--- title: Gmail Tips: 7 Secrets I Learned While Working at Google description: Save hours on email. canonical: https://time.com/4177241/google-gmail-tips-2/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-02-12T15:17:49.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:39:21.121Z og:title: 7 Gmail Secrets From a Former Google Employee og:description: Save hours on email og:url: https://time.com/4177241/google-gmail-tips-2/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbbbed9f34b0d6b7b/6987788bf887dc051ce895e1/computer-mouse.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: TIME.com stock photos Computer Mouse og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 7 Gmail Secrets From a Former Google Employee twitter:description: Save hours on email twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbbbed9f34b0d6b7b/6987788bf887dc051ce895e1/computer-mouse.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 7 Gmail Secrets From a Former Google Employee (12 Feb 2016) > Sponsored content. 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Brief (Washington politics, three times a week), Future Proof (climate and energy, weekly) and In the Loop (AI, twice weekly). All are free at time.com/newsletters and together reach more than 1.1 million engaged readers. #### Which TIME newsletter should I subscribe to? It depends on what you follow. For a daily briefing, The Brief. For health, Health Matters. For Washington politics, D.C. Brief. For AI and technology, In the Loop. For climate and energy as a business story, Future Proof. For culture recommendations, Worth Your Time. For how TIME's journalism gets made, Inside TIME. Readers can select any combination at time.com/newsletters. #### Are TIME's newsletters free? Yes. All seven TIME newsletters are free to join at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes TIME's newsletters? TIME journalists write them. Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. by [Rodolphe Dutel / Buffer](https://time.com/author/buffer/) ## Rodolphe Dutel / Buffer Feb 12, 2016 3:17 PM UTC  Elizabeth Renstrom for TIME by [Rodolphe Dutel / Buffer](https://time.com/author/buffer/) ## Rodolphe Dutel / Buffer Feb 12, 2016 3:17 PM UTC My first day at Google in 2011 felt a bit like joining Hogwarts: you’re excited and not entirely sure what you’ll be doing! I was happy to do anything and learn in the process! For the next two years, I was lucky enough to train Google employees on Gmail and to pitch Gmail to companies of all sizes. Although I’m no longer affiliated with Google—I now work at Buffer and on [Remotive.io](http://remotive.io/)—these tips that have a daily impact on my work to this day. Emails are everywhere. According to McKinsey Institute, we spend [close to a third of our work time managing emails](http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/high%5Ftech%5Ftelecoms%5Finternet/the%5Fsocial%5Feconomy): --- > “” --- To help you tame your email, I wanted to share my 7 favorite Gmail tips. While they are not brand new, they have helped and are still helping me save many hours per week on email. **1\. Enable “Undo Send” for last-minute email editing** Ever spotted a major spelling mistakes right after hitting “Send?” Fear no more! Undo Send help you stop your email from sending for a few seconds so you can modify it.  Rodolphe Dutel Find it in Gmail’s “Settings>General” menu.  Rodolphe Dutel It has saved me from many typos and potentially uncomfortable situations! **_Buffer:_**[_18 Tips and Tools for Managing Email Successfully_](https://blog.bufferapp.com/20-tips-and-tools-for-writing-and-managing-email-successfully/?utm%5Fsource=time&utm%5Fmedium=blog&utm%5Fcampaign=syndicated) **2\. Use canned responses to save time crafting** A surprising percentage of the emails we write are somewhat similar, or referring back to something we’ve already sent recently. Those often-typed long messages could be standardized for the most part, and then customized a bit for each individual answer. Compose then save your Canned Responses so that you can retrieve them and reuse at a later time:  Rodolphe Dutel To enable canned responses, find the option in “Gmail>Settings>Labs> Canned Responses.” By using canned responses, my brother and I manually emailed Remotive’s first 1,500 subscribers and customized each email with our contacts’ name and occupation (more on how to see this in tip #7).  Rodolphe Dutel **3\. You can use Gmail offline, too** Another challenge is to keep working while being offline. I love to disconnect and focus on creative tasks, yet often I need to reference back to communications and documents that mostly live in my inbox. For all those train rides, Wi-Fi shortages or sailing trips I use [Gmail Offline](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/gmail-offline/ejidjjhkpiempkbhmpbfngldlkglhimk?hl=en), a Gmail app built to support offline access, allowing mail to be read, responded to, searched and archived without network access.  