Google’s ongoing quest to woo us by dangling countless feature carrots until we bite and fork over all of our data continues. This time around, a pretty unique new feature comes by way of Gmail Labs that will be perfect for those who have been lulled to sleep by Gmail’s clean UI. Multiple Inboxes, introduced yesterday evening, gives Gmail users the option to add additional label-based inboxes to their inbox screens. The new feature definitely adds a healthy dose of busy to Gmail’s less-is-more interface but those who regularly utilize labels will likely find the addition appealing. Multiple Inboxes is being rolled out gradually, as with all Labs features so don’t fret if you’re not yet finding it on your Labs tab under settings. We liken the service to Outlook displaying multiple folders on one screen, which probably wouldn’t be overly helpful as far as productivity is concerned. As such, we far prefer the old fashioned way of doing things – clicking on a label in the sidebar to see relevant emails. Better yet, you can quickly and easily view all unread messages for any label(s) with this little trick we use:

1. Go to Settings -> Labs and enable Quick Links
2. At the top of any mail view in Gmail, perform a search – label:xxx label:unread – where xxx is any label for which you would like to see unread messages
3. In the new Quick Links box at the bottom of your sidebar, click “Add Quick Link”
4. Name the Quick Link and click “Ok”
5. Lather, rinse and repeat for any other labels you’d like fast access to

As you save these pages you’ll see each one listed in the Quick Links box. Click on one at any time and you’re in business. Which method do you guys prefer?

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One of the many, many, many problems with webmail can be found right in its name – “web”. Accessing your email using a web interface can definitely be convenient as it’s accessible from any browser you happen upon. At the same time however, if your internet connection drops you’re basically left out in the cold. As opposed to local email management solutions that can store your messages on your machine such as Outlook, you have no way to view old messages and work with what you’ve got. Sure, Gmail supports POP and IMAP but at this point we think it’s safe to say that POP is dead. IMAP works well in some cases but Outlook and Gmail’s IMAP implementation never seem to get along very well thanks to the way Gmail threads conversations. Enter the aptly named new service fresh from Gmal Labs, Offline Gmail. When you enable Offline Gmail, a cache of your messages will be stored locally and will become accessible even when your internet connection drops. You can read, compose, star and do just about anything else you would normally be able to do. When your connection comes back, all of the actions you performed offline will sync with Google’s Gmail servers and you’ll be good to go. Of course you won’t be able to receive new messages while offline, but at least you won’t be left twiddling your thumbs until your cable company finally gets around to fixing your problem. Hit the Labs tab in your Gmail settings to get rolling with Offline Gmail and hit the jump for a video explanation of the service.

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We can’t say this is the most appropriate use for this kind of concept, but Google’s Gmail Labs has just introduced a new Gmail feature that is pretty funny to say the least. Dubbed “Mail Goggles”, the new service allows users to avoid sending late-night emails that they likely would think twice about sending if they were, well, sober. Mail Goggles can be enabled on the Labs tab within the Gmail settings menu and can be configured to activate during any time period the user desires, and on any number of days (configuration is done on the General settings tab). During the active period, Mail Goggles will simply add an extra step to the email sending process – users must correctly solve a series of simple math problems before the email is sent out into cyberspace. The difficulty of the problems can be configured from 1 (easiest) to 5 (most difficult) and the user has 60 seconds to solve all five problems and click Send. If time expires before send is clicked, new problems are displayed and the timer starts over. Are you thinking what we’re thinking? This little add-on is likely going to result in more smashed keyboards than drunken emails prevented. Of course if drunky is determined enough, he/she can simply hit the Labs tab and disable the service. Why not add another set of problems that must be solved before the add-on can be disabled? Mail Goggles is a very creative little Gmail enhancement but we think there are definitely more useful add-ons in Gmail Labs such as the oops I forgot to attach the attachment I mentioned in my email notifier. More useful applications of the Mail Goggles concept might be SMS goggles, mobile voice call goggles and iron underwear goggles.

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