My Technology Guide: Windows, Mac, Linux, Internet, Software, Review » Email

Easily Manage Email Overload With Gmail Priority Inbox

Mezanul — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 15:24:39 +0000

Are you using Gmail or Google Apps as your primary email for communication? Are you facing “Email overload” problem? You will be happy to know that Google is going to help you with the problem with Gmail’s new feature – Gmail Priority Inbox. With loads of emails coming in every day, it becomes really messy and unbearable at times. But, with Gmail Priority Inbox, managing the email inbox will become very easy by helping you kill email overload.

What is Gmail Priority Inbox?

Think Gmail Priority Inbox just like your personal assistant. Priority Inbox helps you focus on the email messages that really matters for you that too without you have to set up complex filters in your Gmail settings. Yes, you can previously do this with the Multiple Inboxes Gmail labs feature, but these new settings make things easier to understand and carry out. The three default sections here are: “Important & unread,” “Starred,” and “Everything else.”

Priority Inbox splits your inbox into three sections: “Important and unread,” “Starred” and “Everything else” As messages come in, Gmail automatically flags some of them as important. Gmail uses a variety of signals to predict which messages are important, including the people you email most (if you email Bob a lot, a message from Bob is probably important) and which messages you open and reply to (these are likely more important than the ones you skip over). And as you use Gmail, it will get better at categorizing messages for you.

Where is Gmail Priority Inbox? I can’t find it.

Gmail Priority Inbox is in beta and Google is slowly rolling it out. Priority Inbox will be rolling out to all Gmail users, including those of you who use Google Apps, over the next week or so. Once you see the “New! Priority Inbox” link in the top right corner of your Gmail account (or the new Priority Inbox tab in Gmail Settings), take a look.

[via Gmail Blog ]

Mozilla Thunderbird 3.1.2 Stability Fix Update Released [Downloads]

Mezanul — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 20:37:55 +0000

Mozilla Messaging has released the new update of the most popular email client Mozilla Thunderbird and now the version is 3.1.2. This releases fixes some stability issues and several user experience concerns.

Thunderbird 3.1.2 fixes the following issues in Thunderbird 3.1.1:

Several fixes to improve stability.
Several fixes to the user interface.

Bugzilla has listed 7 bugs fixed in this new release. Out of the 7 bugs, 2 bugs are rated as major, 4 as normal and 1 as minor. 3 bugs out of the 7 bugs affects only the Windows operating system, 1 of the bug affects the Mac and 1 bug affects the Linux system, and the rest 2 bugs affects all the supported operating systems.

It is always recommended that users keep up to date with the latest stability and support versions of Thunderbird. If you already have Thunderbird, you will receive an automated update notification within 24 to 48 hours. This update can also be applied manually by selecting “Check for Updates…” from the Help menu within Thunderbird application.

Interested users can take a look at the official release notes, or the Bugzilla listing that lists all fixed bugs in the release.

Thunderbird 3.1.2 is now available as a free download for Windows, Mac, and Linux. All Thunderbird 2 users are strongly encouraged to upgrade to Thunderbird 3.1.2.

How To Enable Google Multiple Accounts Sign-in Feature

Mezanul — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 16:17:17 +0000

Google is rolling out a new feature, that will allow you sign in to multiple Google accounts simultaneously from the same browser. When you go to the Google Accounts page, you might see a new option: “multiple sign-in“. If you don’t see this new feature under your Google Accounts management page, then it will probably be enabled soon for your account. Google is slowly enabling the “Multiple Sign-In” feature for all Google users.

If you click on the “Change” link (see screenshot above), Google informs you that this is an advanced feature and that it will only work for Gmail (or Google Mail), Google Calendar, Google Sites, Google Reader, Google Voice, App Engine and Google Code. When multiple sign-in is enabled for all your accounts, a drop-down is displayed next to your email address at the top of the page, so you can quickly switch to another new account of yours.

If you use multiple sign-in, the first account you sign in to will be your default account. If you visit other Google products that don’t support multiple accounts after you’ve signed in, you will automatically sign in to your default account for that product. If you sign out of any Google product while signed in to any account, you will be signed out of all your Google Accounts at once.

