A little gentle ribbing ensued, with various amused and/or annoyed journalists teasing the sender of the email for his mistake. Pretty soon, though, there were dozens of replies, some of them from people begging for the message thread to stop.

Here’s the perfect scenario for Gmail’s “mute” feature, which lets you silence an email message thread that keeps going, and going … and going.

You can mute endless email threads directly from the Gmail app for Android and iOS.

Once you’ve muted a conversation, new messages in the thread will skip your inbox and head straight to your All Mail archive.

Of course, there’s a downside to muting a conversation: namely, that you’ll miss a direct question from someone—like, say, your boss—in the message thread.

That’s why it’s probably best to only mute conversations along the lines of “What a cute baby!” or “Congrats on the new gig!,” and not those of the “Mission-critical project” variety.

That said, keep in mind that Gmail will automatically send a muted thread back into your inbox if you’re the only person in the “To:” line of the conversation.

So, ready for some peace and quiet?

Let’s get started…

• To mute a conversation, select it in your Gmail inbox, click the More button near the top of the page, then select Mute. If you have Gmail keyboard shortcuts enabled, you can also check the box next to a conversation and tap the “m” key.
• You can also mute a conversation using the Gmail app for Android or iOS. Just tap the thread you want to silence, tap the three-dot button (Android) or the down arrow (iOS) in the top-right corner of the screen, then tap Mute.
• Want to “unmute” a conversation? Type “is:mute” into the Gmail search box to see a list of all your muted conversations, select the muted message you want to unmute, then move it back to your inbox. Once that’s done, the message should be automatically unmuted, but you can double-check by opening the thread and making sure there’s no “Muted” label near the top of the latest message.

Click here for more Gmail tips!

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Read on for six nifty Gmail tricks that your Android phone can do, from an easier way to sift through recent e-mail conversations to a setting that’ll help declutter your inbox.

1. “Mute” an endless Gmail thread

Ever found yourself CC’d in an email thread that just keeps going, and going … and going? Make it stop!

If you’re a Gmail user, there’s an easy way to silence—or “mute,” as the feature is called in Gmail—any email conversation that you’d rather not be a part of.

“Muted” Gmail threads skip your inbox and head directly to your “All Mail” folder.

Once you’ve muted a conversation, new messages in the thread will skip your inbox and head straight to your All Mail archive.

Worried you’ll miss a message directed just to you? If so, keep in mind that Gmail will automatically send a muted thread back into your inbox if you’re the only person in the “To:” line of the conversation.

So, ready for some peace and quiet? Here’s what you do…

• Just open the Gmail app, then select the message thread you want to silence.
• Tap the three-dot Menu button in the bottom-right corner of the screen, then select Mute.

Change your mind about muting a thread? No problem.

• Tap the Search button, then type “is:muted” into the search box to reveal all your previously muted threads.
• Open the thread you’d like to unmute, tap the three-dot menu button in the top-right corner of the screen, then select Move to Inbox. Doing so will delete the “Muted” tag that silences a Gmail conversation.

2. Swipe from one message thread to the next

Unlike the Mail app for iPhone, the official Gmail app for Android phones lacks an obvious way (like, say, a pair of arrow keys) for navigating from one email directly to the next.

Want an easier way to switch from one Gmail thread to the next? Just swipe.

Given that, I’m guessing plenty of Android users (myself included) have been repeatedly tapping their way back to the inbox whenever they’re done with one message and want to skip to a new one.

Well, guess what: there’s a much easier way to jump directly from one message thread (or “conversation,” as they’re called in Gmail) to the next.

Just swipe.

Specifically, you can swipe from left to right to skip to a more recent thread, or from right to left for an older one.

3. Automatically advance (or not) to the next conversation

Want to jump automatically to the next Gmail thread after deleting or archiving the current one? Here’s the trick.

• Tap the Inbox button in top-left corner of the main Gmail screen, then swipe all the way down, tap the Settings button, then tap “General settings.”
• Tap “Auto-advance,” then select “Newer” (to advance automatically to a newer thread after deleting/archiving the current one) or “Older” (to back up to a previous conversation).
• Rather jump back to your list of threads? If so, select “Conversation list.”

4. Shrink wide messages to fit the screen

Ever find yourself swiping back and forth on your Android display just to read a sentence in a Gmail message? Annoying, right?

You can set Gmail to display the entire width of ultra-wide messages.

That’s because Gmail for Android zooms in a bit on some email messages—mainly those with large images, banners, or other graphics—so they’re easier to read.

The only problem with the zoomed messages, though, is that the actual text tends to spill off the side of the screen, meaning you’ll need to swipe to back and forth to complete a sentence.

Want to save yourself the trouble? All you have to do is tweak a single setting.

