MacMost Now 734: Understanding Gmail

When users first switch to Gmail from an older email service, it is hard to understand the concept of labels and an All Mail folder. With Gmail, you wouldn't typically delete email, but simply add or remove labels. These labels look like folders when you use Apple's Mail program, but understanding how they really work will help you use your Gmail account.

Comments: 13 Responses to “MacMost Now 734: Understanding Gmail”

    Rhonda
    12 years ago

    What happens when you hit delete in mail on your gmail acct? Does it go to archived? also, I don't see those folders on the side bar - how can I find them?
    thanks
    Rhonda

      12 years ago

      Delete should remove all labels, so you will still find it in All Mail -- but check. You should see all of those folders in the Mail app. Look for it on the left sidebar and you might need to expand the [Gmail] category.

    Henry
    12 years ago

    How does this work if one has MS Office for the Mac?

      12 years ago

      Not completely sure. You mean if you use Outlook instead of Mail? Try it and see.

    Kris
    12 years ago

    Hi Gary - I've been using Gmail for about 6 months and my big disappointment is that when I want to forward an email (e.g. a joke) and I want to select the people I want to send it to (I don't want to have to type in the name or the start of the email address of the person and let it automatically complete, but instead choose from a list of contacts, as you can in Hotmail), is this possible in G-mail? Have I missed something basic?

      12 years ago

      If you are talking about using Gmail in the Mail app, then it is no different than using any other email system. You can create a group of contacts in the Address Book app and add them to a Group, and then send to the grounp.

    R J Reynolds
    12 years ago

    This is the most complicated convoluted way of dealing with a hundred emails just come in. 98 want immediate deletion. On a PC running Outlook Express (yes that old dog), hold down the shift key, select the whole batch and zap they go into the deleted folder, so repeat and they're gone, You know the drill. So why use the GMail way you just described, as though some significant part of your inbox was worth paying attention to? Most is SPAM.
    I simply don't get it...why Apple and Gmail invent these convoluted systems. I won't be using them.

      12 years ago

      You can do the same thing with Gmail in Mail, or any email system in Mail. You can select multiple and delete. I'm not sure what you are getting at with your comment.

    zenaugie
    12 years ago

    I have more than one on-line email account. Gmail is my primary account used with Mail and stand alone(I use Fluid, so email is in my dock as well). It's a rare day when I get spam and it's never in the inbox. It's in the Spam folder. What a novel idea.

    Incidentally, my other online account gets hundreds of spam emails a day.

    Andy
    12 years ago

    Gary, so the only way to add "folders" in the Gmail segment of Mail is to create new labels in Gmail? Also, if you delete the Gmail label/folder in Mail, will it delete it and its contents for the web Gmail account too?
    Thanks, Andy

      12 years ago

      No, you can do it in Mail by creating a new mailbox under the [Gmail] mailbox. If you remove that label from all messages and delete it, I suppose it should disappear from Mail once everything syncs up.

    Linda Jacks
    12 years ago

    Gary, The thing I'm not clear on: In Gmail can something like messages from an online book group be pre-labelled (in other mail apps they get rules), so that they automatically go to their labelled "folders"? Or would I have to label everything that comes in again and again?

      12 years ago

      You can do it one of two ways. If you only use Mail to read your Gmail, you can use Mails rules just like you would with any other email service. In addition, you can also go into Gmail's web interface and use Gmail's "Filters" function which works in a similar way.

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