We live in an era that’s all about speed – where getting jobs done yesterday just isn’t fast enough, where our smartphones could outdo the full computer systems of the year 2000, and where teenagers make a face if any electronic process gives them a half-second delay. It may seem silly to care so much about being truly instantaneous, but it’s a concern that’s shared in the business world; if you’re getting delayed for three or four seconds a hundred times during your work day, you’ll start to see a visible impact on your productivity. For just that reason, Gmail is introducing a speedy new feature that makes the process of sending mail even faster.
The concept is fairly straightforward: rather than clicking send and waiting for a message to shoot off to the intended recipient, you can click send and move on right away while Google worries about getting your message through the wires. If any issues arise with sending the message, a notification will appear at the top of the screen, prompting the Gmail user to pop back and resolve the problem (e.g., wrong email address, internet connection timed out, etc.). Otherwise, the user will get a notification once the message has officially been sent.
While error notifications will stay on the top of the Gmail screen until cleared, users should be aware that exiting Gmail or shutting down the computer will clear the errors – and potentially cause the message to be lost. Assuming users can remember that, however, they’re in for a neat little extra that saves a few seconds with each email sent. To use this feature, you will need to enable it in Gmail Labs (Settings > Labs > Background Send > Enable). It is available for all current Gmail and Google Apps users.
[via the Gmail Blog]
