Google Blogoscoped

Forum

Gmail goes offline  (View post)

Rohit Srivastwa [PersonRank 10]

Wednesday, January 28, 2009
15 years ago10,414 views

http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2009/01/new-in-labs-offline-gmail.html

James Xuan [PersonRank 10]

15 years ago #

Finally!

Sam Davyson [PersonRank 10]

15 years ago #

Not showing up in my labs area just yet. Has anyone tried it?

Avrohom Eliezer Friedman (AEF) [PersonRank 10]

15 years ago #

Thank G-D.

It's about time.

Don't have it yet but waiting impatiently.

Now the only thing I really need is a beer. But besides for that the only thing I need is to schedule an email to go out at a certain time.

Avrohom Eliezer Friedman (AEF) [PersonRank 10]

15 years ago #

OK – I have it in my Gmail account but not in my Google Apps account. (shocker)

I need it in my apps account not in my Gmail account. My gmail account is forwarded to my apps account.

Sheesh!

Rohit Srivastwa [PersonRank 10]

15 years ago #

the Gmail Blog says
   << ...Today we're starting to roll out an experimental feature ...>>

So wait for a complete rollout :)

DPic [PersonRank 10]

15 years ago #

Mhm, i've been using it for a while and i'm sure everybody is glad it's finally rolling out xD

wonder [PersonRank 3]

15 years ago #

I thought Google calender would have been to go offline before gmail...

wonder [PersonRank 3]

15 years ago #

In other news, in your google account page, there are now bullets along side your "other user names". I really wish you can delete them...

Juha-Matti Laurio [PersonRank 10]

15 years ago #

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10151096-2.html

TOMHTML [PersonRank 10]

15 years ago #

And it works with Linux!

Mrrix32 [PersonRank 10]

15 years ago #

<<We're making offline Gmail available to everyone who uses Gmail in US or UK English>>

Oh....My....God!
The UK NEVER gets updates at the same time as the US!

I can understand excluding Spam and Trash but I don't get why it's automaticaly added some of my labels to the "included no matter how old"
<<Included (no matter how old): PayPal, Starred, eBay and iGizmo>>

It would be nice if you could change how far back it downloads (in my case 1 year) and the included and excluded labels

Philipp Lenssen [PersonRank 10]

15 years ago #

Don't see it yet either... will have to wait.

Luka [PersonRank 10]

15 years ago #

[Moved ~ hebbet]
http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2009/01/new-in-labs-offline-gmail.html

Luka [PersonRank 10]

15 years ago #

If you want to download specific messages, create a label that match every criteria of Gmail offline selection :

   1. Fewer than 200 messages in the label
   2. > 30 days old message in the label
   3. < 30 days old message in the label
   4. 1% or more messages in the label are read or marked as read

Ianf [PersonRank 10]

15 years ago #

This is all dandy, but, once my first 10.000 msgs are cached, why can't they become a section of an ever-growing cumulative offline/ fully browsable permanent archive copy of the online original?

I realize the need to keep size of the local cache to a minimum, but, come-on, Google!, these days Gmail-capacity USB thumbdrives are a dime a dozen! And I am sure that most people would gladly assign tens of GBs for permanent (and encrypted/ automagically password-protected) local mail archive that doesn't need to be synced explicitly, because it is being synced implicitly and by-design!

Also – once it's offline – I want to be able to selectively edit – at the very least tag and delete sections of messages, and delete whole attachments, with full update/ sync later to Google-held copy in "the G-cloud".

Mrrix32 [PersonRank 10]

15 years ago #

[put at-character here]Ianf
<<At this time, there's no way to customize which of your labels are synced, but we're working on it so stay tuned.>>
http://groups.google.com/group/gmail-labs-help-offline/web/how-much-gets-synchronized

So in future you would be able to sync everything (either by them letting you add "All Mail" or creating a filter)

Ionut Alex. Chitu [PersonRank 10]

15 years ago #

If you don't have too many messages and you don't use labels, Gmail downloads all your messages and it's extremely fast.

Above 18 comments were made in the forum before this was blogged,

ino [PersonRank 1]

15 years ago #

want to feel depressed? think of it like a browser based MS outlook.

pacificdave [PersonRank 10]

15 years ago #

Offline Gmail is sweet!!! I think the coolest part of using Gears is that accessing cached messages is faster than ever. I never thought Gmail could get even faster.

Rohit Srivastwa [PersonRank 10]

15 years ago #

After storage is time for offline computing power

Google I/O sessions planned in may includes "Offline processing on App Engine"

<<App Engine was designed to run request-driven web applications, although this will change in the coming year with the release of a number of offline computing components. In this session, we'll explore the task queue/executor model of computation and some of the more interesting applications.>>

See Topic number 9 @ http://code.google.com/events/io/sessions.html

Tim [PersonRank 0]

15 years ago #

Offline mode is not available in my account ..... guess I'm a Loser, LOL.

lightii23 [PersonRank 0]

15 years ago #

Yay!, Thanks google, i have it in my Apps account as well. Other thing, i got a new default theme in Gmail Apps account but there is no Theme setting page were i can change it back or choose another theme.

TonyB [PersonRank 10]

15 years ago #

Can someone access the info stored in Gears without Gmail? In other words, if they don't have my Gmail log-in, can they still poke around in the Gears database and retrieve info?

