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)
gmail greasemonkey scripts

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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)


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Kaly

A father of two, neo geek, tech-obsessed male who runs the MakeUseOf Directory. He is also the co-founder of MakeUseOf and been here since makeuseof went live.

The comments were closed because the article is more than 180 days old.

If you have any questions related to stuff mentioned in the article or need help with any computer issue, just ask it on MakeUseOf Answers.

Hide 64 Comments

  • Windows Vista March 22, 2007
    0 likes

    Nice list, using dots in the address is a nice trick also!
    -
    WindowsVistaUserGuide.com

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  • Rodnei Z March 22, 2007
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    There’s a KDE (Linux) notifier called KCheckGmail kcheckgmail.sourceforge.net/

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  • janena March 22, 2007
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    put notifier2 as one of the better desktop notifiers too. notifier2.com

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  • Hip Hop March 22, 2007
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    Thanks I’m using the Gmail Icon Generator now =)

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  • shree March 22, 2007
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    AWESOME! You’ve been added to my blogroll!

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  • arun March 22, 2007
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    You can add this to your gmail hack list:

    This explains a neat trick if your gmail is getting full !!

    bnura.blogspot.com/2006/09/what-to-do-if-my-gmail-gets-full.html

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  • Kaly March 22, 2007
    0 likes

    arun@
    Thanks. Nice tip. It has been added.

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    • rod April 20, 2009
      0 likes

      so

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    • rod April 20, 2009
      0 likes

      do you have a pc

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  • Kaly March 22, 2007
    0 likes

    Rodnei Z@
    Thanks. It is on the list.

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  • Kia March 22, 2007
    0 likes

    You forgot the CustomizeGoogle Firefox extension.

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  • Kaly March 22, 2007
    0 likes

    @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’

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  • dork March 22, 2007
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    You’ve missed the only extension worth having: customizeGoogle, that does everything the greasemonky scripts do already.

    Very poor list!

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  • Ivan Minic March 22, 2007
    0 likes

    Brilliant collection of tools. Some I did know about, but not all :) thanks

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  • kosmosik March 22, 2007
    0 likes

    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.

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  • jambarama March 22, 2007
    0 likes

    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.

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  • Rado March 22, 2007
    0 likes

    Very nice list, thanks a lot!

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  • Aibek March 22, 2007
    0 likes

    @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. ;-)

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  • ThisisKsprayDad March 24, 2007
    0 likes

    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.

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  • Brad March 24, 2007
    0 likes

    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)

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  • Aibek March 24, 2007
    0 likes

    @ThisisKsprayDad
    thanks, I am surprised we missed CustomizeGoogle. It’s on the list now

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  • Aibek March 24, 2007
    0 likes

    @Brad
    added

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  • BBalljunky March 24, 2007
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    Awesome tips!!!

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  • Michalis March 25, 2007
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    Incredible post! Thanks a lot!

    | Like
  • ET March 25, 2007
    0 likes

    Blogger doesn’t have pingback finction, so I manually add the address by myself:

    legendstudio.blogspot.com/2007/03/30gmail-tools-and-hacks-for-gmail.html

    By the way, “DragDropUpload” just removed from addons.mozilla.org few hours ago with unknown reason…

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  • ET March 25, 2007
    0 likes

    Sorry, the previous post has the wrong spelling word “finction”, that should be “function”

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  • k March 26, 2007
    0 likes

    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”).

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  • Alex March 26, 2007
    0 likes

    Nice list. Gmail Skinz still buggy, fails to show google modules correctly, settings tab disappears.

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  • Stevieo March 27, 2007
    0 likes

    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!

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  • Jason Bartholme April 2, 2007
    0 likes

    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:

    (jasonbartholme.com/2007/03/20/21-must-have-firefox-add-ons) 21 Must-Have Firefox Add-Ons

    I hope you enjoy!

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  • Aibek April 2, 2007
    0 likes

    Thanks Jason
    Checked your list, I think it should be quite handy for SEO folks and web developers

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  • sandeep April 6, 2007
    0 likes

    this is great…
    but the gmail skinz doesnt work on my computer.

    i have fF 2.0 version.

    | Like
  • Aibek April 7, 2007
    0 likes

    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

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  • auntiepupule April 19, 2007
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    I can’t get gmail!?

    How come?

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  • Aibek April 19, 2007
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    Gmail is by invitation ony. If you want, I can send you invite.

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  • Raj P May 4, 2007
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    very usefull, thanks

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  • nb May 18, 2007
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    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: gtdhelper.blogspot.com.

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  • Aibek May 18, 2007
    0 likes

    @nb
    Thanks for the link. I will add it to the list.

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  • marnech June 18, 2007
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    getbymail.com :)

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  • N.Raghavendra July 17, 2007
    0 likes

    this is smart

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  • ป๋าเดย์ July 29, 2007
    0 likes

    That’s great content

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  • Marilyn July 31, 2007
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    Very good web site, great work and thank you for your service.+

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  • steve October 11, 2007
    0 likes

    This is very useful tips. I will try this.

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  • eman December 11, 2007
    0 likes

    Really need info on hacking gmail account of user trying to scam me?
    Any help would be appreciated.

    eman

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    • Aibek December 14, 2007
      0 likes

      Sorry, can’t help you with that. :-)

      | Like
  • Nick January 29, 2008
    0 likes

    Very usefull article.Thnx for this.

    | Like
  • ATOzTOA February 4, 2008
    0 likes

    Great collection you got here :) But most of these I can’t use from offis.

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    • BMWMyCar March 10, 2008
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      Thanks for the collection

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  • ahmer April 16, 2008
    0 likes

    nice article .. thanks for the info.

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  • ahmer April 16, 2008
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    nice article.. thanks

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  • Tip June 24, 2008
    0 likes

    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)

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  • Nic November 5, 2008
    0 likes

    Thanks. Nice article.. It has been added.

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  • Vertx November 16, 2008
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    thanks for the tips!

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  • megapixel January 30, 2009
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    These are great tips for making gmail more enjoyable to use. Also great tips for Firefox.

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  • Supermance February 8, 2009
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    this is very useful, thx for this :)

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  • eAi-nEt February 10, 2009
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    @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

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  • GeekFG February 23, 2009
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    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 ;)

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  • Al March 16, 2009
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    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.

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  • xaer8 March 22, 2009
    0 likes

    Great list of tools & useful hacks! Bookmarked and highlighted!

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  • Vesti Vijesti June 4, 2009
    0 likes

    Great list. I particularly like Gmail Search Extension.

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  • Gmail tricks June 14, 2009
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    Awesome tips for gmail… the actual gmail addons i was searching so long. Thanks.

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  • whatsacoder June 14, 2009
    0 likes

    Now now now… This is very helpful specially to busy person with lots and lots of things doing with their email

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  • Prodaja stanova Trebinje July 28, 2009
    0 likes

    Firebug is most valuable for me.

    | Like
  • Anup November 7, 2009
    0 likes

    It is very useful and helpful to me:)

    Please review how to hack gmail

    Thank You!!!!

    | Like