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Gmail

What is Gmail?
Gmail is a free web-based email service from Google. In fact, Gmail
stands for Google Mail! It is one of the most used email services in the
world. With Gmail, you get a unique username for your email address
and lots of storage to save emails and communicate with people. It’s
simple, free, and a great way to stay in touch with your loved ones.

Why use Gmail?

Gmail is easy to use. Its basic functions, like sending and receiving
emails, are straightforward and easy to learn.

Gmail is accessible. It can be accessed from any computer or mobile

device with an internet connection, making it easier to stay connected
with loved ones, regardless of location.

Gmail is great for organization. Several features, such as labels,

filters, and stars, can help you organize your emails, keep track of
important emails, and avoid missing important messages.

Gmail is a secure email platform that protects users from spam,

phishing attacks, and other threats, which can help you avoid scams
and protect your personal information.

Note: Gmail is also available for iOS (e.g., iPhone/iPad) and Android
(e.g., Samsung, Google Pixel) devices. For this guide, we will focus on
the WEB version of Gmail.

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The following are topics that will be covered:

● How to Set Up Gmail
● Composing and Sending Emails
● Opening and Responding to Emails
● Forwarding Emails
● How to Attach Files to Emails
● Searching Your Emails
● Checking Your Junk Mail
● Deleting Emails
● Recovering Deleted Emails
● Understanding Folders
● How to Create Folders
● Email Action Lines

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How to Set Up Gmail

As a University of Hawai’i student, you can create an @hawaii.edu

email account, which will be available to use approximately 15
minutes after you create your UH username. Your UH username,
followed by “@hawaii.edu” (e.g., [email protected]), will be your
University of Hawai’i email address.

If you need to apply for a UH username, visit this site:

https://www.hawaii.edu/username.

To access your UH Gmail account, enter http://gmail.hawaii.edu/ into

your web browser (i.e., Google Chrome, Safari). You will be prompted
to enter your UH username and password, like the image below.

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Composing and Sending Emails

Gmail makes it easy to send emails. When you’re ready to create a

new email and send it out, follow the following steps.

Step #1

In the upper left corner of your inbox is a large rectangular button labeled
“Compose” with a small symbol of a pencil. Click on this button to begin a
new email.

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Step #2
A new message window will open on the lower right side of your screen.

To expand it, click the double-sided arrow in the right-hand corner of the
message box.

To minimize the message, click on the line to the left of the arrow so you
cannot see the message box.

The X to the right of the arrow will delete the message.

Step #3
In the top field of the message window, type the email address of the
person(s) you want to send the message to.

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In the field below, type the subject of your message.

In the larger field below the subject, type your message.

Step #4
Once you have included all the information you want in the message, click
the blue Send button at the bottom left corner of the message window.
When you press send, a small dark gray box will say the message is sent
and then confirm when the message is sent.

You have learned how to compose and send an email!

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Opening and Responding to Emails

When someone emails you, opening the message and responding is

also easy. Follow the steps below to access an email and send a reply.

Step #1

Your inbox will display messages and their subject line as a list in your
inbox. Unread messages will be bolded. Open the message you want to
read by clicking on the line.

Step #2
Once it opens, you can scroll up and down to read the email, finding
important information, like who it is from and when it was sent at the top of
the page.

Step #3
After you read the email and want to respond, you have two options. Both
options let you reply to an email.

Option 1: At the top of the email, there is an arrow pointing left beside the
email’s information. You can click on this to reply.

Option 2: At the bottom of the email, there is a similar arrow with a button
that says “Reply.”

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Step #4
When you click one of the reply buttons, a new message box will open
addresses to the sender, creating a message thread.

A message thread shows a series of messages sent back and forth under
the same subject.

Step #5
Type your response, press the blue Send button, and your message will
send to the person who sent the previous email.

You have learned how to open and respond to an email!

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Forwarding Emails

Forwarding emails allows you to transfer a message you received to

another email address. You might want to forward an email because
you didn’t include anyone in the original message.

