Gmail Features That Will Improve Your Business

The Gmail app is one of the most popular ways to send and receive emails. But it's also a great tool for businesses.

Some of the best new features are designed to make business communication easier. These include smart compose, confidential mode, high-priority notifications, nudging emails and bring back sent emails.

Smart compose

Smart compose is a Gmail feature that suggests phrases based on your previous emails. It means you can save time when writing emails because you don't have to start from scratch.

You can turn off smart compose if it's not working for you or if you'd rather build your own email templates. Click “Settings” in the upper right-hand corner of Gmail, then select “Preferences” from the drop-down menu and scroll down until you see “Composing Messages” under General Settings. Toggle off "Suggest Smart Replies."

Confidential mode

We love the way you can use Gmail to protect your sensitive information. Confidential mode is a new feature that lets you send emails that self-destruct after a period of time, which makes it great for protecting financial information or other confidential documents.

This feature is available on the web and on mobile, so you can use it anywhere!

High-priority notifications

If you have a high-priority notification, it will be displayed in the top right corner of your inbox. High-priority notifications can be enabled for specific email addresses and groups, or for everybody on your domain. You can also choose whether or not to show these notifications as a bell icon next to messages from other people (or all messages).

If you want to know if someone has sent you a high-priority notification, look for an orange dot next to their name in Gmail conversations. If they haven't sent any notifications yet but there is a pending one, it'll appear as soon as they send something that qualifies.

Nudging emails

Nudging emails is another way to help you stay on task without being too pushy. When you're working on an item in your inbox, Gmail will suggest nudges for other items that could be more useful at a later date—like those pesky reminders and follow-ups.

These nudges are based on the usage patterns of the recipients. If they usually read and reply to messages quickly, then Gmail won't bother reminding them that they need to follow up with someone or attend an upcoming meeting. But if they often skip over emails from people who aren't very important or only respond sporadically, then it's likely that these unaddressed emails could soon become relevant again and thus worthy of a nudge reminder.

Nudges can also be helpful for reminders about meetings when you've set up events in Google Calendar but haven't yet RSVP'd yourself!

Wish you could bring back a sent email? You can!

If you've ever accidentally sent an email to the wrong person, you might notice that the option to "undo" the sending of it is nowhere to be found. However, there is a way to undo that action, but you'll need to act quickly.

To learn how to bring back a send email, check out this video taught by Guide Wade: Wish You Could Bring Back a Sent Email? You Can!

With a little creativity, these new tools can be extremely useful in your business communications.

So give them a try—your inbox will thank you!

To learn more about Gmail and how to use its functionalities, check out our classes: Get Started With Gmail and Gmail Intermediate.