Not that they’re those weird shows that you find on public access or day time TV. Most of them are actually pretty nifty and reliable.

Gmail Lab’s

Here’s a list of Labs that are offered in Gmail in alphabetical order. After the list, I cover some of the labs a bit more in-depth. Ed. Note: This is a COMPLETE list of all the Google Lab options. Meaning it’s long. Feel free to skip ahead to the bottom if you’d rather just see the more in-depth coverage.

Add Any Gadget By URL:

Ever wish you could take advantage of iGoogle Gadgets in your Email Inbox? Maybe put your to-do manager or the Dropbox gadget in there for easy access? This gadget lets you do that!

Advanced IMAP Controls:

Using IMAP? This is an awesome lab feature for you. It allows you to:

• Choose what labels show up in IMAP
• Disable auto-message expunging
• Track messages when their deleted from IMAP

Apps Search:

This is simply amazing if you’re a Google Apps user. Turning on this lab allows you to search not just your Gmail inbox, but also your Google Docs and Google Sites on your domain.

Authentication Icon for Verified Senders:

Ever wish there was a way to tell which eBay and PayPal emails were really from eBay and PayPal. Enter this lab: it displays a key icon from verified senders allowing you to quickly identify valid emails.

Back to BETA:

Alright, I have NO idea why anyone would need this, but if for some reason you are holding a grudge about Gmail leaving Beta and would like to pretend it’s still there, then I guess it’s the lab feature for you.

Canned Responses:

Save common responses and easily send them. You can even automate canned responses for certain filters. We’ll talk about this lab a little more in depth later.

Create a Document

Ever want to create a document once you receive an email? Maybe you were sent meeting notes in an email that you want to turn into a document so you can upload it elsewhere and not have it get lost in Inbox Purgatory. Or you received an assignment and like to immediately create a text document for it. Either way, the Create a Document Lab makes it easy by hitting “g then w.”

Custom Date Formats

This is a simple lab that will appeal to quite a few people. Want to make your time read in military time? Want to set your dates European style? Custom Date Formats has you covered.

Custom Keyboard Shortcuts

This lab adds a setting feature that lets you create custom-mapped keyboard shortcuts! Sooo nifty!

Default “Reply to All”

This lab is pretty self-explanatory-it makes “Reply to All” your default. That can be handy, but make sure that you remember it’s your default!

Default Text Styling

Another pretty self-explanatory lab. This one allows you to easy change and style your default text.

Don’t Forget Bob

Enabling this labs enables Gmail to do a cool thing-you type in some recipents you’re sending the email too and Gmail will generate a list of people who you might want to include based on your emailing habits. Never leave someone out of a group email again!

Extra Emoji

This lab is pretty simple and a bit silly-it creates a larger selection of emoticon options.

Filter Import/Export

This allows for 2 different options:

• Export: Export your filters as a file, save them for backup or share them to help a friend out.
• Import: Import the file of filters, and activate them in Gmail.

We’ll talk more about this lab later on.

Flickr Previews in Gmail

Pretty self-explantory-See a preview of any Flickr pictures sent to you, right in Gmail. This is quite a time saver-especially if you have friends who like to frequently send you photos.

Google Calendar Gadget

Remember how I mentioned being able to add iGoogle Gadgets by URL earlier in the post? Same deal, but it’s automatic and specifically for Google Calendar! This is a super nifty feature for quick reference when you need to quickly get back to someone on a meeting time or project deadline/estimate.

Google Docs Gadget

Just like how you can easily add a Goog,le Calendar Gadget in Gmail, you can also add a Google Docs Gadget that can let you view recent and starred documents, and also includes a quick search bar.

Google Docs Preview

This is quite possibly my favorite Gmail Lab. No, I take that back. It is my favorite Gmail Lab. It allows you to quickly preview documents, spreadsheets, and presentations right in your inbox. It also gives you the option to quickly open the attachment in Google Docs. So handy!

Google Maps Preview in Mail

Another nifty lab-this one scans the email for any addresses listed in the email and shows a Google Map of the location.

Google Search

Ever been writing an email and need to quickly reference something? Yea, me too. Thankfully, the Google Search Lab makes it easy! It displays the Google Search bar right in your email enabling you to find things easily-fast.

Google Voice Player in Mail

If you’re a heavy Google Voice user, this lab is going to be your new best friend. It allows you to play Google Voice voicemails right from the notification email.

Got the Wrong Bob?

Let’s face it, having multiple contacts with the same name is super-common. Ever auto-fill your contact by first name and realize it’s the wrong one? That can be a minor inconvience…or  a big problem. This lab helps to prevent that by asking if you meant to email someone else instead based on frequently used groups of contacts. [Note: Only works if you’re sending the email to 2 or more people]

Green Robot

Not sure whether someone is at the computer or using their phone? The Green Robot lab lets you know! [Note: Only works if the person is using an Android phone.]

