The new Gmail feature we've been waiting for is here.
Where would we be without Gmail? The popular email service turned 15 yesterday, but rather than going through the hormonal ups and downs us mere humans wrestle with around that age, Gmail celebrated the big day by getting its act together and launching a raft of useful new features. How grown up.
You've probably seen creeping changes appear in Gmail recently, including personalised auto replies that take the legwork out of everyday communications. But headlining yesterday's updates is a feature that's sure to be music to the ears of creatives around the world: scheduled email launches!
This simple tool, which is rolling out now, easily allows users to compose their message, then launch it at an arranged time rather than firing it off straight away. With the feature activated, simply hit the dotted lines next to the send message button, click schedule send, then pick your time and you're away.
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For teams working in studios all over the world, this welcome update means it will be easier to share feedback across different time zones because scheduled messages will arrive at the top of an inbox instead of being buried beneath other emails. Schedule send is also handy if you've stayed up late checking your inbox and you want to send a message without people knowing that you've been burning the midnight oil. Not that we've ever done that.
Delaying the launch of an email also allows you to get the cathartic hit from sending a message without having to immediately deal with the consequences. If you've ever sent a reply in a moment of heated back and forth, you'll know how quickly pressing send can make you re-evaluate your message. Thanks to schedule send you can get your feedback out of your system, then click undo once you've realised the error of your ways.
The introduction of schedule send ties into Google's digital wellbeing drive. As G Suite director of product management Jacob Bank wrote in a blog post, "we understand that work can often carry over to non-business hours, but it’s important to be considerate of everyone’s downtime. We want to make it easier to respect everyone’s digital wellbeing."
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Dom Carter is a freelance writer who specialises in art and design. Formerly a staff writer for Creative Bloq, his work has also appeared on Creative Boom and in the pages of ImagineFX, Computer Arts, 3D World, and .net. He has been a D&AD New Blood judge, and has a particular interest in picture books.
