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Put Gmail's New Permalinks to Good Use
Posted by Gina Trapani at 8:05 PM on November 18, 2007
Gmail's latest revamp didn't add a whole lot of obvious, showy features, but one new thing it does is change the URL of what you're looking at—whether it's a label, individual message, or search for messages. These permanent URLs (which are short and readable, not a long jumble of characters like the old version) have one obvious great use: bookmarks (including keyword bookmarks.) Weblog Google Blogoscoped suggests another we hadn't thought of:
You can now share searches with a friend, e.g. tell them "Check out the previous mail I sent you at http://mail.google.com/mail/#search/grab+coffee+at+starbucks ...". When someone tells you they never got your email, this could come in real handy.
Tags: bookmarks | email | email apps | gmail | search techniques | top | urls
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
There are currently no AU comments for this post.
Destrox
Posted 10:05 AM 18/11/07
It says that you need your gmail credentials to view the links so not just anyone can view them. But then it says you can email a link to one of your gmail searches to a friend. Wouldn't you have to give your friend your gmail password for that to work?
Destrox
yerfatma
Posted 10:50 AM 18/11/07
No, because your friend would have the same email thread, so that would show up in their search results as well. So you could do something like "Honey, what about [mail.google.com] -- any results coming up?"
yerfatma
Billy
Posted 1:17 PM 18/11/07
I love the new Gmail URLs. The first thing I did was create a "Compose" bookmark in my toolbar. Very handy.
Billy
tomstrummer
Posted 1:51 PM 18/11/07
A little OT, but one thing it seems they broke is attachments opening a new tab in FireFox. Now attachments open in the same tab, which is never good since I have to click 'back' to get back to GMail, which doesn't reload the page... Oops.
tomstrummer
iqag
Posted 2:54 PM 18/11/07
I looked up and noticed the existence of a meaningful URL and was still reeling from the shock and wondering whether I really saw it or not when a minute later I noticed this post. I really like all of the subtle improvements without completely redoing the system. If only it weren't for the subtle new failures like that address complete thing which is always a few milliseconds slower than my tabbing.
iqag
kalebdf
Posted 2:32 PM 18/11/07
@tomstrummer: It did? It seems to be working for me with pictures and pdf (View As HTML).
Wow. Thanks Gina. I didn't notice the uncluttered url before you mentioned it. Sweetness!
-specialk
kalebdf
ahoier
Posted 4:16 PM 18/11/07
The new upgrade borked the "Send to Gmail" button on the Google Toolbar (Firefox....not sure about IE, but likely).
Come on Google dudes, get it together! Communication...? :)
ahoier
wayne
Posted 5:25 PM 18/11/07
@tomstrummer: You know, I'm having the same problem. I wonder if it's a conflict with an extension? I haven't been able to figure it out, and it's driving me nuts!
wayne
Destrox
Posted 5:23 PM 18/11/07
@yerfatma:
Ahh okay thanks. That makes more sense now. And now I feel like an idiot.
Destrox
John David
Posted 7:19 PM 18/11/07
@tomstrummer and @wayne: Are you using the Tab Mix Plus Firefox extension? There appears to be a conflict between this extension and the new Gmail. When I download an attachment, Gmail loads an all-white page and has to be reloaded.
John David
oldredhat
Posted 9:35 PM 18/11/07
Whoops, wasn't ready to submit yet...
Does anyone know if this works for other Google services?
oldredhat
oldredhat
Posted 9:32 PM 18/11/07
@Billy:
Brilliant!
oldredhat
wayne
Posted 3:10 AM 19/11/07
@John David: Found the solution! It was indeed Tab Mix Plus. Here's a workaround:
[tmp.garyr.net]
wayne
ben.shepherd
Posted 4:29 AM 19/11/07
The new permalinks are great. I was using Basic HTML for a while because it was quicker to load and easier to script and write bookmark searches for. But now I've switched back. There's also a Greasemonkey API for the new version, which will make it a hell of a lot easier to script.
ben.shepherd
Tony of TonyandJuan.com
Posted 11:23 AM 19/11/07
@tomstrummer: I get the same issue. I really hope they fix it soon.
Tony of TonyandJuan.com
ryetronics
Posted 11:19 AM 19/11/07
Here's the fix from Wayne's link above.
workaround 1:
open TMP options > Links > Prevent blank tabs when downloading files > EDIT
and remove from the list the line /disp=attd&view=att/
ryetronics
brianscoop
Posted 6:51 PM 18/11/07
New Gmail also seems to have broken the ability to forward HTML email - or is it just me? When I try to forward an HTML email I received, to someone else, it converts to text unless I go back first to Old Gmail. I can't find anything in Settings to change this. Anyone else notice this? Any suggestions?
brianscoop