8 Gmail Hacks That Will Help You Get More Done

Gmail is the email service of choice for millions—and for a good reason. It’s secure, easy to use, and offers plenty of built-in tools for managing your inbox. These time-saving Gmail hacks will give you a productivity boost and add some new strategies to your workflow. Let’s discuss briefly the 8 Gmail Hacks that will help you get more done.

1. Get Rid of Promotional Emails

  • Open Gmail.
  • Open the promotional email that you want to remove.
  • Click on the 3 vertical dots in the top-right corner of the email.
  • Select “Block [Sender’s name]” from the drop-down menu.
  • Click on “Block” in the pop-up window.
  • To delete all promotional emails, got to the “Promotions” tab, select all emails & delete.
  • To prevent future emails, unsubscribe by clicking the “unsubscribe” link at the bottom of the email.

2. Undo the email you just sent

  • Open the “Sent” folder.
  • Find the email that you want to recall and open it.
  • Click on the 3 vertical dots in the top-right corner of the email.
  • Select “Undo” from the drop-down menu.
  • Edit your email in the draft folder before sending it again.
  • Ensure “Undo Send” is enabled in your settings before using this feature.
  • Setting> General > Enable Undo to send (with a delay of 10/20/30 seconds)

3. Send a confidential email

  • Open Gmail
  • Click “Compose
  • Enter recipient, subject, and content.
  • Next to the “Send” button, click on the lock icon.
  • Set an expiration date and passcode for the recipient to open it.
  • Click on the “Send” button to send the email.

4. Use Keyboard Shortcuts

Compose & chat

ActionShortcut
Previous message in an open conversationp
Next message in an open conversationn
Focus main windowShift + Esc
Focus latest chat or composeEsc
Advance to the next chat or composeCtrl + .
Advance to previous chat or composeCtrl + ,
Send/Ctrl + Enter
Add cc recipients/Ctrl + Shift + c
Add bcc recipients/Ctrl + Shift + b
Access custom from/Ctrl + Shift + f
Insert a link/Ctrl + k
Go to next misspelled word (Mac only) + ;
Open spelling suggestions/Ctrl + m

Formatting text

ActionShortcut
Previous font/Ctrl + Shift + 5
Next font/Ctrl + Shift + 6
Decrease text size/Ctrl + Shift + –
Increase text size/Ctrl + Shift and +
Bold/Ctrl + b
Italics/Ctrl + i
Underline/Ctrl + u
Numbered list/Ctrl + Shift + 7
Bulleted list/Ctrl + Shift + 8
Quote/Ctrl + Shift + 9
Indent less/Ctrl + [
Indent more/Ctrl + ]
Align left/Ctrl + Shift + l
Align center/Ctrl + Shift + e
Align right/Ctrl + Shift + r
Remove formatting/Ctrl + \

Actions

Note: These shortcuts won’t work unless keyboard shortcuts are turned on.

ActionShortcut
Move focus to toolbar,
Select conversationx
Toggle star/rotate among superstarss
Archivee
Mute conversationm
Report as spam!
Delete#
Replyr
Reply in a new windowShift + r
Reply alla
Reply all in a new windowShift + a
Forwardf
Forward in a new windowShift + f
Update conversationShift + n
Archive conversation and go previous/next] or [
Undo last actionz
Mark as readShift + i
Mark as unreadShift + u
Mark unread from the selected message_
Mark as importantor =
Mark as not important
SnoozeNote: This shortcut isn’t available in classic Gmail.b
Expand entire conversation;
Collapse entire conversation:
Add conversation to TasksShift + t

Jumping

Note: These keyboard shortcuts won’t work unless keyboard shortcuts are turned on.

ActionShortcut
Go to Inbox+ i
Go to Starred conversations+ s
Go to Snoozed conversationsg + b
Go to Sent messages+ t
Go to Drafts+ d
Go to All mail+ a
Switch between the Calendar/Keep/Tasks sidebar and your inbox./Ctrl Alt ,

and

⌘/Ctrl Alt + .

Go to Tasks+ k
Go to label+ l

Threadlist selection

Note: These keyboard shortcuts won’t work unless keyboard shortcuts are turned on.

ActionShortcut
Select all conversations+ a
Deselect all conversations+ n
Select read conversations+ r
Select unread conversations+ u
Select starred conversations+ s
Select unstarred conversations+ t

Navigation

Note: These keyboard shortcuts won’t work unless keyboard shortcuts are turned on.

ActionShortcut
Go to next pageg + n
Go to previous pageg + p
Back to threadlistu
Newer conversationk
Older conversationj
Open conversationo or Enter
Go to next Inbox section`
Go to previous Inbox section~
Customize keyboard shortcuts

You can change your default keyboard shortcuts in Gmail.

Step 1: Turn on custom keyboard shortcuts

  1. On your computer, go to Gmail.
  2. At the top right, click Settings
  3. Click Advanced.
  4. Next to “Custom keyboard shortcuts,” click Enable.
  5. At the bottom, click Save Changes.

Step 2: Change your keyboard shortcuts

  1. On your computer, go to Gmail.
  2. At the top right, click Settings
  3. At the top, click Keyboard Shortcuts.
  4. Next to the action, type the keyboard key to make a new shortcut.
  5. At the bottom, click Save Changes.

Note: One key can refer to only one action.

5. Send your email later (schedule your email)

Want to make it look like you’re at your desk at 0800?

Now you can do exactly that:

  • Click on the arrow next to ‘Send
  • Choose ‘Schedule Send
  • Pick the date time you want

Sit back and relax.

6. Prep your replies:

Sick of typing out the same replies again again? You don’t have to.

  • Enable first in settings > Advanced > Enable templates
  • Draft your email.
  • Click the 3 dots
  • Save as a template.

Next time, use that template to save yourself time.

7. Snooze an email:

Have an email that you don’t need to deal with now? Let’s learn how to set a reminder for later:

  • Click on the clock icon on the right.
  • Choose how long you want to snooze the email.

It’ll appear back in your inbox on that date.

8. Ignore those annoying conversations

In an email thread where everyone keeps using ‘reply all‘? Let’s learn how to mute it to stop distracting you:

  • Open the email
  • Click the 3 dots at the top
  • Click mute

Future replies will be archived ( but you can still find them if needed).

I hope you guys find this tutorial helpful, if you have any questions or any points that you want to add please share them in the comment box. If you like this tutorial please share it with your friends and bookmark this site for more amazing tutorials. Thanks

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