Google’s Gmail app is the default email app on Android phones. It is packed with features that take your email experience to the next level. Although the Gmail app is generally very pleasant to use, there is definitely room for improvement. The Android Gmail app has so many useful hidden features that you don’t even know what’s hiding underneath. We’ve rounded up some of the best Gmail tips and features you should know or are worth uncovering. Before we move to that, open the Google Play Store and check for Gmail app updates, make sure you’re running the latest version.
Schedule send
You don’t want to send important emails at night or on weekends when your recipient is in a different timezone. Gmail lets you schedule your email delivery. This a very important and basic feature that many email apps miss.
Swipe actions
In many cases, just looking at the subject line is enough to know what to do. If you received a lot of emails and want to quickly process all incoming emails, you can perform swipe actions by simply swiping left and right. By default, the left and right buttons are set to delete and archive emails which means you don’t need to open this email to delete or archive it. You can also set swipe actions to perform other actions by going to the settings of the Gmail app.
Format
Gmail does not show formatting options on your screen, they are hidden. When you are composing an email, just long-press on the text writing space, then tap on the ‘Format’ option and a bar at the bottom will appear with options including italic, bold, highlight, font color, and underline. Here you can easily change your text formatting while composing the email.
Confidential mode
Confidential mode is Google’s answer to email services claiming to be the most secure and encrypted. It is one of the main features of the Gmail application. This mode can prevent unauthorized access to your emails. When encryption mode is enabled, forward, print, copy and download options are disabled for the recipient. There are two different modes, Standard and SMS Passcode in Confidential mode.
Standard mode disables the email-sending options I mentioned above and deletes it automatically after the set time. It sends the email with a link where your actual email is written. If the recipient is using Gmail, the email will directly show up, there’s no link.
SMS Passcode mode has an additional security feature where through SMS, a one-time passcode is sent to the recipient to open the email.
Search Tip
The Gmail app’s search function looks simple and basic like many search functions. But it has more to it, for example, type in the search bar “older_than:1y” or “older_than:1d” and it will show emails one day or one year older. The phone app is almost as capable as the Gmail web.
Vacation responder
The Gmail mobile app had been missing the “out-of-office” feature for years. It is important to take a little break from your work life. It is even more important to let your colleagues and clients know that you are out of the office. The Gmail Android app has now this feature called “Vacation responder”. You can use this Gmail feature to send your out-of-office or service message. You can open the app’s settings, tap on the Gmail account name you want to edit, and then look for this option.
Action confirmation
There are many times when I accidentally clicked on the send icon while composing the email, this is frustrating. But don’t worry, the Gmail app has saved you from accidental sendings. It offers an “Action confirmation” feature where you can select confirm before sending, confirm before archiving and confirm before deleting options to double-check so you don’t do anything by mistake.