While the screencap I used here is for my email with the maketecheasier.com domain, it’s still based off of the Gmail system and works in all the same ways Gmail does. It’s set up through Google Apps. There isn’t the familiar “Trashcan” in the options on the top right, when viewing an individual email, and when you select one or more emails to edit, it only gives you options to Archive, Move, or Mark. Delete isn’t one of the options. It just seems frustrating to not have such a basic function available.

I actually had a similar problem with my email hosted on a separate domain. While I had a Delete option and a Trashcan, it would give me an error message afterward and would stay on the server. It had an easy fix. I went into the Settings app and selected “Mail, Contacts, Calendars,” then clicked on the email domain I wanted to change. After clicking on the Account name, then “Advanced” at the bottom of the resulting screen, I then clicked on “Deleted Mailbox” which allowed me to change the folder I wanted the deleted emails to go into. By default it was set on “Trash” on my iPad, but once I changed it to “Trash” on the server, it resulted in the emails being deleted correctly. However, making this change to the Gmail settings didn’t solve the issue there.

The easiest way to solve the Trash problem for Gmail is to to just move the desired files into the Trash folder. If you click on edit in the email list pane, check off the emails you want deleted, then hit “Move.” This brings up a list of the folders on the server, including the Trash folder. There is also a Google app for iOS. It includes all the Google apps within it, such as Calendar, Docs, Google+, and Gmail. Using the mail here emulates the way it works online, including being able to delete unwanted email. You can also keep multiple Gmail accounts “open” at once. There’s also always the option, of course, to just keep up with the Gmail via whatever browser you are using by signing into your account there.

If you’re using Gmail that is set up for you through an organization or business that uses Google Apps, the administrator can choose to have Google Sync enabled for the email. If this is done, when you set your Gmail account in settings, instead of setting it up as a Gmail account, set it up as Microsoft Exchange. This will not only Sync folders, such as Trash, but will also sync your Google Calendars.

I still use the iOS Mail app, but that’s only because I like to have all my mail in one spot, and my Gmail accounts are more my secondary accounts. It’s only a minor irritation to have to move my deleted emails to the Trash. Hence the reason I don’t bother to delete them often. What iOS needs is more options for using Mail on the system. While there are multiple different browsers other than Safari, there’s only one Mail app, with no third party apps available, and this is what causes users to have to come up with alternate solutions such as these.

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Email Options

1. Inbox Display

The default setting for emails to display in your Gmail account are set to “Comfortable“, which displays emails in large print and wide sections. You can adjust how they are displayed by clicking the “Settings” tab in the top right corner and selecting either “Cozy“, which makes the font and spacing more slim or “Compact“, which makes them… well compact! The “Compact” setting seems to make your inbox look less full and more tidy.

2. Inbox Type

There are also some great ways to sort your inbox messages that can help you be more efficient with your time. Hover over the “Inbox” tab to see a small arrow. Click the arrow to open the window of display options for your inbox. Each tab will show you what it’s best used for so you can make an educated decision on which will be the best for your Gmail purposes. You can also change your inbox sorting preferences in the menu above the email messages by clicking on that inbox type.

3. Custom Search

Of course, Google is all about searches so in addition to being able to search their engine for information, you can also search within your Gmail account by entering information into the fields to narrow your search.

4. Create A Filter

You can create a filter from within the search box by clicking “More” and then “Create Filter.” Setup how you want emails delivered from this particular subject. Since I’m looking for a car, it’s a time sensitive email. I want the email to be “Starred”, labeled as “Personal”, and “Marked As Important” so I am sure to see when something I want has become available. This is a great way to make sure important emails don’t go unnoticed because they won’t blend in with all the rest of the inbox messages.

Settings

The Settings tab is where you’ll be able to really customize the way you use your Gmail. There’s more than I can cover in this one article so we’ll just touch on some of the key features that will be useful for most people. All of the following features can be found in the “Settings” tab.

5. Buttons

You’ll notice that the default setting for the new Gmail interface buttons are now icons. Most people don’t know what the buttons are simply by looking at an icon and would rather have the words on the buttons.

Changing your buttons to a text view is easy. Simply scroll down a little to see the settings for “Button Labels”. Here, you can change the default Icons setting back to” Text”. Scroll to the bottom of the settings list and “Save Changes”. Now your buttons will have the words for their function listed on them.

Your toolbar will now look like the one below, showing you exactly what each button does.

6. Stars

Gmail’s idea of making yellow stars and yellow Important icons make it difficult to tell them apart. You can customize and color code your stars in the “Settings” tab. Drag and drop any of the icons from the “Not In Use” row up to the “In Use” row to activate them.

To use them, click on the star next to the email you want to highlight and keep clicking until you find the color code you need for that item. The colors will come up in succession of how they are arranged “In Use”.

7. Labels

Gmail uses the “Label” system instead of the typical folder filing system most email services provide. Next to each “Label” is a customization tab where you can change the color of a Label to identify it at a glance. Simply click on the color you want to use for the Label.

In that same drop down menu, you can rename, remove the label or add a sublabel.

8. Circles

Another new feature in the Gmail interface incorporates your Google+ circles into your email settings. When you “Enable” “Circles”, and enable “Show In Message List” incoming messages will display a colorful tag when the sender is from one of your Google+ circles.

You can also manage and edit your Google+ circles from within your Gmail page by hovering over the Circles tab. Click on the arrow and then Edit Circles.

Gmail Design

9. Themes

If you read my articles, you know I’m a big fan of customizing everything. Tools and sites we use on a regular basis are more interesting and fresh when they can be changed according to mood, season, or need. Gmail “Themes” are a great place to insert some color and personality to your email dashboard and if you have more than one account, the themes can help you determine which account you’re in without having to look for the address. There are several solid color or picture backgrounds to choose from in the “Themes” tab under your “Settings” menu.

“Labs”

10. Change The Sidebars

The default dashboard has everything on the left side of the screen. I like things balanced and don’t use chat very much so I wanted to move that feature out of the way of my everyday actions. You can also do this by clicking on “Labs” in the “Settings” tab and enabling the “Right Side Chat” lab.

11. Undo Send

How many times have you hit the send button and then realized you forgot an attachment or didn’t reply all? Hopefully you never sent an email to the wrong person but if you ever did send something that you immediately want to take back, the” Undo Send Lab” can save the day. When you enable it, it allows you to undo a sent email within a few seconds of sending. After that, well, you’re just out of luck!

I think you’ll find some very useful and colorful ways to enjoy the new Gmail interface with these tips. What changes have you made to your dashboard? What features do you use most? Come back and share your thoughts, we’d love to interact with you!

