Gmail Adds Nested Labels and Message Previews in Labs

Gmail is once again using the Labs proving grounds to test a couple of features that might or might not make it into the regular site at some point. Due to popular request, Google has now introduced "Nested Labels" and "Message Sneak Peek" in Gmail Labs. The features are pretty self explanatory, with Nested Labels, you will be able to create a label hierarchy, like you could with folders, and Message Sneak Peek allows you to see a preview of the email without actually opening it.

"Labels are more flexible than folders because a given email can have several labels but can't be in several folders at the same time. A highly requested feature for labels, though, comes from the world of folders: the ability to organize labels hierarchically," Manu Cornet, software engineer at Google, explained.

To enable any Labs feature, you must go to the Gmail Labs tab under the Settings menu, or click on the small Labs icon that shows up if you have any other experiments active. After you enable Nested Labels, you will need to name your labels with slashes in them (/) to create a child label. For example, to create a 'Family' label inside the 'Home' one, you will need to first create a 'Home' label, obviously, and then create one named 'Home/Family.' The same is true for adding another level, for example 'Home/Family/Kids.'

"Another highly requested feature is the ability to preview messages to get a glimpse on what they contain and maybe take immediate action without opening them," Cornet added. "This is exactly what ‘Message Sneak Peek’ does. After you turn it on, right-clicking on a line in your inbox shows a preview pane with the message in it."

If you enable the experiment, right-clicking on any message line will open up a small pop-up overlay showing part of the contents of the message. You can move through several messages inside that window and you can also use keyboard shortcuts for it, if you have them enabled.