Google Roundup of the Week: Gmail Gets An Overhaul

Want to see what Google's been working on lately? Here's all their recent updates in one convenient post.

Here’s all of that in detail, plus a quick rundown of some minor updates.



Ever logged into Gmail, Google Docs, or any other Google product and thought, “Whoa, when did they add that new feature?” Google is constantly making updates to their products, but you’d never know without regularly digging through their many project blogs. So every week (or two) we like to find out what Google’s been working on, then condense it all into one convenient post. This week Gmail and Google Reader both got overhauled, Google+ took steps to integrate more tightly with YouTube and Chrome, and the new Chrome Beta showed up with a multi-user option.



Gmail’s New Look Goes Live, Adds Some New Tricks
In July, Google dropped several preview themes that showed off updates they were planning for the interface. Now the full redesign is available to all by clicking “Switch to the new look” in the bottom-right corner of Gmail. In addition to the visual switch toward the company’s new simple, white-space loving aesthetic, the redesign also comes with a few new options.

• If you find yourself balking at the inefficiency of Gmail’s new inbox, the first thing you need to try out are the density options under the gear menu. The Comfortable setting (like Chrome’s recently updated New Tab Page) seems suspiciously geared toward giving tablet users a bigger target to hit, while Compact squeezes the most items into view and Cozy falls somewhere in the middle. These views can dynamically shift based on the type of display you’re using, but if you choose Compact it will lock on that view no matter what.
• Email threads include the profile pictures of your contacts, making it look more like an IM conversation log.
• The left hand navigation area lets you resize its label and chat areas, so you could pull your chat list over the labels you don’t need all the time, or go in the other direction by hiding the chat area entirely.
• The Search box has added an incredibly handy advanced search drop-down panel that can also create filters—definitely a lot faster than navigating to a whole other advanced search page.
• The redesign includes a set of high resolution themes, including updated versions of old favorites.

Reader Redone
Google Reader also got a new clean-and-fast overhaul this week, along with the Google+ community features we mentioned last time. Users can now +1 an item to share it on Google+, either with or without a note included. Google’s posts concerning Reader acknowledge that some may not like the Google+ integration, although so far the visual redesign seems to be the more divisive issue. If either one is a dealbreaker for you, don’t forget that there’s a subscription export feature in case you want to move on to something else.


Google+ Adds a YouTube Slider, Handy Chrome Extensions
Google+ users may have noticed a new mouseover YouTube icon in their stream lately. It’s basically a quick way to launch a search-based playlist—not a killer feature, but it might be a nice method for playing some music while you browse. We especially like that you can navigate the list from the slider itself, even if you move the YouTube window away. Overall, though, we’d like to see more from this feature, like quick access to our personal YouTube playlists and subscriptions.


A pair of new Chrome plugins for Google+ also dropped this week, and shouldn’t be overlooked. Google+ Notifications lets you view and interact with your updates without navigating to Google+. If you’ve used the Google+ functionality in the black bar along the top of Gmail/Docs/etc, you know what to expect. The +1 Button extension resolves a common complaint by letting you +1 a page AND share it to Google+ AND comment on it, all right from a drop-down.


Chrome Beta Helps Multiple Users Share
Syncing has long been one of Chrome’s strong suits, but once you start relying on it you might have trouble sharing your computer with someone who has their own set of bookmarks and extensions. You could, of course, manage that problem with separate computer logins, but that might be a pain if you switch out frequently. The latest Chrome Beta has a quicker solution: multi-user support in the browser. From Options (or Preferences on a Mac), click Personal Stuff and “Add a new user.” A badge in the upper corner indicates which profile is being used, and clicking it shows a drop-down for switching between them.


Odds and Ends
Here’s a quick rundown of this week’s minor posts.