• Open Gmail on your Android phone, tap Inbox in the top-left corner of the screen, swipe all the way down and tap Settings, then tap General Settings.
• Tap the checkbox next to the “Auto-fit messages” setting.

Now, go back and open a few Gmail message—and when you do, you’ll notice that the width of each message fills the screen, no swiping required.

Of course, shrinking your Gmail messages to fit the screen may result in teeny, tiny text—but if that happens, you can always “pinch” the screen to zoom in.

Sure, you’re swiping again, but at least you won’t have to swipe unless you really need to.

5. Set an “out of office” message

So, your bags are packed, you’re in the airport and you’re about to step on a plane heading for someplace warm, and then it hits you: you forgot to activate an “out of office” message for your email account.

Wish you could set an “out of office” message from your Android phone? You can, actually.

Well, if you’re using Gmail, good news: Gmail for Android recently added an auto-responder feature that lets you set up an “out of office” message directly from your Android phone, no PC or Mac required.

Here’s how…

• Launch Gmail, tap Inbox in the top-left corner of the screen, select the Gmail account for which you’d like to set up an “out of office” message, then scroll all the way down and tap Settings.
• Tap “Vacation responder,” then enter a starting date, and end date, a subject line (“Gone fishing!”), and a message for anyone who tries to email you during your well deserved break. You can also check the box next to “Send only to my Contacts” if you only want your family, friends and colleagues to know you’re away.
• Flip on the switch next to “Vacation responder,” tap the Done button, then sit back and relax. You’re on vacation!

6. Hide “sender” images from your inbox

A recent Gmail update added little profile images next to the message threads in your inbox, a nice touch for those who want their conversation lists to look a little more like a chat window.

Annoyed by the little “sender” images (circled) in your Gmail inbox? They’re easy to hide.

The thing is, though, that messages without a proper “sender” image (which are typically culled from Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and the like) get a little colored square with an initial. For some, that’s a nice design touch; for others, though, the color-coded squares add nothing but clutter.

Want to hide those sender images from your inbox? Here’s how…

• Again, tap the Inbox button in the top corner of the screen, scroll all the way down and tap Settings, then tap “General settings.”
• See the “Sender image” setting? Clear out the checkbox to keep those little thumbnails hidden.

Click here for more Android tips!

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Hi Charles! Well, the answer to that question depends on the type of email account you’re using—and yes, things may get a bit technical here, so bear with me.

While email services like Gmail, Yahoo, and Outlook have their own features, user interfaces, and other bells and whistles, they all use (for the most part) the same types of email “protocols” when it comes to delivering messages to external mail clients—you know, like the Mail program on your Mac, or your iPad’s Mail app.

Two of the most common protocols are POP (short for “Post Office Protocol”) and IMAP (“Internet Message Access Protocol”), and there’s an important difference between the two.

IMAP lets you sync messages and mail folders between your email provider and your desktop and mobile clients, while POP merely lets your email client “fetch” new messages from a mail server—no syncing allowed.

For example: with an IMAP email provider, if you read a message on your Mac and then move it into your “archive” folder, the message will also be neatly filed away on your iPad. With a POP provider, though, the messages you read and archive on your Mac will still show up as “new” messages in your iPad’s email inbox.

Now, as long as your email provider supports IMAP—and most big email services do, including Gmail, Yahoo, and Outlook—the messages in your desktop client should sync up with your iPad.

As long as your email provider supports IMAP, you should be able to sync your email between multiple devices.

All you have to do is look up the right IMAP settings for your mobile and/or desktop email client. Just search your provider’s “help” pages, or go here for Gmail, here for Outlook.com, or here for Yahoo Mail.

OK, but what if your email service only supports POP email? (And yes, that’s still the case for some providers, particularly the smaller ones.)

If so, bad news: you won’t be able to sync email between your Mac and iPad (or between, say, your PC and an Android phone).

So if email syncing is important to you (and it sounds like it is), it might be time to consider jumping ship for a new email service.

Hope that helps, Charles. Still have questions? Let me know!

Bonus tip

Most modern email clients should configure your mail accounts automatically, no advanced settings required.

For example, both the Mac Mail client and your iPhone or iPad should be able to connect to a Gmail account—IMAP settings and all—once you enter your Google username and password.

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Well, if you’re using Gmail, good news: Gmail for Android just added an auto-responder feature that lets you set up an “out of office” message directly from your Android phone, no PC or Mac required.

You can now set an out of office message directly from the (updated) Gmail for Android app.