Warning: Enabling multiple sign-in will disable Offline products like Offline Gmail and Offline Calendar, as well as any browser bookmarks you’ve set to link to your accounts. If you use Offline Gmail, make sure to sync your offline mail before enabling multiple sign-in so you don’t lose any messages in your outbox. If you would like to continue using Offline Gmail, Offline Calendar, and browser bookmarks linked to your accounts, do not enable the multiple sign-in option. If you have already enabled multiple sign-in, you may disable it.

(Source: Google help center)

Of-course, you can use multiple browsers, Chrome‘s incognito mode, IE8′s “new session” feature, multiple profiles, etc. as explained at this Google’s help center page. This help page also explains that Google’s services didn’t allow you to sign in to multiple accounts at the same time using the same browser as Google uses sign-in cookies that only lets you sign in with one account at a time.

But with the implementation of the new Google feature “multiple sign-in” is going to make things easier. You can easily now read your messages from two or more of your Gmail accounts by opening Gmail in different multiple tabs.

Thanks to Google Operating System for the update.

Gmail Now Supports Rich Text Signatures

Mezanul — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 19:57:11 +0000

Gmail users have always wanted to have rich text signatures, after all they look cool, aren’t they? Google has finally heard the users and as of today Gmail users can use a rich text signature. This means that users will no longer be forced to use boring plain text to end their emails. Gmail users can now add links and images to the signature, as well as change the text’s format, font and color and make them more lively!

To change your boring plain text signature into rich text signature, simply login and click on “Settings” and scroll down to the “Signature” section. You’ll see a new signature editor that has the same functions when you compose an e-mail.

What’s even better than being able to use rich text signatures is that you can now use a different signature for each custom “From:” address you use. So, if you have more than one e-mail address associated with your Gmail account, you’ll be now able to choose a different signature for each one using the drop-down menu (Note: You will not see the menu, if you have only one e-mail address associated with your Gmail account).

Remember, if you want to use these cool new features, then you will have to use the rich version of Gmail. Lite version of Gmail, that is, the HTML and mobile versions of Gmail do not have any support for these two features. A plan text version of your primary account’s signature will continue to be used on these other versions of Gmail.

via Gmail Blog

Email Client Mozilla Thunderbird 3.1 alpha (Lanikai Alpha 1) Released

Mezanul — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 21:33:34 +0000

Mozilla Thunderbird is a very popular desktop email client. Thunderbird email software was recently updated by its developers, Mozilla, to version 3. The update brought many new features and notable changes like better email account integration and configuration options, global search option, etc.

The next version of Thunderbird will be version 3.1 and the first alpha release, codenamed “Lanikai Alpha 1” confirms this. Mozilla has asked interested users to test the new alpha release version of the email client and give their opinion. The developer has also warned anyone from installing the email client in a productive environment as it is an alpha version that can contain bugs and other performance issues.

The most notable changes, according to the release notes, in Thunderbird 3.1 alpha are as follows:

Several improvements to IMAP.
Several fixes for Smart Folders, message filters, and attachment handling.
Several design improvements and corrections to the user interface.
Download Manager is now accessible as a menu item (Tools > Saved Files).
Stability and memory improvements.

Bugzilla lists a total of 147 bug fixes and changes in Thunderbird 3.1 alpha of which 2 have been rated as blockers (highest rating) and 14 as critical. Several of the critical bugs fix issues when updating from Thunderbird 2 to Thunderbird 3. Others fix crashes and fix other issues.

If you are interested in trying out Thunderbird 3.1 alpha then you can download the email client from the official Mozilla Messaging website.

Before installing, make sure your computer meets the system requirements. Please note that Lanikai Alpha 1 no longer supports versions of Windows prior to Windows 2000 (e.g. Windows 95, 98, ME, and NT) and Mac OS X versions prior to 10.4 Tiger. Linux requirements have also changed. Do make sure that compatibility mode for unsupported Windows platforms is disabled for the Thunderbird executable in Windows.

