New Features For Gmail and Google Calendar Users

Gmail just keeps getting better…

File attachments drag-and-drop and insert invitation link are now integrated with Gmail and Google Calendar.

  • Instead of having to click attach file, browse out to the directory where the file is located and attach it to the email, you can now simply drag the file to your email and it attaches.
  • There is now an “insert invitation” link in outgoing emails. You can send invites to people from your gmail. A Google Calendar invitation-maker pops up that includes a visual of when there are open times to meet based on those people’s schedules. When you send it, the event gets added to everyone’s calendars if they are in gmail, or attached as an .ICS file that is compatible with other email clients including Outlook. googleapps

    Google just updated Google Docs last week, check out Tech-Rewind Volume 2 for more information on those updates. Google is constantly updating Google Apps with features to compete with Microsoft Office. I have tested both features today, and both worked flawlessly. The company I work for uses Outlook. I sent an invite from my personal Gmail account to my work email and both calendars added the event successfully. I then composed a new email in Gmail, and I was able to drag and drop a file effortlessly into an email. The only catch about these 2 features are you have to be using Google Chrome or Firefox 3.6. I used Google Chrome to test this.

    I have not abandoned Microsoft Office completely, but at home I do find myself opening Outlook less, and using Google Docs a lot more than Microsoft Word. I am hoping to someday see a Google Docs App that can edit .mdb files (Microsoft Access files). With being able to access all my documents and email anywhere I go without having to use portable media or remoting into my home computer, Google Apps are growing on me more and more every day. I hope we continue to see Google Docs coming out with these consistent improvements and updates.