Top 10 tips and tricks for improving Gmail

A common query we see on our forum is from people wondering what will happen to their email account if they change internet service providers. In most cases, swapping providers will also mean swapping email addresses so there can be some hassle if you've had the address for a while.

Webmail is a much better alternative, it's not linked to internet services so it doesn't matter which ISP is used, plus it's accessible from any web browser.

With a generous helping of storage space, intuitive interface and some great features, Google's Gmail is now one of the most popular webmail services around. Here are 10 tips and tricks that will help you become a Gmail power user.

1) Sort messages and stop spam with email aliases

Gmail does a pretty good job of catching spam by itself but you can add additional protection with aliases, arguably Gmail's most useful feature.

No setup is required to use an alias. When entering the address simply add +keyword. So signing up for a shopping site you could use a specific address, like your.username+amazon@gmail.com. Email will come to the inbox as normal but can be easily organised by setting up a filter. Just click the Filters link at the top of the main Gmail page and enter the unique address in the To: field then choose an action in the next step.

There's no limit to the number of aliases which can be used. As well as organisation, aliases are an excellent way to catch sites that sell your address to spammers. Enter a different alias for every site and when the junk comes in you'll know exactly who is responsible.

2) Organise with labels

Unlike other email services Gmail does not use folders to organise messages, instead we have 'labels'. Once tagged with a label emails can be more easily searched and filtered. To label, just check the box next to a message or messages, click the Labels menu and choose either a pre-existing tag or create one from scratch.

The label will then appear next to the selected email(s) to indicate it's been tagged. Messages can also be moved so they'll only be visible when clicking on the label in the menu on the left side of the screen, to do this just check a message and use the 'Move To' menu.

To change label settings click Labels > Manage Labels. Here you can set Gmail to hide or show labels in the left menu, or only display when there are unread messages, which is useful to stop the display getting cluttered.

3) Access Gmail via Thunderbird, Outlook or any other email client

Gmail isn't limited to its web interface, it can also be accessed via desktop email clients like Thunderbird, Outlook and Apple Mail, as well as mobile email clients for Android, iPhone and other smartphone platforms.

To do this, first enable access by going to Settings > Forwarding and POP/IMAP. Enable either POP or IMAP access with the appropriate radio button. IMAP is recommend as it's better suited for accessing email from multiple devices.

Once enabled refer to the setup instructions for your email application. There's also a guide for configuring email clients with POP. Even if your specific email client isn't listed the generic instructions should work.

4) Unsend messages

We've all had that sinking feeling that occurs when you write an email and instantly regret it, but Gmail has a feature which can recall a recently-sent message to help prevent embarassment.

Go to Settings > Labs and type 'undo' into the search box. Enable the Undo Send feature and from then on every message can be recalled by clicking undo. Be quick though because it's only available for a few seconds.

5) Navigate with keyboard shortcuts

Get round Gmail quickly with keyboard shortcuts. Enable via Settings > General. Once switched on, new messages can be composed by hitting 'c' (shift-c for a new window), or report spam with '!'. Forward with 'f', reply with 'r'. Google has a help page detailing the full list of commands.

6) Fetch and send email from other accounts through Gmail

Gmail can be used to retrieve messages from other email accounts using standard POP3 access, which should be supported by most email services now. All it takes - in addition to the email username and password - is the address of the POP3 email server. If you currently use Outlook or another email client just check the server settings to get this address, otherwise consult the provider's help pages for their server address (if you still can't find it a Google search will usually have the answer).

Once you've got the server address go to Gmail and navigate to Settings > Accounts. Click 'Add a mail account you own' and fill out the details. Take note of the additional options - external email can be given an alternate label for easy filtering, and it's also possible to leave a copy of the messages on the original email account.

In addition to retrieving messages, email can also be sent from an address. In the same Accounts settings screen click the 'add an email address you own' option and tell Gmail your email address. This doesn't really require any additional setup, although a confirmation message will be sent to ensure the address belongs to you. Note that it isn't necessary to configure an email account with POP3 server in order to send message from another address.

7) Import address book from other email services

Transferring contacts from another webmail service or email client is painless with Gmail since it supports importing CSV files. Sounds fancy, but a CSV is just a formatted text file containing the email addresses. Email clients will (usually) allow contacts to be exported straight into a CSV, some webmail accounts do it too. If you get stuck head to Google or post in the comments.

Once you've got the CSV file go to the Contacts section of Gmail and click More Actions > Import.

8) Search Gmail quickly and efficiently

Being a Google service it's no surprise to find that Gmail has an excellent search function.

Want to filter results by a certain person or email address? Type from:name or to:name. Or combine it with a term to filter further, for example vodafone from:broadbandgenie would give me only emails mentioning Vodafone coming from Broadband Genie.

Other useful modifiers include has:attachment, in:label, is:unread and before/after:year/mm/dd. Check Google help for a full list.

9) Use Gmail for file storage  

Gmail currently offers over 7GB (and counting) of storage space. That's vastly more than most of us will ever need for email alone, so why not use it for files too? Download Gmail Drive Shell Extension and once installed a new drive will be available on your computer. Dropping files here will automatically upload them to Gmail as an email attachment, where you can neatly arrange them using labels and filters as shown above.

However, it does have a couple of limitations. It's Windows only and Gmail does not support files of more than 25MB, so don't go uploading any movies. Also, it's not officially supported so if Google changes its mind support could be withdrawn at any time.

10) Monitor access to your account

Here's a really useful security tip - Gmail records all recent access to your email, showing the date, time and IP address of the computer which was logged in to an account.

Look at the bottom of the main Gmail screen and it'll tell you when the last login occured. For more information click Details to see the access log. If you notice some activity which shouldn't be there it may be time to change the password.