Reading an email from your developer in Japan, or your prospective business partner in Argentina? Forget copy and pasting into Google Translate to decode the message.
Google now offers automatic translation for incoming emails. There are options to turn off translation or automatically translate all messages in a particular language. The translation feature started as a Gmail labs experiment nearly three years ago and got positive reviews for both business and personal correspondence.
Google is also adopting some of its other lab experiments for Gmail, including Title Tweaks and Smart Mute. Your browser tab will now lead with the number of new messages, displaying “Inbox (20) – user@example.com – Gmail” rather than “Gmail – Inbox (20) – user@example.com.” Smart Mute allows long email threads to be archived without showing up in your inbox, unless you are directly addressed.
Google is also discontinuing several Gmail Labs inventions, including some entertaining ones like Mail Goggles and tools like Inbox Previews. Other retirees include Old Snakey, Mouse Gestures, Hide Unread Counts, Move Icon Column, Custom Date Formats, and the SMS in Chat gadget.
Thumbnail image courtesy of Shutterstock user [Roman Sigaev].
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