14 DAY TRIAL // Gmail has just introduced a couple of small features that should make it easier to manage groups and to maintain separate identities while using the same account. They're not huge features, just like most Gmail updates, but anything that simplifies a task is a good update.
"Organizing your Gmail contacts into groups can save you time when you’re writing messages to multiple people at once," Will Scott, Software Engineer at Google, writes.
"For example, if you create a 'Family' group, instead of addressing an email to your mom, dad, sister and brother, you can just start typing 'Family' and Gmail will complete the rest. Today we’re making two improvements to contact groups which should make them easier to create and control," he explains.
The first update is the possibility to expand Groups by several new contacts at a time. The "Add to Group" button opens up a small input box where you can enter a bunch of email addresses at the same time.
This is useful if you want to add several people in a go and don't want to go through all of them, one at a time, or they're not among your contacts yet.
The second new feature is the possibility to specify which email address to use for a contact depending on what group you have selected. You can specify a different address for each group a contact is in.
If you want to send colleagues something work-related, you may want to use the company-provided email address, but you may want to use their personal addresses for more informal messages, sent to a bunch of friends.
They may not be big features, but Google usually rolls out small and frequent updates. The groups feature has been improving steadily since it was introduced a few years ago. Likewise, anything that can make Gmail more social and offer a better experiencing when managing contacts, colleagues and friends alike, is welcomed at Google.