How to Set an “out of office” message with the Gmail app

 

So, your bags are packed, you’re in the airport and you’re about to step on a plane heading for someplace warm, and then it hits you: you forgot to activate an “out of office” message for your email account.

Well, if you’re using Gmail, good news: Gmail for Android just added an auto-responder feature that lets you set up an “out of office” message directly from your Android phone, no PC or Mac required.

You can now set an out of office message directly from the (updated) Gmail for Android app.

Here’s how…

• First, you’ll need to install the latest version of the Gmail app. Launch the Play Store app, open the sidebar (tap in the top-left corner of the screen) and navigate to the “My apps” section, then tap the green Update All button to install any pending app updates, including (potentially) Gmail.
• Next, launch Gmail, tap the three-dot menu button in the top-right corner of your screen, tap Settings, then tap the Gmail account for which you’d like to set up an “out of office” message.
• Tap “Vacation responder,” then enter a starting date, and end date, a subject line (“Gone fishing!”), and a message for anyone who tries to email you during your well deserved break. You can also check the box next to “Send only to my Contacts” if you only want your family, friends and colleagues to know you’re away.
• Flip on the switch next to “Vacation responder,” tap the Done button, then sit back and relax. 

Via http://heresthethingblog.com

How To Decorate your inbox with custom photo backgrounds

Tired of Gmail’s boring blank wallpaper? Think the built-in Gmail themes are a bit too cheesy? If so, you’re in for a treat.
Buried in the list of color, HD, and “classic” Gmail themes is a pair of customizable themes that let you upload your own images—perfect for decorating your Gmail inbox with vacation photos, art shots, baby pictures, you name it.

Click the gear icon and select “Themes” to get started with your own custom Gmail background.

You can upload photos from your desktop, your Google+ account, your Android or iOS device (assuming you have the Google+ social app installed), or you can even plug in the URL or a photo from the web.
Here’s how…

• Open Gmail, click the gear icon in the top-right corner of the screen, then select Themes.
• Scroll down to the Custom Themes section and click either “Light” (for a lighter-looking Gmail inbox) or “Dark” (for a slightly darker inbox). Don’t stress about which one to pick; you can easily change your mind later.
• As soon as you click, a pop-up window titled “Select your background image” will appear. Click “Upload photos” in the left column to upload an image from your desktop, or click “My photos” to select pictures from your Google+ profile. You can also click “Paste a URL” to grab an image from the web, or “Photos from phone” if you have the mobile Google+ app installed with “Instant Upload” turned on.

You can upload your own Gmail background images by selecting either the “Light” or “Dark” custom theme.


• That’s it! Within a second or so, the image you selected will become the background for your Gmail inbox.
• To change your custom background, go back to the Themes setting and click “Change your background image” under the “Custom Themes” heading.
• You can also switch your custom theme from “Light” to “Dark” by clicking the appropriate icons—and no, you won’t have to upload your photo again if you do so.

Bonus tip

Want to delete an image you uploaded for your Gmail background? Just go to your Google+ profile (click your name in the top-right corner of the main Google page), move your mouse over the Home icon, click Photos, click the photo you uploaded, then click the Trash icon near the top of the page.
Source http://heresthethingblog.com
How To Decorate your inbox with custom photo backgrounds

How to Shrink wide messages to fill the screen (gmail)

Ever find yourself swiping back and forth on your Android display just to read a sentence in a Gmail message? Annoying, right?
That’s because Gmail for Android zooms in a bit on some email messages—mainly those with large images, banners, or other graphics—so they’re easier to read.
The only problem with the zoomed messages, though, is that the actual text tends to spill off the side of the screen, meaning you’ll need to swipe to back and forth to complete a sentence.

You can set Gmail for Android to automatically shrink wide messages to fill the screen.

Want to save yourself the trouble? All you have to do is tweak a single setting.

• Open Gmail on your Android phone, tap the three-dot Menu button in the bottom-right corner of the page, tap Settings, then tap General Settings.
• Near the bottom of the screen, tap checkbox next to the “Auto-fit messages” setting.

Now, go back and open a few Gmail message—and when you do, you’ll notice that the width of each message fills the screen, no swiping required.
Of course, shrinking your Gmail messages to fit the screen may result in teeny, tiny text—but if that happens, you can always “pinch” the screen to zoom in.
Sure, you’re swiping again, but at least you won’t have to swipe unless you really need to.
From heresthethingblog.com
How to Shrink wide messages to fill the screen (gmail)

How to Swipe from one message thread to the next

Unlike the Mail app for iPhone, the official Gmail app for Android phones lacks an obvious way (like, say, a pair of arrow keys on the actual message screen) for navigating from one email directly to the next.
Given that, I’m guessing plenty of Android users—hey, myself included—have been repeatedly tapping their way back to the inbox whenever they’re done with one message and want to skip to a new one.
Well, guess what: there’s a much easier way (as I belatedly discovered) to jump directly from one message thread (or “conversation,” as they’re called in Gmail) to the next.
Just swipe.
Specifically, you can swipe from left to right to skip to a more recent thread, or from right to left for an older one.
Pretty clever—so clever, in fact, that I’d completely missed it until now.

Add tip

Want to jump automatically to the next message after deleting or archiving the current one?
Tap the three-dot menu button in the bottom-right corner of the Gmail interface, tap Settings, General Settings, then “Auto-advance.”
You can then choose what happens when you delete or archive a message: you can advance to a newer message, go back to an older one, or return to the inbox.
Tips from http://heresthethingblog.com/2013/04/29/gmail-android-tip-swipe-message
How to Swipe from one message thread to the next

How to “mute” an endless email thread in gmail

Ever found yourself CC’d in an email thread that just keeps going, and going … and going? Make it stop!
If you’re a Gmail user, there’s an easy way to silence—or “mute,” as the feature is called in Gmail—any email conversation that you’d rather not be a part of.
Once you’ve muted a conversation, new messages in the thread will skip your inbox and head straight to your All Mail archive.

“Muted” Gmail conversations will skip your inbox and go directly to your All Mail archive.

Of course, there’s a downside to muting a conversation: namely, that you’ll miss a direct question from someone—like, say, your boss—in the message thread.
That’s why it’s probably best to only mute conversations along the lines of “What a cute baby!” or “Congrats on the new gig!,” and not those of the “Mission-critical project” variety.
That said, keep in mind that Gmail will automatically send a muted thread back into your inbox if you’re the only person in the “To:” line of the conversation.
So, ready for some peace and quiet?

Just select “Mute” from the “More” menu to keep a Gmail thread from bothering you again.

Let’s get started…

• To mute a conversation, select it in your Gmail inbox, click the More button near the top of the page, then select Mute. If you have Gmail keyboard shortcuts enabled, you can also check the box next to a conversation and tap the “m” key.
• Want to “unmute” a conversation? Search for it in the Gmail search box, select the muted message, then click the “Move to Inbox” button. The message should be automatically unmuted once it returns to your inbox, but you can double-check by opening the thread and making sure there’s no “Muted” label near the top of the latest message.
• Last but not least, you can see all your muted Gmail conversations by typing “is:muted” into the Gmail search box and clicking the Search button.

Additional Tips

You can also mute a Gmail conversation directly from your Android phone. Just open the Gmail app, select the message thread you want to silence, tap the three-dot Menu button in the bottom-right corner of the screen, then select Mute.
How to “mute” an endless email thread in gmail