• Those Street View trikes have been adding new parks, including New York’s awesome High Line.
• Ads in Google search now include a “Why these ads” link (coming soon to Gmail) that shows information about why a particular ad showed up. The new Ads Preferences Manager will let you block advertisers and turn off personalized ads.
• Google Search has added a new feature for searching places. A panel to the right of the results displays extra information, including a Google Map of the location.
• Search has also been updated to better understand when a user wants more recent results.
• Google News settings are now included in Google Dashboard.
• Google Calendar has added a Suggested times option to help plan events with other people.
• Biking and walking directions can now be saved to custom maps and shared.
• Google eBooks has launched in Canada.
• Google Offers has a new Android app.

New Gmail redesign is live right now: activate in the bottom left

We think you’ll be quite happy with this redesign that was announced earlier this morning. To try it out simply activate it in the bottom left of Gmail.

Google to launch redesigned Gmail interface

Gmail’s new look arrives with streamlined conversations, elastic density, HD themes, and more

According to a report from Google Operating System, a video from Google’s YouTube channel (which has recently been made private) leaked a new Gmail interface that will more than likely be introduced publicly in the near future.


As you can see from the video above, they’ve redesigned the overall look of the UI (based on the new Preview theme) by using large icons opposed to text labels, a brand new conversation view with profile pictures, and a new flexible layout that maintains maximum usability when resizing browser windows.


A new customizable search bar adds the ability to easily select filters and advanced options for searching and even create new filters right from within the new search dialog. Display density settings including “Comfortable”, “Compact”, and “Cozy” will allow you to adjust the amount of content displayed in your inbox, and Label and Chat areas can now be resized. Many of the themes have been updated with new HD imagery as well.

Enable Gmail’s Great New Preview Pane in Gmail Labs

Google just added a long-desired lab feature to Gmail: a preview window. 


Now Gmail can operate in a paned, widesceen-style view similar to Microsoft Outlook and the new Apple Mail. If you like having your messages list available even when viewing, this is a great feature to have. To enable it, just open Gmail, go to Labs, and turn on the Preview Pane option.


The Preview Pane lab works like a charm with all your beloved Gmail shortcuts (if you're not familiar with them, hit the question mark ['?'] in Gmail to bring them up). To turn it on in your Gmail account, head to your Gmail Labs page, Ctrl/Cmd+F for "Preview Pane", select enable, and click the Save Changes button at the bottom of the page. If you don't fancy the default layout, you can adjust the size of the panes with a little drag and drop.

Gmail Rolls Out Its New, Minimal Look

Gmail just rolled out, via preview themes, their new, minimal look. Keeping in line with the update to Google Calendar, the new interface brings a lighter and cleaner look to your Gmail inbox. It's not the default just yet, so to turn it on:

1. Go to your Themes tab in Gmail
2.  Click one of the Preview theme links (bottom right of the themes for me); one is called Preview, the other Preview (Dense)
3.  That's all

Gmail's the preferred email client of most of blogs's readership, so a redesign of this magnitude is pretty significant. Give it a try on your account and let's hear how you like it in the comments.



A preview of Gmail's new look | Official Gmail Blog

Best Email Client: Gmail

Last week we asked you to share your favorite email client, then we rounded up the results for a vote. Now we're back to announce the winners and how the race shook out.

How to Completely BackUp your Google Account files

Raise your hand if you use Gmail, Google Docs, Chat or Calendar (if you’re in a public place, you’re excused from raising your hand--you might look a bit silly). Point is, the majority of us find ourselves knee deep in at least one Gmail Inbox every day, and Docs provides a fantastic service for storing files in the cloud and collaborating with friends and colleagues. But delete a file from the cloud, and you may find yourself scrambling in vain to get it back. Worse, every so often the unthinkable happens--Google’s servers go down.

We’d hate to see you lose an important email or essay or inadvertently wipe out your Contacts list along with your Gmail account. That’s why we’ve compiled a handy guide to backing up all things Google both online and off. Whether you want to duplicate your data in the cloud or keep it safe and sound on your own hard drive, we’ve got you covered.

