Gmail is an advertising-supported email service provided for free by Google. Users can access this via a secure webmail, via IMAP 4 Protocols, or POP3. Originally, Gmail started as an invitation-only service way back its beta release on April 1, 2004.
However, it eventually became widely available to the public on February 7, 2007, although during that time, it was still on its beta status. Years later, this email service was upgraded on July 7, 2009, along with all the other Google Apps suite.
Gmail initially has a storage capacity of 1GB per user.
However, it significantly increased its storage from the 2 to 4 MB at the time its competitors like Hotmail, offered. Individual Gmail messages which included email attachments can go up to 25MB. Gmail also has its own search-oriented interface and a “conversation view” like an Internet forum.
Features of Gmail
Gmail Labs
This feature was introduced on June 5, 2008 and allows gmail users to text experimental and new Gmail features like bookmarking critical email messages or custom keyboard shortcuts. Here, Gmail users have the option of enabling or disabling this feature selectively and provide their own feedback about each of them.
Tabbed Inbox
During the middle part of 2013, Gmail updated it inbox, this time with tabs that enable the user to categorize their mails. There are five tabs, namely: Primary, Social, Promotions, Updates, and Forums. All these tabs also appear in the mobile version of Gmail. Aside from the customization options, users can also disable their entire update, thus allowing them to return to their conventional inbox set up.
Spam Filter
The spam-filtering feature of Gmail is a community-driven system. Meaning, when a user marks a particular email as spam, this will then provide information to pinpoint similar future messages for all users of Gmail. The user can tune the system for it to be allowed to be marked as spam.
Gmail Mobile
Another feature of Gmail is its mobile application. It is available in forty different languages and is given for free so that Gmail users can easily access their mails via their mobile devices.
How to Login to Gmail.com
To sign in to your Gmail account on a computer, here are the steps.
- Go to gmail.com
- Once you are already in the sign-in page, enter your username, and then your password. However if you are to sign in to a different account, click Manage accounts on this device.
- Once you see a page describing Gmail instead of its main sign-in page, hit the sign-in link found on the top right hand corner of the page.
Securely Signing in to Gmail
If you are logging in to your Google account from a device that only you are using, like your personal laptop, it’s best to check the “Stay Signed In” button. This will ensure that you don’t have to be continuously interrupted to sign in to your account. However, for shared devices like a public computer in an Internet café, make sure you leave the “Stay Signed in” checkbox unchecked to avoid your own gmail account from being compromised.