Stars: Use stars to mark important messages, or mark items that you have to send a response to later.

Not only will your starred messages stand out in your inbox, but if you click on “Starred” in the left-hand menu, you can get a list of just your starred messages. A perfect To-Do list

Advanced Gmail: If you like this feature, try Superstars under Settings >> Labs – it will let you choose from different types of stars to denote different types of items that come into your inbox

Removing Ads: You can’t remove all the ads in Gmail, but you can remove the ones on the top bar. Just go to Settings >> Web Clips, and click off “Show the Web Clips above the Inbox”, you’ll no longer have those webclips.

Unfortunately, you cannot remove the sponsored links, it’s why Gmail is free

Chatting: Is a friend or family member on Gmail all the time? Try chatting with them from the sidebar. Just invite them to chat once, and you’ll always be able to see if they’re online

If your contact is online while you’re writing them an email, you can hit the “respond by chat” button to talk to them instead of emailing them

Advanced Gmail: If you have a webcam, you can video chat with your friends and family

Using Labels: Do you want to keep some messages together? Try labels. Either click “Labels” (which will add a label and leave it in your Inbox or click “Move To” (see below)

You can move your labels in your side bar to have them show, so you can click on them like a folder, or you can hide them so they don’t

Also, the same message can have as many labels as you would like

Advanced Gmail: You can make your labels stand out by making them different colors, in the left sidebar. Also Turn on Custom Label Colors under Settings >> Labs, which will let you choose from any color in the rainbow

Move To: If you want to get mail that you don’t need anymore out of your inbox, try “move to”. Pick a label, click on it, and your message will leave the inbox and go under its new label

Move to vs. Label: Labeling a message will give it a label, but will not remove it from the inbox. After labeling it, you can click archive to have it leave the inbox. Move to, labels it and remove it in one click

Searching Mail: Gmail is known for its searching, and here searching for mail is easy, just use the search box at the top of your email, and click “Search Mail”

If you’d like to search the web directly from your email, try clicking “Search the Web”, it will open your Google search in a new window

Note: If you click “Archive” instead of “Delete” when you’re done with a message, it will stay in your email forever, even without labeling it. Then you can retrieve it by searching in case you need it.

If you click “Delete”, the message (excluding Spam) goes into your “Trash” for 30 days, and then its eliminated permanently from your Gmail

Note: If you search for a deleted message, it will not come up in your initial result. Look at the bottom of your results for link that says: “Deleted Messages Match Your Search” and then click on “View Them”. You can them return them to your inbox by clicking “Move to Inbox” when the message is open.

Vacation Responder: If you’re going out of town, try the “Vacation Responder” to tell people who email you, that you’re unavailable. Click on Settings >> General, and find the box about halfway down that says “Vacation Responder”. First click “Vacation Responder On”, and then write a Subject and a Message. Now, whenever someone sends you an email, they’ll know you’re not checking your email for a few days

If you click the checkbox next to “Only send a response to the people in my contacts”, only your contacts will get the message, so any listservs that you subscribe to won’t receive the message.

Note: Anytime you log into your email while the responder is on, you’ll see a message at the top, so you remember to turn it off when you get home

Advanced Gmail: If you keep forgetting to turn off your vacation responder, go to Settings >> Labs and enable “Vacation Time!”. It will allow you to set when you’re returning, so that you don’t have to turn off your responder when you get home.

Using Themes: If you don’t like the traditional look of Gmail, try another! Go to Settings>>Themes and choose the look that you like best

Gmail adds new themes every few months, so keep checking back

Some themes move and change, try “Bus Stop” where the people move around or “Tea House” where the day changed with your time zone

Advanced Gmail: In this same spot, you can create your own Gmail Theme to reflect your own personal style

Using Filters: Do you often get emails from listservs or coupons that you’d like to see, but not in your inbox? Try a Filter. There are two ways to do this

One: Pick an email that you’ve got that’s similar to the ones that you want to filter (ex. the same sender) open it, click “More Actions” at the top, and click “Filter Messages Like This”. You’ll get the filter box, click “Messages Like These”, check what you’d like done with them (give them a label, delete them, etc…) and then click “Create Filer

Two: Go to Settings >> Filter and click “Create a new filter”, type in what criteria you’d like to filter, and then follow the instructions above.

Advanced Gmail: Create a filter to apply to messages, that automatically labels them and archives them. Then make sure that the label appears in your side bar, and you’ll always be told when new mail has arrived in that folder

Import Your Email and Contacts: If you have an old email address, you to import your old email, your old contacts, send as your old email, and get all new mail into your gmail inbox.

Note: While instructions for specific email addresses would be too much here, you can call the Adult Services desk at 248-554-4650 to set up a computer one-on-one and a librarian will help you with your individual email and contact updating.

Gmail Labs: Open Gmail and go to Settings >> Labs

Gmail Help: Open Gmail and click “Help” in the upper right hand corner

Gmail Blog: http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/

Gmail Tips: http://www.google.com/mail/help/tips.html (become a Gmail Ninja!)

What’s New: http://www.google.com/mail/help/about_whatsnew.html