Ionut Alex. Chitu [PersonRank 10]

15 years ago #

The information is accessible without a password: attachments have regular filenames and can be easily copied, while messages are listed in text files. Gears should not be used on a shared computer.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ZaGO7GjCqAI/SYDvDIJMNsI/AAAAAAAAO3w/ms51kjB_V1o/s640/offline-gmail-intro.png

TonyB [PersonRank 10]

15 years ago #

Thanks Ionut.

Travis Harris [PersonRank 10]

15 years ago #

Flaky mode runs WAY faster on my computer even though I have a very nice internet connection. There are a few things I will have to turn it off for occasionally (mostly searching for ancient things) but for now I think I'm just going to leave it on... Probably lightens the load on google's servers too.

Travis Harris [PersonRank 10]

15 years ago #

Looks like external images don't work in Flaky mode either...... ohh well....

photoactive [PersonRank 10]

15 years ago #

It's partly broken on my machine. I've enabled offline mode on two gmail accounts – my work email and my personal email – and now that my personal email has synced I can no longer open up my work email. (The browser looks like it's trying to resolve between google.com and google.co.uk servers and is permanently stuck on "loading".) I'll try on other machines – but something is definitely wrong!

Ionut Alex. Chitu [PersonRank 10]

15 years ago #

[put at-character here]photoactive:
Clear your cookies & cache.

photoactive [PersonRank 10]

15 years ago #

Actually, I can't open up any other gmail account, whether offline access is enabled on it or not.

Patrick_R [PersonRank 0]

15 years ago #

Offline Gmail, has ALREADY reached me, and my UK Google Apps Account.

So that's pretty fast to match the USA rollout for once, AND for Google Apps to get it.

Indeed, also as of today, Google Apps gets the new look Gmail Default 'theme' too.

Only problem is, due to the fact that "Themes" are about the ONLY thing Google Apps users still DON'T get in Labs, since the code re-change to make Labs a standard feature for Apps users too, this means that if we don't like the new look default 'theme'/page colours, there is NOTHING Apps users can do about it, unlike standard Gmail users who CAN choose other themes.

You might want to Blog about this new change today too in a proper Blog entry mate...

photoactive [PersonRank 10]

15 years ago #

Thanks, @Ionut, I've tried that and no luck. I'll experiment with different browsers and different machines tomorrow.

GB [PersonRank 1]

15 years ago #

[moved from "Gmail offline confusion"]

mmm well im not sure about this feature. and about google gears in general ; I mean could you guys please enlighten me here.

- When / Why should i set up the offline mode ? I mean should i keep the offline mode on so that i get my mail permanently sync'ed to my harddrive and can read them on the train? But then will i still be able to receive emaisl leaving the offline mode on permanently?

or should i just turn the offline mode when i unplugged my computer from my internet connexion and wait for hours before my mail is actually syn'd to my hard drive?

i'm confused here

Inferno [PersonRank 10]

15 years ago #

All you need to do is enable the "Offline Gmail" lab feature from your lab settings pane and then set it up according to your preferences. Then GMail will sync your mails and when you are disconnected from internet you can see the synced emails. Once you are connected again, you are online with the GMail server and the new emails are synced for future use. Hope I made some sense :)

Keith Chan [PersonRank 10]

15 years ago #

Using Flaky connection for me is much slower than normal connection. I keep on getting stuck with the yellow Loading bar. I use Chrome.

Luka [PersonRank 10]

15 years ago #

Without Gears :
http://memory.jeremilhau.fr/gmail/withoutgears.png

With Gears :
http://memory.jeremilhau.fr/gmail/withgears.png

Question : is my connection with gmail server still encrypted when gears is installed ?

Ianf [PersonRank 10]

15 years ago #

[put at-character here]Ionut Alex. Chitu "[The offline Gmail store] is accessible without a password: attachments have regular filenames and can be easily copied, while messages are listed in text files."

This sucks big time... since one has to log in to Gmail in order to read/ respond to/ manipulate the offline messages, why hasn't Gears team implemented some rudimentary encryption?

I have yet to start playing with it, so I wonder if someone here is up to *potentially corrupting* their account in this test: as messages are easily readable (thus also indexable, editable, etc) outside of the browser, what will Gmail sync WHEN encountering offline-edited/ say selectively shortened messages.... will they be synced back as "replacements" for old Message-IDs?; as "new instances/ additions" to the online record; or maybe entirely bypassed?

I cannot believe Gears team hasn't taken this into account, and thus needed to came up with a policy, so I'd like to know what it might be.

Luka [PersonRank 10]

15 years ago #

Encryption = No search

Ianf [PersonRank 10]

15 years ago #

['Encryption = No search'] = false;
There are encryption methods, both lightweight and heavy duty, that allow search of complementarily-encrypted keys; it is not an either/or choice. Besides, Geared Gmail could easily distinguish whether user wished to reestablish connection to perform the task on the full account on per-search basis, or would be content with much slower, partial, and less detailed results from the offline subset.

Forum home

Advertisement

 
Blog  |  Forum     more >> Archive | Feed | Google's blogs | About
Advertisement

 

This site unofficially covers Google™ and more with some rights reserved. Join our forum!