Rodolphe Dutel Woohoo! Getting to access all those emails (and documents, it combined with Drive Offline) really helps me catching up while I’m on a plane/train/boat. **4\. Pause your inbox to minimize distractions** I really can’t help it — I find “Inbox (1)” very distracting!  Rodolphe Dutel With time, more emails keep coming in and I find it tough to stay focused on what I’m doing… Aaah 10 pending emails! I… must… check them…  Rodolphe Dutel The best solution I can find has been [Inbox Pause](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/inbox-pause/illgajkjilbddcllilfobfbbgmlfkkeh?hl=en), allowing you to work in your own time by holding emails back so they won’t appear in your Inbox until you are ready for them. “Pause” your Inbox, work, then “Unpause” to fetch all new messages.  Rodolphe Dutel **5\. Calm the clutter by unsubscribing** We’re all on numerous mailing lists, and taking control of it can make a nice difference on your Inbox. Meet [Unroll.me](https://unroll.me/), a free tool helping to organize your subscriptions in minutes! After you sign up, see a list of all your subscription emails. Unsubscribe instantly from whatever you don’t want. It took me 4 minutes to unsubscribe to 64 publications, only keeping 27.  Rodolphe Dutel **_Buffer:_**[_The Advantages and Workflows of Fully Transparent Email_](https://open.bufferapp.com/buffer-transparent-email//?utm%5Fsource=time&utm%5Fmedium=blog&utm%5Fcampaign=syndicated) **6\. Keep your Gmail safe with two-factor authentication** Gmail is my hub for all things online! It has all my communications, pictures, documents and phone numbers. As the central node of all my information, other Google and non-Google services connect to it. That means it’s important to keep all that info safe. The best way to keep your Gmail safe is by activating [two-factor authentication](https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/1066447?hl=en), which means that you’ll need both your password _and_ a unique code (via an app or SMS) to access it. (I also use [1Password](https://agilebits.com/onepassword)).  Rodolphe Dutel Many other services such as Dropbox, Apple, Facebook, Twitter, GitHub and Buffer also use two-factor authentication. BONUS — Another security tip to keep for Gmail users who connect from other computers is to be aware that other sessions can be running elsewhere. You can check whether your Gmail has been open elsewhere, and possibly log out with one click. **7\. Get more context with Gmail notifications** When we use WhatsApp, we get delivery notifications:  Rodolphe Dutel When we use Facebook Messenger, we get delivery notifications:  Rodolphe Dutel When you use Gmail with [Sidekick](http://www.getsidekick.com/) (a freemium app), you can get those too:  Rodolphe Dutel I love Sidekick, especially if you are looking for a job, working in sales or are genuinely curious, it takes a lot of guesswork out of emails. Just like with Whatsapp or Facebook, getting context about whether people might have received, read and/or interacted with your email is invaluable! **_Buffer:_**[_How to Send Better Email – Without Second-Guessing a Single Word_](https://open.bufferapp.com/send-better-email/?utm%5Fsource=time&utm%5Fmedium=blog&utm%5Fcampaign=syndicated) _This_ [_article_](https://open.bufferapp.com/gmail-tips/?utm%5Fsource=time&utm%5Fmedium=blog&utm%5Fcampaign=syndicated) _originally appeared on_ [_Buffer_](http://open.bufferapp.com/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4177241/google-gmail-tips-2/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4177241/google-gmail-tips-2/"},"headline":"7 Gmail Secrets From a Former Google Employee (12 Feb 2016)","datePublished":"2016-02-12T15:17:49.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:39:21.121Z","description":"Save hours on email","url":"https://time.com/4177241/google-gmail-tips-2/","keywords":["motto","Google","Technology","gmail","Email","productivity"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbbbed9f34b0d6b7b/6987788bf887dc051ce895e1/computer-mouse.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Rodolphe Dutel / Buffer"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbbbed9f34b0d6b7b/6987788bf887dc051ce895e1/computer-mouse.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"TIME.com stock photos Computer Mouse","caption":"TIME.com stock photos Computer Mouse","creditText":"Elizabeth Renstrom for TIME","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/motto/","name":"motto"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4177241/google-gmail-tips-2/","name":"7 Gmail Secrets From a Former Google Employee (12 Feb 2016)"}}]}] ```