Hide Labels From Subjects

Perfect for if you’re working on a netbook with a small screen, the Hide Labels from Subject lab, well, it hides the labels from the subjects.

Hide Read Labels

Love your labels and filters, but hate them cluttering up your email sidebar? Me too! Which is why this is my second favorite lab-it hides any unread labels from view, showing only the labels with unread messages in them.

Hide Unread Counts

I think that heading covered it pretty well.

Inbox Preview

This is a nifty lab that shows you a static preview of your inbox while you’re waiting for Gmail to load.

Inseting Images

This lab allows you to insert images directly into an email either by uploading a file or using a direct URL.

Mail Goggles

Ok, at first glance this email seems really silly, but I’ve actually found it to be useful. The labs actual purpose is to help prevent you from sending drunk emails by making you answer a few math problems in a specified amount of time-you can pick which level of math problems you want to be quizzed on. The default is for Friday and Saturday nights. HOWEVER, I find it helpful to me as a check as to when my designated work hours are over and my personal life hours have begun. I set-up the lab to pop-up during “off-hours” to remind me that I should no longer be working for the day. It’s a helpful work-life balance reminder.

Mark As Read From Here Button

This lab enables you to save a few mouse scrolls (or clicks?) by creating a Mark As Read Button that sits right next to the delete button. Nifty!

Message Sneak Peek

Ever get an email when you’re on your way out somewhere or in the middle of something? You know you won’t have time to respond, but you’ve been waiting on an answer? Message Sneak Peek to the rescue! It allows you to right click on a message and get a “sneak peek” of the email without marking it as read.

Message Translation

This lab is pretty straightforward. Using Google Translate, it allows you to translate emails from one language to another. Pretty nifty for those of you who work with international clients.

Mouse Gestures

Personally, I’m much more of a keyboard navigation person myself, but if you find yourself unable to ditch the mouse, this lab is definitely for you-it allows you to use gestures as control instead of clicking. Unfotunately for Mac users, it works best on Windows.

Multiple Inboxes

Gmail filters are an absolute god-send, but wouldn’t it be awesome if you could view the filters as an inbox in itself? That’s exactly what the person who created Multiple Inboxes was thinking! I’ll go over it a bit more later in the post.

Navbar Drag and Drop

Another self-explanatory-but useful! lab-this one allows you to easy re-order the items in your Gmail Navigation Bar by using Drag-and-Drop.

Nested Labels

Gmail Labels-some people love them, some people miss their folders and folder heirarchy. If you’re the later, you NEED to try Nested Labels.

“Manage your email by sorting it into a hierarchy of labels. Add slashes (/) to label names to express inheritance. For example, if you want a Home label with two child labels named Kids and Shopping, create the three following labels: Home, Home/Kids and Home/Shopping.”

Old Snakey

This is probably the only lab that will DECREASE your productivity instead of increasing it, but if you’re into old school games and have some self-discipline, you might want to check it out. Turn on Gmail keyboard shortcuts, hit the & key, and play an old-school game of Snake right in Gmail.

Picasa Previews in Mail

This is just like the aforementioned Flickr Previews in Gmail, except with PIcasa.

Pictures in Chat

Personally, I think this is pretty useless, but the lab enables you to see people’s picture when you use Google Talk in Gmail.

Quick Links

Quick Links is  a nifty lab that creates a little box in the upper left-hand corner that allows you to bookmark any Gmail URL-such as frequently used searches or important individual messages. Huge time saver.

Quote Selected Text

Refresh POP Accounts

Right-Side Chat

Send and Archive

Sender Time Zone

Signature Tweaks

Super Stars

Text Messaging in Chat and SMS in Chat Gadget

Text Messaging in Chat allows you to, well, send text messages using Google Talk. The SMS in Chat Gadget creates an additional box to make sending text messages in Google Talk even easier.

Title Tweaks

Title Tweaks changes the order of the words in your browser bar, enabling you to see how many messages you have-even when the window is minimized.

For example instead of the browser bar showing “SUBERAPPS Mail – Inbox (5) – hello@suberapps.com” this lab would change it to “Inbox (5) – hello@suberapps.com – SUBERAPPS Mail” Pretty nifty if you need to keep your eye on an important message, but want your inbox to remain out of the way.

Undo Send

Another pretty self-explanatory one, but that doesn’t make it any less awesome. Undo Send lets you undo send if you sent an email and immediately realized that you made a mistake. So handy!

Video Chat Enhancements

Currently, this lab enhances video chat in Google Talk by adding higher resolution and bigger windows. The lab developers mention that there are more features to come!

Yelp Previews in Gmail

Another nifty preview lab-this one allows you to quickly view Yelp listings, including rating, location, and phone number whenever someone emails you a Yelp link.