Online Backup

Say you love having all of your emails stored online, but happen to be a bit clumsy when it comes to tidying up the Inbox. If you’re worried about accidentally deleting that important email from your boss, here’s an extremely simple solution: back up your Gmail account with a second Gmail account! Here’s what you do: set up a new Gmail profile, then head to the “Accounts and Import” tab in the Settings menu. Here you’ll find the option to Check Mail Using POP3. Add your primary email address and password and you're set!


As an extra-secure option, use a Yahoo! or Hotmail account to backup your Gmail Inbox. And remember, always use a different password--if someone hacks your primary account, the last thing you need is an equally vulnerable backup.  Here you may want to check a “leave a copy of retrieved message on the server” option so your emails will arrive in both your primary and backup Inboxes.


If you’re looking for a more robust solution--something that will backup your mail, contacts, and documents in one fell swoop, check out Backupify. Though it’s primarily designed for businesses that want to backup multiple user accounts, there’s a free plan for personal accounts that offers 2GB of storage. Backupify supports Gmail, Docs, Contacts, and Calendar, and a whole host of other social media services like Twitter and Flickr.

Offline Backup

Sometimes there’s just no beating a local repository of those important files. Between massive thunderstorms, ISP outages and unreliable routers, sometimes we lose Internet access right when we need it most. Or maybe you just don’t trust the cloud--that’s okay. Here’s how to download your precious data.

 
Our first suggestion is to set up a free email application like Mozilla’s trusty Thunderbird. Not only does Thunderbird support Windows, Mac OS and Linux, its UI has seriously improved over the years, and version 3.1 looks quite nice. When adding a new email account to Thunderbird, make sure “Leave messages on server” is checked on the Server Settings page of your account--that way all your mail will remain accessible online.


Nothing attached to a Google account is easier to backup than Google Contacts. Login to your Gmail account, switch to the Contacts window, and click on the “More Actions” button. From there, the Export option allows for you to save all of your contacts as a CSV or vCard file. CSVs can be imported into Thunderbird or another email applications like Microsoft Outlook. Backing up Google Docs en masse is also a painless procedure: simply choose Export from the More Options menu, switch to All Items, and get to downloading.

Cram your Google Calendar with important dates? It’s a cinch to back up, too. On the Calendars tab of the Calendar Settings menu, click “Export calendars” to save all your calendar information as a zipped .ical file. For your calendar to be usable, though, there’s a better way to build an offline Google Calendar backup. First, pick a calendar application that supports Google Calendar synchronization like Rainlendar. Another alternative is  Rainmeter, an extremely customizable desktop skinning program, which can integrate everything from processor and weather monitors to RSS readers and synchronized calendars.


Different calendar apps may sync with Google in different ways, but knowing how to access your calendar’s Private Address can come in handy. Once you’re set up with an offline calendar application, head to the Calendars tab of the Calendar Settings menu again. This time, click on the name of the calendar you want to backup--the name of your Gmail account--and scroll down to the bottom of the page. The “Private Address” field provides XML, iCal, and HTML read-only links to your calendar. Certain applications, like the Pro version of Rainlendar, can read and write to Google Calendar as long as they know the calendar name, account name and password. Making changes on the desktop and watching them seamlessly sync to Google Calendar and an Android phone is might convenient.

Backing up in Reverse

This How-to is obviously aimed at providing alternate storage solutions for Google services, but we have to give the Big G its due--backing local files up to Google’s cloud storage works pretty well, too. Google Docs offers a free 1024MB of storage space for whatever you feel like uploading. That should be plenty for a boatload of documents, and they sell more storage space. 20GB costs only $5 a year. There are also ways to use Gmail as a file storage solution. While Google’s free storage may not be the best solution for large-scale backups, it’s perfect for storing important documents and photos just in case disaster strikes your computer.

How to Migrate Email from One Gmail Account to Another.

