Google Workspace: Gmail - Email Communication

Send and view email

To compose an email, either click the Compose button in the top left corner of the screen, signified by a colourful + icon. Or with Gmail open, and keyboard shortcuts on, just press c on your keyboard.

The image below shows the Compose window that you’ll see when writing a message. You can have it in Gmail or pop it out as a separate window.

As always, you have the To field and the Cc and Bcc buttons to allow you to enter who you want to send the email to. The subject line lets you put the title of the email, the ‘New Message’ text on the title bar will change to the subject so if you minimize the window, you can easily get back to it. Under the subject you can enter the text for the main body of the email. Your signature is at the bottom of the main body.

We’ve numbered the icons in the Compose window and will go through what each one is below:

Minimize – Lowers the Compose window to a small block at the bottom of Gmail.
Full Screen & Pop Out – Clicking makes the Compose window larger. Holding shift while clicking pops the window out of Gmail into its own window.
Save & close – Closes the email and saves a copy of it under the Drafts label.
Send – Send the email. ⌘/Ctrl + Enter.
Formatting options – Opens the formatting menu above, allows you to change font, formatting and location of the text.
Attach files – Attach an item straight from your computer.

7. Insert link – Insert a link to your email.

8. Insert Emoji – Insert an emoji in to the body of your email.

9. Insert from Drive – Attach an item straight from your Google Drive.

10. Insert a Photo – Add an image in to the body of the email.

11. Confidential mode – Allows you to turn Confidential mode on for this email. More information about this feature is in the Extra features page of this guide.

12. Discard – Completely deletes the draft email.

13. More options – Lets you select or change extra settings with the email. Such as Print or set a label.

NOTE – There is no High Priority/Low Priority or similar options for emails in Gmail as there is with other email services. Instead you should use the word URGENT in the subject line of the email. This helps with filters and labels as well as keeping the inbox looking clean.

Schedule Send

Setting an email to send at a specific time is a great tool in any email application. With Gmail, it’s incredibly easy to do, simply write your message and set the recipients but before you click Send, click the little arrow next to the Send button and select Schedule Send.

See new email

New email is highlighted in bold text and a white background. Read email is not bold and with a greyed background. In the example below, the top email is unread and the bottom email has been read. Simply click an email once to open it.

Inbox Types

There are 5 different types of inboxes available in Gmail, you can easily change it when you need to. Each person will find a different type that will work best for them and not all types will work for each person but you can find the best one for you. The 5 types are listed below:

Default

Google scans the content of an email and puts it into one of 5 categories so you can easily find the type of email you need. Categories are Primary, Social, Promotions, Updates and Forums. These categories will be shown as tabs along the top of your email list. Click here to see how Categories work.

Important First

Arranges your inbox so the people you email most are at the top.

Unread First

Puts all your unread emails right at the top of your inbox.

Starred First

Puts all your starred emails at the top. Learn about Stars later on in this guide.

Priority Inbox

Gives you important unread emails and Starred emails together at the top. NOTE – Important unread is any important email that is unread, not all unread emails.

Each type will show different results and may not always show all of your emails. For example, when testing with the Unread inbox type I had 37 unread emails but when changing to the Priority or Important types, I only had 3 unread emails.

You can change this in the Settings menu, by doing the below:

In the top right, click Settings > Settings.
In the Inbox tab, change the Inbox type to your preferred option.

In this area you can also remove the categories from the Default Inbox type.

At the bottom, click Save Changes.

Or, when looking at your inbox you can simply hover your mouse over the inbox button, click the little arrow that appears and select your preferred inbox option here. This method is perfect if you want to quickly switch between two different types. Hovering your mouse over an inbox type gives a description of that inbox on the right.

Preview Pane

By default the Preview Pane toggle is hidden, you can show it by following the steps below:

In the top right, click Settings > Settings.
In the Advanced tab, locate Preview Pane and click Enable.
At the bottom, click Save Changes.

Now with the Preview Pane options enabled, you can turn on the Preview Pane itself. There will now be a new icon added next to the Settings icon in the top right of the screen.

Once you’ve enabled the Preview Pane, another useful setting becomes available. You can stop emails from marking themselves as read as soon as you click on them. This is beneficial if you want to have a quick read of an email but keep it marked as unread so you remember to action it later.#

To enable this, follow the steps below:

In the top right, click Settings > Settings.
In the General tab, scroll down to Preview Pane and select your preferred settings for marking a conversation as read.
At the bottom, click Save Changes.

Conversation View

By default, replies to email are grouped into conversations. Keeping all email together in a thread makes it easier to keep track of them and saves space in your inbox.

If you prefer to separate your existing email from future email as it is in GroupWise, you can turn off conversation view.

Turn off conversation view:

In the top right, click Settings > Settings.
In the General tab, scroll to Conversation View and select Conversation view off.
At the bottom, click Save Changes.

Reply to email

To reply to an email you need to have the email open in Gmail and either press the R key on your keyboard or press the Reply button displayed as a left pointing arrow in on the right hand side of the page.

You’ll then get the reply compose window at the bottom of the screen as you can see to the right. You will have all the same options as a new email but with the email address you are replying to at the top and two extra options on the left.

Firstly, if you click the little downwards arrow next to the reply icon you can opt to forward the message, change the subject of the message or pop out the reply to a seperate window.

Just above the Send button you will also find three horizontal dots, clicking this will let you see the original email below yours.

Snooze

The Snooze feature allows you to delay an email and forget about it for a while until a time that is more suitable for you. The email will disappear from your inbox until the time you selected then reappear at the top of your inbox.

If, after snoozing an email you want to read it before it is due to come back, you can select the Snoozed label on the left toolbar.

To snooze an email, hover your mouse over the email in the inbox and click the little clock icon. You can then select one of the default options that Google suggest of click Select date and time to select your own custom time.

You will also find the clock icon at the top of the screen if you have opened the email.

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