Information Addicts

 

There are plenty of successful official Gmail plugins to help you tweak this application, however in my opinion there are also some very useful unofficial plugins and apps to try. Google has made a smart move by allowing unofficial third-party apps to be used which have helped Gmail become more successful than it already is.
There are many plugins and apps to choose from but below are my 5 favourite.
Before you can install any of these plugins (except Gmail drive) you will need Mozilla Firefox browser, if you if have never used this application then I highly recommend it. Once installed you will never go back to IE6 or 7. You can download Firefox from this link.

5. Gmail encryption as the name suggests this plugin encrypts all your emails and stops anyone from viewing them, even Google. It is a Greasemonkey script and for anyone who hasn’t heard of Greasmonkey, this is a Firefox extension that allows you to customize the way webpages look and function. Hundreds of scripts are already available for free. And if you’re the tinkerer sort, you can also write your own. Here is the link for more info and to download. I have entered Gmail encryption at number 5 as in my opinion it is the hardest plugin to install and configure but worthwhile if you need to use it.

4. Drag and drop is an add on for when you need to attach a file in an email. Rather than trying to browse for the file which can be quite annoying it allows you to drag and drop files directly into the attachment box, very handy as you can drop multiple files into it.

3. Gmail Manager allows you to logon to multiple Gmail accounts at once and receive new mail notifications. It displays your account details including unread messages, saved drafts, spam messages, labels with new mail, space used, and new mail snippets, it is highly customizable and all within Firefox.

2. Gmail skins allows you to customize various settings on Gmail for example the colour, and its layout, see below for more features:

• Change the colour/skin of your inbox
• Integrate your Google homepage alongside your inbox. This allows you to view weather reports, rss feeds, news headlines flickr recently added, Google calendar module etc from your inbox.
• Easily insert images from your Picasa web album into your emails.
• Insert smileys/emoticons and images in to your emails.

1. Gmail Drive, this is my top unofficial app (it is actually a Shell Namespace Extension) and works pretty well. It creates an internet hard drive (or virtual drive) which is displayed in Windows Explorer and you can drag and drop your files onto. If you logon to your Gmail account you will see that all the files you have put in your virtual drive will appear as attachments. The link that I have supplied explains how to keep your inbox folder declutted.

There is another plugin that I have come across but have not tried it yet, and that is Better Gmail. On the web page it states this is ”A comprehensive suite of Gmail enhancements, including skins, saved searches, keyboard macros, secure access, attachment icons, attachment reminders, label colors, signature floating and more.”
I would be interested to know if anyone has used this Add on.

Had a chance to try any of them?

What do you think?

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 10th, 2007 at 9:59 am and is filed under PC Tips, PC Software. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.