Monday, March 8, 2010

Use GMAIL offline with gears

Gmail has introduced its latest Labs feature called offline Gmail to enable e-mail access even when you are not connected to the Internet.
While this might sound uber geeky, the concept is simple enough when you actually use it. Oh, and the “offline” mode is already available in a simpler form if you happen to use Outlook or any other email client with Gmail POP access.
Gmail uses its Google Gears open source web application to enable the “offline” mode. Currently, Google lists Firefox 2, 3, and the Internet Explorer 7 in its list of supported browsers. Strangely, there is no mention of Google’s own, the Chrome! However, it might be because Chrome support is obvious.


What it does


The feature, which needs to be enabled from under the “Labs” option under “Settings,” downloads e-mails onto your computer and allows access even when there is no Internet connectivity. Users will be able to access most of their emails, reply to them, and view starred and unread messages, just like they do when Gmail is online. When you perform an action that needs web access, Gmail will queue the action and will execute it as soon the connection is restored. While it might not sound very exciting initially, I, for once, can realize how useful this might turn out to be. For many users, Gmail has become a data center, and I suspect that there are many people out there who would want to have a look at their mails and archives even when not connected to the Internet. The best thing is that once this feature is installed, Gmail will be able to go offline or online by detecting the network status, so you do not need to switch on/off the Offline mode manually. There is also this “Flaky Connection Mode” that detects a slow connection and uses the local cache for accessing data, and only uses the server when Gmail needs web access – like when hitting the send button.


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