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How to customize mass mailings in Gmail

Physical mass mailings can be easily personalized through MS Word and other programs, but it can be trickier to tailor mass e-mails.

A consulting firm called IT4SmallBusiness whipped up a simple e-mail merge tool in the form of a Google Docs template. One caveat: Gmail doesn't like its users to send out too many messages at once, spam being the nuisance that it is, so you may need to either limit your mailing or space them out over hours or days. Here's how to use the tool:

Make sure you're logged on to Gmail and Google … Read more

How to use Gmail for iOS

After a false start, Google released an updated version (1.0.2) of its Gmail app for iOS earlier this month.

The update fixes the error message users of the original app the received upon startup, but the app is still limited. There isn't support for multiple accounts, for example, and it doesn't make use of iOS 5's Notification Center. (The only notifications you receive when a new e-mail arrives are a sound and badge notifications.) The app does, however, feature search, labels, and attachments. There has been no shortage of criticism of the app, so let's take quick look at what Gmail for iOS can do.… Read more

How to schedule Gmail messages to be sent later

E-mail is hardly instantaneous--just ping an IM buddy or ring up a friend to see the difference. Still, it can feel that way, as most of us hit "send" as soon as we're done writing. Sometimes it can be handy to make use of that lack of immediacy, but scheduling e-mails can be a pain. Enter Boomerang, a sleek Firefox and Chrome extension that permits complex scheduling of Gmail messages and more. Here's how to use it:

Install Boomerang here.Once the add-on is loaded, reload Gmail. Compose a message you want to send … Read more

Google future-proofs your e-mail, documents from spies

Google is strengthening the encryption on Gmail and other services so that messages stored today can't easily be decrypted later by faster computers using brute force methods.

The company is enabling what is called "forward secrecy" by default, Adam Langley from Google's security team, wrote in a blog post yesterday.

"Most major sites supporting HTTPS operate in a non-forward secret fashion, which runs the risk of retrospective decryption. In other words, an encrypted, unreadable email could be recorded while being delivered to your computer today," he wrote. "In ten years time, when computers … Read more

Google fixes Gmail iOS app but users still critical

Google's latest update to its Gmail iOS app fixes a glitch in the first version, but many users are still giving the app a collective thumbs-down over its limited functionality.

Released yesterday, the new 1.0.2 version of Gmail for iOS squashes the original bug that broke notifications and displayed an error message upon launch. The update also sizes images from HTML messages so that they properly fit the screen.

Users still running the original version are advised to uninstall or at least log out of it before installing the new version.

The app now launches smoothly without … Read more

Gmail hits the mark, mostly

Gmail for iOS is the official e-mail client from Google for iOS, and it's mostly a solid offering with only a couple of issues. The initial release got off to a rocky start with notification errors, but a subsequent release seems to have ironed out the major problems.

Obviously, the Mail app that comes with your iPhone lets you connect to Gmail accounts, but with the official app from Google, you'll get a few more options that you may have come to rely on when using Gmail. Get started by creating a new Gmail account or logging in … Read more

Once-buggy Gmail app for iOS returns to the App Store

After what can only be described as a poor start for Google's much-anticipated Gmail app for Apple's iOS platform, the software has returned.

The app, which was released earlier this month and then yanked almost immediately, had a bug that Google said broke notifications. It also served up an error message the first time users fired it up.

"We've fixed the bug and notifications are now working, and the app is back in the App Store," wrote Matthew Izatt, Gmail's product manager in a post this morning.

Izatt added that the app has also … Read more

Google pulls plug on Gmail App for BlackBerry

Google is to stop supporting the native Gmail app for BlackBerry smartphones later this month.

The company said in an "end-of life announcement" that the app will be effectively killed off on November 22, as Google has "focused efforts on building a great Gmail experience in the mobile browser" instead. (See related: "Google unveils, then yanks, Gmail app for the iPhone")

No one will be able to download the app from November 22 onward, although those who have already installed it will be able to continue to use it--just without any support from Google. … Read more

Regarding that iOS Gmail app: Google, do better

At Google, the bungling of the iOS GMail app launch goes deeper than the bugs the first, short-lived version of the app threw off when it was fired up. The app is unfortunately a typical product from Google's Mail group: It has most of the useful features you want, but it's missing the one or two you need. And it's designed for engineers. With fingers the size of pipettes.

Its competition is the e-mail app built into every iOS device. That app is by necessity general; it works on almost every e-mail back-end there is. It lacks … Read more

Looks like Google borked its first iPhone Gmail app

Hours after launching the hotly anticipated Gmail for iPhone app (and for all iOS devices), Google pulled the broken app from the Apple App store and apologized on Twitter.

"The iOS app we launched today contained a bug with notifications," the tweet reads. "We have pulled the app to fix the problem. Sorry we messed up."

Google later followed up with an official statement:

Update: 11/2/11: Earlier today we launched a new Gmail app for iOS. Unfortunately, it contained a bug which broke notifications and caused users to see an error message when first … Read more