Google Adds “Tasks” to Gmail

Gmail has gotten a little more Outlook-like with a new “Tasks” option built into the Webmail interface.

Gmail Tasks, now found under the “Labs” setting tab, lets you click to add any reminder to yourself, then check off items as you finish them.

The function is also built into messaging. Once you activate tasks, you can select any e-mail, then select “Add to Tasks” under the “More Actions” menu to directly move the entire message into a Tasks item.

The Tasks lists can also be popped in and out of the main Gmail browser window, much like the way the Chat option works.

Gmail Tasks is certainly nothing groundbreaking, but it’s a nice functionality that had long been missing from the service. For people who have replaced their standalone e-mail clients with Gmail (or who might be considering a switch to a Web-based platform), its addition will no doubt sweeten the deal.

The Inquisitr’s Steven Hodson has some concerns, though, about how Tasks’ debut could affect smaller applications such as Remember The Milk (RTM) that had offered similar functionality with Gmail integration. You can read his thoughts here.