of useful tips. Take this Gmail thingie to another level. Enjoy 
FIREFOX EXTENSIONS
Gspace – multi-platform firefox addon that turns your gmail account into powerful online storage tool
Gmail Search Extension – search your gmail account directly from the firefox search bar
GcalQuickTab – toggle between gmail and google calendar with keyboard shortcuts
GTDInbox – turns your account into flexible and feature-loaded ToDo-management service (GTD = Getting Things Done)
GMail Manager – manage multiple GMail accounts right from your browser
DragDropUpload – this handy extension lets you quickly attach one or more files to your emails by dragging them over the “Attach a file” link
[update] CustomizeGoogle – removes ads, switches you from http to https, hides the spam counter, quick contacts box, invite box and forces fixed font
[update] Better Gmail – integrates bunch of cool features, i.e. attachment icons, attachment Reminder, mail preview, filter assistant, label colors, macros, and saved searches
[update] GmailSkinz – powerful firefox addon with lots of cool features: (Note: some users reported having problems with this addon)
- change the colour of your inbox(from green to dark green),
- view weather, google calendar and news headlines along side your emails,
- integrate any Google IG module to sidebar menu(Awesome),
- insert images from your Picasa web album in to emails,
- insert smileys,
- change the attachment paperclip to an icon indicating the type of attachment,
- make the navigation (Inbox, Starred, Sent Mail, etc) horizontal,
- hide various page elements (invite panel, page footer and your email address from the top right of inbox).
- complete integration with Gmail: addon settings can be changed directly from the Gmail settings page.
Google Toolbar with Gmail search – Official Google toolbar featuring one-click Gmail search
E-Mail Notifier Toolbar | Gmail Notifier – as titles say ‘…notifier‘
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GREASEMONKEY SCRIPTS (What is Greaseamonkey?)
Gmail Super Clean – clean and distraction-free gmail. Looks great, check it out here
Gmail Spam-count Hide – hides spam count link
GMail Attachment Icons – adds attachment icons to emails, letting you see what kind of attachment an email has (HTML,JPG, PDF….) [update: 'Attachment icons' isn't a standard greasemonkey script, it's an addon for a similar Firefox extension known as Stylish. However, installing it on greasemonkey should be fine as well]
Google Reader Integration – integrates Google Reader into Gmail. Highly Recommended (demo)
GmailTo – forces all ‘mailto’ links to open in GMail
Saved Searches – lets you create ’saved searches’(aka smart folders) and display them in the separate box in the navigation menu. Clicking on a search executes the saved query. Demo
Conversation Preview – handy addon that lets you quickly preview message contents right from the main inbox window. See demo below
Google Calendar Integration – integrates Google Calendar agenda into Gmail. Demo
Label Colors – lets you color menu labels to make them stand out better. Demo
Gmail Macros – adds extra keyboard shortcuts to Gmail (i.e. “t” for move to trash, “r” for mark as read, “p” for mark as read and add to archive…etc). Read more
[update] SSLGoogle – force google mail, docs and cal pages and their intra-links to a secure connection(HTTPS)
[update] Gmail Encrypt – encrypts outgoing emails
[update] Gmail Date Search – adds a Search by Date button to Gmail’s search form
[update] Gmail Signature Float – moves your mail signature to the top of the message rather than the bottom
Following image displays all above mentioned scripts in action(click to enlarge and open it in a new windows)
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Desktop APPS and Web TOOLS:
GmailDrive (Windows) – adds a new virtual drive(’Gmail Drive’) to ‘My Computer‘ folder and uses gmail as its storage medium. Drag’n drop files Gmail Drive and it will store them on your gmail account as if on additional hard drive. More on GmailDrive
[update] gDisk (Mac) – similar to above mentioned GmailDrive but for Mac users
Gmail ToDo – handy desktop application that stores entered todo’s in a todo label on gmail
Desktop Notifiers: GMail Notifier(official release from Google), GTray (Win XP), GCount (Mac), Gmail+Growl 2.0 (GmailNotifier addon that lets you further customize ‘new mail’ alerts)
GMail for Mobile – access gmail from your mobile
GmailFS – mountable Linux filesystem which uses Gmail as its storage medium
Google Talk – Google’s IM service which is fully integrable with GMail
You’ve Got Gmail – Gmail plugin for Trillian IM client
Update: more notifiers: KCheckGmail(Linux), Notifier2(Win)
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TIPS and HACKS
Unbl0ck – use this tool to access gmail from places where it’s blocked (work, school…)
Gmail icon generator – creates an image of your email address to minimize spam exposure
Gmail To Thunderbird – how to access your Gmail using Mozilla Thunderbird
Shortcut List – handy, printable list of keyboard shortcuts for the Gmail
Hotmail Contacts Import – explains how to import contacts from Hotmail to Gmail
Gmail trick that explains how to find that ’someone’ who gives away your email address to spammers
Attach any file type – bunch of tricks showing you how to attach and send blocked file types, i.e. ‘*.exe’
JimsTips – huge collection of basic gmail tips
[update] What to do if your Gmail is nearly full? See here.
