The first step to mastering Gmail is admitting you’re not that great at it. You’re here reading this so you’ve done that already. Good. The second step is studying this handy list of Gmail tips, tricks, and hacks that I’ve complied just for you. Easy.

1. Save some valuable space

There are two types of people in this world: those with zero un-read messages in their inbox and those with thousands.

If you’re a member of the latter group maybe that works for you, or perhaps you’ve simply lost control of your inbox and are now on the verge of losing sleep at night, just praying that an easy way to free up space in your Gmail account existed.

Okay, let’s not get dramatic. Decluttering that mess might seem impossible but it’s doable. We promise.

Search and delete

Gmail search allows you to specifically filter your messages to locate and delete by sender, file size, attachments, YouTube videos, or other links. Simply type a command into the search bar followed by the key words you’re looking for (ex: “from:mashable”) and Gmail will locate all related emails for you to review and potentially delete.

To start, you might consider searching for larger MP3 or video files to delete — but even if you don’t have any specifics in mind definitely make use of the file size search operator. You can type in “larger:3m” to search files over 3MB and so on and so forth. You can also wipe messages by date range. Typing “older_than:5y” will show all messages older than five years ago, which you can then select, trash at once, and pretend they never existed. Perfect.

If manual search operators aren’t your thing there’s always the more advanced drop-down search menu.

You can find Gmail’s full list of search operators here, along with search methods that may not have even crossed your mind.

2. Enable ‘Undo Send’ and breathe a sigh of relief

Gmail’s potentially life-saving “Undo Send” feature was introduced in 2015 so you’ve probably heard of it, but if you’re not sure how to enable it it’ll unfortunately be useless to you.

To do so, simply click on the settings gear in the upper right-hand corner of your Gmail account. Select “Settings” from the drop-down menu and check the box labeled “Enable Undo Send.” You’re then given the option to set a “send cancellation period” of either 5, 10, 20 or 30 seconds.

Obviously choose 30 seconds, you know, because not everyone always realizes they made a horrible mistake RIGHT AWAY. (Why does a five second option even exist?)

3. Organize your inbox for maximum efficiency 

Are you an email hoarder who refuses to delete messages? That’s okay, but if you’re going to keep thousands of emails you might want to organize them to make things less hectic. Labels and categories are your friends, but they each serve different purposes. Here’s the deal:

Labels:

Labels are sort of like folders, but the good thing is you can add multiple labels to a single email. To choose or create new labels open an email and click the label tab next to the “More” option above the message.

Once selected the labels will show up beside the email subject. Clicking on them will allow you to see all messages with that same label.

Once new labels are made they’ll show up in the menu list on the left-hand side of you account where you can edit and color-code them for extra customization.

Categories:

If you want to separate your emails before you open Gmail take advantage of inbox category tabs. These will sort your emails based on subject matter like “Social” or “Promotions,” so not every message shows up on the homepage.

To enable inbox categories go to Settings > Inbox and select “Default” inbox type. Then you can choose which categories you want to use, but be aware you’ll have to have less than 250,000 emails in your inbox for it to work.

4. Personalize your account

While you’re staring at Gmail for hours at work don’t you ever wish it would better reflect your personality? Email is boring as hell, so for the love of your tired, strained eyes please take some time to add flair and color to your account.

All the stars

In the email world a yellow star generally signifies a message is important, but by utilizing allthe stars and symbols Gmail offers you can use the shapes to organize emails into groups.

To choose which stars you have at your disposal go to the Stars section in the Settings tab. You can choose to use one, four, or all 12 symbols. (Don’t forget to save your settings changes at the bottom of the page.)

Starring an email highlights it and includes it in the “Starred” label, but enabling different colored stars makes it even easier to perform specific searches. For example, if you’re looking for emails with purple stars you can type “has:purple-star” in the search bar and voila.

To access the different colored symbols simply continue clicking the yellow star until you reach the one you want.

Custom themes

Anyone who’s ever been to a themed party knows themes are a blast, and in this case they have the power to transform an otherwise dull but very necessary communication tool into a low-key enjoyable thing to look at. To choose a theme you can browse some of the lovely options under the drop-down settings gear (island getaway, crunchy leaves, light blue, etc.) orupload your own photo to get even more personal.

5. Reclaim your time

No one wants to spend their day navigating Gmail, so here are some hot time-saving tips that will let you get back to Twitter, Facebook, and uh, work, I guess, sooner.

Send personalized mass emails

Ain’t nobody got time to individually personalize the exact same email for multiple people… until now. Thanks to a nifty Chrome extension called Mail Merge for Gmail you can send personalized emails to a mass group of recipients at one time.

After downloading the add-on simply create a spreadsheet in Google Drive, then go to Add-ons > Mail Merge and Scheduler > Create Merge Template to make the spreadsheet merge-able. To add recipients either import from your Google Contacts on input the info manually.

Learn more about using Mail Merge here.

Schedule emails like a magician

Another great thing about Mail Merge is it has a built-in scheduler that you can use to send out emails at later dates or times.

Boomerang for Gmail is another service that lets you schedule emails to send ahead of time, and is especially great if you want to get a jump-start on work or simply want to ensure you don’t forget to send something. You can also set reminders for yourself to follow up on messages, which is something everyone could benefit from.

Learn those sweet sweet keyboard shortcuts

Hotkeys have the potential to change your Gmail life, but before you master them make sure they’re all turned on by going to Settings > Keyboard Shortcuts > On.

Once that’s done you’ll have access to dozens of helpful key combinations that will make formatting text, chatting, navigating your account, participating in Hangouts, and much more seem like a breeze.

