OK, here is Part 2 of my post on the collection of handy Gmail features, scripts, gadgets and plug-ins I’ve come across, used and would recommend.

Google Docs

There are a few ways of integrating your Gmail and Google Docs. For Word documents I usually click the Open with Google Docs link in the end of the email and that adds the document for me. Gmail will let you open and view PDF, DOC and PPT formats and save these into your Google Docs also.

Alternatively, if you go to Google Docs and click on the Upload button, in the bottom half of the screen you will see a section named “Email-In Your Documents and Files”. There you will find an email address listed that looks something like yourusername-secretid@prod.writely.com.

Save this address to your Gmail contacts or Google Contact Manager and by forwarding a email with some text or with an attached document to this address, you will be adding a new document or the attached document to Google Docs. You will receive an email confirming the addition and giving you a link to your new document. This feature is a little flaky and I would tend to stick with the first option above and Open as a Google document.

A third option is to install the Send to Google Docs addon for Firefox as featured on Lifehacker. This will let you right-click on a URL to a supported file type and choose a menu option to Send To Google Docs which works for PDFs, Excel, Word, PowerPoint and all Open Document formats.

In Google Labs in your Gmail (the little  icon on the top right in Gmail) you can turn on the Create a Document feature which will allow you to convert an email into a Google Document. The Create a Document link will appear on the right hand side of your email.

Finally, if  you have a document on your computer you want to add you can bypass Gmail by going to Google Docs and clicking Upload a File.

Picasa

Similarly to the email to google docs option above, in your Picasa Web site, go to Settings, then Upload Photos by Email. Here you can create a private email address of the following format, yourname.secretcode@picasaweb.com, where you can email or forward image attachments to add them to Picasa Web.

The photos will appear in your ‘Drop Box’ album unless you specify an existing album’s name as the subject of your email.

I found this to be an easy way of backing up and storing photos I had been emailed that were hidden away and taking up space in my mail.

Signatures

If, like me, you use Gmail for multiple email accounts, you may wish to tailor  your signature for each account. Or even have a selection of signatures for the same account.

MakeUseOf.com have 5 ways to create multiple custom signatures through various Firefox addons.

David Coallier recommended the Black Canvas Gmail Signature Firefox addon following my Part 1 post, which I have been happily using since.

Well, that’s it for Part 2, although with a few more bits and pieces to add there’s a good chance of a Part 3, so stay tuned. If you have any comments on the above or some suggestions you’d like to see added feel free to Post a Comment!