Google Shows Us The Moves With GMail Ninjas

Image via Wikipedia

Google want to assist in how we approach email, introducing GMail: Tips which aims to increase our productivity, and help manage our email more efficiently. To define the experience levels Google have opted to portray the tips as different graded Ninja belts.

Why pirates were overlooked wasn't specified but this is a clear statement of intent for the ninjas!!

The different graded ninjas consist of the following; “White belt,” “Green belt,” “Black belt,” and “Gmail master,” which are based on the relevant skill level. There are some useful tips available, I have several enabled through Google Labs but I don't really utilise the more experienced options. I have really started promoting GMail to my friend and work colleagues and hopefully this will tempt them to embrace what's available. Here's the full list which I have obtained from the TechCrunch article -

White Belt

1. Use stars to indicate a note is special.
2. Reply by chat.
3. Organize your email with labels.
4. Clean up your inbox using “Move to” — it works just like folders.
5. Search your mail instead of sorting.
6. Archive messages to tidy up your inbox without deleting anything.
7. Import your email and contacts from your old address.
8. Spice up your inbox with a theme.
9. Join forces to rid the world of spam.

Green Belt

1. Talk face-to-face with video chat.
2. Use Tasks as a handy to-do list.
3. Use filters to control the flow of incoming mail.
4. Highlight important emails using filters and colored labels.
5. Send email from your phone.
6. Preview attachments without downloading them.
7. Avoid email gaffes with Undo Send.
8. Tell your friends what you’re up to with a status message.
9. Never forget an attachment again.
10. Tell everyone when you’ll be back with vacation responder.
11. Nothing says “I’m excited” like a bouncing happy face emoticon.

Black Belt

1. Get through your mail faster with keyboard shortcuts.
2. Use search operators to find the exact message you’re looking for.
3. Filter your email with personalized email addresses.
4. See which messages were sent right to you.
5. Make Gmail go where the Internet doesn’t.
6. Quickly add multiple attachments to an email.
7. Add “(EOM)” to the subject of one-liner messages.
8. Set up canned responses instead of typing the same reply over and over again.
9. Click less and watch more using YouTube, Flickr, Picasa, and Yelp previews.
10. Use quick links to get anywhere in Gmail with one click.
11. Send and archive in one step.

Gmail Master

1. Bring Google Calendar and Docs to Gmail.
2. Send SMS text messages right from Gmail.
3. Forget to sign out of a public computer? Sign out remotely.
4. Personalize your RSS feeds in web clips.
5. Access your mail via https.
6. Search for superstars by name.
7. Use Gmail on your own domain.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Remains of the Day: The Gmail Ninja Edition [For What It's Worth] (lifehacker.com)
• Google Wants You To Become A Gmail Ninja. Or Look Like A Huge Nerd Trying. (techcrunch.com)
• Gmail Makes Its iPhone Web Version More App-Like With Swipe Gestures (techcrunch.com)
• Are you a Gmail Ninja? (techburgh.com)