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GMail Labels with color!  (View post)

Tue Abrahamsen [PersonRank 7]

Monday, December 3, 2007
16 years ago23,471 views

I just reloaded GMail, and got the possibility to define a color per label! This is really cool. Screenshot at http://www.growl.dk/files/gmail-color.png

Tue Abrahamsen [PersonRank 7]

16 years ago #

GMail also feels a lot faster when browsing... The only problem with the color-boxes, is that they seem to cut the end of my longer label-names.

Haochi [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

Is it Better Gmail (the FF extension)? I can't find it.

Tue Abrahamsen [PersonRank 7]

16 years ago #

Nope, i actually have no extensions what so ever installed. Trust me, this is the real deal :) (To be honest, FireBug and Greasemonkey are installed, but deactivated)

Bas [PersonRank 2]

16 years ago #

I found the same thing! At first I thought it was the Better Gmail but the labels stayed after disabling it.. Looks good!

Philipp Lenssen [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

Tue, could you please email me some more screenshots (info[put at-character here]blogoscoped.com)? No need to remove any fields, I will remove all private information or label names when I post it.

Tue Abrahamsen [PersonRank 7]

16 years ago #

Sure thing.

Philipp Lenssen [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

Also: Tue, do you see this when switching to Internet Explorer as well?

Martin Porcheron [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

This will really throw me out of sync as I have about 25 labels (a lot are sub labels). But that means I can't read them if more of the labels box is taken up with the colour picker.

Tue Abrahamsen [PersonRank 7]

16 years ago #

Nope – but then again, I don't have IE7 installed. That could be the problem.

Jon Heckman [PersonRank 1]

16 years ago #

iv seen it in IE7. It has some interesting additions.

Above 11 comments were made in the forum before this was blogged,

Philipp Lenssen [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

For reference here is the colored labels feature as already used in Google Calendar. In Google Calendar, the colors get auto-assigned, though you can then edit them:

http://blogoscoped.com/files/colored-labels-calendar.png

Mikee [PersonRank 1]

16 years ago #

Yes, it works for me as well. I use the same colors for my tasks in my G Calendar, so it is pretty useful!

Mikee [PersonRank 1]

16 years ago #

In addition, it's got really really fast!!

Kirby Witmer [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

I got it in one of my gmail accounts, but not in my google apps account.

caraiman [PersonRank 0]

16 years ago #

Yeah I'm sure Google Apps will have to wait again...still don't even have the gmail 2.0 version on my google apps

Philipp Lenssen [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

Bas adds:

<<I'm not sure if this is new but I've never seen it before and it looks similar to the other interface adjustments..

I saw this when I was editing a saved draft that included a link..>>

http://blogoscoped.com/files/another-gmail-improvement-2007-11.jpg

Martin Porcheron [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

That functionality is from the editor for Customised Start Pages on Google Apps.

Sam Harrelson [PersonRank 0]

16 years ago #

I've got colored labels in my GMail account since about 4:00pm EST today. They are speedy and there's a good selection of colors to choose from.

Posted w/ pics here:

http://blog.samharrelson.com/2007/12/03/gmail-label-colors/

Luka [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

Gmail Help confirmation at : http://mail.google.com/support/bin/search.py?query=label+color&Action.Search=Search&type=f&lr=lang_en&ctx=en%3Asearchbox

Martin Porcheron [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

I've got that link popup thing although I haven't got the coloured labels yet. Perhaps they are being rolled out separately?

Zim [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

Wow, this is nice :)
But I don't have it yet. I think I'll have to wait a few days more..

Stan [PersonRank 0]

16 years ago #

I HAVE THIS FEATURE!! WOW! I LOVE IT! I got Gmail 2 about 3 weeks after most people, but I guess I lucked out with this feature! I have it right away...

Elaine [PersonRank 0]

16 years ago #

I've got it too.

Scipio [PersonRank 1]

16 years ago #

I have this too. It's cool!

Avrohom Eliezer Friedman (AEF) [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

Just got it – it just at one point refreshed on me and worked!!!!!!!

Nitwit88 [PersonRank 0]

16 years ago #

[put at-character here]Avrohom Eliezer Friedman (AEF)
Same thing happened to me just now. I read my mail, left, saw that I had a new one, and went back, and there it was.

Haochi [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

[put at-character here]http://blogoscoped.com/forum/117112.html#id117149
It's been around for a while, on or after the update on contacts.

Voyagerfan5761 [PersonRank 3]

16 years ago #

[put at-character here]Luka: Interesting that the search currently returns a result with a link to answer.py?answer=, with no answer number specified. Is Google trying to hide something?

This is going to come as an exciting addition to all the users of the Gmail Label Colors script for the old version. I might start coloring labels myself, if it's an integrated feature. Neat!

Beau Gunderson [PersonRank 1]

16 years ago #

Just signed out/signed in and had this as well. Makes labels much more useful! I did notice the same speed increase that others mentioned as well.