For the last year, I've used a work email address using Google Apps as my main email account. I'm transitioning out of that company now, and want to bring my emails (and GTalk records) with me. Is this possible?
Is there a way to bring my contacts and messages to another Apps account and delete the old stuff? Is there any way at all to do that without losing labels?
Thanks,


Leaving Gmail for Gmail

Dear Leaving,
I'm sure you're not alone—some people simply don't like the username they chose out of the blocks and want to move all of their email to a more professional-sounding email address. Unfortunately, this is one of Gmail's biggest drawbacks—it doesn't let you migrate from one Google account to another with any amount of ease. There are likely a few ways to do it yourself, but if you really want to preserve everything, you're probably best off using a mail client, like Outlook or Thunderbird, to drag and drop the messages between accounts. Here's how it works:
You'll have to set up your desktop client of choice to access both of your Gmail accounts via IMAP. Google details the process for various clients here, so we won't go into every step. Also note that for this to work best, you'll want to enable "Advanced IMAP Features" in Gmail Labs on both accounts, and tell it to show all your labels (including Sent Mail and All Mail) in the mail client on the Labels page in Gmail.

Prepare Your Gmail Account

You're going to be stuck with folders instead of labels in your desktop client, which is kind of a pain, but we can still make it work. If you regularly assign multiple labels to messages in Gmail (keeping in mind that Sent Mail, Inbox, and Starred are also labels), you'll have to do a bit of work to make them more folder-friendly for your desktop client. Probably the best way to handle that is to take all combination of labels you have and assign a new label to it. For example, if you have a lot of messages that are assigned "label 1" and "label 2", create a new label called "labels 1 and 2" that contain all those messages, and then unassign the original two labels.
That way in your folder-focused desktop client, the messages will be in one place and easy to transfer to your new account. When you get the messages to your new account, you can reassign the original labels and delete the third one. This could potentially be a lot of work, depending on how many labels you have and how many combinations of those labels exist in your setup—but it's really the only workaround with this method. You won't have to do this if you just use labels in your Gmail account as you would folders, i.e. archiving all messages that are assigned labels and only assigning one label to a message at a time. Here are some screenshots of the step-by-step process to make it clear:


Multiple-Label Messages:

Create Label Combinations:
 

Remove Multi-Labels:
 

Moving from One Gmail Account to Another from Your Desktop Client

Once your old account is ready for the transfer, you'll have to create all the same labels in your new account that exist in your old one. Then just jump into your client of choice and start dragging and dropping the messages from the old folders to the new folders (by hitting select all in the old folder and then dragging that mass to the new folder). Do this for all your folders/labels, including your Inbox and Sent Mail, excluding All Mail (for now). That should get you a good amount of your messages, but we still need to deal with the un-labeled emails in the All Mail folder.

At this point, make sure all your labeled messages made it safely to your new account, because you'll have to delete them off the old account to migrate the rest of the un-labeled messages. (The deleting is necessary because if you were to copy everything from All Mail to your new account, all your labeled messages would migrate duplicates. If you're queasy about deleting anything, you could also try labeling all your unlabeled mail, but unfortunately Gmail doesn't have a search operator for unlabeled messages, so it would likely be a lot of work.) If everything looks good, go ahead and move all messages in labels, sent mail, and your inbox to the trash and empty the trash (do all this from your desktop client). You should be left with a bunch of empty folders, except for All Mail, which will contain only messages that had been archived but did not have a label assigned to them. Now you can drag these to the All Mail folder on your new account. 
Better Way?
It seems like a roundabout way to do it all, but it's the best method I've found. As far as contacts go, you can easily export those by going to contacts and hitting the "export" link in the upper right hand corner—after which you can re-import them into your new account. Unfortunately, you cannot migrate your chat logs—there just isn't a good way to do it since neither are fetchable by IMAP or POP. You can't even mass forward them with a filter, since Gmail's filters won't forward old mail. You can manually forward the important ones, but that's about it—you'll just have to keep the account open for reference until Google comes up with something better. Good Luck!

