Gmail ‘People Widget’ makes everything more efficient
Will Brinson
So, last night, the “People Widget” in Gmail finally activated on my account. (Although I’m the tech editor at a very popular and important site — this one! — Google still doesn’t love me enough to give me features on time.)
For those of you that haven’t used it yet, don’t know what the hell I’m talking about, or still use Hotmail, let’s break down why this new feature is awesome. And, actually, if you use Hotmail, just get out. Go on. Get.
See, the “People Widget” takes every conversation you have in Gmail and yanks the people out of that conversation, so to speak, and puts them on the right side of your email. To make it a little simpler, here’s a pic from the Gmail Blog:
As you can see, what happens is that when a user opens an email, the people who are included on said email appear in “chat form” on the right side at the top of the page.
This is crucial since probably half of Gmail chats stem from an email that you sent to someone, or a group of people and you’re taking the discussion “offline.”
Now, accessing someone on the thread doesn’t involve scrolling all the way down to chat and then scrolling all the way all your contacts until the person you’re looking for pops up. They’re right there on the right.
Additionally, Gmail will access, in some cases, “Mail From This Month” right below the person’s contact info. That’s pretty self-explanatory — it’s old correspondence with that person! — but it’s a pretty nice addition if you use Gmail for work often.
That’s because you’ll see conversations/emails that might not have been followed up on, be able to check access to that person’s calendar (which could be awkward — KNOW YOUR CONTACTS, PEOPLE), and check out documents you’ve collaborated on.
All-in-all, it’s a quicker, easier way to get to certain Gmail/Google features that you use on the reg, but probably hate accessing at certain times.
And that makes it a welcome addition.
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