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Explore Pokki

Navigate to the Pokki website and sign up for an account. Once you log in, you are free to explore the options available for social shortcuts. Choose from “social sites”, “useful utilities”, “”productivity” (including the popular Pomodoro Timer) and more.

When you hover over any of the site icon, it will give you detailed information about the shortcut and the features it offers. The screenshots will help you see how efficient they will be compared to logging into the sites directly.

Choose Your Sites

Tweeki

This shortcut is a great mini version of Twitter. Since the shortcut is right in your taskbar, it’s easy to take a quick look at what’s going on in your Twitter feed or to post a Tweet yourself. Click the Tweeki Download button on the Pokki page and follow the prompts to access you twitter profile.

The icon automatically loads onto your taskbar for easy access. To open it, click on the Twitter bird icon and log into your account.

Upon logging in, you will see that it looks like a mobile version of Twitter with all of the necessary features of the full size site. The first tab is the Trends tab where you can see what the most popular topics are.

The feed is the next section, which will likely be the one you will keep open on your desktop. You have the full feed visible and have a place at the bottom to add your own tweet or re-tweet something of interest right from the shortcut.

The mentions, direct message, and search features are all there as well. Everything you know and love about Twitter right on your desktop! This Twitter shortcut is best for the simplicity that other social media managers don’t offer and with a 100% user rating, I’d say many others agree!

Facebook

The Facebook shortcut gives you a very streamlined look at your news feed and notifications in an easy to see and use interface. The icon in the taskbar will display a number if you have notifications so you can take a quick peek and also catch up on any current happenings in the news feed.

To install it, go to the social Pokki page and click on the Facebook Download to install the shortcut. It will now appear in your taskbar along with any other shortcuts you downloaded. Click on the icon to open and log in and you’re ready to roll!

Gmail

If you have one or more Gmail accounts, you will find this shortcut extremely useful! You can now access all of your Gmail accounts with the click of a button right from your desktop! Never wonder if you have email messages waiting in your inbox again- any waiting messages will be displayed next to the icon,

To get started, go to the Gmail page in Pokki and download the shortcut. When you sign in, click on the arrow next to your account name. A drop down menu will give you the option to sign into more accounts and sign out of individual or all accounts. You can also switch between accounts by clicking on the name of the account you want to access.

YouTube

If your business or hobby revolves around YouTube video’s, you may like this shortcut for keeping tabs on your competitor’s content or for finding future ideas. Just like the other shortcuts, navigate to the Pokki YouTube page and download the YouTube shortcut. The play button for the YouTube shortcut will be placed directly on your taskbar upon download for easy access.

All the features you need are available in the shortcut version so you can search and watch video’s from each category or by entering keywords in the search bar. The only thing I would like to see added to this shortcut is the ability to log into your own YouTube account to create and view your content as well as track the analytics. Hopefully that’s a feature that will come in the future.

I love having these shortcuts on my desktop for easy and quick viewing. The one click access means I can get in and get out without interfering with my productivity. Let us know which shortcuts you downloaded and how they are working out for you!

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The Interface

One reason Gmail is my email of choice when handling business is because of the well organized labeling features. Sparrow, as a Gmail application, works well with incorporating the labeling into the application, something that many email applications don’t offer. The interface of Sparrow is very reminiscent of Facebook, a bit too much. This isn’t necessary a bad thing and actually seems perfect for navigating the various inboxes, folders, and labels that make up my Gmail account. To access the various pages, click the top left tab. This brings you to where you can access your Inbox, Starred, Sent, Draft, Trash, and Spam emails. You also have a section for all of your personal labels below these pages.Clicking the profile button at the top left brings you to the accounts section. In the end, the interface is simple and offers a lot of space to work with.

The Userability

I mentioned before about Sparrow’s accounts page. The application also has a feature allowing you to view all of your accounts in one area, all unified. This is perfect for the Gmail/Outlook users out there who want to get everything complete, replied, and checked in record time. I have three Gmail accounts I check daily, making unified inbox a feature I adore. Now, let’s take a look at the most important part of Sparrow – messaging. You have an email message and you want to respond in some way. Sparrow understands that responding doesn’t always equal a reply. Sparrow for that reason has accumulated all response features into one area, accessed by swiping on an individual message from the right to left. There, you can reply, star, mark as spam, move to a new folder, or just simply delete. Sparrow utilizes threaded messaging, allowing for easier retrieval of a message.

Some Essential Features

One thing I like about Sparrow is the personality added to emails. The threaded messaging shows that each message in a conversation has its own importance. The photos added to contacts (from Facebook integration) makes it easier to refer back to an email message in a more visually attractive manner. Sparrow allows you to also use your iCloud and AIM mail as well. However, there are a couple of things that Sparrow doesn’t do or support that can be the deciding factor on whether or not Sparrow is right for you.

What Sparrow is Lacking

I’ve been dreading getting to this point, but I have to show you what Sparrow can’t do. First off, Sparrow lacks the ability to connect to Yahoo or MSN emails. I use Yahoo for personal emailing, so if I am willing to go all in with Sparrow, it will be a solely business application for me. This can also leave behind a lot of users who do use these services. I believe Sparrow will soon come to a point when they can support these clients. For now, that will not be the case.

Secondly, and most importantly, Sparrow doesn’t support push notifications. If you aren’t familiar with push, this is when your mail is automatically notified to you as they come (not just when you launch the app). This lack of push is a big disadvantage for users, like myself, who must reply to emails as soon as they come. This lack can be okay for individuals without unlimited or with very small data packages, where push notifications will drastically eat at their monthly allowance. However, business users will hurt the most. If you feel this is a deal breaker, don’t keep Sparrow off your list for long. I can expect this, along with support for POP to be in an upcoming update within the coming months. It’s too big of a feature to ignore.

Conclusion

To conclude, Sparrow is one of my favorite mail applications across the board. The Gmail focused application seems to work well for me, being that Gmail is my client of choice for work. The Mac application has been a favorite of mine since the start. With the iPhone version, I wasn’t disappointed too much. However, there are a couple of things that prevented me from wanting to use it much past the reviewing period. First, no push notifications is something I can’t live without. Secondly, while I can live without mixing my business IMAP email and personal POP email, not having it as an available feature isn’t good. This also can prevent myself and other individuals from having Sparrow as being their dedicated mail application. The $2.99 price tag seems appealing to me, despite others seeing this as a bad price for that it lacks. I must agree, $2.99 is good for what Sparrow could or is going to be, but not completely what it is now.

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There are other articles out there that talk about Gmail extensions for Chrome. In the list below, I am going to list some lesser known but very useful Gmail extension.