Luka [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

Now it is official : http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=80637&topic=12857

Voyagerfan5761 [PersonRank 3]

16 years ago #

Thanks for that link, Luka! I've now blogged about this, as well. (Who won't? :D)

[put at-character here]Beau: I'll have to try the sign out/in thing. It didn't work with the new version, but perhaps this time...

IsoNick [PersonRank 1]

16 years ago #

It looks like they’ve changed some fonts as well. It looks different.

Nilson Santos F. Jr. [PersonRank 0]

16 years ago #

I got his on my GMail too.

TBH, I found this page while searching for a way to disable it.

Just selecting "remove color" doesn't actually make the label background transparent again. Also, the color squares are eating some (otherwise useful) screen real-estate.

I'm almost tempted to just switch to the "Older Version", but then, I probably lose other features too. :-/

Nirav [PersonRank 1]

16 years ago #

Mixed feelings – I'm iffy on the X button everywhere that the label is – it almost seems too easy to remove a label.
Also, as said before, "removing" the color doesn't work. Instead, one of the green-on-tan ones makes the label kind of look like it did before.

On the other hand, now I can match the colors of my Gmail labels with my Google Calendar :-)

[Signature removed -Philipp]

Loughlan Burnett [PersonRank 1]

16 years ago #

Yeah. I got that now too! Looks cool!

Evan D. [PersonRank 0]

16 years ago #

I got a real shock logging in to Gmail tonight, why are my labels all ugly now? =(

The bubbles around the labels ruin the nice blue continuity from sender to subject line, and I can't believe they don't give us an option to make the bubble like the background. I really don't like these =|

Jared Cherup [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

Gmail Blog Post : http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2007/12/next-evolution-of-labels.html

Interesting at the end "P.S. We actually kinda like folders. In fact, we're doing some work to add some folder-y-ish functionality. Stay tuned."

DPic [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

T'was announced http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2007/12/next-evolution-of-labels.html

DPic [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

[put at-character here]Jared, you beat me :(My internet is slow because i'm using all my bandwidth

OREO [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

got it too! really nice. i predict tasks and better ical integration soon

Dave [PersonRank 0]

16 years ago #

They also updated the look off the drop-down box for incorrect spellings when using spell-check. Also, Notebooks is supposed to add some new features this week.

Sankar anand [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

Yeah nice update

Keith Chan [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

This is kind of off but the Official Gmail Blog uses a new 'Add to Google' button:

http://buttons.googlesyndication.com/fusion/add.gif

hebbet [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

I think the colors don't look nice, I would prefer the colors from the Google Calendar.

DaveB [PersonRank 3]

16 years ago #

:thumbsup:

Love it, very useful. Can't wait to see what they are referring to with the "folder-y-ish functionality" comment.

Voyagerfan5761 [PersonRank 3]

16 years ago #

I wish there was an option (default, please) to return to the original colors for labels I don't want to color. Other than that, I like!

DaveB [PersonRank 3]

16 years ago #

Now that I think about it, I wonder if the "folder-y-ish" comment might refer to nested labels like the Folders4Gmail greasemonkey script.

I hope so. I use that script, but it doesn't work very well with the new label color functionality. I would like to see all sub-labels (folders) get the same color as the primary label.

andrew [PersonRank 0]

16 years ago #

gmail needs folders and rules like outlook. i hate having tons of emails in my inbox. i want folders with rules so my emailing is more organized. i dont get why they wont do this already.

Tue Abrahamsen [PersonRank 7]

16 years ago #

Rules? Why not just use filters? They are quite powerful.

Caleb E [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

DaveB: Exactly what I'm hoping for. I use a scheme now by which I prepend all labels that I consider sub-labels to another label with the superlabel + ":" + sublabel (e.g. sub:amazon means subscription-type emails from Amazon. not:banking is notifications from my online baking service). It's annoying, and results in many more labels being shown than necessary.

andrew: They have rules (called filters) and if you don't want the message in your inbox, archive it. If you have a label and all the messages in that label are archived and don't have any other labels, the label behaves almost exactly like a classical folder. Labels as presented in gmail are a functional superset of folders (except in the area of nesting, as above)

Stephen Tordoff [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

Nice, replaces the Greasemonkey script I've been using

DPic [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

Labels + Filters > Folders + Rules

David Hetfield [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

Philipp,
You still don't have this feature?

Reto Meier [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

As Caleb E said, labels just need to support nesting and we'll have all the 'folder-y' goodness we need.

Philipp Lenssen [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

David, I have it now. I realized it's not too useful for me because most of my labels are skipping the inbox right away anyway, so I won't see the color in the inbox. And when I click on the label box, the color is also not visible (until I open an individual message). Can't say this feature hurts though either, I guess it's good for many others.

andy [PersonRank 0]

16 years ago #

I like the feature, but why did they not use colors from the Gmail color scheme? It looks a bit messy with all these various colors now.

