One of the essential tools for google users is, without a doubt, gmail. It turns out that, more than an email service, this tool is the key to being able to access other cloud services and their benefits, such as youtube, drive or sites where you need to have a secure email account to register.
It is very likely that, day by day, you check your inbox or send mail using the gmail application, so you do not pay much attention to the tool itself. that’s about to change.
In this article we will explain in great detail what gmail is, what its history has been up to the present day, and each and every one of its functions so that you can take full advantage of them.
Let’s get started!
what is gmail?
is google’s email service par excellence. is available in more than 50 languages worldwide and is compatible with the most common browsers such as google chrome, firefox, safari and internet explorer.
gmail uses ajax technology, so many of its functions are similar to a local email program and it collects all the email messages written in a buffer in case the application is interrupted.
every gmail account has 15 gb of free storage that is shared with other applications attached to google email such as google drive, google photos, etc.
It has its own built-in search engine, so you can search for specific emails by entering the email account of the sender or the sender, keywords or the subject.
emails can be categorized into eight main categories: Starred, Postponed, Sent, Draft, Important, Spam, and Junk. also, gmail is integrated with chat and video call tools like google meet and hangouts, they will start virtual meetings in your left bar.
gmail’s history
It all started with paul bucheit, the 23rd Google employee who decided to take an abandoned idea and turn it into something amazing.
The formal development of Gmail began in August 2001, although originally Paul had already had the idea since 1996, some time before joining Google; however, he ended up getting bored because he didn’t see that the idea of him would be getting anywhere.
5 years later, he decided to resume the project within google with the mentality of creating something that really worked. The first step wasto integrate a search engine into its own email, a feature that no other solution had.
The next step was to increase the storage space to 1 gb so that people wouldn’t have to delete emails in order to receive others. the project was going from strength to strength, but as with all the new ideas, there were people inside google who had no faith in it. Fortunately, Sergey Brin and Larry Page, the founders of Google, fully trusted Paul’s idea and encouraged him to continue.
little by little, the gmail team grew to about 12 people who dedicated themselves to working and improving paul bucheit’s idea. At first, gmail was only used by members of google, until its official launch on April 1, 2004.
With this event a new concern arose: that it would not have enough demand. To solve it, it occurred to to implement a system of invitations in which any user registered in gmail could invite two users to be part of the google email.
Contrary to what one might think, the strategy was a success, as gmail invitation auctions were quoted for $150 on different sites. Over time, Gmail users will be able to invite more than two people until February 14, 2007, when anyone can have a Gmail email account without an invitation.
One year after it was founded, gmail’s storage space increased to 2GB and would grow automatically every day to provide more space for users. gmail home page indicated how much space was available at that moment accompanied by the message “and counting…”.
the growth was 4 bytes per second, so in a month the inbox grew to more than 10 mb and in a year it reached 123.6 mb. In 2012, the capacity increased from 7.5 GB to 10 GB, coinciding with the launch of Google Drive. that same year, gmail began to be available in Latin American Spanish, being able to change the language from the configuration.
Finally, in 2013 it was announced that the virtual drive capacity for gmail and the drive, google+ and photos services would be 15 GB, this storage space would be shared by the four services.
In 2018, Gmail had 1.5 billion active users throughout the world and it is expected that by 2020 that number will increase to 4 billion users, although given the pandemic situation, it is possible that there will be many more
gmail functions
the main reason why gmail remains the email service par excellence is that it has multiple functions that help organize, compose and reply to messages in a dynamic and effective way. let’s recap!
your categories
In the left bar of the gmail inbox you will find several categories to classify your emails depending on their importance:
- starring: favorite or important emails that you want to always have at hand. you classify them by clicking on the star.
- snooze: to snooze emails and have them reappear when you can reply to them. to classify them click on the clock.
- drafts: draft emails that are automatically saved and can be sent when they are ready.
- sent: list of emails you have sent.
- important: As the name implies, these are the most important emails.
- chats: record of the conversations you have had through hangouts with other people.
- spam: junk mail.
- junk: deleted emails.
- sending schedule: when writing an email you can choose the date and time you want it to be sent.
You can also archive your emails if you prefer.
search engine
Find the emails you want by entering the recipient’s account or keywords in the search bar. You can also use the filters to make a more specialized search.
direct access to other services
you can access the services of google drive, google docs, google sheets, google slides, google photos, google meet, google sites, google contacts and google currents.
you can undo sends
If you sent an email to the wrong person or it has incomplete information, you have the possibility to undo the sendings with the “undo” option.
report and block
If you receive an email that is spam or comes from a person you no longer want to have contact with, you can report it as spam and block that contact by clicking the three dots on the right of the name of the sender of the mail.
translate, print and download
You can find these functions in the same three points to be able to translate, print and download your emails.
start virtual meetings
go to the left bar of the screen in your inbox to start google meet meetings. in this same space you can review your scheduled meetings.
We recommend you enter gmail right now and discover for yourself each and every one of these functions, you will see that writing and viewing emails has never been so easy and entertaining!
publication date: 03/02/2021