Here’s how…

• First, you’ll need to install the latest version of the Gmail app. Launch the Play Store app, open the sidebar (tap in the top-left corner of the screen) and navigate to the “My apps” section, then tap the green Update All button to install any pending app updates, including (potentially) Gmail.
• Next, launch Gmail, tap the three-dot menu button in the top-right corner of your screen, tap Settings, then tap the Gmail account for which you’d like to set up an “out of office” message.
• Tap “Vacation responder,” then enter a starting date, and end date, a subject line (“Gone fishing!”), and a message for anyone who tries to email you during your well deserved break. You can also check the box next to “Send only to my Contacts” if you only want your family, friends and colleagues to know you’re away.
• Flip on the switch next to “Vacation responder,” tap the Done button, then sit back and relax. You’re on vacation!

Looking for more Android tips? Click here!

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Buried in the list of color, HD, and “classic” Gmail themes is a pair of customizable themes that let you upload your own images—perfect for decorating your Gmail inbox with vacation photos, art shots, baby pictures, you name it.

Click the gear icon and select “Themes” to get started with your own custom Gmail background.

You can upload photos from your desktop, your Google+ account, your Android or iOS device (assuming you have the Google+ social app installed), or you can even plug in the URL or a photo from the web.

Here’s how…

• Open Gmail, click the gear icon in the top-right corner of the screen, then select Themes.
• Scroll down to the Custom Themes section and click either “Light” (for a lighter-looking Gmail inbox) or “Dark” (for a slightly darker inbox). Don’t stress about which one to pick; you can easily change your mind later.
• As soon as you click, a pop-up window titled “Select your background image” will appear. Click “Upload photos” in the left column to upload an image from your desktop, or click “My photos” to select pictures from your Google+ profile. You can also click “Paste a URL” to grab an image from the web, or “Photos from phone” if you have the mobile Google+ app installed with “Instant Upload” turned on.


You can upload your own Gmail background images by selecting either the “Light” or “Dark” custom theme.

• That’s it! Within a second or so, the image you selected will become the background for your Gmail inbox.
• To change your custom background, go back to the Themes setting and click “Change your background image” under the “Custom Themes” heading.
• You can also switch your custom theme from “Light” to “Dark” by clicking the appropriate icons—and no, you won’t have to upload your photo again if you do so.

Bonus tip

Want to delete an image you uploaded for your Gmail background? Just go to your Google+ profile (click your name in the top-right corner of the main Google page), move your mouse over the Home icon, click Photos, click the photo you uploaded, then click the Trash icon near the top of the page.

Looking for more Gmail tips? Click here!

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What gives?

You can get the Gmail version of the Google Voice dialer back in just a few clicks.

Well, good news. The Google Voice dialer hasn’t been permanently yanked from Gmail; in fact, you can get it back right now in just a few clicks.

Here’s how…

• Open Gmail, then click your chat icon in the left column of the Gmail interface. If you don’t see your chat icon, click the little Hangouts button (it’s the bubble stamped with quotes) in the bottom-left corner of the Gmail window.
• In the drop-down menu that appears, click the “Revert to old chat” option (it’s at the very bottom of the menu).
• Next, you’ll see a pop-up notification warning that you can’t have the old Gmail chat feature and Hangouts active at the same time. If you’re OK with that, go ahead and click the “Revert to old chat” button.
• And, presto! The old “Call phone” button will appear right next to your chat icon. Click it to launch the dialer, then start making some calls.

Bonus tip

So, want to go back and try Google Hangouts after all? Just click your chat icon again, then select “Try the new Hangouts.”

Looking for more Gmail tips? Click here!

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That’s because Gmail for Android zooms in a bit on some email messages—mainly those with large images, banners, or other graphics—so they’re easier to read.

The only problem with the zoomed messages, though, is that the actual text tends to spill off the side of the screen, meaning you’ll need to swipe to back and forth to complete a sentence.

You can set Gmail for Android to automatically shrink wide messages to fill the screen.

Want to save yourself the trouble? All you have to do is tweak a single setting.

• Open Gmail on your Android phone, tap the three-dot Menu button in the bottom-right corner of the page, tap Settings, then tap General Settings.
• Near the bottom of the screen, tap checkbox next to the “Auto-fit messages” setting.

Now, go back and open a few Gmail message—and when you do, you’ll notice that the width of each message fills the screen, no swiping required.

Of course, shrinking your Gmail messages to fit the screen may result in teeny, tiny text—but if that happens, you can always “pinch” the screen to zoom in.

Sure, you’re swiping again, but at least you won’t have to swipe unless you really need to.

Looking for more Android tips? Click here!

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Given that, I’m guessing plenty of Android users—hey, myself included—have been repeatedly tapping their way back to the inbox whenever they’re done with one message and want to skip to a new one.

Well, guess what: there’s a much easier way (as I belatedly discovered) to jump directly from one message thread (or “conversation,” as they’re called in Gmail) to the next.

Just swipe.

Specifically, you can swipe from left to right to skip to a more recent thread, or from right to left for an older one.

