Turn Gmail Into Your Personal Nerve Center

I was lucky enough to get in on the Gmail beta when it launched and I haven't looked back since. Even though I've had an account  for almost three years and I get over 100 emails a day, I have chewed up only 18% of the generous 2.8 gigabytes of storage.

However, in recent weeks I have started using Gmail as much more than an email host. With its gobs of storage, speed and tremendous search/tagging capabilities, you can transform it into a personal nerve center that's available from any computer or mobile device. When you tap into this power and combine Gmail with some other tools, it is perhaps the most essential site ever developed. Most of the following life hacks have not been documented.

This series has several parts...

• How to turn Gmail into a massive personal database (Gmail + the Google Toolbar)
• How to get real-time news updates in Gmail (Gmail+ Google Talk + Twitter)
• How to automatically store your bookmarks in Gmail (Gmail + del.icio.us + Yahoo Alerts)
• How to manage Calendar and To-Dos in Gmail (Gmail + Backpack + GCal +  GTalk + iMified)
• How to blog from Gmail (Gmail + Wordpress/TypePad/Blogger + IMified)

Using Gmail as a Massive Database

I revel in information. Can't get enough of it. I like that I get a lot of email. I scan 275 RSS feeds in Google Reader and I use dozens of bookmarklets and shortcuts to help me manage it all.

Everyday I come across something on the web that I want to save for future reference. While previously I was using Yojimbo to manage all of this information, I found the solution wanting since I travel a lot and need to access my bits from a mobile device. Google Notebook also doesn't work on a mobile device and its search functions are rather lacking. Enter Gmail and the Google Toolbar.

The latest version of the Google Toolbar has a send to Gmail function. Select some text or graphics, right click on it and send it to Gmail.  The Toolbar then automatically feeds it into a new message.

Now, when I find something I want to save I use this feature and send it to a secret  contact in my address book. This is basically a steverubel+[secretphrase]@gmail.com email address (Lifehacker explains the value of these here).

Once the article arrives in my Gmail inbox, I have a filter whisk it a way into the archive and tag it with an @Database label. Further, I am toying with having the same filter also forward these to a premium  Google Apps account that has 10 gigs of space. Now all I need to do to call it up later is enter label:@Database and a keyword. Whammo - an instant personal database.

Here's a screenshot of a photo of Steve Ballmer's office that I felt like filing away for inspiration (I was amazed by its size). Note that the Google Toolbar automatically inserts the source URL. I also use this method to store notes, ideas and musings.

 

How to get real-time news updates in Gmail

I usually keep Gmail open in a tab in my browser. I also make heavy use of the integrated Google Talk IM client in Gmail. Further, I have become a fan of Twitter - a micro blogging tool which you can control using Google Talk and other IM clients.

Some enterprising folks have taken data feeds from the BBC and CNN and ported them to Twitter. So, as long as you have Gmail open, Twitter will IM you the latest news when it hits.

As I write this post, Defamer is providing live updates from the Academy Awards and these are streaming into Gmail as IMs. (Be sure to turn off SMS alerts if you use these feeds since they will pile up.)

 

How to automatically store your bookmarks in Gmail

It's easy to bookmark items in Gmail. However, did you know that you can bookmark on del.icio.us and automatically feed these into your Gmail database? In addition, if you're a Google Reader's shared items (yes, you Scoble!) you can feed these into Gmail automatically too. Then your bookmarks are easily mined from your nerve center.

All you need to do is run your del.icio.us or Google Reader shared feed through Yahoo Alerts.  You can opt for as-they-happen or daily emails Then, set up a filter to label these and have them automatically archived. This works for any RSS feed, not just bookmarks.

 

How to Manage Your Calendar and To-Dos in Gmail

Gmail does not have a to-do list feature - yet. Further, the Google Calendar isn't integrated either. However, if you use GCal and either Backpack or Remember the Milk, you can control these with the integrated Google Talk in Gmail and IMified.

All you need to do is add IMified to your Google Talk contact list and you can not only view your calendar and to-do's but add to them and delete items as well.

How to blog from Gmail

Last but not least, you can also blog directly from Gmail. This works if you blog on Blogger, Wordpress, Moveable Type or TypePad. Simply set up your moblogging settings so that your gmail address is recognized. In addition, you can also blog from Gmail using IMified.