Forwarding an email allows a new recipient to see the email sent if

they weren’t initially included in the message thread. This means you
send the message to another person or group, including all the content,
text formatting, and attachments in the original email message. If you
don’t change anything in the email before forwarding it, the person or
group to whom it’s forwarded will see all the details of the original
message.

If you forward an email, the original message's sender will never find
out that you forwarded the message to another recipient. Only when
you put the original sender’s email address in the “Cc” or “Bcc” field
in the forwarded email message will the sender receive a copy of the
email.

Step #1
In your inbox, select the email you want to forward.

Step #2
You have two options once you’ve opened the email you want to forward.
Both options allow you to forward an email.

Option 1: At the top of the email, there are three vertical dots next to the
reply button. Clicking that will show a dropdown menu, with one of the
options being Forward, with an arrow facing right.

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Option 2: At the bottom of the email, there is a similar arrow with a button
that says “Forward.”

Step #3
Enter the email address(es) you want to forward the message. You can also
add a message to whom you are sending the email. When you’re done,
click Send.

You learned how to forward an email!

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How to Attach Files to Emails

Attaching files to emails is an email attachment. An email attachment

is a file that is attached to an email. Its purpose is usually to enhance
the value or benefit that the email offers the reader by providing
additional content you can express in the body of the email.

Some examples could be that you need to email your assignment to

your instructor, or maybe you want to attach a photo to your email so
your friend can see where you went on vacation.

The attachment can have different formats and sizes, with the most
typical attachments being:
● Large text files
● Various types of documents like PDFs and Microsoft Word
documents
● Spreadsheets
● Scanned files
● Forms
● Pictures
● Videos

Step #1
Follow Steps 1 through 3 in the Composing and Sending Emails section
JUST BEFORE you send the email.

Step #2
Next to the blue Send button, you’ll see a row of icons similar to the image
below. Click on the paper clip icon. That is the Attach files icon.

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Step #3
A small window will pop up after you click the Attach files icon, similar to
the image below. In the small pop-up window, search for the attachment
you want to add to the email. When you are done, click Open. Repeat as
many times as necessary until you have added all the attachments you want
in the email.

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Step #4
You’ll know when the attachment is in the email when you see the name of
your attachment at the bottom of the body of the email and when it is
blue, like the image below. Once you write your message and add all your
attachments, click Send.

You learned how to attach files to your email!

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Searching Your Emails

Sometimes, you need to find that one *particular* email, but you just
can’t seem to find it. You can use the search bar to find specific emails.

The search bar at the top of every Gmail page can be used to find an
old or lost email.

Try to type words you know were in the email or subject line. You can
also search emails between you and specific email addresses to find
your conversations with another person.

For example, if you wanted to find the email you sent to your friend
(we’ll name them Jane), you could enter Jane’s email address or any
information you can remember about the conversation.

Note: there are other ways to filter your search, but it can get
complicated.

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Checking Your Junk Mail

Your junk mail is in your Spam folder, which contains unwanted

emails sent by both legitimate and fraudulent senders. While having a
Spam folder is helpful, sometimes you need to check your spam
folders to free up storage, check for missed emails, or stop certain
emails from going to spam.

If you are waiting for a particular email and you don’t see it in your
Inbox, you may want to check your Spam folder.

Step #1
You'll see a list of categories on the left
side of your inbox, similar to the image
on the right. You may need to click More
to look at the other folder options.

Select the Spam folder.

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Step #2
You’ll see a list of emails in your Spam folder. At this point, you have
several options.

Option 1: Check the box on the email(s) you want to SAVE. Once you
check the box(es), a row of icons appears at the top. You can click Not
spam or move the email to a folder. (Learn more about creating folders
here.)

Not spam will unmark the conversation as spam and move it to your inbox.
Gmail will also recognize that future conversations by the sender will be
sent to your inbox. You’ll get a message similar to the one below.

