Gmail Labs: The 6 Best Add-Ons

Jul 14, 2011

As I’ve said before, Google loves to innovate. They have a staff of brainiacs that does nothing but think of new ideas and how they can be implemented. In fact, they create so many ideas that it gets difficult to implement them all. In order to regulate the flow of the think tank, Google has created a Labs section for Gmail. On your mail screen, click on the Settings icon and select Mail Settings , then you’ll see an option for Labs. This area contains some of the better ideas that have came through the pipeline. Features in the Labs section can enhance email functionality and save a lot of time. Here’s my 6 favorite:

#1 – Custom Keyboard Shortcuts

Reconfigure the keyboard shortcuts to do your bidding! Hit “N” to create a new email, ! to mark as spam…you can set any function to use any key you wish. Once I turned this the feature on, I found it hard to live without.

#2 – Canned Responses

I get tired of saying the same thing over and over and over again. The same questions get asked daily, and I send out the same responses daily. If only these responses could be generated automatically. It turns out they can! Enable Canned Responses and you can create standard responses to those pesky emails, saving you time and sanity. Reply, click to insert, and you’re done. Awesome time saver.

#3 – Google Calendar Gadget

Normally your calendar and email are on separate screens. This doesn’t have to be! Enable the Google Calendar in Labs and you will have access to your calendar and schedule on the same page as your email screen. It makes coordinating meetings via email much easier.

#4 – Google Maps preview

This is really cool. Turn on Google Maps Preview in Labs, and if someone sends you an address via email, it will automatically generate a map for you. Even cooler is if you read the email on a smartphone, you can automatically feed this map into your phone’s GPS and it will give you turn-by-turn directions to get there. It’s almost impossible to get lost anymore!

#5 – SMS in Chat

Admit it — sending a text message from your phone is a big pain. You use spelling that would get your hands slapped in 3rd grade, you have to fumble around on a tiny keyboard, deal with your contact list…it ain’t easy. I’ve recently enabled SMS in Labs, and now I can send text messages directly from my email screen. All it requires is your Contacts to have a cell phone number listed. Can’t recommend this enough.

#6 – Unsend Mail

It’s almost 5pm, you need to get a proposal out to your client before the end of the day, and you rush an email to him quickly. Unfortunately, after you hit Send, you noticed you referred to Mr. Monachy as “Mr. Monkey”. If you have the Unsend feature enabled, you won’t have to bother with an embarrassing apology: simply choose “Unsend” and your email will magically return to you. You can then make corrections and send it out the right way. Mr. Monkey will appreciate the effort.

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By Mike Pawlecki • 14 Aug, 2020

This coming Monday, Aug. 17th, we will be switching to universal pricing -- one price for all DSL speeds (around $65) and one price for Fiber (around $90). So if anyone is thinking they could use one of our basic service plans, now's the time to order. For example: DSL - 12 Mbps for $43.95/month - Great for seniors on a fixed income. Plenty of speed for surfing the web, checking email, and streaming for 1 or 2 TVs. Fiber - 60 Mbps for $45.00/month - Awesome solution for just about any household. Note that fiber is a new technology and only about 20% of the country can get it. Check your address to see what service you qualify for and order by Sunday, 8/16/20! This is your last chance to lock in the speed and price of a great DSL or Fiber plan before they are grandfathered!

Google Meet

By Mike Pawlecki • 20 May, 2020

Google Meet is now free for everyone. Check out TOAST.net's blog that tells you more about Google Meet usage at your home or office.

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By Mike Pawlecki • 01 May, 2020

Google - Meet Meet is video conference software, similar to Zoom. To help businesses, schools, and people around the world navigate remote life, Google is making Meet free for everyone with availability rolling out over the coming weeks. See Google's blog post for details. SolarWinds - Take Control You may need to run applications off your PC or server at the office. In that case, SolarWinds makes makes an easy-to-use application that allows home users to remote desktop to their PC in the office. It's secure and doesn't require special hardware, a static IP, or VPN. We're offering this software free of charge for 90 days. Please contact us if interested.

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By Mike Pawlecki • 20 Mar, 2020

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By TOAST.net Internet • 28 Jan, 2019

In the month after Christmas, we’ve seen a high demand for our Internet service with unlimited data. Much of it is from people wanting to use their new streaming device (Fire Stick, Roku, Chromecast, Apple TV, etc.) to cancel their expensive cable TV service. This is commonly referred to as “cutting the cord.”

Fiber Expansion

By TOAST.net Internet • 17 Dec, 2018

TOAST.net is pleased to announce fiber Internet service in 12 new metro areas:

Start Page Updates

By TOAST.net Internet • 12 Dec, 2018

Moved Facebook link from top bar to the Popular Sites section. Added Yahoo Finance to the Personal Finance section. Yahoo Finance is one of the largest business news web sites in the United States by monthly traffic.