Request for a new search parameter: has:label

A "has:label" search parameter. Useful for checking mail with any kind of label. I would personally use it for archiving old mails and being sure none passed through (as long as the Enforced status I asked for is not implemented).

Alos discussed here

An "enforced status" checkbox for IMAP unsubscription

Summary

• An "enforced status" checkbox for IMAP unsubscription.
• Similar in function to Enforced in GPO or !important in CSS).
• An old mail in both
  
  • an enforced unsubscribed IMAP mailbox and
  • an regular subscribed mailbox
  will not be downloaded, since enforced unsubscribe overrides "regular" susbscribe.

Scenario:

The easy part

I access Gmail with IMAP from a desktop client and the local database is getting huge (think this). In order to make it slimmer, I decide to backup old mails.

To do this, I use a filter to grap all old emails (before:2007/04/01) and affect them a label (archives) and apply the selection to existing mails (Apply the filter to x conversations below). I then activate theAdvanced IMAP feature in Labs then I uncheck the subscribe button for the archives label.

Still with me?

Now, all my old mails are in one folder/label (archives). Since I unsubscribed from this label, I should not see it locally (If I still want to access an old mail, I go to the web interface).

The tough part

Except that… These old mails have labels of their own, like grandma, birthdays and so on. And I don't want to unsubscribe from birthdays. I just want old mails out. If a mail is labelled both birthday and archives, it will be downloaded, by virtue of belonging to birthday, even if it also belongs to archives!

Proposal

With an enforce checkbox for every mailbox (once Advanced IMAP feature is on), Maild which belong to both a subscribed and an unsubscribed mailbox will be downloaded or not depending on the enforced status (of course, at least one of the mailbox must have an enforced status and at least one must not have it).

That way, I will still get new mails about birthdays on my desktop client, but I won't receive the old mail about birthday!

Please tell me if it is hard to understand.

Also discussed here and here.

Quick notes with subadresses and filters

Gmail permits subadresses (a.k.a. "plus adresses" - RFC 5233).

By combining this and an adequate filter, I found any easy way to send myself not without having them lying around.

Here's the way:

1. Create a label "Notes". Give it beige color (like Post-it) with the color 243,231,179
2. Create a filter:
   
   1. "to:(xxxxx+notes@gmail.com)" xxxxx is your gmail address
   2. apply label "Notes"

At first, you'll have to type xxxxx+notes. If you are like me, you will soon only have to type notes and Gmail will understand.

Great time (and memory) saver!

Is Google building Forever Cars?

This is a departure from the usual administration-related posts. But I wanted to write about an old feeling of mine (around 10 years old now).

In his major novel Ring around the Sun, Clifford D. Simak introduces Forever Cars. Forever Cars are higly advanced cars sold at a ridiculous price. They last very long, cost very few and plans are possible for those who can't purchase them. They are perfect and cheap.

What's the catch? Why would someone produce a highly advanced piece of tech and give it for (almost) free?

Remind you of someone? Hint: it starts with a G. With two "o" just after.

In Ring Around the Sun, Forever Cars are an example of "too good to be true" - their manufacturer's hidden agenda is to destroy the world economy. Several years ago, I wondered the same about Google. How could they give all of this for free (even by internet standards, they're cheap)? Yeah, I know. Ads. Still…

And, from time to time, even now that I am a Google Apps system administrator, I still wonder.

Is Google building Forever Cars?

Gmail Labs conflict: "Signature Tweaks" incompatible with "Quote Selected Text" lab

Quote selected text (which, by the way, only works with keyboard shortcuts, not with the mouse), is incompatible with signature tweaks.

It seems I am the first one to document this. Feedback welcome!

Changing e-mail address for Google Apps user

Now it is possible to change an existing Google Apps user email address (administrator included). I am not talking about nickname, but about real renaming (thus, it will also work for login). It works with standard edition too.

Kudos to Google Apps France for the finding.

New Font: Syncopate

It’s been a while now,but anyway: a new font is available at Google Docs: Syncopate. Notice that only a small part of Google Fonts are available with Google Docs.