In the midst of a Gmail disaster (more on that later today), Gmail is adding a set of new features for users. These two options began in the ever-popular “Gmail Labs,” and as with most of the Gmail labs, these two new additions allow users to change the way their inbox looks and behaves. Specifically, Google is allowing users to determine which labels should be displayed at which point.
If you’re like me, you have 27 labels (give or take), and it can be a pain to sort through all of them all of the time. To help make this easier, the recently graduated Google features allow users to choose when a label should be displayed. The first of the two features, previously titled “Hide Read Labels,” will allow users to only have their left column populated with labels that have unread messages. For those productivity mongers who use labels as an organizational “to-do list” tactic, this extra is ideal. Additionally, users will be able to show selected labels permanently and some only when they require attention.
The second feature is designed for netbook users, and previously went under the name “Hide Labels from Subjects.” This feature allows users to disable labels in the inbox view, allowing those shimmering subject lines to shine through even on your ten inch netbook screen.
Both of these features can be found in the newly created “labels” tab in the standard Gmail settings. The graduation of these two features continues a longstanding trend of beginning pet project features, which often began during the “20 percent time” of Googlers, in labs and then graduating them to full-fledged default settings. Which lab do you think should hit the mainstream next?
[via the Gmail Blog]