1. Snooze Your Email for Gmail

When you are busy, you may not want to attend to an email on the spot. However, there are times when an email is urgent and need you to look into it soon. One way you can handle this is to snooze the email until later. You have predetermined times and days or you can set something more specific. When that time arrives, you get a little pop-up on your screen to remind you.

2. Temporary Email Alias

There are a lot of uses for a disposable email address so I won’t go into detail on why this is a useful extension. In the settings, you can select how long you want it to be active.

The way Temporary Email Alias works is, right-click on the email address field and select generate an email address. All of the messages will be forwarded to your Gmail account. Tell me that’s not super easy.

3. Send to Evernote

For the avid Evernote user, being able to easily send an email to Evernote with a single click is the best feature of this extension. There are a few other ways to send a webpage to Evernote, but this is the quickest. You will need to have your Evernote email address. If you use Instapaper or just want the page sent to your Gmail account, you have options for that as well.

Once you have the destination set, you can turn on the 1-click option. If this is on, you just need to click the icon to the right of the address bar to send. There are also keyboard shortcuts if you prefer to use them.

4. ezAutoCorrect for GMail

People suck at emailing. When most people type up an email, they spell things wrong and don’t add punctuation. ezAutocorrect will bring some of the features word processing programs like OpenOffice use.

The most important feature ezAutocorrect brings to the table is the replacement of incorrect words, not just underlining them in red. You can also set ezAutocorrect to insert a period “.” and capitalize the next letter automatically when you press the space bar twice.

5. OmniMail for GMail

OmniMail is a great idea. in short, it allows you to send an email right from the Chrome address bar. If you have ever used a service like Tweetbar, OmniMail works in a similar way. To activate an email, you type the word mail into the Chrome address bar.

When you see OmniMail for Gmail in the drop-down, you can select it. Start typing the email address. You can then add in your message and send it. This is great for those quick emails you want to send to someone before you forget.

Conclusion

These lesser known but really useful extensions that combine Google Chrome and Gmail will add some great options to your browser. Extensions like Send to Evernote and OmniMail will save you a lot of time, not to mention you wont need to have the extra apps or windows open.

What is your favorite Gmail extension for Chrome?

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To get started, simply visit RightInbox and install the extension for your browser (Firefox or Chrome).

Next, login to your Gmail and you will be prompted to grant access to the RightInbox app.

Once you are done with that, you are ready to schedule your emails. To do that, just compose an email, set the subject and recipient’s detail, and click the “Send Later” button.

A popup dialog box will appear to allow you to choose the time to send your email. You can also add a specified timing (and timezone) to send the email.

Once scheduled, your email will be placed in the Draft folder and remain there until it is sent. An additional line of “Scheduled to be sent as xx:xx” will be appended to the subject line of the scheduled emails. This allows you to check your Draft folder and see which emails are scheduled and the time they are supposed to go out. Not to worry, when the email is being sent, the appended line will be removed from the subject line.

Conclusion

The features of RightInbox is pretty limited at the moment, but for scheduling emails, it works good and well. According to Daniel, the developer of RightInbox, the service is still in beta and more features like response tracking, improvements for sending large files, finding bulky attachments, email marketing will be added to the service in the future. Until that happen, you can enjoy the free email scheduling service and help RightInbox test its product.

RightInbox.com

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Setting Up Remote Gmail Access

To setup access to Gmail from within Kmail, follow these steps:

1. Login to your Gmail account

2. In the top right corner, click the settings gear icon and then click “Mail Settings”.

3. Click “Forwarding and POP/IMAP”.

4. To enable POP, select either “enable POP for all mail” or “enable POP for mail that arrives from now on”.

5. Choose an option for “when messages are accessed with POP”.

6. To enable IMAP, select “Enable IMAP”. Other settings are optional.

Now, you will need to configure your Kmail client:

1. Start Kmail and go to “Settings -> Configure Kmail”

2. Click the “Accounts” button

3. In the Receiving tab, click “Add…”

4. At this point, you will need to decide whether you want to use IMAP or POP (This example will assume you chose POP).

5. In the “General” tab, enter a name you will use to recognize this account.

6. For “Incoming mail server” type: pop.gmail.com (for IMAP, choose imap.gmail.com)

7. For “Username” enter your complete email address: soandso@maketecheasier.com

8. Enter your password.

9. Click the “Advanced” tab and select “Leave fetched messages on the server”.

10. In the “Connection Settings” section, select “SSL/TLS” encryption.

11. Click “OK”

Now click the “Sending” tab and follow these steps:

1. Click “Add…”

2. Select “SMTP” and click “Create and Configure”

3. For “Outgoing mail server” type smtp.gmail.com

4. Check the box next to “Server requires authentication”.

5. For “Login” type your full email address

6. Enter your password

7. If you want, select “store SMTP password” so that you do not have to enter it each time before you send.

Disclaimer: If you use IMAP or have selected to download all of your previous Gmail messages with POP (perhaps as a backup measure), please be advised that it will download everything. That means if you have been in the habit of not deleting any Gmail message, you could spend the next few hours downloading your thousands of emails.

Simplicity and Security

Kmail offers many email features, such as complex templates, that Gmail cannot. Moreover, you can access your messages offline and have full integration with other KDE apps. By keeping your message on your Gmail account as well, you can have the best of both worlds, accessing your Gmail through Kmail on your computer and still using web-based Gmail when you go mobile.

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Enabling Gadgets

On a default Gmail account, Gadgets will be disabled. To enable it first select “Settings” from the Gmail home page after you have logged in.

This opens up Gmail’s settings page, here select “Labs“.

Finally, check the enable box alongside the “Add any gadget by URL” box and then select “Save Changes“.

To add a gadget, head over to the “Gadgets” tab and paste the URL of the gadget into the box.

Now let us add some fun and useful third-party gadgets.

1. TwitterGadget

Twitter users can be fanatical about keeping up with their tweets. In this respect the TwitterGadget is ideal because it takes up little space and simply displays the latest tweets from those you follow.

Gadget URL: http://www.twittergadget.com/gadget_gmail.xml

2. Facebook

If you prefer Facebook, then be sure to add the gBook Facebook gadget which helps you keep track of all the status updates and notifications.

Gadget URL: http://www.francesco-castaldo.com/fb-gadget/gBook.xml

3. Remember the Milk

Remember the Milk is a useful web service to help keep your life in order. There are mobile and desktop apps and now you can even add a RTM gadget to Gmail itself to ensure you don’t miss an important appointment.

The gadget allows you to add tasks, view your upcoming tasks, and delete completed tasks.

