Look what's new in Gmail!

New features in Gmail

Well looky here. I opened Gmail this morning and this is what greeted me. I am sure that all of the tech blogs have written about it already, but I haven't had a chance to read them this morning. I am so pleased that Google finally listened to users about something so basic as sorting contacts by last name. I am such a Googlephile though that I have re-trained myself to do it there way and I use search almost constantly, either on the web or on my phone.

But I do love the new navigation. I have so many filters (folders) that scrolling down to see Contacts was a pain. Now the link is right up top! Compose Mail is now a button instead of a text link, making it stand out more. The custom labels for phone numbers I have been using for a while in Android and it seemed to sync fine, I guess now I can do it from the web, too.

So, I clicked on the link to see what else is new:

• Updates to ContactsWe’ve also done a major overhaul to Contacts, adding a bunch of features you requested and making Contacts easier to use.
• Contacts work a lot more like Mail. Keyboard shortcuts now work in Contacts too, and we’ve made selecting and grouping contacts more like selecting and labeling email.
• Sort contacts by last name. Look under More actions for this option.
• Use custom labels for phone numbers and other fields. For example, you can label a phone number as “Vacation home.” Please be aware, ActiveSync for iPhone and Blackberry Sync don’t yet support custom labels so custom labeled numbers/emails/etc. may not appear on your phone.
• Undo. Now, when you make changes to your contacts, you can undo your recent changes.
• Automatic saving. You no longer need to worry about “edit” mode or “view” mode -- just edit away and Gmail will save your changes.
• Structured name fields. You can now set name components (i.e. Title, First, Middle, Last and Suffix) explicitly or continue to use the name field as a free form area if you prefer a less structured approach.
• Manual and bulk contact merge. You can now merge contacts from the More actions menu. Just select the contacts you’d like to merge and select Merge contacts from under the More actions menu. Or, to get a list of suggestions for contacts to merge, select Find and merge duplicates.

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