I am an avid Gmail user. Not only do I have a regular old Gmail account, but I run both my professional and blog email addresses through Gmail as well. (In other words, even though I send and receive mail as amanda@dragonflightdreams.com, I’m doing it all through Gmail). And for the most part, the vanilla Gmail gets the job done well. But there are a few add-ons I’ve come across that make my email life even better/easier, and today I’m going to share those with you.
1. Undo Send
Activate under Gmail > Settings (gear icon) > Labs > Undo Send > Enable > Save.
Specific settings under Gmail > Settings > General.
How many times have you hit Send on an email, only to realize you misspelled someone’s name, or accidentally Reply-All’d, or some other blunder? With Undo Send, this is an easy fix. You set the time limit on how long you want to be able to undo a sent email after you hit send, and as long as you’re in that time window, just hit the Undo link that appears next to the Message Sent text at top. And voila! Fix your email and re-send error-free. I use this ALL the time.
2. Scheduled Emails – Boomerang
For Firefox 3.6+, Chrome 5.0+ and Safari 5.1+. Works with Gmail and Google Apps email.
Can be downloaded/installed from here: http://www.boomeranggmail.com.
Before I discovered this add-on, if I happened to be working late at night and finished up something to send to a client, I would Save as Draft, because I didn’t want to send project work at midnight and have the client start to expect me to be available at odd hours. But, inevitably, I would as often as not forget to send that email come morning. Not a good situation. Boomerang solves this. It lets me schedule exactly when I want to send an email. This has been such a useful thing for me. Even if it’s not a matter of working late at night, if I have free time and a bunch of invoicing to get done for clients on retainer, but it’s not actually time to send those invoices quite yet, I can schedule ahead of time. Boomerang also has a built-in reminder feature you can use, where it reminds you to check-in with a person if they haven’t responded to your email in a set number of days. So, so useful.
3. Gmail Counter
Installed through Safari > Preferences > Extensions > Get Extensions > Gmail Counter
As far as I can tell, this is Safari-only, but that’s the browser I use, so… *shrug*. I imagine there have to be similar add-ons for other browsers.
I don’t have email notifications set up on my phone, or use Outlook, or anything like that. Because I find constant notifications of every little thing annoying. Plus I am an in-browser email checker only. And when I’m off browsing non-email things, it’s nice to have a feature that tells me when I have new email, but not in an in-your-face, interrupting way. Enter the Gmail Counter. It’s a small little icon up next to the the address bar, that displays a number when you have unread emails in your Gmail inbox. A simple click of said icon opens your inbox. It’s a small detail, but one I appreciate highly. You can customize the settings to be a bit more in-your-face if you want, but I have it as a silent little helper.
Aside from these, if you take a browse through Gmail Labs (again, under Gmail > Settings > Labs) you’ll probably find some other useful things. It’s where they test out features they’re thinking of adding in to Gmail vanilla. One that has made the crossover is the Attachment Reminder – if the text of your email sounds like you meant to attach a file, it gives a little pop-up notice upon send if you’ve forgotten to attach anything (Are you sure?). Also super useful, and I’m glad it’s a default feature now.
How about you? Are you a Gmail user? Any other tips to share?
This was a refreshingly different read. Riggs combines contemporary and historical fiction, mystery, children with paranormal abilities, and (extremely creepy) found photographs to create something a bit off the beaten track, book-wise. The main character, Jacob, thought that all of his grandfather’s stories about monsters and children with peculiar abilities were just that – stories. Until the night he finds his grandfather torn apart and dying in the woods – and sees something he can’t explain. His grandfather’s last words send Jacob on a quest to the little island off Wales where his grandfather grew up in an orphanage – the setting for all of those crazy stories. From that point on, nothing is as he expects or even as it seems. The story is both haunting and compelling, and the photographs make the cast of characters at Miss Peregrine’s Home seem real. Riggs manages to find that balance between the unexpected and predictability, so that you never feel lost while reading but the story still holds some surprises. I’m very interested to see what happens in the second book, due out in 2014.
I’m also feeling pretty good health-wise. Between my chiro regimen, the 30-day squat challenge, and cutting down my soda intake (not to mention a new Pilates class I’m going to try out), I just feel like my body is in a better place than it was even a few weeks ago. I also got my short story for the last round of NYC Midnight done and submitted this past weekend, well before the deadline. AND I’m happy with how it turned out. Now I just have to wait to hear the results! Good things, all. 
