Gmail Tips: 10 Features to Try Now

If you’re involved in a message thread where everyone “replies all”, there’s an easy way to opt out: Smart Mute.

With Smart Mute, which can be found in Gmail Labs, conversations will only appear in your inbox if a new message in the conversation is addressed to only you, or if a new e-mail in the conversation adds you to the “To” or “Cc” line. Once you enable Smart Mute, it’ll be active across all versions of Gmail—Web, mobile, etc.

Going away? Gmail’s out-of-office feature, called Vacation Responder, will automatically send a response when someone e-mails you while you’re away.

To activate it, choose the “General” tab under “Mail Settings.” Scroll to the bottom and select “Vacation responder on.” Enter the subject of the e-mail you want sent to those who contact you via Gmail, type in a message, set the period of time you will be away and click “Save Changes.”

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Two-step verification is an opt-in security feature that makes your Google account more secure by helping to verify that you’re the real owner. It requires two independent factors for authentication: your password, plus a code obtained using your phone. To enable it, visit your Account Settings page.

Setting up two-step verification can take up to 15 minutes and includes setting up a backup phone and creating backup codes. You’ll be required to enter this code every time you log in to your account.

When you use Gmail’s chat feature, conversations are automatically stored in your Gmail chat history or the history of your contact. If you’re engaged in a conversation that you don’t want stored or searchable, you can take the conversation “off the record.”

Do this by clicking the Actions drop-down menu at the top of the chat window. Select “Go off the record.” Do note that it is possible that people you chat with may still choose to save chat histories in their Gmail settings.