Philipp Lenssen [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

Hmm, not sure if I like the fact the inbox gets a label too when you open the message. It's certainly technically correct, and the X allows you to archive a message then, but I hope labels won't start to clutter up the display. I rarely use the archiving of messages anyway, since it's easy to just keep everything in the inbox. Perhaps I just need to get used to ignoring this label part.

Andris Kardos [PersonRank 0]

16 years ago #

Would be much more interesting to label contacts, not only messages. Labelling all work-related contacts would mark all work related mail. Ther's not other way to do that. Contact groups are lame.

Ionut Alex. Chitu [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

Contact groups are basically labels. I don't see any difference between message labels and contact groups.

andy [PersonRank 0]

16 years ago #

How do I set up a filter that automatically labels messages coming from a specific contact group whose members might change over time?

David T [PersonRank 7]

16 years ago #

SWEET!

I have this feature on my Gmail account.....But on my Googel Apps account I don't have it, and I don't even have Gmail 2.0 on my Google Apps account! :-(

Freiddie [PersonRank 7]

16 years ago #

I have it and I'm using Firefox.

Matthew [PersonRank 0]

16 years ago #

I don't think anyone has mentioned this. If you still don't have the labels option, make sure your language setting in the general settings is on English(US).
Mine was on English(UK), changing it to US added all the extra features, but for some reason now everything is spelt funny.

stefan2904 [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

Got i too, today:
german: http://www.googlewatchblog.de/2007/12/04/gmail-labels-koennen-jetzt-farbig-unterlegt-werden/
english: http://www.googlewatchblog.de/2007/12/04/gmail-colored-labels/
whats new-link: http://mail.google.com/mail/help/about_whatsnew.html#utm_source=coloredlabelsnf&utm_medium=et&utm_campaign=en

SQ89 [PersonRank 3]

16 years ago #

In the announcement on the Gmail Blog, Dave writes: "Evolution is a great thing." Would this be a subtle reference to the Evolution mail client, which has coloured labels for years? :-)
http://www.gnome.org/projects/evolution/

Martin Porcheron [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

<<I rarely use the archiving of messages anyway, since it's easy to just keep everything in the inbox.>>

I always use it, it makes Gmail load a lot quicker if your inbox only has a few new messages compared to a page full of messages.

stefan2904 [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

Yep!
Newsletter, Twitter and MailingLists -> Assign Label & Skip Inbox!

Gareth [PersonRank 1]

16 years ago #

I'm very mixed on these changes. I especially dislike the way the labels appear BEFORE the subject, making reading down the subject lines a real zig-zagging exercise. Weren't the labels AFTER the subject prior to this change? Maybe not, but whatever, it feels much more disjointed now. The labels really belong in a separate column.

DaveB [PersonRank 3]

16 years ago #

"The labels really belong in a separate column."

Gareth, Hadn't thought of it, but now that you mention, I agree.

Roger Browne [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

The limited horizontal space is more efficiently used by combining the columns. Otherwise, you want enough horizontal space to hold the longest set of labels AND a long subject.

The way Gmail does it, when there is an email with no label, there is more space remaining for the subject.

Caleb E [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

Maybe it would be more efficient if they flopped the labels and the subject, so the order was subject-labels-snippet. Or, for easier scanning, right aligned the labels so it was subject-snippet-labels, with the subject shrunk to take up the space left over after the subject and labels (the way it is now, of course)

[Anonymous] [PersonRank 4]

16 years ago #

A nice Feature

J. McNair [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

[put at-character here]Andris Kardos
Contact groups are lame because the only thing you can DO with them is conveniently email a bunch of people. That's it. Nothing else. They could be much more powerful but nope. Apparently not.

[put at-character here]andy
There is no way to do that that I know of. Ye GODS I've tried. I've also suggested it to to Google 5 or 6 times. You have to manually maintain filters or manually label messages. Kinda sucky, huh? One wonders why they bothered giving us contact groups?

Anywho, I have the coloured labels. They are nice, but much better for larger (widescreen) monitors.

Martin Porcheron [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

<<That's it. Nothing else. >>
You can send to a group (which does help) in the compose window. But yes, the search for a group feature missing is by far the biggest annoyance about Gmail.

The new features are nice, but they could do with adding some basic things aswell (such as mail priority aswell).

Zim [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

Update: Now I want to know what they'll do with that folder-y-ish thing O_O

Kaka [PersonRank 1]

16 years ago #

I could use this function yesterday, but it dispeared today. what's wrong?

Josue R. [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

all the nice features but it doesn't make the composing email more productive...

If you have your email in Google Apps, you'll notice a "Choose from contacts" popup list which makes choosing emails more efficiently unlike regular GMail which doesn't have this feature yet.

GMail Team, hope you are reading ;)

Piotr Konieczny [PersonRank 9]

16 years ago #

It's a pitty, Opera users cannot see it at all.

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