1/7th of the world population now uses Gmail. Yes, that’s 1 billion worldwide users who have a Gmail account.

There’s a high chance that you too have one. But most people don’t use it to the full advantage. Apart from being a highly convenient option, Gmail has some really handy features up its sleeve that can help you save your time and money.

We at Dikonia use the Google Office Apps for various tasks such as information sharing, tabulating data and creating work calendars with out clients. But Gmail has been the center point of most of our activities.

Business people who work the day with their emails need to see this! Here are few things about Gmail that you may not have knows earlier. Thank us later.

Canned Responses

Gmail’s Canned Responses are a great way for busy people to avoid typing the same email a thousand times. For instance, let’s say you’ve invited entries for a new contest in your office or classroom and you want to send a confirmation of receipt to everyone who sends you an entry.

You have to be formal while doing so but you can’t write the whole text again and again. So, in that case, you can write a canned response just once and save it in canned responses [ Settings > Labs > Canned Responses ]. This way, while replying to the entries, you just insert your pre-written canned response and send it. Saves the day!

Search Operators

Do you often lose emails in your inbox? Don’t let it happen again because you can now search much more granularly. Search Operators are search refine options that you can directly type in the search bar and get instant results in no time!

Search emails from a particular sender   

from:

Example: from:dikonia

Search emails from a particular recipient

to:

Example: to:clair

Emails Containing Office Files

has:drive

has:document

has:spreadsheet

has:presentation

Example: has:drive has:document

Emails with Certain Attachments

filename:

Example: filename:xls

Example: filename:project.txt

Find the full list of operators here!

Advanced email search

If the above method is a bit too geeky for you, don’t worry, there’s a simpler yet efficient method to do the same thing. Simply head on to the search bar in your Gmail inbox and click the downward arrow button at the tip of it.

Simple as that!

Sync 3rd Party Accounts

Apparently, Gmail also supports 3rd party accounts such as Outlook, Yahoo, AOL etc directly into the Gmail App. This is great news for corporate employees and custom email owners. If you have an email inbox connected to your website, like, mark@example.com, you can add the same account into Gmail and never miss an important email again from anyone.

The configuration takes place automatically for POP3 and IMAP emails, without you requiring to add server details into Gmail App. You just have to sign in with your email address and password. Rest all will be done the App itself!   

Keyboard Shortcuts

Wish Gmail too responded to shortcuts like Ctrl + N for new files like most other office applications do? You bet. Here’s a list of the default ones!

Learn even more shortcuts

Head to Settings > Advanced > Custom Keyboard Shortcuts and you’ll be able to define your own shortcuts for the desktop gmail. This will make you feel home with the gmail inbox while you sift through your emails with a few keystrokes on your keyboard!  

(New) Snooze Emails

Gmail was revamped in the last week of April to incorporate a few new features and a great new look for the desktop gmail. You can enable it by clicking the settings icon in the top right corner of the gmail interface.

The new gmail has the snooze feature that allows you to snooze an email alert like an alarm clock. It will make the email alert pop up again at your snooze-d time so that you don’t lose it in the piles of mails of your inbox.

(New) Protected Mail

This revolutionary new feature allows you to protect any of the confidential emails you send. You can lay restrictions on the viewing, forwarding or saving of the confidential emails you send.

Even to view the email, the other person would need a passcode from you. This is a giant leap for business critical emails and other important emails that you seriously want to protect from getting into wrong hands. With this, gmail takes your data security to yet another level.