This is pretty handy.

If you need to send a lot of pics via email but have no need to save then trash them, a new functionality in GMail will probably make your life a lot easier. A while back, GMail Labs added the ability to drag images from the desktop into the body of an email, which is marginally easier than attaching the image manually.

But now you can skip the middleman completely and copy an image to your clipboard before pasting it into an email, eliminating the attachment process altogether. On their blog, GMail announces:

So if you copy an image from the web or another email, you can paste it right into your message. This is especially handy for passing around screenshots — you don’t have to save the files any more (I’ve been using Command-Control-Shift-4 on my Mac to save screenshots directly to the clipboard).

The pasting function is only available in Chrome right now, but Chrome is pretty awesome, so if you’re not using it, it’s another reason to start. Another cool aspect is that if you need the image for reference, it will automatically be available in your sent mail.

Does this feature sound super useful to anyone else?

GMail Now Lets You Paste Pics From the Clipboard is a post from: The Inquisitr

GMail announced the addition today of the ability within the service to change the background image to a custom theme.

Many users select themes for the email service’s main page from the available standards, but I always feel like someone is judging me if I have to open my email around them. (I currently use “Candy,” so my secret is out.) Now if you simply scroll to the bottom of the available themes, and click on the first box labeled “text,” a dialog box will come up enabling you to select an image from your Picasa albums or upload one from your own computer. (Be aware it adds the pic to your Picasa albums.)

I gave it a go with my favorite Jack White pic, which is honestly not super well-suited to the application but it’s my inbox and screw you guys:

Two other features, “Got the wrong Bob?” and “Don’t forget Bob” have also “graduated” from Labs. These two Gmail features avoid sending sensitive email to the wrong dude, in case the 15 second long “oops” window is too small for you.

Have you used any of the three new features? Will you be using the custom image option to brand your inbox?

[Image]

GMail adds custom backgrounds, recipient check failsafes is a post from: The Inquisitr

Not enough pale purple Comic Sans text on a white background in your email inbox?

Google announced today that they’re enabling colors, fonts, hyperlinks and- sigh- images for email signatures. The feature will undoubtedly come in handy for businesses who use email, and for the plug-in savvy folk who have been using various workarounds because they really need to have a logo in their signatures. Of the new feature, Google said:

The next time you log in and visit the Settings page, you’ll see a rich text editor in the signature section. Here, you can customize your signature by adding pretty formatting, links, and images — or decide to leave things nice and simple.

Along with the new signature options, you’ll be able to associate distinctive signatures with each individual address linked to your GMail account so you can get fancy differently for each one. You won’t be able to use the new signature formatting with mobile GMail, older GMail or the HTML version, though.

Fair play to Google for the initiative- but while the feature is probably welcome to many people, is anyone else anticipating a flood of blinking fairies, baby due dates, harder to read text and generally slow to load emails? And when are we going to get the ability to schedule email delivery, GMail Labs?

GMail adds rich text signatures, without plugins is a post from: The Inquisitr

Gmail Message Translation

Once you enable Message Translation, any message in a foreign language will have a link at the top: “Translate message to: English” (or whatever your default language is). One click, and the message will be converted.

“If all parties are using Gmail, you can have entire conversations in multiple languages with each participant reading the messages in whatever language is most comfortable for them,” says Gmail Software Engineer Darren Lewis.

“I use this feature everyday to help me work with teammates around the globe (they think my Japanese is much better than it really is…shhhh!),” he jokes.

Gmail Message Translation is now available in the Gmail Labs menu found under the green lab symbol on the top right of the page.

Google Adds Message Translation Into Gmail Labs is a post from: The Inquisitr

The feature, quite simply, lets you click on an icon to upload an image either from your computer or from another Web site and have it be embedded within your message. You (somewhat surprisingly) do have to activate the feature within the Labs menu first, or it won’t show up. You also have to be in rich formatting mode for the feature to appear.

“Well, it’s about time,” Gmail Software Engineer Kent Tamura writes in his official blog posting. I think that pretty much sums it up.

Gmail (Finally) Adds Inline Image Support is a post from: The Inquisitr

The option, now available in the Gmail Labs menu, lets you choose to place your inbox count before the word “Gmail” in the browser bar. That way, you can see how many new messages you have at a quick glance on a toolbar or inactive tab.

A handy little feature–though one already familiar to users of Gina Trapani’s Better Gmail Firefox extension, which has offered the option for quite some time.

Gmail Adds New Custom Title Bar Labs Feature is a post from: The Inquisitr

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.

Google Adds “Tasks” to Gmail is a post from: The Inquisitr

The good news: despite a TechCrunch report suggesting that Gmail Labs was georetarded to the United States and United Kingdom, I’m seeing labs here in Australia.

Gmail labs offers a variety of optional extras, including layout tweaks, shortcuts and even a game titled “Old Snakey.” Taken alone it’s a traditional Google Labs style offering: throw some things up, get some feedback, run with the popular ones as standard eventually, and I have no issues about the model what so ever. But..well…it’s just not exciting. Nothing in Gmail Labs is a radical change from what Google is offering on Gmail now and all the options are window dressings, nothing more. And of course they still haven’t enabled drag and drop, the one feature that would further turn Gmail into a killer business/ enterprise mail app.

My recommendation: don’t spend more that 5 minutes playing with this. Gmail Labs is accessible via the Settings Menu within Gmail.

I Want To Be Excited About Gmail Labs, But…Well…. is a post from: The Inquisitr