Google gives Gmail YouTube previews, Search Autocomplete, more

Gmail Labs is Google's testing ground for experimental Gmail features. Some of the things that pop up in Gmail Labs are so awesome that after a bit of testing it becomes clear that they should become default features available to everyone using Google's email service. Others, not so much.

Last night Google announced that 6 features were graduating from Gmail Labs into Gmail proper while 5 others were being retired. If you were a heavy Labs user, this news won't really affect you at all -- unless you were using some of the freshly retired features.

But if you tend to just use whatever updates Google pushes your way, this means you now have access to previews of YouTube videos attached to your email, an autocomplete feature in the Search Mail box, and a Go To label feature that lets you quickly open labels/folders with a keyboard shortcut. For instance, typing "g" then "w" would open your "Work" label if you happen to have that label set up.

Gmail now also includes a forgotten attachment detector that will scan your email for keywords to determine if it's likely you meant to upload a file attachment. If there's no attachment, a message will pop up asking if you meant to attach a file.

Users can also now use custom label colors and set "vacation dates" for auto-reply messages when you're away from a computer and unable to respond personally to email.

The Labs features that are no longer available are:

1. Muzzle
2. Fixed Width Font
3. Email Addict
4. Location in Signature
5. Random Signature

Anyone actually use any of those experimental features and sad to see them go?

Tags: gmail, gmail labs, GmailLabs, google, youtube previews, YoutubePreviews