Feel that Gmail is Missing a Labs Feature?

Google allows you to make Labs Feature Requests here: http://groups.google.com/group/gmail-labs-suggest-a-labs-feature/topics

And Now-A Closer Look at Some of the Gmail Labs

Canned Responses

While Canned Responses might sound like a lazy way out of responding to email, it actually can be quite productive and with the way the lab works, doesn’t have to be a generic automated response.

Instead you can use the poorly-named Canned Responses to create templates for emails.

Once you enable the lab, a clickable link next to “Insert Invitation” is created. You can then click on Canned Responses, click on a template, open it up and edit it. Definitely a time saver.

To create  a Canned Response:

• Click on “Canned Response”
• Click on “New Canned Response”
• Name your Canned Response
• Type what you want your template to be.
• Click on “Canned Response”
• Hit “Save”

And voila! You now have a nice email template that you can easily modify and use without having to retype the same things over and over.

AND…yes, I’m going Billy Mays style…THERE’S MORE:

You can set up Canned Responses to respond to certain Gmail Filters. Amazing.

For More on “Canned Response:”

• Make Use Of: Save Time with Gmail Email Templates Using “Canned Responses”
• WebWorkerDaily: 3 Handy Uses for Gmail’s Canned Response Feature

Import/Export Filters

Gmail filters are hands down one of Google’s best features. I swear by them.

What if you have a new Gmail account and want to migrate over some common filters? Or want to show a less-tech savvy friend how awesome filters are by a demonstration? Well, you COULD individually add each one yourself. OR you could skip the headache and enable the Gmail Import/Export Filters lab.

Once you turn on the lab, there will be a new “Import Filter” button next to “Create Filter” in the filters section of Settings.

Next to the delete button, you’ll have an export button. Simple and awesome.

More Information on Gmail Filters:

• Lifehacker: Import and Export Your Gmail Filters
• Lifehacker: 10 Must Have Gmail Filters Available for Download
• Lifehacker: Set Up Multiple Gmail Filters By Editing and XML File
• Matt Thommes: Maintaining Gmail Filters with XML

Multiple Inboxes

Multiple inboxes is a really awesome feature. The problem with quickly clearing out your inbox is, well, things got set aside to be looked at or taken care of later…then later never comes. Out of site-out of mind.

Multiple inboxes easily solves that problem by allowing you to create different inbox panes and letting you get creative with the types of panes.

For example?

• A big fan of starring emails that require a later action? Set up a pane is:starred
• Have a tendency to forget about those emails that you’re waiting for a response on? Set up a pane label:waiting
• Those nifty newsletters that you plan on reading later? Set up a pane label:toread
• Want all your client emails in one place? Set up a pane label:clients

The possibilities are just about endless!

Do you have multiple email accounts all going to one central account? A great idea is to enable the Multiple Inboxes lab and then make individual panes for each account. It keeps things tidy and is a great way to manage multiple accounts.

More on Multiple Inboxes

• WebWorkerDaily: WWD Screencast: Gmail Labs Multiple Inboxes
• WebWorkerDaily: Increase Productivity with Gmail Multiple Inboxes
• Lifehacker: Gmail Labs Adds Multiple Inboxes
• The Gmail Blog: Tip: Manage Several Email Accounts with Multiple Inboxes

Looking for More Information on Gmail Labs?

Check out these helpful posts:

• WorkAwesome: 5 Incredibly Useful Gmail Features
• Web.AppStorm: Become a Gmail Power User with These Lab Features
• Lifehacker Tag: #gmaillabs
• WebWorkerDaily: Tag: Gmail
• MakeUseOf: Tag: Google Labs

Have a favorite Gmail Lab tip? Want to gush about how a particular Gmail Lab changed your work-life? Let us know in the comments!

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I bought this app almost immediately when it was released as I was combatting an issue I was having at that time. I find myself frequently uploading files to many different locations. Each time I do it, I have to launch Forklift or Transmit, connect to the FTP, browse to a specific folder and upload the file. I tried using multiple droplets but I don’t want to have a whole mess of them on my dock or desktop.

Here is where Dropzone solves this problem. It lets you setup multiple upload locations so that you can just drag a file into Dropzone on your dock to upload it. Very tidy and convenient!

As you can see from the screenshot above, I frequently upload files, invoices and quotes to my server for our clients to download. Even images that are displayed here are all uploaded from Dropzone. It’s just drag and drop! Really speeds up my workflow.

More Than Just FTPs

Not only can you drop files into FTPs, theres a whole slew of actions for you to perform by drag and drop eg. Flickr, share text, move files and more if you download and install extensions (a.k.a actions) from Dropzone’s website! With the ability to install more actions, the limits are endless.

I personally love being able to conveniently drop photos into Flickr, Twitpic, Dropbox etc.

Wait There’s More!

