What Is Gmail? – Definition, Features, And More

Definition Gmail

One of the indispensable tools for Google users is, without a doubt, Gmail. It turns out that, more than an email service, this tool is the key to access other cloud services and their benefits, such as YouTube, Drive, or sites where it is necessary to have a secure email account to register.

It is very likely that day by day, you check your inbox or send emails using the Gmail application in such a way that you do not pay much attention to the tool itself. That is about to change.

In this article, we will explain in great detail what Gmail is, what its history has been to this day, and every one of its functions so that you can make the most of them.

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It is Google’s email service par excellence. It is available in more than 50 languages ​​worldwide and is compatible with the most popular browsers such as:

• Google Chrome
• Firefox
• Safari
• Aand Internet Explorer.

Gmail uses Ajax technology, so many of its functions are similar to a local email program and collect all messages from emails written in a buffer if the application is interrupted.

Every Gmail account has 15 GB of free storage shared with other applications attached to Google email such as Google Drive, Google photos, etc.

It has its integrated search engine, so you can search for specific emails by entering the email account of the person who sent it or to whom you sent it, keywords, or the subject.

Emails can be classified into eight main categories: Starred, Snoozed, Sent, Drafts, Important, Spam, and Trash. Also, Gmail is integrated with chat and video calling tools such as Google Meet and Hangouts, allowing you to start virtual meetings in its left bar.

The history of Gmail

It all started with Paul Bucheit, the 23rd Google employee who decided to take an idea he had abandoned and turn it into something incredible.

The formal development of Gmail began in August 2001, although initially the idea had already been had by Paul since 1996, sometime before joining Google; however, he ended up getting bore because he didn’t see that his concept was getting anywhere.

Five years later, he decided to take the project back into Google with the mindset of creating something that worked. The first step was to integrate a search engine into your email, a feature that no other solution had.

The next step was to increase the storage space to 1 GB so that people did not have to delete emails to receive others. The project was going from strength to strength, but as with all new ideas, there were people within Google who did not have faith. Fortunately, Sergey Brin and Larry Page, the founders of Google, fully trusted Paul’s idea and encouraged him to continue.

Little by little, the Gmail team grew to reach about 12 people who dedicated themselves to work. Improving the idea of ​​Paul Bucheit. At first, Gmail was only used by Google members until its official launch on April 1, 2004.

With this event, a new concern arose: that it did not have enough demand. To solve this, it occurred to him to implement an invitation system in which any user registered in Gmail could invite two users to be part of Google’s email.

Contrary to what you might think, the strategy was a success, as the Gmail invitation auctions reached 150 dollars in different sites. Over time, Gmail users could invite more than two people until February 14, 2007. When anyone could now have a Gmail email account without the need for an invitation.

A year after its founding, Gmail’s storage space increased to 2GB and would automatically grow day by day to provide more space for users. The Gmail home page indicated how much space was available at that time, accompanied by the message “And counting …”.

The growth was 4 bytes per second, so in a month, the inbox grew to more than 10 MB, and in a year, it reached 123.6 Mbytes. In 2012, the capacity went from 7.5 GB to 10 GB, coinciding with Google Drive’s launch. That same year, Gmail began to be available in Latin American Spanish, changing the language from Settings.

Finally, in 2013 it was announced that the virtual unit of capacity for Gmail and the Drive, Google+, and Photos services would be 15 GB. The four services would share this storage space.

In 2018, Gmail had 1.5 billion active users throughout the world, and it was expected that by 2020 that number would increase to 4 billion users. However, given the situation of the pandemic, there may be many more.

Gmail Features

The main reason why Gmail remains the email service par excellence is that it has multiple functions that help organize, compose and reply to messages dynamically and effectively. Let’s recap!

Your categories

In the left bar of the Gmail inbox. You will find several categories to classify your emails depending on their importance:

• Starred: favorite or essential emails that you want to always have at hand. You rank them by clicking on the star.
• Snooze: to postpone emails and have them reappear when you can reply to them. To classify them, click on the clock.
• Drafts: Drafts of emails that are automatically saved and you can send when they are ready.
• You have sent: list of emails you have sent.
• Important: As the name implies, these are the most important emails.
• Chats: the record of the conversations you have had through Hangouts with other people.
• Spam: spam.
• Trash: deleted emails.
• Sending schedule:when writing an email, you can choose the date and time you want it to be sent.

You can also archive your emails if you prefer.

Seeker

Find the emails you want by entering the recipient’s account or keywords in the search bar. You can also use the filters to do a more specialized search.

Direct access to other services

You can access services from Google:

•  Drive
• Docs
• Sheets
• Slides
• Photos
• Meet
• Sites
• Contacts
• Currents.

You can undo shipments

If you sent an email to the wrong person or have incomplete information. You can undo the submissions with the “Undo” option.

Report and block

If you receive an email that is spam or comes from a person with whom you no longer want to have contact. You can report it as spam and block that contact by clicking on the three dots to the name’s right sender of the email.

Translate, print and download

These functions are found in the same three points to translate, print, and download your emails.

Start virtual meetings

Go to the left bar of the screen in your inbox to start Google Meet meetings. In this same space, you can review your scheduled appointments.

We invite you to enter Gmail right now and discover for yourself every one of these functions, and you will see that writing and viewing emails has never been so easy and entertaining!

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