Tech2know

Yes friends. From now onwards you will be able to attach files in Gmail even if you are offline. This new feature as was rolled out yesterday only, by official Gmail blog team.

“If you have Offline Gmail enabled, you’ll notice that all your mail now goes through the outbox, regardless of whether you’re online or offline. This allows Gmail to capture all attachments, even if you suddenly get disconnected from network. If you’re online, your mail will quickly be sent along to its destination.”

You won’t have access to this feature by default . Below are the steps to enable the feature.

1) Enable it manually via ‘Settings’—>’Labs’—>’Enable Offline’. Below is a screen shot of the ‘Offline’ option in ‘Labs’.

Save the changes after selecting ‘Enable’.

2) As soon as you save the changes, Gmail will restart. Then you need to click on ‘Offline’ link which will appear on top right corner of your mailbox on the left side of ‘Settings’. Click on ‘Offline’ link. A popup will appear which asks for the installation of ‘Offline access for Gmail’ as shown below.

3) Just click on ‘Next’ and click on ‘Allow’ to let offline mail store information on your computer.

4) On clicking ‘Allow’, it’ll take a few minutes for ‘Offline Gmail’ to install on your system. After installation, ‘Offline Gmail’ and your online Gmail will synchronize. Time taken in synchronizing depends upon the number of mails in your online inbox and size of attachments. In the mean time you can choose the locations(desktop, Start menu, Quick launch bar) where you want to place shortcut of ‘Offline Gmail’.

And you are through with enabling and installation of the feature.

What is the Use :

Well, the biggest advantage is we can attach files even if we are offline. So, no need to worry if the connection suddenly goes off while you are attaching a file. The trick is, when you attach a file offline, the mail with the attachment resides on you computer locally. On sending the mail to intended recipient, the mail gets stored in ‘Outbox’ within ‘Offline Gmail’ locally.

Once the connection is restored, ‘Offline Gmail’ and your online Gmail synchronizes again. The result is, mails stored in Outbox of your offline Gmail will be sent and newly received mails in online Gmail inbox are copied to ‘Offline Gmail’.

You can also view old mails by yourself, show them to your friends, download an attachment if you have lost previously downloaded one without even thinking of connection.

That’s it for now friends. Try this new feature and share your opinion via comments.

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