Gadget URL: http://www.rememberthemilk.com/services/modules/gmail/rtm.xml

4. Wikipedia Search

Wikipedia holds the collective knowledge of virtually every person on the internet and now you can tap this database of information straight from Gmail by adding the Official Wikipedia Gadget.

Gadget URL: http://www.google.com/ig/modules/wikipedia.xml

5. Google Map Search

I have lost count of the number of times I have received an email from someone with an address that I need to look-up on Google Maps. With the Google Map Search gadget you do not have to navigate away from Gmail when doing your location search.

The gadget is a very basic version of Maps, lacking some of its newer features.

Gadget URL: www.google.com/uds/modules/elements/localsearch/localsearch.xml

6. Bit.ly URL Shortener

At times some of the links friends share with us become too unwieldy to forward. In these cases simply shorten the link using the Bit.ly URL shortener gadget.

Gadget URL: http://hosting.gmodules.com/ig/gadgets/file/107368512201818821991/bitly-shortener.xml

7. Calculator

No-one really has a physical calculator on their person, but it is often necessary to resort to one when large figures are involved. The Calculator gadget is a simple one that gets the job done.

Gadget URL: http://www.poturi.net/gadgets/calc/calc.xml

Conclusion

There are hundreds of different gadgets around the web. Some web services (such as Remember the Milk) have created their own and supply you with a URL. If you want other gadgets have a look at the iGoogle gadgets directory. To add a gadget from the iGoogle gadgets directory navigate to a gadget of your choice and copy everything after the “url=” tag in the address bar. For example, the Official Wikipedia Gadget for iGoogle has the following URL:

http://www.google.com/ig/directory?type=gadgets&url=www.google.com/ig/modules/wikipedia.xml

To add this gadget to Gmail simply copy the portion after “url=”, i.e.:

www.google.com/ig/modules/wikipedia.xml

And paste it into the gadget URL box in Gmail.

Image credit: Claude

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Even though there are is a lot written about different ways to use Google’s web-based email, it is ever evolving and always something to talk about. Plus, everyone has different ways of using the features. This makes for endless possibilities for you to turn it into your ultimate email program.

Priority inbox

I have to admit, I was not a fan of the priority inbox at first. The problem came from me always feeling like I was missing emails. The truth was, Google was doing its best to figure out what was important to me. After a good bit of training, it sorts things beautifully.

How it works is, it looks to see who you converse with via email. It also watches to see what you open and what you trash without opening. From this point, it’s kind of guesses. You can help Google out by marking emails as important or not important. After a while your Priority inbox will be scary accurate.

I use this as my inbox on my Android. It helps me get what is important while mobile and lets the other stuff wait till I am in front of the computer.

Multiple Inboxes

If you need to keep track of multiple email accounts, there are a couple ways to make it easier. One of those ways is to use the Gmail Lab feature Multiple Inboxes. In the article, you are shown how to add different addresses as separate inboxes. You can also do the same thing using Operators for labels or a specific incoming email address or anything else you can think of.

This is done by adding is:pending as the search query box. This will pull of the emails you have labeled as Pending into an inbox off to the side of your main inbox.

Canned responses

Canned responses are like out of the office replies. The beauty of them is you can have a bunch of canned responses, not just one. You can type up a whole FAQ email for a product you are selling. Use this canned response in conjunction with a Gmail filter and you may save a lot of repetitive emails.

You can use them as an email template, a FAQ reply, or something you can modify easily like a cover letter for sending your resume. Use your imagination and I am sure you can come up with a 101 uses for canned responses.

Message Sneak Peek

*If you are using Multiple inboxes, this feature does not operate as intended.
By right clicking on a message in your inbox, you will be able to preview the message without opening it. This is great for when you are scanning your email or an important message.

Nested Labels

If you are one that needs to use sub-folders, Nested labels is what you are looking for. Once the Lab feature is enabled, you can create sub-folders and sub-sub-folders and even sub-sub-sub-folders if you’d like.

Click on the box to the right of a label and look for Add sublabel to create a new nested label.

Send & Archive

If you are replying to a message that you have already labeled and archived, you can type up your reply and press the Send and archive button if you have this Lab enabled. By sending an email this way instead of simply pressing send, you will save yourself a step or two by not needing to go back and file away the email thread again.

[feedomit][/feedomit]

Background Send

Background Send is a newer Lab that I just found. It didn’t occur to me how much time I was spending waiting for an email to send. This Lab feature lets you move on to the next task at hand while the email sends in the background. Simple yet very cool.

Custom keyboard shortcuts

If you use Gmail a lot, it may be a good idea to set up some custom keyboard shortcuts to help you make repetitive tasks a little easier. There are a lot of them in the list that can offer a lot of time saving. One of my favorite is “Shift-t” which add the conversation to Tasks. I can easily reference the email that spawned the task.

If you would prefer to have it be Shift-a, you can change it to be easier for you to remember. Don’t try to remember too many new shortcuts at one time or you may get overwhelmed and abandon them all together.

Conclusion

There is no right or wrong combination of Lab features,all that matters is how it works for you. NO matter how many productivity techniques you add to your day, it all comes down to focus. Try a few of these and let us know what you think.

Tell us how you handle the huge pile of emails you get everyday in the comments below.

image Kinologik

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While you are working on your computer, it is a big inconvenience to keep checking your phone for text messages and missed calls. Even if you have it on silent, you can feel like you are missing out on something important.

To remedy this, here are a couple of ways to view notifications you may normally only see on your phone.

Android phone notifier

The main reason to use Android phone notifier is so you can stay focused on your task at hand and not worry about missing an important call or text message. You can silence your phone or leave it in the other room while you work so you will not be tempted to check your messages every 5 minutes.

This is a 2 part application. You will need to install this on both your Android device and your computer. Here are those links:

Remote Notifier desktop download link

Remote Notifier phone application download link

Remote Notifier Android Market link

The easiest way to connect is Wi-Fi, which is what I  used for this demonstration. The WI-Fi setting setting on your Android phone can be accessed in the Wireless & networks tab in your settings menu.

If you keep your WI-Fi turned off to conserve battery life and do not want to turn it on when you get home, there is an option to have Remote Notifier turn on your Wi-Fi to send the notification when there is one to send.

Once you have both parts of the application installed, you will need to pair the 2 devices. You will need to make sure both your computer and your Android phone are connected to the same WI-Fi network.

There is an option in the settings on the phone to send a test notification or a PING to the computer.

In the settings, you can choose which notifications you want. You can choose notifications from text messages, phone calls, MMS (picture messages), battery warnings, voice mails and any other 3rd party app that supports this application.