This is just the tip of the iceberg of what you can do when you "hack" together a bunch of free tools. Eventually I could run out of space but I suspect Google will offer storage upgrades by the time I come close. What's unmistakable, is that Gmail is really the Internet's version of the Ginsu knife.

Tags: Google, Gmail, IMified, Lifehacks, YahooAlerts, del.icio.us, Backpack, GoogleCalendar, GoogleToolbar

Comments

[edbong]

Interesting solutions... I have been developing some "methods" myself. We are now developing an open source "business application platform" (think salesforce.com). Our first application is working tightly integrated with GOOGLE APPS. http://www.applicationexchange.com.

Something like a personal "nervecenter" could be a very cool application to develop. I will give it a thought.

[Arka Roy]

I always thought Gmail had a lot more potential than meets the eye but have not spent the time on this yet. Thanks for doing that work!

[Jonathan Brazil]

That's simply amazing. There are at least 5 or 6 different scenarios that I would never have contemplated using Gmail for. I'm still not sure I want to but I have to admit that the temptation is possibly too great to resist. ;) Excellent post by the way, it was a few minutes of my time very well spent.

[David Henderson]

Steve, are you sure you want to give up all your ATTENTION to Google?

Have you considered the real cost?

;-)

[Lux]

I use Gmail as my secret diary. Here's how:
I created a contact: username+diary@gmail.com, and a label for messages sent to that contact. I write from my main Gmail address [username@gmail.com] to [username+diary@gmail.com], and the diary entry appears instantly in my inbox. Then I file it. Within the label "diary" all my diary entries appear perfectly filed by dates. Each entry appears also in the "sent" folder, but is not a duplicate, but the same message that also appears in the inbox and then in the archive under "diary". I know because if I delete the entry from "sent", it gets deleted from the archive too.
Hope you like the hack!

[Errol]

Again I've learned something new about using Gmail. It would be great if the Gmail developers would take all these great ideas and build them into the application.

[Larry]

Power uses of 'Drafts':

1. I create 'new mail' and type/organize notes on projects that are continually evolving ... never send them ... they just get stored in 'drafts'.

2. I create 'new mail' and attach files that gmail will NOT send... e.g. *.exe files, etc. Fine, ..... don't send it ... just leave is stored as a draft ....... Then regardsless where you go .......office, home, .....on the road..... you have access to all the 'files' that you could want and not use up valuable space on your 2GB USB drives.

Regards,...Larry

[dep]

Awesome! A true tweaker! I wrote an article that discusses how to get the most out of personal portal pages using free tools and such. I thought you might find it interesting. It's here:
http://www.pecknology.net/netvibes/

[Sanjay Goel]

W.r.t saving delicious bookmarks using yahoo alerts, The yahoo alert is generated on the rss feed and hence does not show the tags to the bookmark.
This limits the functionality a lot as I can't use gmail search to search thru tags.
I remember reading about other ways to backup delicious bookmarks to gmail but they were not too simple to setup.

[Sundarlal Chuddha]

Funny how you save Ballmer dask on you are Gmail account!

[MeTheGeek]

I use gmail as my PNC ("Personal Nerve Center", not "Palestinian National Council") too!

Google Apps have taken the place of almost all my office suite uses.

You've been featured in lifehacker... congratulations!

[Mike Shafir]

I love gmail, it has become the center of my Internet activity. I haven't heard of some of those tools IMified and twitter, but they seem extremely interesting. I do feeds a bit differently though. I use firefox in combination with the greasemonkey extension with the Gmail+Reader integration script (http://www.winstonyw.com/uploads/scripts/gmailreaderintegrator.user.js) to get my reader feeds inside gmail. It shows up like Inbox on the sidebar. I also use the gspace firefox extension to use my gmail account as a portable hard drive.

[Wired Dude Dave]

Nice article! I just started playing with twitter and imified after getting a tmobile sidekick, so I'll be testing some of these features on the go too!

[Jennifer]

You rock! This is one of the most useful and interesting articles I've read in a long time.

