Vinod Rawat

Gmail, now with 10 GB of storage (and counting)

// April 25th, 2012 // No Comments » // Gmail Blog

Posted by Nicholas Behrens, Software Engineer

Today, we’re happy to announce that we’re increasing everyone’s free storage in Gmail from 7.5 GB to 10 GB (and counting) to celebrate today’s launch of Google Drive. The increase will take effect over the next 24 hours. We hope you all enjoy the little bump!

Read more at official Gmail Blog

Know Your Gmail Stats using Gmail Meter

// April 20th, 2012 // No Comments » // Gmail Blog

Posted by Saurabh Gupta, Developer Programs Engineer

One day I was looking at how many messages I have in my sent mail, and realized there are a lot of things I wanted to know about my email habits. How much of my emails do I read, and do I reply fast enough? As luck would have it, Romain Vialard, a Google Apps Script Top Contributor, developed a tool called Gmail Meter powered by Google Apps Script.

Gmail Meter is an Apps Script which runs on the first day of every month and sends you an email containing different statistics about your Inbox. In a similar way to how recently introduced Google Account Activity gives key stats about how you’ve used your Google Account, Gmail Meter gives you different types of statistics that will help you analyze your Gmail habits.

Volume Statistics show you the number of important and starred messages, the number of people who sent you emails, and more. Volume statistics can be very useful in determining how you are using email efficiency tools like Priority Inbox.

Daily Traffic gives you an estimate of when you receive messages and when you send them during a given month. For example, in the graph below you can see how the peaks in my “Sent” curve indicates that I write emails in spurts.

Traffic Pattern lets you get a sense of your overall email activity over the past week.

Email Categories tells you how you are managing your Inbox. In the pie chart below, you can see that the majority of my emails are labeled. My Inbox is tiny compared to other labels which indicates that I keep a lean and mean Inbox.

Time Before First Response shows you how long it takes you to reply, and how long it takes others to reply to you. By looking at this chart, I can infer that I reply faster than others I communicate with.

Word Count tells you whether you are writing long emails. The example below shows that most of my emails are shorter than 200 words.

Thread Lengths help you understand whether you participate in long conversations resulting in long threads. Top Senders and Top Recipients help you identify who you communicate with more frequently.

How to Setup Gmail Meter

It is easy to set up Gmail Meter. First, go to Google Docs and open a Spreadsheet. Click on Tools > Script Gallery. Search for “Gmail Meter” and click Install. You will now see a new menu item called Gmail Meter on your spreadsheet. Click on Gmail Meter > Get a Report. You can then choose the type of report. Preparing a report may take some time and you will get an email once the report is ready. If you would like to know more about how this script works, be sure to check this tutorial.

Learning about my email habits has helped me become more email efficient. So, before you read that next article on “Writing Effective Emails,” be sure to learn more about your own email habits using Gmail Meter.

Read more at official Gmail Blog

A behind-the-scenes look at Gmail Tap

// April 3rd, 2012 // No Comments » // Gmail Blog

Posted by Reed Morse, Software Engineer

Yesterday, we announced the introduction of Gmail Tap. People wanted some more information, so we’re sharing an in-depth interview with our product lead.

Read more at official Gmail Blog

Introducing Gmail Tap

// April 1st, 2012 // No Comments » // Gmail Blog

Posted by Reed Morse, Software Engineer

The QWERTY keyboard was invented in 1874 and yet it is still used today, largely unchanged. Today we’re excited to introduce a new input method designed for the future: Gmail Tap for Android and iOS. Watch the video for an overview:

Gmail Tap takes the keyboard from 26 keys to just two. Every letter of the alphabet is represented by a simple pattern of dots and dashes, and once you know them you can type without even looking at your screen. This makes it ideal for situations where you need to discreetly send emails, such as when you’re on a date or in a meeting with your boss.

We’re also introducing a new mode, multi-email. Double your productivity by typing multiple emails at once:

To get started with Gmail Tap, head over to our informational page and watch our video. Then let us know what you think on Google+.

Read more at official Gmail Blog

Learn why a message ended up in your spam folder

// March 20th, 2012 // No Comments » // Gmail Blog

Posted by Ela Czajka, Software Engineer

Many of our users say the accuracy of our spam filter is one of the key reasons they love Gmail. And while we think you should never have to look in your spam folder, we know some of you may want to know why the messages there were marked as spam.

So starting today, we’ll be showing a brief explanation at the top of each of your spam messages. Simply look at any message in your spam folder and now you can find out why it was put there and learn about any potentially harmful content within the message.
We hope that this is not only interesting, but also helps you learn about scams and other harmful messages that Gmail filters out. Whether you prefer to leave your spam folder untouched or do some educational digging, the information will be there for you. And if you’re interested in learning more, check out our new series of spam articles in the Gmail help center.