The pop-up appears as a Windows-like system notification.

Google Talk messenger plug-in

Another way to get some of the notifications that would normally show up on your phone is to use a Google Voice plug-in for your browsers. This will display and potentially let you answer the call or reply to the SMS right from your computer.

I personally use the Google Talk messenger a lot these days. It offers video and audio chat options right from Gmail. When someone sends me a SMS or calls my Google Voice number, there is a pop-up on the computer screen. This means I can keep working while I am talking to someone.

Depending on what you do for work or how easily distracted you may be, having pop-ups like these may help you greatly focus on what the task at hand versus wondering is you missed something important.

What other options are there for receiving phone notifications on your computer?

Related Posts:

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1. Boomerang

Boomerang allows you to schedule your emails to be sent at a particular time. It is a great tool for busy people who like to plan ahead of their schedule. For example, if you have an email that need to be sent on Monday morning 6am, you can write the email on Friday night (just before you leave for the weekend) and schedule it with Boomerang to deliver on Monday morning.

2. CloudMagic

CloudMagic is a search extension that can search your mails faster than Gmail itself. On top of that, it allows you to preview and interact with the search results without requiring you to leave your current mail. While composing a mail, you can search for a file (with CloudMagic) in your Google docs and drag the documents from the preview window to the mail to attach it as an attachment. Of all the Gmail apps I have seen, this has to be the coolest.

3. OtherInbox

OtherInbox is an organizer for your Gmail account. Once installed, it will scan your Gmail inbox and sort your emails to various categories (via label). It also has an “unsubscribe” category where all mails placed in it will be automatically unsubscribed. Even if the unsubscribe link does not work, you can be sure that emails from this sender will not appear in your inbox again.

4. Find Big Mail

Find Big Mail helps you to identify the big mails that are taking up tons of storage space. It scans your inbox and sort the emails with file attachments into various folders. Attachment with file size less than 500KB are labelled as “My Big Mail” while bigger than 2MB are labelled as “My Ultra Big Mail”. You can then switch to those folders and delete those big emails to free up storage space.

5. ActiveInbox

ActiveInbox allows you to project manage right within your inbox. You can turn emails into prioritized tasks, set deadline for projects and set reminder for to-do list.

6. Taskforce

Taskforce is a simple app that allows you to convert your emails into tasks and manage them right within your Gmail.

7. AwayFind

AwayFind is an interesting app aimed to bring you away from your inbox without missing the important mails. Instead of checking your inbox all the time, when you receive an urgent message, AwayFind will notify you via your mobile device, a voice call, IM, or even delegate the message to someone you specify.

8. Greplin

Greplin allows you to search your emails without having to login to your Gmail. Other than Gmail, it also supports Google Docs, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Dropbox, Evernote and many more applications. All you need to do is to link up all your accounts with Greplin and you will be able to search them all in one place.

9. SaneBox

SaneBox is functionally similar to OtherInbox, except that it is more aggressive in its approach to achieve zero inbox. It scans your inbox and leaves only the important emails in your inbox. The rest are then sent to the @SaneLater folder where you can read it when you are free. If you have a whole bunch of unread emails, it can instantly reduce that number by half.

10. Emailga.me

Do you need more motivation to clear your emails? The developers at Baydin (the same developers behind Boomerang) created a game for Gmail where you can play while clearing your email. The rule is simple. Clear your emails and you will receive points. The faster you clear, the higher point you will receive. The higher points you have, the higher is your ranking in the leaderboard.

11. Rapportive

Rapportive takes the sender’s email address and performs a search on various social networks. It then displays the sender’s info on the sidebar (the place where Google Ads are shown) so you know who you are dealing with.

What other apps do you use to enhance your Gmail experience?

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One way I have been handling multiple email addresses is to use Gmail as an email hub. The way I will show you will allow you to send and receive emails from your Gmail account.

Note: An important part of this process is being able to forward your email to your Gmail account. Email services like Yahoo do not let you forward your Yahoo mail emails without being a premium or business customer. Please check if you are able to forward your emails to Gmail before you proceed.

I am using Hotmail for my example. The screens you see may vary, but the general steps should be the same regardless of the email program. Even if you have multiple Gmail accounts, this will work.

Part 1: Setting up email forwarding

Once you are logged into your email account, you will need to go to the settings menu. In Hotmail you will need to click on your name in the top right corner of the screen and select “Options“.

On the left side, click on Mail. Once in the Mail settings, you will need to click on Email Forwarding.

In the email forwarding tab, you will see a place to enter your Gmail address. With Hotmail, you will need to check the box telling Hotmail you want to forward your emails to another address. As you can see, there is a note telling you to sign in once every 270 days or your Hotmail account will be cancelled.

If you want to keep a copy of the forwarded email, there is a usually a box you can check to keep a copy on the Hotmail server. Click Done.

Keep your Hotmail account open, you will need to go back to it shortly.

Part 2: Sending from Gmail

After you log into your Gmail account, you will see your name and a gear. Click on the gear to see the mail options. In the drop down, select Mail Settings.

When in the Mail Settings, click on the Accounts and Import tab.

In this tab, about half way down, you will see a section called Send mail as: Click on the tab that says Send mail from another address.

A window will pop up with two text boxes.The first is what you want your name to show up as when you send an email. The second is the email address you want to send from. Fill in the email address and click Next step.

If you are changing email accounts and weening people off the old one, you can choose a different reply-to address here.

The next step is to select the SMTP or outgoing server. I am recommending to use Gmail’s outgoing server for ease of setup. This will save all of your outgoing messages to your Gmail Sent folder.

After you select the outgoing server, you will need to send a verification email to your other email account.

This is why I wanted you to keep your Hotmail or other email account open. When the email from Google arrives in your Hotmail inbox, you can click on the link in the email to verify that you really want to let Google send emails from this account.

Alternatively, you can copy and paste the verification code from the email to the Gmail verification window you last saw.

You should be all set to try a test email. To do this, go to your Gmail inbox and compose a message. In the message composition window, you will now see a drop down option where it displays your email address.

When you send or receive an email from your Hotmail address, the recipient will notice no difference. It will be as though you are logging into your Hotmail account and sending it from there.

What are your tips for managing multiple email accounts?

Related Posts:

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Where can I get Mail Tab for Gmail?

It is a free download in the Mac App Store. Simply type the name of the app into your search field and click Enter. You should see the app in your search results.

Setting Up The App

Let’s begin by setting up your new app. Once it is downloaded, double click on the icon in your dock to open it.

The first time you open the app, you will see a confirmation message, ensuring that the program is allowed to access your Gmail, you have to click on yes if you want to use this app.

