Google is rolling out three new Gmail features to help users compose emails more easily. Specifically, new Gmail features would help users correct mistakes and edit while composing the email.
New Gmail features – are they useful?
Google has added two new shortcut buttons while the third feature helps you download messages in a different format. The three new Gmail features are explained in detail below.
The first new Gmail feature is an undo/redo button. This new button is helpful when you accidentally make a mistake while drafting an email. You can find this shortcut on the bottom left of the formatting menu, which is at the bottom of the compose window. The button carries backward and forward arrows for your corrections. It is surely a useful addition, making it convenient and easy to correct mistakes.
Another new feature is the strike-through button. As the name suggests it puts a line through the text. This button can be found on the right side of the formatting menu. To help you easily locate it, this button has a letter “S” with a line through it.
Explaining what inspired this button, the Gmail team in a blog post said, “We’ve heard from you that this functionality is critical to quickly and efficiently write emails, especially when you want to visually indicate a change in language.”
The last new Gmail feature is related to downloading more than editing. This feature allows users to download emails as .EML files from the web. “This format is recognized by other email clients, allowing you to view the Gmail content along with attachments within these clients,” the team says.
Also, Gmail’s blog post notes that users will be able to add these downloaded files as an attachment in emails. Like the other two features, this is also useful as most email clients – including Outlook, Apple Mail or Thunderbird – support .EML files with formatting and attachments intact. To use this feature click on the three-dot menu, and then select “download message.”
Other features added recently
Google has started rolling out the new Gmail features to all G Suite users and these are enabled by default. The features are expected to be available for non-G Suite users soon. However, there is no information when these changes will be available to the Gmail mobile app.
Google has added many new features to Gmail lately, including the Smart Replies feature. This feature came as a part of the major Gmail redesign in the spring of last year. The feature allows users to choose from several smart replies instead of manually typing them. However, not many liked the feature, and thus, Google announced in September that it would be made optional.
Google also added plenty of new features with the spring update, including a Hover action. This new feature displays several options when you hover the cursor over an email. You can Delete, Mark as Read, Archive or Snooze the email. Also, one can use the hover action to RSVP or decline an invite for the Calendar items.
A new right side panel was also added last year. The panel includes options like Google Calendar, Keep and Tasks. This panel ensures that users stay within the inbox when managing emails.
Google also added a snooze option for the inbox. The feature makes the snoozed email disappear for the set time. After the time expires, the email shows up again in the inbox.
Improving iOS app as well
Google has also been improving the Gmail iOS app to bring it more in line with the Gmail Android app. For instance, in October last year, Google introduced a feature to allow Gmail users on iOS to view all their emails in a single, universal inbox.
Though the ability to view multiple accounts managed by Gmail was already there, users, however, had to click on the icon in the top-left corner to toggle between accounts. Now, iOS users have an option to select “All inboxes.” Once the option is selected, all the emails will appear in one inbox.
“To save you time, we’re now making it possible to view emails from multiple accounts in a single inbox on an iOS device—the same way you can with the Gmail Android app,” Google said at the time.
