Offline Gmail Now A Reality

gmail_g Good news, Gmail fans. Google is experimenting with a new ability of Gmail to work offline, when an active internet connection is not available. This feature relies upon the Gears platform, a browser add-by Google which can plug itself to Internet Explorer, Firefox and comes pre-installed in Chrome.

When offline, you’ll still be able to read retrieved emails, compose, and search. As and when internet comes online, Gmail will automatically sync the changes you’ve made with Gmail servers. For instance, send unsent messages or check for new messages and retrieve them to your local cache. Take a look at this video tour:

Google is working on rolling this experimental feature to users. I can’t exactly tell you how well it works because Google has not blessed me with this feature, but if they do, I’ll be able to activate it from “Labs” tab under the settings page. If you got a chance to play with this new feature, let us know what you think through comments.

This post was published by on January 29, 2009

About the Author: Thilak Rao works as a Social Media Expert. He is one of the first professional bloggers from India, and he loves to write, travel and click photos. Follow him on Twitter @thilak

  • http://www.whatever.com dave

    WIll it let me sign in and out offline?

  • http://www.myfreeps3.net PS3

    Sounds good but i don’t understand how you can rerieve emails when offline. Care to explain?

  • http://pixobyte.com Nicholas | Pixobyte.com

    Wow, really a cool feature for those who have dial up internet connection and also the guys in broadband with download limit. Thanks for sharing
    cheers to google

  • http://www.seoresults.co.za/pages/seo-tips/ SEO Tips South Africa

    Gmail is so very useful, but my only real gripe has been that it ain’t offline. They’ve listened and are heading for greater market dominance than ever before, for sure!

  • http://www.netage.co.za/web-marketing/ Marketing

    Great! But then again this offline feature was available on the mobile Google app from the word go. So it’s a bit weird how only now it’s introduced to pc users.

  • http://www.benjaminpatton.com Big Ben Patton

    I am glad to see Google giving Microsoft a run for its money on this front, while I am not sure what I will personally use this tool for I know many people have been clamoring for such usability for quite the age. It’s about time they got around to it.

  • http://www.byte-guides.com Mark Thomas

    This is fantastic news. It’s a complete pain not being able to compose (eg. in flight). I can now prepare a lot of work ready for when a connectio is present.

  • http://jhangora.blogspot.com Jhangora

    Cool! Thanx a lot for the news and the video. This is a great blog with lots of useful info and tips. Keep up the good work!

  • http://www.thefun-blog.com Amol

    That is great news. But isn’t that feature available already on mobiles ?
    I mean I have Yahoo Go ! on my mobile where i can see my previously saved emails without connecting to internet.