7 Tools to Make Gmail Work Better for You

The estimated reading time for this post is 7 minutes

If you’re a Gmail user, you should know about these tools to help you make the most of your email. If you’re not a Gmail user, you may want to become one after you discover these handy tools.

Sure, you could use Gmail and do just fine without any of these tools. But with Gmail you have access to a wide variety of tools that help you in many different ways.

Undo Send

To Err Is Human.

Undo Send is a very handy setting if you are human. Yes, as humans we are prone to making mistakes and Undo Send can help save you from your mistakes. You may be able to avoid embarrassment by using Undo Send, perhaps saving your job, relationships, reputation and more.

Undo Send lets you change your mind about an email you sent, up to 30 seconds after you send it. If you forgot to include an attachment, catch a typo, or regret sending the message, you can just click Undo Send to prevent the message from being sent.

To set up Undo Send, click on the gear icon on your Gmail page, click Settings.

 

Scroll down to Undo Send and click the box to enable the feature. You can choose the time period to be from five to thirty seconds until your email is sent.

Tip: choose 30 seconds. Your email going out 30 seconds after you send it probably won’t matter to you ever, but the ability to change your mind within that 30 seconds may be priceless.

Click Save Changes at the bottom of the page to confirm your choice.

The next time you send an email, look for the Undo link at the top of the page after your email has been sent. Click on the link before it disappears if you change your mind about sending your email.

=>For more information about Undo Send, check out Gmail Undo Send – Saving You from Your Mistakes.

Sidekick

Ever wonder if an email you sent has been opened by the person you sent it to? Sidekick is a service that will tell you where, when and how your email has been opened.

You can track your emails using Sidekick to learn when a message has been opened, how many times it has been opened, when it was opened, where it was opened and on what platform it was opened (computer or mobile device).

When you use Sidekick, you’ll see a checkbox at the bottom of your message you can click to track the message.

The Send button on Gmail will turn orange when you’re about to track a message using Sidekick.

When your message is opened, you will get a notice telling you information about how and when it was opened. You can receive these notices on your computer with a Chrome extension and on your phone through the Sidekick app.

Sidekick is free for up to 200 messages tracked per month. Sidekick is available:

• Sidekick for Chrome
• Sidekick app for Android
• Sidekick iPhone app

=> Learn more about at: Sidekick – See When, Where and How Your Email Is Opened.

Boomerang

Boomerang is a service that helps you schedule your emails. You can use Boomerang to schedule when an email is sent or when it reappears in your inbox.

Let’s say it’s a Sunday afternoon and you want to send out an email but you don’t want it to get lost in someone’s overflowing Monday morning inbox. You’d rather wait until Tuesday morning to send your email but you’re afraid you’ll forget.

Or let’s say it’s Friday afternoon and someone sends you an important email you’d rather deal with on Monday. You worry that if you don’t deal with it now it will be lost and forgotten by the time Monday arrives.

Boomerang lets you control when you send emails and when they appear in your inbox. When you use Boomerang, you’ll see a Send Later button you can click to schedule when you want your email to be sent. You can schedule emails for birthdays, anniversaries, important meetings or any other occasion. Your emails will be sent through Boomerang whenever you want.

 

This video shows you how Boomerang works:

You can also use Boomerang to control when you want to deal with emails you receive. When you open a message you’ll see a Boomerang tab above the message. Click on that tab to schedule when you want that message to reappear in your inbox.

Boomerang is free to use for up to 10 messages per month. Paid subscriptions are available if you need more messages. You can sign up at the Boomerang website.

=> Learn more about at: Boomerang – Put Off Today’s Gmail Until Later.

Unroll.me

Inboxes can get stuffed with subscription emails. Every store, service, website and business wants you to subscribe so they can send you emails about coupons, special deals, updates and more.

Your important emails may be buried among all of your subscriptions. Unroll.me helps you control your inbox by delivering a daily digest of your subscription emails called the Rollup.

This video shows how Unroll.me works:

You can also use Unroll.me to unsubscribe to any emails you no longer want to receive.

To sign up for free, go to the Unroll.me website. You can choose what time of day your Rollup will arrive in your inbox.

=> Find out more at: Unroll.me – Get Control of Your Inbox!

WiseStamp

Customize your email signature with WiseStamp, a service that lets you add a personal touch to your message. You can add photos, contact information, random quotes, and links to your social media accounts to get more followers.

This video shows you how to set up your WiseStamp signature:

Need inspiration to create your signature? Check out this WiseStamp Pinterest board with examples of creative signatures.

You can create your signature for free at the WiseStamp website. A paid plan is available that lets you add more features to your signature.

=> Check out Dress Your Email for Success with WiseStamp! to learn more.

Ugly Mail

While Sidekick lets you track emails you send, Ugly Mail shows you which emails in your inbox are being tracked by the sender. When you open emails that are tracked, the sender will know that the email has been opened and perhaps other information about you.

Get the Ugly Mail Chrome extension, then open your Gmail inbox. You’ll see an evil eye next to emails that are being tracked by the sender.

Ugly Mail currently works to show emails being tracked using: Streak, Yesware, Mandrill, MailChimp, Postmark, TinyLetter, Sidekick, MixMax and Bananatag. More tracking services are planned to be covered in the future.

Note that Ugly Mail doesn’t block the tracking, it only shows you that an email is being tracked by the sender.

Ugly Mail extension for Chrome

=> Find out more about Ugly Mail at Ugly Mail — An Easy Way to Find Out Who Is Tracking Your Email.

Canned Responses

Are you tired of typing the same email responses repeatedly? Use Gmail Canned Responses to compose an email message once and send it out multiple times.

You can use Canned Responses to save time typing the same response to email messages you get a lot. Set up a Canned Response to have it handy for later.

To activate Canned Response, click on the gear icon in Gmail and choose Settings. Click on the Labs tab at the top of the page. Find Canned Responses and click Enable.

When you reply to an email, type your response, then click on the down arrow at the bottom of the message box. Click Canned Responses and New Canned Response to create a canned response with the message you just typed.

 

When you want to use that Canned Response later, you can click on the down arrow to add that text to your email message automatically.

=> Find out more about using Canned Responses at: Gmail Canned Response – Saving You Time and Frustration!

Your Thoughts

Do you use any of these Gmail tools? Do you have any other Gmail tools you’d like to recommend to Wonder of Tech readers? Which of these tools do you think are the most useful?

Share your thoughts in the Comments section below!