Gmail is the go-to email app for pretty much everyone. The very word is often used interchangeably with “email,” and no one bats an eyelid. It’s a feature-packed email client. With a little tweak, you can even use Gmail offline, browsing existing emails and composing emails so they automatically send when you’re back online.
Here’s how to enable and use Gmail offline.
Also read: How to Create a Gmail Desktop App
It’s not a complicated process. Log in to Gmail in your browser, then click the cog icon at the top right and click Settings.
Click the “Offline” tab, then tick the “Enable offline mail” box.
A bunch of new options and information will appear telling you how much storage space Gmail is using on your hard drive. You can also pick how far back you want Gmail to store your emails offline and whether or not to download attachments.
Security-wise, the last option is really important. By default, Gmail offline will of course store data locally on your PC. (That’s the whole point, isn’t it?) With these security options, however, you can choose whether you want Gmail to store your data locally if you log out of your Google account on that PC.
Choose one of the security options, then click Save Changes.
Many people miss this final step. To access Gmail offline, you won’t be able to just type the Gmail URL into the search bar. You need to go back to your Gmail inbox, then create a bookmark (Ctrl + D) pointing to the inbox.
Once you’ve created a bookmark, you’ll be able to access Gmail offline by clicking that bookmark from now on.
Want more Gmail-related tricks? See our list of the best new Gmail features you need to know about. Also see our guide on how to save Gmail attachments on Android.
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Robert Zak
Tech writer at Make Tech Easier. Enjoys Android, Windows, and tinkering with retro console emulation to breaking point.
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