[test]

Good one

[Alpesh Nakar]

Another reason to love gmail. Worth adding to my Google Services series. :-)

http://alpesh.nakars.com/blog/tag/google
Cheers!
Alpesh

[Burns]

I often use gmail and google docs as a notepad by just emailing my google docs account from gmail. For those who haven't seen it - when you log into google docs you now have an address to mail things too.

[ignar]

Great tips. I also use Gmail as my personal memo archives. I tried other web clipping/online memo solutions including Snippets, Onenote, Evernote, and Google Docs, but Gmail works best for me for its simplicity and availability from anywhere and any device which includes my PDA and a cell phone. One difference from your methods is I don't use Google toolbar. I just use copy and paste, and Google email editor does an excellent job to maintain source format.
I will give a try to some of your other suggestions.

[Ryan]

Thanks, Thanks, Thanks! Great information that adds even ore functionality to my Gmail!

[leavic]

Sorry，but I'm still wondering how to moblog with gmail to my blog（a movable type blog）.
I know that Typepad got the moblog funtion, but not movable type.There were some moblog plugins for mt,but none of them works now.

[Oleg Moskalensky]

Actually, many of the things you're talking about Steve can be done much more elegantly using Clipmarks (www.clipmarks.com). It 's a service allowing you to easily grab any part of a page and store it, with superb organization capabilities, allowing for storing additional text info to what you clipped, a headline, tags, as well as set up Collections of your own and attribute any clipmark to any number of collections of your choice. Each clipmark can be either public or private. And public clipmarks can be commented on by anyone (although even there you have some control of what you see and what you don't see). For the social element of the site, people can leave comments on any public clipmark as well as Pop them, allowing other users to easily view what's been popped and how much (btw, you can't pop your own clipmarks).

I highly recommend this service, it has a very talented and dedicated team working on it, constantly coming up with very potent upgrades and as unbelievable as it is - it's a FREE service. Considering Clipmarks' functionality, usability, quality, usefullness etc. - if there ever was something too good to be true - this would certainly fit the description.

Check it out - based on how you described your daily usage of Gmail - I think you'll find Clipmarks an excellent tool for your needs.

[Vit Fargas]

Great life hacks! I love Gmail, it even works as POP client and since then I use nothing else.

But I think for real-time news updates is better feedcrier, which converts feeds to IM.

Has anyone some life hacks to manage tags? I think that's the weakest point of Gmail, for me they got very quicky out of control and the only thing I came up with was naming them like Work:label1, Work:label2, Personal:label1 to get them at least bit under control... Why can't Google make some handy bundles for tags? Doesn't anyone else have this problem?

[Neat trick]

neat trick, i'm interested in twitter but i'd like it better if there was a way or web service to make it so I can send stuff ot my gmail account without installing the toolbar

[Ian Butterworth]

Do you trust Google to always be generous with the resource? Now things are well and they are being almost charitable, but in the future if their stock falls, what will they do. Remember the EULA says they can gather personal information for targeting ads, and I suppose later they could fill too much of the screen with ads for example. Or, what if hackers broke into Google's data which is archived of all this personal information. I was using Gmail as a repository of site logings, passwords etc. but recently I've removed the data (though of course Google has backups). Now I store all personal information in Trucrypt encrypted files.

[Mia D]

GREAT post!! Thanks so much for posting all this incredible information on leveraging Gmail's full potential. I can't wait to try out some of your tips.

Thanks again and keep up the good work!

[winston]

Thanks for sharing. This is interesting.

[David Scott Lewis]

Steve, if someone wants to save an entire page there's an easier way to do it than with the Google Toolbar and "send to Gmail function." It's called "toread"; their URL is http://toread.cc.

With "toread", a bookmarklet is added to the bookmarks toolbar and when you want to save the page, just click on the bookmarklet. Easier than the way you suggested. And, of course, if someone POPs their Gmail account, they can read this page offline.

Clipmarks is fine, too. Furl, as you recall, allows a user to save the entire document, giving it much more value than saving it in del.icio.us: With Furl, a user creates their own digital library -- and items can be tagged, made private or public, all sorts of options.

And the Omea Reader/Omea Pro RSS/news reader allows clips to be saved within the Omea environment. Also, pages can be saved and automatically updated.