You can even install applications (.dmg) simply by drag and drop. We’re not talking about .app files where you can simply drop it in the Applications folder. It’s those pesky .dmg files where you have to click next, next, next just to have the application installed. No more! Drop those .dmg files into Dropzone under “Install Application” and Dropzone will mount the disk image, install and trash the dmg file, only ready for you to launch the app.

There are other useful built in features like “Zip & Email” where you can drag a file into Dropzone to have the file zipped up and placed into a new mail message ready for you to send.

Extending Dropzone

What makes Dropzone even more exciting are user contributed actions. There are already a bunch of useful actions ready for download like Twitpic, Dropbox, bit.ly, is.gd etc.

If you’re a Ruby developer you can even write your own actions.

Conclusion

I 100% recommend this app to internet junkies. It has been an indispensable app in my workflow. Even if you don’t win a free copy (see below), $10 is a small price to pay to make your life easier.

Giveaway!

We have 3 FREE copies to giveaway to SUBERAPPS readers! Winning is simple, just leave a comment and tell us how Dropzone will help make your life easier. Following @SUBERAPPS is not compulsory, but encouraged!

Competition ends this Christmas Day!

Look forward to your entries!

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This post is more for new Mac users, or Mac users who’ve not tried any Mail plugins before and would like to explore better use of Mac OS X native Mail application. Here are 6 of the best Mail plugins I can’t live without.

1 – Mail Act-On 2 ($24.95)

[Link]

If you’re an organized Mail user, you’ll most likely have many mail folders setup so that you can sort individual emails into their respective folders. Overtime it makes you counter-productive as you’ll end up with tons of folders sorted into different levels, dragging them into their respective folder becomes a pain as you have to find that particular folder from a whole stack of them. Mail Act-On solves that problem by letting you call up a HUD panel via a hotkey, letting you type the name of the folder and hitting “Enter” to file the email instead. I’ve been using this plugin extensively, $24.95 is worth every dime.

But if you want a free alternative, you can also try MsgFiler. Although the program will nag you to pay $8 within intervals of your use, if you don’t mind the nag, you can use it free forever.

2 – WideMail (Free)

[Link]

Wide screen monitors and laptops are everywhere these days, you’re probably using one, to make full use of the screen estate when using Mail, you’ll be happy to use WideMail plugin. To put it simply, WideMail displays your mail vertically instead of the original horizontal display. This makes reading emails easier.

3 – MailUnread (Free)

[Link]

MailUnread is a menubar plugin that shows you how many unread emails you have in your Mail. So whenever a new mail arrives, you’ll immediately know it. What’s more there’s an option to see a few lines of the new emails before you decide whether it needs your immediate attention.

4 – MiniMail ($9)

[Link]

MiniMail is like a Mini Player for iTunes. Clicking on the “+” sign on the Mail app collapse Mail into a “Mini Player like window”, MiniMail for this instance. You can scroll through unread mails, reply, create a new mail, delete, mark as read, check for new mail etc. Small but powerful plugin. MiniMail works best if you have a dual monitor setup, so that you can place MiniMail on the other monitor while making space for other applications you want to place on that monitor, iCal or iTunes for example.

5 – Mail Appetizer (Free)

[Link]

Mail Appetizer displays a notification window everytime a new email arrives. You can then determine whether the message requires your immediate attention.

6 – Mail Attachment Scanner (Donation)

[Link]

There are times we send out an email saying “Attached is the file.” only to get a reply from the recipient telling you nothing was attached. This can be embarrassing when the recipient is your professional client. Mail Attachment Scanner solves this for you. This plugin scans the email for words like “attached” when you click “Send”, if the plugin can’t find any attachments in the email it’ll prompt you before sending it out. A nifty tool.

If you find or is already using some fantastic Mail plugins please feel free to share it here. :)

7 – Subjectivity (Free)

[Link]

Subjectivity is a simple but helpful plugin that will let you know if you forgot to fill in the subject line of an email you’re sending out.

8 – Mail Widget (Free)

[Link]

Mail Widget is a dashboard widget that will check your email periodically (user defined) even if your Mail is not running, complete with growl notification. There is also an option where you can enable a female voice to speak to you eg. “New Mail Has Arrived” when there is a new unread mail in your inbox.

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Want to get reminders through Twitter, email, Jabber, GTalk or your mobile phone?

Remindr does just that. Remindr is one of those clean and simple web app that lets you get reminders of anything you want, and this one does it via a couple of channels.

If you use Twitter daily, this web app is a fun one to consider. Be sure to follow it’s Twitter bot to receive reminders via Twitter. Following the bot will have it automatically follow you back so that it can send you direct messages for your reminders.

The following is Remindr’s web interface. Clean! And lets you speak human language. The time is in your local time so you’ll get timely reminder based on your timezone. I’ve tested it and it works!

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