Gmail has come a long way from its initial image of an April fool’s prank to one of the most widely used email services in the world. Two years back, on 5th June, 2008, Google took things a step forward by introducing the Labs feature to Gmail. This feature, a subset of Google Labs, functioned the same way as Google Labs itself – as a testing ground for the latest from the engineers at Google.
What Gmail Labs has to add to the experience depends on the individual user. From add-ons as simple as moving the Chat box to features such that let you ‘Un-send’ a mail, to an add-on that lets you play a game of Snake, there’s a lot on offer, even for the infrequent user. Some of the more popular features have even been made a regular part of Gmail, as we mentioned in our earlier post.
Getting to the Labs listing is simple. Once you log in, click the Settings link on the top right of the screen and choose Labs from the tabs that follow. This should show you the entire list of Labs features available at that point in time.
Keep in mind that most of these features are experimental and are liable to be closed without any real warning. As advised for any other Labs product, keep any sensitive information out of the Beta Testing area.
Now, on to our picks for the best features from Gmail Labs. In no particular order, we present you with what we find the most useful and intuitive of the add-ons on offer.
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Add any gadget by URL
This feature is the definitive mod tool available with Gmail Labs. This tool allows you to add any gadget that is publicly available. Some example gadgets would be the Twitter gadget and the YouTube gadget. -
Superstars
This feature lets you group all your mails up with additional star icons. If you have a large, active contact base, this is the ideal tool to segregate your emails and avoid having to sift through every single mail. -
Undo Send
This has got to be one of the best ideas the engineers at Google came up with. Ever felt a wave of panic swell up after hitting send button by mistake? Well, here is your solution!