Option 2: Check the box on the email(s) you want to DELETE. Once you
check the box(es), a row of icons appears at the top. Click on Delete
forever. ONLY do this if you’re sure that you want the email(s) deleted
because it CANNOT BE UNDONE. You’ll get a message similar to the
one below.

One benefit of deleting all the emails in your Spam folder is to help free up
storage.

Tip #1!
Instead of checking each individual box, you have the option to delete all
your spam messages. ONLY DO THIS IF YOU’RE SURE YOU WANT
TO DELETE EVERYTHING. THIS ACTION CANNOT BE

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UNDONE. Click on Delete all spam messages now to delete all your
spam messages.

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Deleting Emails

If you want to keep your inbox clean and organized, it can help to
delete emails and conversations once you no longer need them.

Step #1
To delete an email, you will need to find the Trash icon (a tiny trash can).
There are two ways to find this:

One way is to hover your mouse over the email line in your inbox. A tiny
trash can icon will appear beside the email subject line.

Another way is to check the box next to the sender’s name. When you
check the box, a row of icons will appear at the top. One of those icons will
be a tiny trash can icon.

Gmail - Hover over email line to make the Trash icon appear

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Gmail - Check the box to make a row of icons appear at the top

Step #2
Click on the Trash icon.

A gray box, similar to the image on the

right, will appear toward the bottom of
the screen confirming that you deleted
the email/conversation.

Congratulations —you learned how to

delete an email!

Tip #1!
You can undo deleting an email by clicking Undo in the gray box that
appears. But you have to act quickly, or the gray box will disappear.

Don’t worry, though! There is a way to recover deleted emails.

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Recovering Deleted Emails

So, where do the deleted messages go? What if you accidentally delete
an email? Don’t worry! Recovering a deleted email is easy.

Step #1
You'll see a list of categories on the left
side of your inbox, similar to the image
on the right. You may need to click More
to look at the other folder options.

Select the Trash icon. Deleted emails

stay in your trash for a designated time
before being deleted permanently.

Step #2
Check the box on the email you want to save. Once you check this box, a
row of icons appears at the top.

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Choose the icon of a filing folder with an arrow. When you click on it, a
dropdown menu of email folders will appear. Select where you want to
move the email. In this example, you want to move the email back to your
inbox.

You learned how to recover a deleted email!

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Understanding Folders

Let’s talk about email folders! They help you keep your inbox clear
and emails organized. Learn about the different folders that you’ll use
and their meanings below. Note: The order of folders may be different.

Inbox: The top folder is your inbox,

where you can view all incoming mail,
including “read” and “unread” messages.

Starred: Every email line has a star on

the left side. When you “star” your
emails, they end up in the Starred email
folder. This is a great way to keep track
of important messages, such as travel
dates or tickets.

Snoozed: If you receive an email you

want to handle later, you can snooze it
for the desired length of time. It will be
moved to the Snoozed folder and
returned to your inbox when the snoozed
time is over.

Sent: This folder contains all outgoing

messages, meaning ones you have sent to
others.

Drafts: This folder has all the messages

you began to type but never sent. Gmail
saves all unset messages to drafts
automatically.

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Important: Gmail uses an algorithm to

determine what emails and email
addresses are important to you. The
emails that Gmail deems important go to
the Important folder, but you can adjust
this manually.

Scheduled: Gmail allows you to

compose emails and schedule a time to
send them. For example, you can type an
email at midnight and set it to
automatically send at 8 a.m. Any
scheduled emails waiting to be sent sit in
the Scheduled folder.

All Mail: This folder contains

everything, including spam, trash, sent,
received, and other email labels.

Spam: Your spam folder is emails Gmail

directs away from your inbox. They are
often unwanted promotional emails, and
Gmail judges what is and isn’t spam
based on sender data and your email
habits.

Trash: The Trash folder contains any

emails you deleted. By default, it holds
deleted emails for 30 days and then
deletes them permanently.