How to Migrate Your Entire Google Account to a New One.

Migrate Your Entire Google Account to a New One.

Whether you finally decided to shed kamal_raj@gmail.com for a more professional handle or you want to swap Google accounts for less embarrassing reasons, Google doesn't have a built-in system for migrating your data to a new account. So we figured it out.

A lot of us have a ton of data stored in Google's services, but if you want to migrate to a new Google account, you'll need to do some digging. Here's how to migrate your data from Google's most popular services (Gmail, Google Calendar, Docs, Reader, Voice, Blogger, and YouTube) from your current account (hereafter referred to as "Account 1") to your new account (hereafter, "Account 2") while incurring the least amount of data loss.

A few of the services (such as Google Reader) adhere to some fairly universal import/export standards that make it easy, whereas other services (such as newer YouTube accounts) may require you to start from scratch to keep full functionality. In these few cases, we'll note what you can do and what you'll lose by using that method instead of starting over.

Note: Unfortunately, Google Apps has still not caught up to regular Google Accounts in terms of available services. While some of these (such as Calendar and Documents) will work for migrating to a Google Apps account, other services (such as Reader or Voice) are still not available to Google Apps at this time. I'll note where the service is not available to Apps users, as well as when they need to go through a different process of migrating that particular service.

Migrating Gmail

Migrating all your email from one Gmail account to another is a fairly involved process—and one which we detailed in our guide to changing your Gmail account without losing your email. So hit up that original guide for your Gmail migration, then come back for the rest.

Migrating Google Calendar

There are two ways to migrate your Google Calendar. One of them takes a bit longer, but we'll only use that method for your main calendar (the one that, by default, is named after your Gmail address). All of the sub-calendars, or "delegates", of the account are easier to migrate, so we'll do that second.

To migrate your main calendar, go into your Google Calendar settings and click on the Calendars tab. You'll see an option to export all your calendars, at once, to your hard drive in iCalendar format. Export them to your drive and unzip them if necessary.
Next, go to your new account (it's easiest to have each account logged into Google in a separate browser), go to Settings > Calendar Settings > Calendars and create a new one. Name it whatever you like, click Create Calendar, and then hit the import button at the bottom of the page. Choose the .ical file corresponding to your main calendar and upload it, choosing the empty Google Calendar you just created as its destination. You'll see that it shows up in calendar view.
If you have more calendars you want to import beyond the default, we're just going to share them with the other account. Go back to the Calendars tab of Account 1's settings and hit the "Share This Calendar" button next to a calendar. Type in the Account 2's address and hit Enter. Change the permissions in the drop-down window to "Make Changes AND Manage Sharing" and hit Save. Account 2 will receive an email saying that you've shared a calendar, and provide a confirmation link. The first time you receive an invitation, you'll need to click on this link, but afterward the calendar will just show up automatically. You can then go back to the Calendars tab of your new account's settings, hit the "Shared: Edit Settings" link and remove Account 1 at the bottom, by clicking the trash can icon. (This removes Account 1 from sharing the calendar, so Account 2 is left with full ownership of the calendar.) Repeat this for each of your calendars and you'll have migrated everything you need. This method works for both regular Google accounts as well as Google Apps.

Migrating Google Docs

 If you're migrating to a regular Google account, transferring your Google Docs is easy. Just select all the documents you want to migrate, go to the More Actions drop down menu, and choose Change Owner. Type in Account 2's address in the box that comes up. You'll see all your documents in Account 2.

Unfortunately, Google Docs does not allow you to change the owner to someone of a different domain, meaning migrating your documents to a Google Apps account takes a bit longer. Luckily, it's still pretty easy. Select all the documents you want to transfer, go to the More Actions drop down, and click on Export. This will compress all the documents into a zip file and download it to your hard drive. Afterward, you can go to Account 2 and hit the Upload button in the top left corner, and choose all the documents you just downloaded. It'll take a bit longer, but you still won't lose any functionality or data, which is nice.