Now, you will see a sign in screen. Enter your Gmail username and password. Then click on “Sign in”. Signing in may take a little bit longer with this app then it would with your browser this first time. Just be a little patient, and you will be rewarded. When you here the “ping” noise, you know that you are signed into your Gmail, and can access your messages. You will also hear this ping in the future when you get a new message.

Tip: If you do not want to sign in everytime you launch the app, make sure that the box next to “Remember me” is checked. It should be checked by default the first time that you sign in. If this is a shared computer and you do not want to save your information, then make sure that this box is not checked.

Using The App

Once you are signed in, you will notice an app icon in the upper right hand corner of your screen. To see the messages in your in-box simply click on this icon. Load times may vary.

If you need to view more messages in the list, simply scroll all of the way down to and click the button labeled “Show more messages” and more of your inbox should appear.

If you want to view the contents of a specific message, simply click on it. From here, you can read the message, and then either delete or archive that message by clicking on the buttons. If you do not want to take any action, simply click the “Inbox” button and you will be taken back to a list of your messages.

When you are ready to quit the application, either to go to lunch, or for the day, you can simply click on the small downward pointing arrow next to the message icon. When the menu appears, you can simply click on the words “Quit Mail Tab for Gmail” and you will be signed out of the application and your Gmail account.

Enjoy your productivity!

MailTab For Gmail (iTunes link)

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• Taskforce For Gmail Converts Your Emails Into Tasks, And Helps You To Stay Organized

Taskforce is a Gmail extension that convert your emails into tasks and allows you to manage your tasks right within your inbox. It’s a handy tool to help you stay organized and save you time from toggling between different tabs and sites/applications.

To enable Taskforce, you have to do the following:

1. Go to the Taskforce website and login with your Gmail address.
2. Grant it permission to access your inbox.
3. Install the extension for your browser (Firefox, Chrome and Safari).
4. Login (if you have already logged in, reload the page) to your Gmail.

You should now see the Taskforce bar right below your “sign out” links.

At any point of time, you can click the “+” button to add a new task. There are two fields available, one for the task name and the other for task description.

When reading a mail, you will see two buttons below the Title – Convert to New Task and Add to Existing Task.

Clicking on the Convert to New Task button will bring up the “Add new task” panel with the email title as the task name. There is also an option to add the email sender as the collaborator.

When you have added a task, you can click on the “Tasks” button to check out your list of to-do. From here, you can then edit the nature of the tasks. You can either add collaborators, due date, delay date, comments, or to delete the task. The delay date is one interesting feature that allows you to push back a task to a later date. When the date arrives, it will then be pushed back to the current tasks folder.

After trying out Taskforce, I admit that I have taken a liking for it. I have tried several other task management apps like Google Tasks, Remember the Milk and Toodledo. They are either too simple and without any feature or too complicated for a casual user. Taskforce has just the right mix.

One thing though, there is no mobile version yet, which means if you always check your email on the move (like me), you won’t be able to make use of this service. Other than that, if you are always checking your Gmail, or better still, keep your Gmail opens all the time, Taskforce could just be the right app for you.

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Here to tidy up that situation and provide a neater way of using those Google service is a tool called “Integrated Gmail”.

Introduction

Integrated Gmail (IG) is a browser add-on for Mozilla Firefox. The add-on supports Firefox versions 3.0 onwards. The function of IG is to provide all the Google applications under one interface and make them accessible through Gmail. Thus all you have to do is sign into your Gmail account in Firefox; other services will be opened within Gmail without opening new browser tabs.

Usage

After installing the add-on and restarting Firefox, if you visit your Gmail account you will see something similar to the image below.

Instead of the Gmail interface automatically loading up on the right, you will links to your Inbox, Reader, and Calendar. The Inbox option will display your Gmail inbox in the regular manner. Clicking on the Reader or Calendar links however will open the respective application right there, instead of opening them up in new tabs. For example here is how the Calendar application will look like when its link is clicked.

You can use applications opened under Gmail in the same manner as you would otherwise use them. Minimization links to the right of each application lets you easily expand and collapse an app to reduce the clutter.

Modification and Customization

By default IG integrates only Reader and Calendar with Gmail. Other Google applications can also be added to this list of integration by accessing the add-on’s options. To add other applications click on the ‘Integrated Gmail’ option under the ‘Tools’ menu.

This action will open the add-on’s options.

The ‘Add’ and ‘Remove’ buttons on the right is where you can add /remove more applications. The add button presents the list of all Google apps that can be added to the Gmail integration list.

The bottom arrow buttons can be used to reposition the application shortcuts.

Other settings of the add-on such as collapsible headers and showing favicons can be controlled through the options present in the right pane.

To change application-specific settings, just click on an application to the left and change its respective settings on the right.

Conclusion

Integrated Gmail will prove to be valuable to all Gmail accountholders who use Mozilla Firefox. By proving easy shortcuts to other Google applicaitons within Gmail, this brilliant add-on saves you a ton of time. Give the tool a try and let us know what you think in the comments.

Get Integrated Gmail from here and check out its official website here.

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Setup 2-Step Verification

1. Navigate to your Google settings page.

2. Click on “Using 2-step verification”. This is under the Security section of the Personal Settings column.

3. Enter your Google Account password.

4. Confirm that you would like to use the 2-step verification process. This is an important step and you must read it carefully before carrying on with the rest of the process.

Essentially, the 2-step verification process requires you to enter two pieces of information before you can access your account. Firstly, you must enter your standard Google password. Secondly, a verification code will be sent to your phone which you must also enter.

Setting up 2-step verification means that hackers will be unable to access your account if they only have your password or phone. However, it also means that you would always need to have your phone at hand whenever you want to login to your Google Account.

5. The first step in setting up 2-step verification requires you to enter the model of your phone. Since I have an Android-based smartphone I select “Android“.

6. Next, you must download and install the Google Authenticator app from the Android Market. When you have downloaded and installed the app click Next.

7. Now you are given two options to configure Google Authenticator.

Firstly, you can simply use your phone to scan the QR code displayed on screen.

To do this, click on “Scan account barcode” in the Google Authenticator app on your Android phone, and hold the phone up to the barcode displayed in your browser.

If for some reason you are unable to do this, select  “Manually add account” in the Google Authenticator app. Next, you will be prompted to enter you full email address and your secret “key“.

The secret key can be obtained from the page where you choose your phone model.

Finally, select “Time-based” key and hit “Save“.

Whichever way you choose to use to add your account a verification code will appear on your Android phone in the Google Authenticator app.

Take note of this number and hit Next in your browser.