Regarding "To-Dos," don't forget the GTD (Getting Things Done) extension for Gmail in Firefox. (It's GTDMail.) VERY useful; a very nice tool.

Recommendations:
1) "toread" -- http://toread.cc (snapshots of web pages sent to wherever you want them sent, i.e., it doesn't have to be Gmail)
2) Furl -- http://www.furl.net (create your own digital library; much better than del.icio.us)
3) Omea -- http://www.jetbrains.com/omea (a superb RSS/news reader as well, but so much more -- and FREE)
4) GTDMail (Getting Things Done) -- http://www.gtdgmail.com/

[Trevor Lewis]

This actually doesn't work for some websites. With WSJ.com - if you highlight any of the text you get an error message. Only a plain Gmail This instruction will work and you will only receive a title and an address... both this is somewhat useless after the 30 free day period when the link becomes accessible only to subscribers. I am not against paying for content, but if I can have it for free on Day 1 and I have a way of cataloguing it, then I'm much happier than having to pay for cataloguing by the content owner. I would be interested in any solutions that take a true snapshot of a current webpage, which is then sent to GMail and which remains truly offline. Any suggestions - please post !

[David Scott Lewis]

Addendum:

Regarding "toread", it doesn't create an image of the web page (as in a JPEG), but copies the HTML.

It also allows a user to then tag and save the page in Furl and del.icio.us (among other social bookmarking options) when they read it in their e-mail. VERY cool; VERY useful.

Click on the bookmarklet: A copy of the HTML is sent to the reader's account. The reader can also specify whether they want to annotate the copy prior to sending it. (Personally, I rarely use this option.) Anyway, the entire process is quick -- quicker than Webaroo or similar alternatives. (Webaroo is a great idea with bad execution, IMHO.)

Regarding Trevor's comment (if he's referring to "toread"), he's right. It's not a perfect solution, but it's a very good solution. I'd say that it works 95% of the time, but (of course) this really depends on the type of content one is reading.

For example, the Wall Street Journal problem (as Trevor noted). Paid databases don't seem to work, either (e.g., Gale, Dialog, AnaVist). None of this should be surprising. But to me this doesn't take away from "toread" as a superb utility -- nor does it take away from a great tool such as AnaVist. Both have their place.

[David Scott Lewis]

Trevor, give Furl a try. The cached version should be what you've read, even though the URL may require a paid subscription. This doesn't seem to be consistent, but also seems to work more often than not. Furl will provide the user a copy of the original page, but if the URL requires a paid subscription, that's out of Furl's control. However, Furl's cached copies will include the original content (like I said).

I do a lot of writing about China (I live in China -- over three years now, write the Sand Hill Group and AlwaysOn Network "Letter from China" columns). The New York Times has the best China coverage of any daily (although The Guardian and The Globe & Mail are pretty good, too). Hence, I have lots of cached pages from the New York Times. At this point, the URLs require paying for a copy of the articles. But the cached Furl copies are identical to the originals.

Hope this helps. Once again, the power of creating a PDL -- Personal Digital Library -- using Furl.

[Doug]

Steve,

Great article. I just read it over.

Ironically, Gmail is down/super-slow right now. :(

[Brandon Hopkins]

Awesome! I've never used IMified, but am going to try it today, thanks for the tips.

[Trevor Lewis]

David- Furl is perfect to collect, catalogue and access free content that might later become subscription-based content. It creates your own cached version that isn't updated or dependent on HTML links. With this, you can avoid subscribing for previously free content, which effectively means paying for warehousing, and not really for content. If you read a publication regularly, Furl can be an excellent way to build up a personal digital library. If you insist on everything being in GMail, then a hybrid of David's suggestions might work well by taking the Furl cached copy and then [toread]ing it to your Gmail account. But a bit cumbersome and if Furl disappears then so does your libary, as [toread] emails still only point to cached versions located outside of Gmail. Is this right David ? Finally, Looksmart - Furl's parent co. - 10 years on, still isn't profitable. Hopefully Furl's valuable piece of code doesn't get lost in any future shuffles and my hope is that Google buys Furl and integrates it.