Note that any documents for which you are a collaborator but not the owner will not transfer correctly with either of these methods; you'll need to contact the owner of those documents and tell them to re-share them with your new account.

Migrating Google Reader

 Migrating your RSS feeds is probably the easiest part of this process, but it unfortunately only works with regular Google accounts (since Apps accounts do not have access to Reader). Just go into Google Reader's settings and click on the Import/Export tab. At the bottom, you'll see a link that says "Export Your Subscriptions as an OPML File" which will download a single file to your computer containing all of your feeds. Click on this link, and then go to the same Import/Export tab in Account 2's Settings. This time, click the Choose File button and navigate to the file you just downloaded. After uploading this file, all your feeds should show up in Reader. Note that this won't sync your read and unread counts, nor will it sync your starred or shared articles, so you'll have to re-star anything you still want to reference (and re-friend anyone you follow on Reader).

Migrating Blogger

Migrating your Blogger account will be similar to Calendar and Docs, but with a few caveats. Sign into your current Blogger account, go to Settings, and hit the Permissions tab. Click the Add Authors button and type in Account 2's address. You'll get an email notification in that account's inbox, so head over to your other browser and accept the invitation to become an author of that blog. Once you have, you can give that account administrative rights with Account 1 by going to Settings > Permissions and clicking on "grant admin privileges". Once you've done so, you can remove Account 1 from the blog by clicking the remove link next to its address. Note that when you do this, Account 1's posts will stay up as they were before. However, if you delete your original Google account, all the pictures will turn into broken images. You could re-upload and re-post all the pictures, but honestly, there's no reason to delete the account outright, even if you never plan on using the Gmail address again. In fact, I've found that having an old Google Account makes a handy address to direct all your spam.  

Migrating YouTube

Unfortunately, you can only migrate your YouTube account if you created it before May 2009. If you are one of these lucky folks, though, it's quite easy. Just go to your Account settings and hit Manage Account. At the bottom of the list you'll see an option to unlink your YouTube and Google accounts. Click the link and follow the steps. The next time you log into YouTube, it will prompt you to link it to another Google Account. If you created your YouTube account after May 2009, though, you will not have this option. Your only choice is to re-upload all of your videos to a new YouTube account.

Migrating your Blogger account will be similar to Calendar and Docs, but with a few caveats. Sign into your current Blogger account, go to Settings, and hit the Permissions tab. Click the Add Authors button and type in Account 2's address. You'll get an email notification in that account's inbox, so head over to your other browser and accept the invitation to become an author of that blog. Once you have, you can give that account administrative rights with Account 1 by going to Settings > Permissions and clicking on "grant admin privileges". Once you've done so, you can remove Account 1 from the blog by clicking the remove link next to its address.

Note that when you do this, Account 1's posts will stay up as they were before. However, if you delete your original Google account, all the pictures will turn into broken images. You could re-upload and re-post all the pictures, but honestly, there's no reason to delete the account outright, even if you never plan on using the Gmail address again. In fact, I've found that having an old Google Account makes a handy address to direct all your spam.

Migrating Google Voice

When GrandCentral became Google Voice, Google provided a path for users to switch accounts since many people associated their GrandCentral account with the wrong Google Account. Later on, they expanded this to all Google Voice users, at least until they provide a sanctioned method to migrate your data. Thus, just fill out this form and your account should eventually transfer over. Note that at the moment, this does not work for Google Apps accounts.


As you can see, even this migration isn't foolproof—unfortunate YouTubers may have to completely re-upload their videos to YouTube, for example. However, this method will get you most of the way there, and if you only use a few of Google's services (such as Calendar or Reader) you should have no problem migrating your data once and for all. Got any of your own migration tips and methods? Share them in the comments