The greatest Google Mail feature you may not be using • Hacker News Board

Re: The greatest Google Mail feature you may not be using

#141

Post by hakaaak » Wed, Nov 28, 2012, 5:02 AM UTC

I've accidentally used this feature a number of times, and it drives me nuts.

The greatest feature about Gmail that not enough use is 2-factor auth (even though it is not limited to Gmail- other web-based mail services provide it); it is a pain in the arse, but after you get hacked once or twice, you'll be happy you did it. Popular Saas apps are prime targets for being hacked. It may mean they are safer, but they are also riskier to use. If you're not using 2-factor auth, you should probably not use Gmail, unless a hacker taking control of your account wouldn't bother you or your contacts.

Re: The greatest Google Mail feature you may not be using

#142

Post by raldi » Wed, Nov 28, 2012, 5:52 AM UTC

Tomis02 wrote: post #121

raldi wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have keyboard shortcuts enabled?

No. What does that have to do with anything?

If you typed a stray ! in a GMail window, it would mark a conversation as spam.

Re: The greatest Google Mail feature you may not be using

#143

Post by dewiz » Wed, Nov 28, 2012, 5:53 AM UTC

I often "hit" this feature by mistake because I "mark" the text I am reading. Personally I find it annoying and if I could I would disable it... any help apreciated.

Re: The greatest Google Mail feature you may not be using

#144

Post by carbocation » Wed, Nov 28, 2012, 6:57 AM UTC

jgrahamc - Offtopic, but usethesource.com is down.[1][2] Since it's still being linked from your blog, I assume this is unintentional and possibly went unnoticed.

[1] http://www.usethesource.com

[2] http://www.downforeveryoneorjustme.com/www.usethesource.com

Re: The greatest Google Mail feature you may not be using

#145

Post by masklinn » Wed, Nov 28, 2012, 7:01 AM UTC

jessedhillon wrote: post #130

cpeterso wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've created a poll to collect the reasons why people, like me, select text when they read: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4839436

It needs a "Yes, and I don't know why I do it" option

Indeed it does. An other commenter noted that he did it in a way similar to doodling, just habitual and keeping occupied while reading. That's pretty much my case.

Re: The greatest Google Mail feature you may not be using

#146

Post by paulirish » Wed, Nov 28, 2012, 7:52 AM UTC

The greatest Google Mail feature you're not using is definitely Forward All. Forward an entire thread of emails, in chronological order, somewhere.

Re: The greatest Google Mail feature you may not be using

#147

Post by esalman » Wed, Nov 28, 2012, 7:57 AM UTC

cousin_it wrote: post #40

The greatest gmail feature you're not using is probably "Undo Send", if you're not already using it. I have it set to the longest possible timeout of 30 secs, and would like an even higher value.

Definitely. Saved my arse countless times.

Re: The greatest Google Mail feature you may not be using

#148

Post by unwind » Wed, Nov 28, 2012, 8:03 AM UTC

kibwen wrote: post #78

dice wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you also use your text selection as a bookmark?

I do this to save my spot on a page when I need to scroll up or down, but on Windows you can do one better: scroll anywhere by dragging the scroll bar at the edge of the window, then move the cursor away from the bar and your view will snap back to where you were before you started dragging. It's the single Windows feature I miss the most on other platforms.

Thanks. That's the first time I've ever heard of a use-case that validates that functionality.

I still remember the rage I felt when I switched from the Amiga in 1996 to the PC and found that Windows did that; screwing up a large part of the usability of scrollbars (for me) by adding a (to me) completely incomprehensible requirement for ultra-precise mouse movement or else you get BAM! back to where you started.

Note: not trying to claim that you are in any way "wrong", of course, I'm just pointing out the opposite perspective since I found yours interesting.

Re: The greatest Google Mail feature you may not be using

#149

Post by Tomis02 » Wed, Nov 28, 2012, 8:16 AM UTC

raldi wrote: post #142

Tomis02 wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No. What does that have to do with anything?

If you typed a stray ! in a GMail window, it would mark a conversation as spam.

It's not the case. This is much more serious.

Re: The greatest Google Mail feature you may not be using

#150

Post by mhd » Wed, Nov 28, 2012, 8:55 AM UTC

jjwiseman wrote: post #115

acangiano wrote: post #80

In a related note, I hate how Google promotes top posting even when I select a specific quote.

What's wrong with top-posting? (I've using email since the 90s, and at some point I realized I only disliked top-posting because of its cultural significance--I now prefer it for its functional advantages.)

There's no big difference if the quoted part is small enough and you're replying in one go (although I'd argue that even there it breaks the historic flow of the conversation).

It is a big of a hassle if you want to reply to parts of the original post, Usenet-style (y'know, before "Usenet" meant "less traceable file sharing"). There having the answer atop of each single paragraph you're responding to is seriously weird, it's like playing Jeopardy with email.

Never mind that breaking up quoted text into parts is pretty buggy with gmail, due to the absence of quote chars (replaced by those colored bars).