Google has a complete list of keyboard shortcuts, but you can also type a “?“ when Gmail is open to make another list appear.

6. Stay up to date on Gmail news

Gmail is always improving and changing, so one of the best ways to keep up is to test new features while they’re still in beta.

You may be unaware of Gmail Labs, which allows you to do just that. It’s the hub for all things in the experimental stage, which can occasionally become permanent parts of the mailing system. You can test out and enable all sorts of fun features by visiting the Labs tab in Settings. Just don’t get too attached because they could wind up disappearing on you.

And if you’re really afraid of getting Gmail FOMO you can follow Gmail’s official blog for the latest news and updates. (Also, maybe consider closing your laptop and hanging out with some friends IRL because Gmail FOMO should not be a ~thing~).

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Source: Mashable

The post 6 Gmail tips to transform you into an email genius appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Google users will have the ability to opt in to security settings aimed at protecting Gmail, Google Drive and YouTube data from phishing attacks.

The advanced protection features include an option to require a physical USB security key to connect to a desktop computer before each log-in as a way to verify a user’s identity. Mobile log-ins will require a Bluetooth wireless device.

Advanced protection users will have their data walled off from access by any non-Google third-party applications, such as the Apple iOS mail client or Microsoft Outlook.

The program also includes a more laborious and detailed account recovery process to prevent fraudulent access by hackers who try to gain access by pretending they have been locked out.

Although Google has previously supported the use of security keys for what is known as two-factor authentication, advanced protection users will have no backup log-in method available if they lose their keys other than the fuller account recovery process.

Google did not specify what the recovery process would entail.

The rollout of a suite of new email security services follows a U.S. presidential election last year shaped in part by the disclosure of emails belonging to associates of Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton that were obtained through phishing schemes.

U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that those hacks, which included a breach of Clinton campaign manager John Podesta’s personal Gmail account, were carried out by Russia as part of a broader cyber campaign to help Donald Trump, a Republican, win the White House.

“If John Podesta had Advanced Protection last year, the world might be a very different place,” said Joseph Lorenzo Hall, chief technologist at the Center for Democracy and Technology, who was briefed on the new features by Google.

Hall said the new features would increase the number of high-risk consumers with strong protections against phishing campaigns. But he noted that they may create compatibility issues among some who already integrate custom security tools with their Google products.

Google created a web page, g.co/advancedprotection, to walk users through setting up advanced protection, including where to purchase USB and Bluetooth security keys on Amazon .

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Source: Reuters

The post Google launches advanced Gmail security features for high-risk users appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The tech firm revealed the change in a blog at the end of last week.

Google promised to make the move before the year’s end to bring the consumer version of Gmail in line with its business edition.

The firm had faced much criticism over the years for the scans.
Gmail man
The measure helped justify the cost of offering the public one gigabyte of “free” webmail storage in 2004 – an offer that was so much greater than the competition at the time that many originally believed it to be a joke.

However, UK-based campaign group Privacy International tried to block the scans once it became apparent they were the cost of signing up to the service. The organisation tried and failed to get the country’s data privacy regulator to intervene.

Then, a decade later, Microsoft ran a series of adverts, in which it first depicted a “Gmail man” searching through people’s messages, and then went on to accuse the search giant of “crossing the line” causing its customers to be “Scroogled”.

“When they first came up with the dangerous idea of monetising the content of our communications, Privacy International warned Google against setting the precedent of breaking the confidentiality of messages for the sake of additional income,” the charity’s executive director Dr Gus Hosein told the BBC.

“Of course they can now take this decision after they have consolidated their position in the marketplace as the aggregator of nearly all the data on internet usage, aside from the other giant, Facebook.

“The reality is that what you choose to say over email to another human being isn’t as interesting for exploitation as the data you have no control over – Google would rather exploit your data by tracking you across the internet, across their mobile operating system, their search engine, their apps, their smart devices, and likely some day soon, their car, amongst a myriad of other services that they dominate through the exploitation of our data.”

Google’s blog notes that users can opt out of seeing personalised ads on any of its services by changing their account settings.

Another digital rights body, Big Brother Watch, was a little more positive.

“Whilst it could be seen as closing the stable door once the horse has bolted, there is no doubt that the end to the intrusive and frankly creepy process will be appreciated by a great many Gmail users,” commented its chief executive Renate Samson.

“However, none of us must rest on our laurels.

“Whilst tech companies should see this as an opportunity to halt other intrusive snooping for advertising purposes, citizens equally should take greater care not to sign up to services which routinely share your personal information with third parties for the purposes of advertising or marketing.

“Google’s move is absolutely a step in the right direction, let’s hope it encourages others to follow suit.”

While the ad-driven scans should soon stop, the news site Ars Technica has highlighted that Gmail messages will still be scanned by Google to provide artificial intelligence-powered “smart replies”, malware-protection and sorting for search queries.

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Source: BBC

The post Gmail to end ad-targeting email scans appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Some West African heads of state were summoned to Accra by President John Dramani Mahama to discuss important issues affecting the sub-region including the Boko Haram threat in Nigeria.

The ongoing conference has led to the Ghana Police cording off some principal routes as part of security measures put in place to protect the various head of states gathered at the Movenpick-Ambassador hotel.

Motorists plying the route coming from the Asylum Down and the University of Ghana, Accra City Campus have been advised to turn towards the total petroleum head office to avoid staying in traffic for hours.

Also, motorists have been advised to take the ridge round about or take the International Conference Centre route linking to the road in front of the Accra Sports Stadium to avoid staying in traffic.

Below is a table showing information on the traffic situation in the Central Business District.

By: Benjamin Epton Owusu/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post ECOWAS summit causes massive traffic in Accra appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.