Gmail is Down Again

Mezanul — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 15:24:40 +0000

Gmail is down again this morning. Frustration is spreading quickly via Twitter, as some users can’t access their email at all, while others are facing problem accessing their contacts and using chat.

Google has acknowledged the problem on their app status page:

We’re aware of a problem with Google Mail affecting a small subset of users. The affected users are unable to access Google Mail, but we’ve provided a workaround below. We will provide an update by September 24, 2009 8:59:00 PM UTC+5:30 detailing when we expect to resolve the problem. Please note that this resolution time is an estimate and may change.

You can access Gmail via IMAP.

The latest update on the situation can be found here.

Mozilla Thunderbird 3 Beta 4 Released

Mezanul — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 18:09:32 +0000

The Mozilla Thunderbird development team (Mozilla Messaging) has released beta 4 of the upcoming Thunderbird 3 desktop email client. This new version of is available for download at the Mozilla Thunderbird website and are available for all supported operating systems like Microsoft Windows, Linux and Apple Macintosh and languages.

This release comes with many new features and improvements including a new email search feature with advanced filtering options, global search with autocomplete feature, smart folders, tabbed email messages, new add-ons manager (Tools > Add-ons) which can now be used to find, download, and install Thunderbird Add-ons which includes Extensions, Themes, and Plugins, improved address book, better Gmail integration with better recognition and integration of Gmail’s special folders such as Sent and Trash including non-English versions of Gmail and integration into Windows Vista’s search results. For Mac users, Thunderbird 3 beta 4 can import from Mail.app, read your OS X address book, and use Growl for new mail alerts.

Improvements have been made to overall performance and stability as well as web compatibility and sustainability. The way IMAP connections are handled has been improved in this version of Thunderbird as well. Thunderbird can now download IMAP messages by default in the background to allow for faster message loading and better offline operation.

Users who are interested in the new version and want to test the new features can download it from the Mozilla Thunderbird website. As this release is still a beta version, the usual precautions should be taken and should not be used in a production environment. The full release notes can be found at this link.

Mozilla Thunderbird 2.0.0.23 Includes Critical Security Update

Mezanul — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 20:00:33 +0000

The Mozilla Thunderbird development team has released an important update for the Mozilla Thunderbird email client. This upgrade includes one critical security fix that was reported by security researcher Dan Kaminsky. Compromise of SSL-protected communication vulnerability allows an attacker to obtain certificates that would function for any site they would like to target. More detail information about this vulnerability is available here.

Mozilla Thunderbird should automatically download the update upon its next start up. You can also manually update using the Help > Check For Updates function in the email client or visit the Mozilla Thunderbird website to download the update. This vulnerability was not only affecting the email client but also other Mozilla products including Firefox. Though this has been fixed in Firefox 3.5, Firefox 3.0.13, Thunderbird 2.0.0.23, SeaMonkey 1.1.18, NSS 3.12.3. So make sure that you are using the updated version of all the above products.

The release notes to this update is available here. Download link for all languages and system is available here.

Recover Your Google Account Password via Text Message

Mezanul — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 23:20:45 +0000

With a single Google Account you can use all the Google services including the important ones like Gmail, Google Adsense or AdWords, Googe Docs, etc. So you can imagine what will happen if you happen to forget the password or the associated email address or worse loosing your account by a successful hacking attempt. The common security options to avoid this scenario are a secondary email and a security question that can be used to recover a Google account. But now Google users are having another secure option to recover their password. Google recently added the ability to recover your password via text message.

To turn this on for your account, just sign in, select ‘Change Password Recovery Options,’ enter your cell phone number and click ‘Save.’

Next time you forget your password, enter your user name on the password-assistance page, and Google will text you a recovery code. No need to check another email account or even leave the page.

In general, it’s a good idea to add as many password recovery options to your Google Account as possible, like a secondary email address and security question. And don’t forget to keep them up-to-date. [ From the Official Gmail Blog]

Image courtesy: Official Gmail Blog

My Technology Guide: Windows, Mac, Linux, Internet, Software, Review » Email

Easily Manage Email Overload With Gmail Priority Inbox

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