[Trevor Lewis]

Last note: Furl doesn't update well. I've included a RSS of the public view of the archive I've created at Furl into my personalised Google homepage and it is not doing well at all. Lots of lag, lots of mistakes, lots of errors. There's a hitch somewhere and it ain't smooth.

[sunjun]

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[众城流水线]

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[David Scott Lewis]

Trevor, not sure what to say about the Furl RSS lag and tagging problems. I haven't experienced this in the past.

Since we're both in China, we both suffered from the Internet meltdown due to the earthquake near Taiwan on 26 December. I didn't get (A)DSL access until late January and my CDMA access was too slow for using Furl. Then I switched among four laptops over the past several weeks, so I haven't used Furl since the meltdown (that was the day of my last Furl entry): Let's face it, it's still easier to bookmark something!! And for articles in the New York Times, I used [toread] since they're still cached versions. (Speed has been more important to me than thoroughness over the past few months since the meltdown.)

Now here's a little trick that has worked for me. Since I use Google Desktop, it goes through my history and picks up things I may have bookmarked. But it also indexes the Gmail account where I send my [toread] findings. Hence, my Google Desktop can search my bookmarks AND [toread] clippings.

There are still some shortcomings with all of this. I'm considering setting up a news-only Gmail account which uses the Greasemonkey Google Reader hack so that one account can store just about EVERYTHING (all news, all the time) -- and then point my Google Desktop to index this account. And, of course, I could always have selected personal e-mail forwarded to that same account for indexing.

Alas, maybe I could just waste time like Steve's does playing with Twitter!! ;-) (It's Steve's favorite new toy ...)

[F.Baube]

Writing from the EU, I will say: It seems crazy to put your personal life on an American server. The US basically does not recognise any right to electronic privacy, and who's to say who is snooping around?

If Google productised their stuff and sold it to EU service operators (who are bound much more tightly by law), then it might seem less nutty.

[Rupesh Mandal]

I am using Gmail to get SMS alerts for incoming messages, scraps in orkut, comment at my blog, Updated news with Google alerts. To know more about it, please visit:- http://fundubytes.blogspot.com/2007/04/how-to-send-free-email-sms-and-get.html

[srikanthbakshi]

dear steve,

this is srikanth from india. may i know how use GMAIL storage as our hard disk storage. please send me the process.

awaiting your reply,

regards,
srikanth bakshi,
journalist, india

[Huw Rowlands]

Hi,
any chance of developing the contacts further? It would be good if we could add a birthday and anniversary that linked to Cal and it would be cool if there was a "show on map" button next to addresses.

Kind Regards,
Huw

[Rupesh Mandal]

Again, I am using Gtalk (i.e. inside Gmail) to read my orkut scraps and community topics without logging into orkut account. I log into my orkut account only when to reply them.
Even I read subscribed feeds in Gtalk.
know more at:- http://fundubytes.blogspot.com/2007/07/read-your-orkut-scraps-community-topics.html

[Michael]

Thanks very much! I really appreciate your hardwork. This adds more functionality to Gmail and makes it more powerful...keep it up

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[Symbian]

Interegsting post. It makes me to use more features of my Gmail account.

[Symbian]

Nice photo of Balmer's office anyway :)

Symbian,
Symbian Corner

[g8orfan]

I love the idea about the bookmarks. But is there a way to get all my old del.icio.us bookmarks sent to my gmail and not just the ones bookmarked after I set up a Yahoo Alert?

[rob gibbs]

Wow...& I thought I was into this stuff...This is an AMAZING amount of information. I am a Realtor and am on the bleeding edge of things in my industry, but our industry as a whole is behind the power curve.

THANK YOU!

PS: Got to your blog through Bob Walsh's book "Clear Blogging"

Rob

[Brent]

Nice article. However, I am slighlty surprised that you didn´t mention the excellent Firefox extension known as Gmail Space, which allows you to turn your Gmail account into a virtual file server. It gives you a tabbed, dual-pane, FTP-like view and it works with Firefox Portable too. I think you will find it to be a far more convenient way to do some of the file storage tasks you are talking about.

[Cintra]

I'm surprised the word Android doesn't show on this page until now, as I see Android being the mobile 'nerve centre' using these excellent Google tools, which I currently use on iMac, Nokia E61 & N800 :)

mvh