8. On the next page enter the verification code from above. Once the code is verified and the device is configured, click Next.

9. Your phone is now configured. But, wait! What happens if your phone is lost or stolen? In order to prepare for this contingency Google allows you to add backup options for receiving verification codes. Click Next to set up these backup options.

The first backup option gives you a set of printable codes that can be substituted for the verification code. These ought to be printed and stored in a safe location. Click Next once you have printed out the codes.

Secondly, you can add a mobile or landline number of a trusted friend. Test this number to ensure that the verification code can be received on this device. Click Next once you have configured the phone number.

10. Finally, hit “Turn on 2-step verification” to activate this feature.

Now, whenever you sign into a Google service (such as Gmail) you will be prompted to enter a verification code. You must use the Google Authenticator app on your Android phone to obtain a verification code (NB: the code changes every few seconds). You can also ensure that the device you are currently using remembers the verification for the next 30 days.

Setup Application-Specific Passwords

2-Step verification will now work with your Google Account, however some applications will require a specific password as they do not support the verification code feature. Do the following to set up application-specific passwords:

1. After signing in for the first time you will be informed that you must create application specific passwords to ensure these work with the 2-step verification process. Click “Create passwords” to proceed.

2. On the next page you will see a list of apps you have given access to your account. Below, you can name the app you wish to create a new app specific password for.

3. Hit “Generate password” to see your newly created password.

4. You must now enter this password into that specific app before it works with your Google Account.

De-Activating 2-Step Verification

To de-active 2-step verification, simply navigate to the 2-step verification management page and select “Turn off 2-step verification…“.

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Installation

To install in Ubuntu, add the following repository:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:chuchiperriman/cloudsn

Update and install it:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install cloudsn

Once it is installed, you can activate it via “Applications -> Internet -> Cloud Services Notification“.

Usage

When you first start CloudSN, you should see a plain window (as the image below) with no item in the list.

To add item to the notification list, click on the “New” button. From here, you can choose between Gmail, Google Reader, POP 3, IMAP, Twitter, Identi.ca and RSS feed.

If you are adding Gmail, you can even configure it to check only a particular label. This is a very useful feature. We’ll go into more detail on this later. If you leave the label field blank, it will notify you of all incoming mails.

Once you have added your services, you should start seeing the notification.

To add custom RSS feed to the notification list, you might see an error message like this:

The reason is because the module “python-feedparser” is not installed in your system. To fix it, just install the module via Ubuntu Software Center, or the command:

sudo apt-get install python-feedparser

Restart CloudSN. You should be able to add custom RSS feed now.

Configuration

The configuration option is available at “Edit-> Preferences“. From here, you can configure the interval to check for update and the maximum notifications it should show. You can also select between the Indicator Applet or Status icon. For your info, the Indicator Applet will combine with the messaging applet. This is useful if you wish to save space on your taskbar.

Another useful configuration option is the ability to use Gnome keyring to store your account password. Of course you can also choose to store your password in plain test, but that will make it less secure. If anyone has access to your computer, he/she will be able to view your email password.

How to receive Facebook update via CloudSN

Facebook is not in the list of services supported by CloudSN, but you can easily create a workaround with Gmail label.

Here’s what you need to do;

1. Log into your Facebook account and go to your Account settings. Configure it to send a notification email to your Gmail whenever there is an update (comments, tags, status update, whatever)

2. In your Gmail, go to “Settings -> Filter“. Create a new filter to apply all emails from Facebook.com to the label “facebook” (or whatever label you like).

3. In CloudSN, create a new notification item with Gmail, and set the label to “facebook”.

Now, whenever you receive a Facebook email, you will be notified via CloudSN. This may not be the best method, but at least it works. You can also use this workaround to set notification for various services not supported by CloudSN.

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We’ve discussed labs a few times before, and if you’re not familiar with it, it’s well worth checking out.

When Labs is open, search or scroll until you find Unread message icon, and enable it.

Sometimes, it’s the small things that make all the difference. Enjoy!

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Minimalist Gmail is a Google Chrome extension that gives you the power to strip your Gmail to the bare minimum (if you want to) and customize it to your liking. It is a powerful tool that allows you to change almost every single aspect (of the looks, not the functionality) of Gmail.

Let’s take a deeper look.

First, install Minimalist Gmail from the Chrome extension page.

Once installed, open its options page to view of series of customization options. There are mainly 8 areas where you can configure: General, Notification, Google Bar, Header, Main, Navigation, Chat and Footer.

General – disable the Gmail options icon and change the font and background color of all the buttons.

Notification – Enable favicon unread counter and desktop notification. it can support Google Apps domain as well.

Google Bar – Google bar is the top most bar of Gmail, the place that contains link to your various Google accounts. Here, you can configure whether to show the Google bar and set custom links to appear. For example, if you visit Youtube more often than Google Reader, you can replace the Reader link with your Youtube link. You are not restricted to Google-only sites. You can even change the link to point to an external site.

Header – Fancy your own logo in place of the Gmail logo? Here is where you can change the logo and enable/disable the search field.

Main – The Main section is related to the main message area. You can get it to highlight the starred email and change the background color when hovering over the messages. You can also disable the various icons (starred, attachment etc) and change the behavior of the toolbar. The best part is, you can turn off the ads at the sidebar and the bottom of the page.

Navigation – Control what appears on the sidebar.

Chat – show/hide the chat box

Footer – Toggle on/off the footer links. Most of the stuff are things you won’t take a second look, so you might want to turn them all off.

Here is the screenshot of the before and after Minimalist Gmail customization.

Before:

After

The best part about Minimalist Gmail is that it shows a preview window when you hover over the option. This allows you to see the portion of the site that you are changing before you make any changes. It also saves you the trouble to keep refreshing the browser to see the changes.

Wrapping up

While there are several extensions and userscripts for Gmail, minimalist Gmail seems to be the best out there with plenty of customization options. Even if you are not into minimalism, you still can use it to improve your user experience in Gmail. One caveat though, it is currently only available for Google Chrome. Firefox, IE, Safari and Opera users, sorry, you have no luck here.

Thanks to Jeff Studenski for the tips.

Minimalist Gmail

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These days, most people use a variety of electronic devices every day – computers, smartphones, iPads – you name it. I think the only person left who only uses one computer is my mum.

We all know how difficult it is to keep your information up to date and readily available when we need it. If you’re anything like me, you don’t want to have to remember to update your USB key before you leave the office or email yourself from your work email address to your personal email address… most often you don’t even know what you will need.

