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Most users undermine keyboard shortcuts, even though they can significantly speed up daily tasks like managing emails.
Learning quick shortcuts can save several minutes throughout the day, especially when handling dozens of messages.
Dive in to know more about the best tips and tricks around using Gmail with better efficiency.
Email is an integral part of modern workdays. It is descriptive in keeping a record of communications and document details; emails also help organize personal and professional schedules. With easy access from your mobile or laptop, you can now simplify this daily chaos in just a few clicks!
Despite making your life easier, A McKinsey analysis, quoted in the Harvard Business Review, estimated that emails take up to 28 percent of the average professional’s time. Other sources, including a survey by Adobe, place the figure much higher at 50 percent.
Most of us rely on the easy features of Google emails - replying, forwarding, deleting, and reading. However, Gmail offers a range of tips and tricks to save a few minutes of your day. Despite more than 1.8 billion users worldwide, most Google account holders have barely tapped into its full potential.
Instead of stressing about an apology email after mistakenly sending messages, you can simply enable the ‘Undo Send’ option in settings. Gmail allows you to cancel a premature or accidental email within 30 seconds of sending it.
New Year sale, Christmas offers, ‘Click to subscribe’, BOGO, ‘Flat 50% off’, and many such promotional emails take up a considerable amount of your inbox, cluttering it hugely. Go to the search bar, type ‘unsubscribe’, and you can filter out marketing emails. Take every opportunity to delete them in bulk, instantly cleaning up your inbox.
Gmail allows access even without an internet connection. Enabling offline mode through the settings menu, users can read, search, and draft emails while staying offline. The data later syncs once connectivity is restored. This way, you get to use up your commute time and stay updated on emails and replies.
Users can schedule emails for a later date or time, making it easier to manage work across different time zones while maintaining professional communication hours.
A keyboard is an interesting tool, but we rarely use it to save time. Every minute, you are probably managing dozens of emails, and with every shortcut you learn, you can end up saving a few minutes.
For example, Press C to compose a new message, E to archive, or Shift + U to mark as unread. To enable them, go to Settings → See All Settings → General → Keyboard Shortcuts, and toggle them on.
Once you memorize the most useful commands, flying through your inbox can become easier than ever.
Filters let you automatically sort incoming mail. To set it up, click on the ‘Show Search Options’ icon to the right of the Gmail Search bar, type in your criteria (such as sender, subject, or keywords), and select ‘Create Filter’. Here, you can apply labels, mark as read, or even auto-archive. With the right system, your inbox begins to organize itself.
Have you ever thanked Gmail for letting you complete the sentence like - “Thank you for your email?” Smart compose predicts phrases as you type, letting you finish sentences with a quick press of the tab key.
Smart reply takes it a step further by suggesting short, context-aware responses, such as “Sounds good” or “Let’s meet at 3 p.m.” To turn these features on, head to Settings → See All Settings → General. Then enable ‘Smart Compose’ and ‘Smart Reply’. The time saved from these tools add up quickly, especially if your daily work demands sending dozens of emails.
Zero in on what exactly you are looking for instead of scrolling through the bundles of emails. Here are a few tips to help you:
Basic Search: Type keywords related to the email you're looking for in the search bar. For example, "project" or "invoice".
Sender Search: Use the sender's email address in the search bar to find emails from a specific contact.
Date Search: Utilize date ranges to find emails received within a certain time frame.
Attachment Search: Use "has:attachment" to find emails with attachments.
File Type Search: Add "filename:" followed by the file type (e.g., "filename:pdf") to filter by file type.
Subject Line Search: Go for "subject:" followed by keywords in the subject line to find emails with specific phrases.
Advanced Search: Opt for advanced search operators like "after:" and "before:" to narrow down results by date or time range.
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When you are in a planning stage, you might exchange a lot of attachments that become null and void once the activity is executed. You may not want to store the unnecessary files, so here’s the hack for it -
Go to Settings → See All Settings → General → Send and Archive, and turn it on.
Skip the extra clicks by previewing attachments directly in your inbox. Hover over the file icon, and click the preview window to view PDFs, images, or documents. This saves time when you’re scanning multiple emails.
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1) What are Gmail smart tricks and how do they help save time?
Gmail smart tricks are built-in features like filters, search operators, and email scheduling that help automate tasks, reduce clutter, making day-to-day management faster and more efficient.
2) Can Gmail automatically organize my emails?
Yes, Gmail can automatically organize emails using labels, filters, and categories, ensuring important messages are easy to find while less urgent ones stay out of the way.
3) Is it possible to schedule emails in Gmail?
Gmail allows users to schedule emails to be sent at a later date and time, helping with follow-ups and professional communication across time zones.
4) Are Gmail tricks useful for both personal and work emails?
Absolutely. These features are designed to improve productivity for personal use, business communication, studies, and remote work.
5) Do I need extra apps to use Gmail smart features?
No additional apps are required. All smart Gmail features are built directly into the platform and are easy to activate from settings.