[update] Secret keyboard shortcut for deleting messages. Check it out here
[update] How to – import your archived emails into Gmail
[update] How to – Backup Gmail your Gmail using Google Groups
[update] How to – Re download gmail messages into outlook
[update] How to – Work with Gmail Attachments (includes cool tips, Greasemonkey scripts and Firefox addons)
Technorati Tags: gmail, firefox, greasemonkey, tips
Nice list, using dots in the address is a nice trick also!
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http://www.WindowsVistaUserGuide.com
There’s a KDE (Linux) notifier called KCheckGmail http://kcheckgmail.sourceforge.net/
put notifier2 as one of the better desktop notifiers too. http://www.notifier2.com
Thanks I’m using the Gmail Icon Generator now =)
AWESOME! You’ve been added to my blogroll!
You can add this to your gmail hack list:
This explains a neat trick if your gmail is getting full !!
http://bnura.blogspot.com/2006/09/what-to-do-if-my-gmail-gets-full.html
arun@
Thanks. Nice tip. It has been added.
so
do you have a pc
Rodnei Z@
Thanks. It is on the list.
You forgot the CustomizeGoogle Firefox extension.
@janeena
thanks, it’s on the list now
@shree:
that’s cool, right choice
@kia
CustomizeGoogle is a handy extension however it’s aimed at improving Google and there is nothing extra for Gmail. Thanks for the tip anyways, I think it will be a nice tip for the upcoming ‘makeuseof extra’
You’ve missed the only extension worth having: customizeGoogle, that does everything the greasemonky scripts do already.
Very poor list!
Brilliant collection of tools. Some I did know about, but not all
thanks
I think you should check this out:
http://gcaldaemon.sourceforge.net/index.html
GCALDaemon is an OS-independent Java program that offers two-way synchronization between Google Calendar and various iCalalendar compatible calendar applications. GCALDaemon is primarily designed as a calendar synchronizer but it can also be used as a Gmail notifier, Address Book importer, Gmail terminal and RSS feed converter.
The “search gmail from firefox” site you linked to (tip number 2) doesn’t have a working link. It is on mycroft now, try here . Good post.
Very nice list, thanks a lot!
@kosmosik
thanks for the link
@jambarama
I checked tip2 once again, it’s correct first link is dead however author provides second one which seem to work fine.
Customize Google.
Although general in nature it does do things in GMAIL.
First and foremost it strips out the ads.
Also:
Switches you to https
Hides the spam counter
Hides the quick contacts box
hides the invite box
Forces fixed font
All of this is user selectable and doesn’t require Greasemonkey.
It definately deserves to be on the list.
You forgot to include the firefox extension GMail Skins.
http://gmailskins.mozdev.org/
This ONE extension can be used in place of several of the ones listed above.
Features Include:
* Change the colour of your inbox – Choose colours from green to dark green!
* View weather, google calendar and news headlines along side your emails – Any Google IG module can be added.
* Insert images from your Picasa web album in to your emails – Google lets you send emails from Picasa, but not send photos from Gmail.
* Insert smileys, images, tables and html in to your emails
* Change the attachment paperclip to an icon indicating the type of attachment – The attaThe attachment icon reflects the filetype of the attachment.chment icon reflects the filetype of the attachment.
* Complete integration with Gmail – Settings are changed from the Gmail settings page and they are stored on your account in a special Gmail label meaning your settings are persistent from computer to computer.