Wouldn’t it be great if you could have all your files, bookmarks, emails, passwords, contacts and calendar up to date, no matter where you are or which computer or device you are using? Here is the complete guide to synchronizing your digital life. Set it up once and then forget about it, it’s all automatic! It will take a bit of time to get it organised up front, but it will save you so much time from then on.

First of all we need to answer the question: what are the building blocks that make up your digital life?

I have narrowed it down to:

1. Documents
2. Email
3. Contacts and Calendar
4. Internet Bookmarks
5. Passwords

1. Synchronize Documents

You want to create a document on your office computer, save it before you go home, and then edit it on your home computer at 3am in the morning when you have had that brilliant brain wave.

You also want to be able to get that missing document while you are visiting a client – even if you didn’t bring your computer.

How you do it

There are a number of different file synchronization options available. Dropbox is my preferred choice. It has been discussed at length here, so I will keep it short.

You install a small program on your computer. A new folder is created and everything you place in this folder is automatically synchronized with every other device you own. And you can also access your files from an internet browser by logging on to the Dropbox site.

It is dead easy to use! You can even share folders with other people, so there’s no need to keep emailing each other different versions of a document.

Where to get it & price:

Go to www.dropbox.com and sign up.

You get the first 2GB for free. 50 GB is $9.99/month, 100 GB is $19.99/month.

2. Synchronize Email

Email is here to stay (just ask the Google Wave people). It is still the essential means of communication. And that will not change in the near future.

How you do it

IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol) is the key here. IMAP is a techonology which enables you to synchronize your email with a server instead of downloading it to your computer. And this means you can access all your email from other computers and smartphone too. By storing a local copy on your laptop you can also work with your email offline.

There are many ways of doing this. I recommend you make use of Gmail’s excellent service. You can create a free Gmail account and use this as a central synchronization hub. The benefit of using Gmail is that they support a wide range of mobile devices, so you can get your email on your smartphone too. Another benefit is Gmail’s ability to collect and send email from your other email accounts too, whether webmail or another email client.

All modern email clients support IMAP (some better than others).

In short, the steps for setting up synchronization via IMAP are:

1. Create a Gmail account and enable IMAP (in the settings).
2. Configure Gmail to collect and send email from your other email addresses.
3. Setup your email clients (Outlook, Apple Mail, Thunderbird, Windows Live Mail etc) to connect to your Gmail account using IMAP.
4. Setup your email clients to send email from your other email addresses too.
5. Setup your mobile devices to talk to your Gmail account.

Where to get it & price:

IMAP is a technology and is supported by most (if not all) email clients. So you can use your favorite email client or even a combination of email clients.

You can get a free Gmail account at www.gmail.com.

If you would like detailed instructions on how to set this up, you’ll find easy to follow, illustrated guides at Easy-Email.net (free for 1 email address, $37 for multiple email addresses).

3. Synchronize Contacts & Calendar

We meet more people than ever before. And we have more ways of communicating with those people than ever before. So we need to keep on top of our contact information.

And as we become busier and busier we need our calendar available at all times too.

How you do it

There are many ways to synchronize your contacts and calendars. Most of these are sufficient for point to point synchronization, so if you only ever use one computer and one phone it is easy to keep both synchronized. However once the number of computers increase, it becomes more difficult to keep everything in sync.

As with email, the best way to avoid headaches is to use Gmail as a central synchronization hub. Gmail can synchronize with most devices.

Where to get it & price

Mobile devices:

• A good starting point for contact sync between Gmail and your phone is here: www.google.com/mobile/sync
• Goosync: www.goosync.com (Free Service, Lite Service £8.99/year, Premium Service £19.95/12 months)

For Outlook 2003, 2007 and 2010:

• Companion Link: www.companionlink.com ($39.95)
• Plaxo: www.plaxo.com (45€)
• Soocial: www.soocial.com (Free limited service or $3.99/month or $39/year)
• gSyncit: www.daveswebsite.com/software/gsync ($19.99 per computer)

Thunderbird:

• gContactSync: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/addon/8451/ (free)
• Zindus: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/addon/6095/ (free)
• Google Contacts: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/addon/7307/ (free)
• Google Calendar Tab: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/addon/70768/ (free)
• Lightning: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/addon/2313/ (free)
• Provider for Google Calendar: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/addon/4631/ (free)

Apple Mail:

• Built in functionality in latest releases of Apple Mail (free)

If you would like detailed instructions on how to setup synchronization of contacts and calendar between your email client and Gmail, you can get easy to follow, illustrated guides from Easy-Email.net ($10 or $1 in combination with an Advanced Guide). Available for Outlook 2003, 2007, 2010, Apple Mail and Thunderbird.

4. Synchronize Internet Bookmarks

How many times have you been searching for that site you know you bookmarked only a couple of days ago? Only to find that you bookmarked it on your other computer!

Great news! Xmarks is still alive and kicking! (It was touch & go for a while)

How you do it:

You simply install xmarks in all your internet browsers, setup an account and forget about it. Easy!

Xmarks can even remember which tabs you had open! (Premium version)

Where to get it & price:

Go to www.xmarks.com.

Free for Internet Browsers, $12 per year for mobile devices/premium version.

5. Manage and Synchronize Passwords

Worried about identity theft? Can’t remember your passwords? Re-using passwords and user names across different web sites?

How you do it:

You create an account with Lastpass. Whenever you sign up for a new site, Lastpass will offer to generate a strong password for you and store it securely so only you can access it. Next time you visit the site, Lastpass will fill in the login information for you. This is much more secure than storing login details in your browser. Not only have you increased your security considerably, but you have also made your life easier!

You simply install Lastpass on all your computers and your user names and passwords will automatically be synchronized everywhere. You can even access them via the internet.

Now you only need to remember one password.

Where to get it & price:

Create an account at www.lastpass.com.

Free for Internet Browsers, $1 per month for mobile devices.

Extra Tip for Small Businesses

We run a small two man band business. We write the Easy-Email guides and run the web site. In the company we use Dropbox, Easy-Email and Lastpass to share everything company related. This means we can work on the same documents, respond to each others email when one is away and have easy access to all our company logins for our 40+ web sites. No problem!

Conclusion

I hope this helps save you hassle and increase your efficiency. As mentioned, we use all of these tools daily in our business and I’d hate to think how much time we would waste if we had to go back to how we used to work before.

So go ahead and get your missing pieces of the puzzle set up – then you can kick back and enjoy the freedom to compute from anywhere.

Related Posts:

• Schedule Your Emails to Send Later With RightInbox
• The Beginner Guide to Use GoogleCL
• Backup and Sync your Google Docs with Gladinet
• 5 Alternatives To Android’s Calendar