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How to Create Folders

It’s good to keep things organized, and it gets better when organizing is
simple. Even if you don’t receive dozens of emails daily, you know
losing that one important message in the spam is easy.

With Gmail, you can structure your inbox and make it look
uncluttered. Grouping things into folders feels intuitive, but labeling is
a perfect match for emails. For example, you can put emails dealing
with travel matters into one folder and label “Traveling” on it. Now, all
your travel emails are labeled. This feature makes navigation through
your inbox much easier.

You can quickly find the labeled emails even if they were sent a month
ago. You definitely don’t want to scroll looking for that plane ticket
right before the airport check-in.

You may be used to creating folders to organize files, but with Gmail,
it’s all about labels. An important note is that Gmail doesn’t make any
copies of the labeled email, so if you decide to delete one, it will
disappear from your Inbox.

You can create folders to group similar emails. Labeling is like putting
colored stickers in a big worksheet—you just mark each page so it
differs from the others. You can put two or more labels on one email to
simplify navigation even more.

There are two ways to create a folder in the browser version of Gmail.
Make sure you are logged into Gmail to get started.

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Version 1: The Short Way

Step #1
Go to the sidebar, which shows your Inbox, Spam, and so on.

Click on the + (plus sign) button next to Label.

Step #2
Name your label in the pop-up window.

After creating your first label, you can add a sub-label. It works like a
folder in a folder.

For example, let’s say you have a label named “Work,” where you gather
all your business emails. To make the label more specific, you can create
sub-labels such as “Teammates”, “Clients”, “Partners”, etc.

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Version 2: The Longer, Advanced Way

Step #1
At the top right corner of the page, click on the gear-shaped icon. That is
your Settings. Then click See all settings.

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Step #2
Select Labels to the left of General. Scroll to the bottom and select Create
new label. You can also create sub-labels here. Once you have named your
label, make sure to click Save.

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You learned how to create a label in Gmail!

The folders will appear in your sidebar so that you can quickly access
sorted emails. Just click on the folder to see a set of results.

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Email Action Lines

When you hover over an email from your inbox, a few options appear
beside the subject line, similar to the image below. This section will
explain what each button can do, going from left to right.

Starting with the first three on the left, we have the Check Box, Star,
and Mark as important/Mark as not important.

Check Box: Every email has a box you can check and uncheck.
Checking and unchecking emails allows you to move batches of emails
to folders at once, saving you time and clicks, among others.

Star: When you click an empty star, it will fill in yellow and move to
the Starred email folder. Do this to emails you want to save or refer
to later.

Mark as important/Mark as not important: Next to emails Gmail

thinks are important, you’ll see a yellow Importance marker. The
marker will be empty if the email hasn’t been marked as important.

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Following the importance marker is the sender’s name and other

email addresses in the email thread. A few spaces away from the
sender is the beginning of the subject line, followed by a glimpse at
the email message (if the subject wasn’t too long). When your mouse
IS NOT hovering over the email, it will show the email timestamp at
the end of the line.

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When your mouse IS hovering over the email, you will see the
following icons, from left to right: Archive, Trash, Read/Unread,
Snooze.

Archive: The Archive icon looks like a tiny cube with a downward
arrow inside. This button archives messages. This function removes
the email from your inbox and active folders, archiving it. The
message isn’t deleted, but saved in your archives.

Trash: The Trash icon looks like a trash can. The Trash button deletes
emails.

Read/Unread: The Read/Unread icon looks like a small envelope that

may be a closed envelope (unread) or an open envelope (read). This
icon indicates whether the email has been read/opened or not. If you
want to change the status, you can click on the envelope, and it will
open or close accordingly.

Snooze: The Snooze icon looks like a clock. This feature lets you
snooze certain emails. When you click the Snooze icon, a dropdown
menu with suggested times to snooze the email will appear. You can
also customize the snooze time down to the minute.

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Notes

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