* Make the navigation (Inbox, Starred, Sent Mail, etc) horizontal
* Fix the navigation in place so that you don’t have to scroll to the top of the page to see it
* Zebra stripes on mailbox – pretty!
* Hide various page elements (invite panel, page footer, your email address from the top right of inbox – may be useful for public computers)
@ThisisKsprayDad
thanks, I am surprised we missed CustomizeGoogle. It’s on the list now
@Brad
added
Awesome tips!!!
Incredible post! Thanks a lot!
Blogger doesn’t have pingback finction, so I manually add the address by myself:
30個Gmail的外掛和工具-Tools and Hacks for Gmail
http://legendstudio.blogspot.com/2007/03/30gmail-tools-and-hacks-for-gmail.html
中文使用者可以看我的翻譯^^
By the way, “DragDropUpload” just removed from addons.mozilla.org few hours ago with unknown reason…
Sorry, the previous post has the wrong spelling word “finction”, that should be “function”
The “hack” or “trick” for a full gmail box is about the lamest shit I have ever come across. Here’s a clue: if its part of the FEATURE SET, it’s NOT A HACK. It’s also NOT A TRICK. It’s a FUCKING NO-BRAINER. What’s next, are you going to give me the “hack” that once my trash can gets full, I should get another one? (no offense to the original author, except that you could’ve done without mentioning the lame-assed “trick”).
Nice list. Gmail Skinz still buggy, fails to show google modules correctly, settings tab disappears.
43 Vents – let your negative emotions out
Wow, there are so many things… Nice to have a ‘must-have’ list or a ratings system for these, since some of the seem to be duplicate functionality.
Well I think I will have to clear a day and just play with all of these -Thanks!
Great list of FireFox add ons list. I just installed the Gmail search extension, which is pretty slick. There are bunch of other ones on there that I have not heard of. I did a similar post two weeks ago:
21 Must-Have Firefox Add-Ons
I hope you enjoy!
Thanks Jason
Checked your list, I think it should be quite handy for SEO folks and web developers
this is great…
but the gmail skinz doesnt work on my computer.
i have fF 2.0 version.
Hi Sandeep
I checked it out and it seems that Gmail Skinz have some bugs. Hope it’ll get fixed soon. Thanks for the tip
I can’t get gmail!?
How come?
Gmail is by invitation ony. If you want, I can send you invite.
very usefull, thanks
Found a new desktop notifier called gtdHelper. Seems similar to Gmail notifier excepts you can also send todo’s to yourself
It can be found at: http://gtdhelper.blogspot.com.
@nb
Thanks for the link. I will add it to the list.
http://www.getbymail.com
this is smart
That’s great content
Very good web site, great work and thank you for your service.+
This is very useful tips. I will try this.
Really need info on hacking gmail account of user trying to scam me?
Any help would be appreciated.
eman
Sorry, can’t help you with that.
Very usefull article.Thnx for this.
Great collection you got here
But most of these I can’t use from offis.
Thanks for the collection
nice article .. thanks for the info.
nice article.. thanks
I’ll add
Gmail no Ads and Wider 1.1 (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/7560)
View your Gmail messages in wider format without the ads on the right and highlights the current message in the inbox when you mouse over
(this extension is just 2 kb in size)
Thanks. Nice article.. It has been added.
thanks for the tips!
These are great tips for making gmail more enjoyable to use. Also great tips for Firefox.
this is very useful, thx for this
@eman
you can hack emails by XSS scripts or with fake email , or some tricks to hacks pc , Any questions replay at Lovelyghost@gmail.com
Here is a bookmarklet generator (crossbrowser) in order to insert HTML Signature in Gmail : http://projets.geekfg.net/?/1-how+to+insert+html+signature+in+gmail.htm
Greasemonkey gmail reader integration doesn’t work for me. The script seems to install and the little monkey icon says it’s there. But I don’t see the feeds as shown in the picture.
Great list of tools & useful hacks! Bookmarked and highlighted!
Great list. I particularly like Gmail Search Extension.
Awesome tips for gmail… the actual gmail addons i was searching so long. Thanks.
Now now now… This is very helpful specially to busy person with lots and lots of things doing with their email
Firebug is most valuable for me.
It is very useful and helpful to me:)
Please review how to hack gmail
Thank You!!!!