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Gmail tweaks labels, kind of turns them into folders
Probably one of the biggest changes is that users will now be able to drag and drop messages into labels. In other words, you can sort your messages much the same way that you would add them to folders in almost any other webmail system.
Google is also removing the "right-side labels" feature from Gmail labs. The company says the new labels behavior makes it unnecessary. But try telling that to users who have gotten used to their labels hanging out in a sidebar on the right side of their screens.
The new features aren't showing up in my inbox yet, but Google has a way of rolling these kinds of changes out gradually to some groups of users before others. Have you noticed any changes to your Gmail interface? Let us know what you think in the comments.
Comments
28
Subscribe to commentsLicottoJul 2nd 2009 1:30PM
If label assignment is 'too much work' then you REALLY need to discover the keyboard shortcuts!
You click on whichever emails you want to label, then you'd be able to type either 'L' or 'V' to Label (L) or Move (V), then it brings up a label list & you simply type in the label's name.
It's amazing, you REALLY need to turn on the Keyboard Shortcut function!!
Niels van DijkJul 2nd 2009 5:55PM
Thanks for the tip. I'm aware of the shortcuts in Gmail since it's advertised all the time but short keying in a browser is still a weird concept for me and I have no idea why. But your right, I love working efficiently, so this will have to come in handy for me!
roryfynnJul 2nd 2009 8:09AM
I find it amazing how reluctant people are to change. I hardly use labels myself but this feature is, in my opinion, unobtrusive, useful (hides spam etc) and so far doesn't affect my normal emailing operations.
As for the comment above about not seeing the difference between labels and folders... you answered the question yourself by saying that 1 email can have many labels. Unless you copy emails into different folders then you don't get that grouping functionality.
keep the new feature coming google.
Matt S.Jul 2nd 2009 8:09AM
I mentioned that one difference as a positive aspect of having labels instead of folders.
I finally got the new features and I didnt lose the ability to use rich text formatting.. But as a person who uses the labels quite frequently.. The ability to hide some of my less used labels is pretty nice. I never really liked having anything on the right side so loosing the ability to have labels over there doesn't really effect me. I doubt I will be using most of the new dragging features as in my opinion its just as easy to use the move to or label buttons.
phyrexiaJul 2nd 2009 8:09AM
I was really surprised to see those changes this morning. Not bad; but to be honest, what has really changed? It's the same as the "move-to" pull-down-menu, isn't it?
-phy
BebeJul 2nd 2009 1:41PM
This is an awesome implementation on behalf of Google.Those people complaining about stupid Labels are morons. It takes 2 seconds to switch all your labels to the new folder scheme.
Search " Newegg "
Grab ALL mail and add to Folder( label ),
Now all Newegg Email will be in there.
very nice!(borat)
jerzman94Jul 3rd 2009 8:14AM
I had the changes show up today and for the most part, like them. My only comment would be that when a new email is placed into a label, (i archive everything to keep my inbox cleaner), that label should automatically become active instead of staying hidden.
JeffJul 3rd 2009 2:51PM
Now if they would just make conversational threading an OPTION...