Pretty clever—so clever, in fact, that I’d completely missed it until now.

Bonus tip

Want to jump automatically to the next message after deleting or archiving the current one?

Tap the three-dot menu button in the bottom-right corner of the Gmail interface, tap Settings, General Settings, then “Auto-advance.”

You can then choose what happens when you delete or archive a message: you can advance to a newer message, go back to an older one, or return to the inbox.

Looking for more Android tips? Click here!

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You can compose a new message, archive old ones, jump back and forth between email threads, and more, all at the press of a key.

Want to ditch your mouse while using Gmail? Make sure to enable keyboard shortcuts first.

The first step is to enable keyboard shortcuts in your Gmail settings. Here’s how:

• Open your Gmail inbox, click the gear icon in the top-right corner of the screen, then select Settings.
• Make sure the General tab along the top of the page is selected, scroll down to the Keyboard Shortcuts setting, and switch it on.
• Scroll down to the very bottom of the page and click the “Save Changes” button.

So, ready to plow through your Gmail with nary a mouse click?

Let’s get started with…

1. “c”

Just press the “c” key to compose a new message.

2. “g” followed by “a”

Whenever you “archive” a Gmail message, it ends up in your All Mail folder—an archive of every single email you’ve ever received or sent (save for any messages you’ve permanently deleted).

Want to take a peek? Press “g,” followed by “a.” (“G” for “go,” “a” for All Mail.)

3. “e”

So, you’ve just read an email and you’re done with it—no need to reply or otherwise take action.

If that’s the case, just press “e” to send the message—or the entire thread (or “conversation,” in Gmail parlance) to your All Mail archive.

4. “r” or “a”

Tap “r” to instantly compose a reply to an open or selected message, or press the “a” key for “reply all.”

5. SHIFT + “u” or SHIFT + “i”

Press the Shift key + “u” to mark an email as “unread,” perfect for making sure you give an important message a second look.

On the flip side, you can also mark a message as “read” by selecting it and pressing Shift key + “i”.

6. TAB followed by ENTER

Finished typing your email? Don’t touch that mouse. Instead, just press the Tab key + Enter to send.

7. “g” followed by “c”

Gmail isn’t just a haven for email; it’s also a digital, cloud-based Rolodex. Press the “g” key, then “c” to go to your Contacts list. (Yep, you guessed it: “g” for “go,” “c” for “contacts.”)

8. “g” followed by “i”

Ready to check your inbox again? Tap “g,” then “i” (“go” to “inbox”).

9. “k” (or “j”)

Want to skip the entire email thread you’re reading? Press “k” to move on to a more recent Gmail “conversation,” or “j” to jump to an older one. (Sorry, there’s no apparent rhyme or reason for the letters “k” and “j.”)

10. “n” (or “p”)

Skip to a newer message (“n” for newer) within a conversation, or go back to the previous (“p”) message.

11. “o”

Open the most recent message in your inbox, or open a selected message.

12. “z”

Regret something you just did? Tap “z” to undo your last Gmail action (or at least, your last “undo-able” action—for example, tapping “z” to undo a just-sent email won’t do you much good.)

Bonus tip

There are a few keyboard shortcuts that will work in Gmail even if the Keyboard Shortcuts setting isn’t enabled. For example, you can press the Control key (or Command, on a Mac) plus Enter to send a message, Control (Command for Mac) + Shift + c to Cc someone, or Control (Command for Mac) + Shift + b to add Bcc recipients.

Of course, there are many more keyboard shortcuts for Gmail where these came from. Got some you’d like to share? Post ’em below!

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The trick: sliding down the Notifications pane on your Android phone and performing a simple gesture on your Gmail alerts.

First, you’ll need to make sure you’ve updated the Gmail app for Android to the latest version.

Launch the Play Store app on your handset, tap the three-dot menu button in the top-right corner of the screen, tap My Apps, and make sure Gmail is listed in the “Up to Date” section.

Also, keep in mind that your phone must be running Android version 4.1 or better for the new Gmail notifications to work. To check your handset’s Android version, tap Settings, “About phone,” then check the number next to “Android version.”

Just tap and hold, then drag down to reveal the Archive and Reply buttons.

All set? Now, the next time you get a new Gmail message, try this:

• Swipe down from the top of the screen to open the Notifications pane; you should see an entry for the Gmail message you just received.
• Tap and hold the notification, then pull down until you see the first few lines of the message, along with the Reply and Archive buttons. (Note: If a specific Gmail alert combines multiple new messages, the Reply and Archive buttons might not appear.)
• Tap Archive, and the message will be immediately filed in your All Mail directory. Tap the Reply button, and Gmail will open directly to a newly composed reply.

Looking for more Android tips? Click here!

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