Gmail Gets 13 Experimental New Features
Gmail Labs: our testing ground for experimental features
Gmail engineers come up with new ideas all the time. Gmail Labs is our place to try them out and get your feedback. None of these features are really ready for prime time yet, so they may change, break or disappear at any time. Learn more about Gmail Labs
If (when) a Labs feature breaks, and you’re having trouble getting into your account, there’s an escape hatch — just go to https://mail.google.com/mail/?labs=0 and Labs will be temporarily disabled.
Quick Links by Dan P
Adds a box to the left column that gives you 1-click access to any bookmarkable URL in Gmail. You can use it for saving frequent searches, important individual messages, and more.
Superstars by Kai H & Julie W
Adds additional star icons. After enabling this feature, you can choose which icons you wish to use in the “General” Settings page.
Pictures in chat by Dave C
See your friends’ profile pictures when you chat with them.
Fixed width font by Keith C
Adds an option to the reply dropdown menu that lets you view a message in fixed width font.
Custom keyboard shortcuts by Alan S
Lets you customize keyboard shortcut mappings. Adds a new Settings tab from which you can remap keys to various actions.
Mouse gestures by Erik A
Use your mouse to navigate with gestures. Hold right-click and move the mouse left to go to a previous conversation, move it right to go to the next conversation, and move up to go back to the inbox view. Works best on Windows.
Signature tweaks by Keith C and Dave C
Places your signature before the quoted text in a reply, and removes the “–” line that appears before signatures. Can’t use this and the “Random signature” Labs feature at the same time.
Random signature by Chad P
Rotates among random quotations for your email signature. Can’t use this and the “Signature tweaks” Labs feature at the same time.
Custom date formats by Emil E
Adds options to the general settings page allowing the date and time format to be changed independent of language. For example, you can use a 24-hour clock (14:57) or show dates with the day first (31/12/07).
Muzzle by Chad P
Conserves screen real estate by hiding your friends’ status messages.
Old Snakey by Dave C
Kick it old school with Old Snakey! Enable keyboard shortcuts and hit ‘&’ from the main page to play a game of snake.
Email Addict by Michael D
Lets you take a break from email and chat by blocking the screen for fifteen minutes and making you invisible in chat.
Hide Unread Counts by Matt M
Hides the unread counts for inbox, labels, etc.