We’ve all done this stupid stuff: sent the wrong email to the wrong person, embarrassed ourselves by not attaching the thing we said we were going to attach, or stayed up way too late at night writing emails – and suffered the attendant typos (or even plain incomprehensibility) that comes with that.
Fortunately, the crack squad of developers at Gmail Labs is hard at work trying to save us from ourselves. Here are 5 of their best inventions:
#1 – Forgotten Attachment Detector
This widget will pop up a window if you’ve mentioned the words “attached” or “attachment” in your email and tried to send it without actually attaching any files. Just press “ok” to send the message as-is (if you didn’t mean the word “attachment” in that way) or “cancel” to go back and actually attach the thing you just promised to send.
Voila! No more condescending “Um… I think you forgot to attach the thing” emails from clients or family members.
#2 – Undo Send
This widget will hold your email message in a queue to be sent either 5 or 10 seconds after you actually hit the send button – giving you time to have that “oh shit” moment, take a sip of coffee, or otherwise realize that you might not actually want the recipients to read this email.When you press “undo,” the widget will take you back to the compose screen so that you can edit the message. Like so:
You can set the delay for either 5 or 10 seconds on the Labs Settings page.
#3 – Sender Time Zone
This one goes out to the Location Independent crowd – or anyone who has friends/family/clients around the world.
Ever received an email from someone and wondered whether you should just call them or not? If it’s 9am in New York, what time is it in Malaysia? This widget tells you what time it is in your correspondent’s location, and displays a red telephone icon if it’s not an ok hour to call. (A bonus: this widget can also help stem the “OMG why hasn’t he/she returned my message?!” anxiety. It’s 3:45am there, sport! They’ll get back to you in the morning. Their morning.)
#4 – Authentication Icon
With the recent phishing scam spreading to Gmail addresses as well, it’s good to be protected. This widget displays a golden key icon next to authenticated messages from PayPal and eBay (more providers to come), ensuring you that the messages are actually from who they say they’re from. PayPal and eBay are two of the likeliest sites for Phishers to target, and this widget will prevent you from giving your usernames and passwords to scuzzy scam artists.
#5 – Mail Goggles
If you’re unable to complete simple arithmetic problems, you probably shouldn’t be sending email. That’s the logic behind this widget, which will ask you to answer a few easy math problems any time you hit the “send” button after-hours. You can adjust the schedule to reflect what you consider to be after-hours. (This one is more of a lark than a helpful tool, but mathematics does keep the brain sharp.)
How do I enable these widgets?
From your Gmail inbox, click on “Settings” (in the upper right hand corner) and then “Labs.” Choose the “enable” radio button next to each widget you want to enable, and press “save changes.”
Once you’ve successfully enabled Labs, you’ll see a little green beaker icon next to your email address in the upper right hand corner of the page. This provides easy access to the Labs feature should you ever want to tinker some more.
