How to Use the Gmail Preview Pane: To Check Emails Quickly

Sometimes you can tell what an email message is about
from the subject line, but often you have to open the message to be sure. Did
you ever wish you could read email messages without opening them?

With the Gmail Preview Pane from Gmail Labs you can quickly
preview your email messages without opening them. This tool opens a pane next to
your inbox that displays the text of incoming messages.

At a glance, you can tell how you should handle each new Gmail message. In many cases, you may not even have to open the message to process it.

Best of all, the Preview Pane in Gmail is not difficult to use. In this tutorial, we'll explain what the Gmail Preview Pane is, then show you how to set it up and start using it. We'll also include a helpful screencast that walks you through the Gmail Preview Pane installation process.

What is the Gmail Preview Pane? (And Why You Should Use It)

An email preview pane
lets you view some of the contents of an email before you open it. When the
preview pane in Gmail is enabled in Gmail, it can appear to the right of inbox
messages or beneath your messages.

As you probably
already realize, an email message's subject line isn't always helpful. While
it's a good idea to use descriptive subject lines for email messages, not
everyone who sends you a message realizes this or puts it into practice.

With Gmail, you can
choose to use a preview pane. Other email packages such as MS Outlook or
Mozilla Thunderbird also make use of a preview pane (sometimes called a reading
pane). If you are used to using an email tool with a preview pane, enabling the
Gmail preview pane option may help you become more comfortable with using Gmail.

The main benefit of
using a preview pane is that is saves time. You don't have to click on each
message to see the contents inside. If you process lots of email messages each day,
the extra time it takes to click on and open each message adds up. Eliminating
those extra clicks can make a difference if you process a lot of email messages
each day.

How to Start Using the Gmail Preview Pane (Quick Video)

To install the Gmail Preview Pane and start using
it to quickly check your email messages, refer to the screencast video:

For more detailed information on how to use Preview Pane in Gmail,
review the step-by-step instructions below. Discover how to check your Gmail messages with quick email previews.

How to Set Up and Use the Gmail Preview Pane

This section provides
instructions on how to install, use, and uninstall the Gmail Preview Pane tool.

Step 1. Setting Up the Gmail Preview Pane

The first step in setting up the Gmail Preview
Pane is accessing Google Labs. To access Gmail Labs, start from your Gmail
inbox screen and click the Settings
icon in the upper left corner. A drop-down menu appears:

From the drop-down menu, click the Settings option. The Settings
screen displays. Click the Labs
option at the top of the Settings
screen:

From the Labs
tab, use the scroll bar on the right to scroll through the available labs.
Scroll to the Preview Pane option.
Click the Enable toggle button to
the right of the lab description:

Scroll down to the bottom of the Labs tab and click the Save
Changes button. The Gmail inbox, displays, but you'll notice a new icon
next to the Settings icon. It's the Toggle split pane mode icon:

Step 2. Configuring the Gmail Preview Pane

Click the down
arrow next to the Toggle split pane mode
icon to display a drop-down menu:

Use the
drop-down menu by the Toggle split pane
mode icon to select how your preview pane appears. You have three choices:

1. 
   No Split - No preview pane appears.


2. 
   Vertical Spit - A preview pane for the selected message appears to the
   right of your inbox list.


3. 
   Horizontal Split - A preview pane for the selected
   message appears below your inbox list.

The example
below shows an inbox configured with a horizontal split:

Notice that the text of the select message appears
below the inbox list.

Step 3. Using the Gmail Preview Pane

Even after you've configured your Preview Pane in Gmail, you won't see any message
text until you select a message. Without any messages selected, your preview
pane looks something like this:

To use
preview pane feature, click on a message to select it. Once you've selected a
message, the message text for the selected message displays in the Gmail preview
pane:

Here's how to check Gmail messages quickly with the Preview Pane turned on: Once you've selected your first message, use the up and
down arrows on your keyboard to quickly select the next message in your inbox
and preview the contents. There's no need to click on each message in your
inbox individually.

How to Quickly Delete a Message

You can also delete a message without opening it. This can be
particularly helpful if you receive lots of junk emails or spam messages.

With the message preview feature on, you can see the
contents of each selected message at a glance. You can quickly delete or
archive a message without taking the time to open it.

Here's a sample sales message that I viewed through the preview pane:

The preview shows
me enough that I know I am not interested. I don't have to open the message to
delete it.

To delete the message, click the checkbox next to the
message and click on the Trash icon:

The message is
moved to the Trash folder. It will
be permanently deleted after a specified period.

To continue
browsing through your messages using the Gmail Preview Pane, click on another
message to select it. Use the up and down arrows to quickly scroll through your messages.

How to Archive a Message or Move It to a Label

The process for
archiving a message from within the Gmail Preview Pane is similar to the process
for deleting a message.

After reviewing the selected message in the preview pane,
click the checkbox next to the message:

At the top of the
screen, click the Archive icon to
archive the message. To move the message to a label (sometimes referred to as a
folder) instead, click the Move to Label
icon and select the label where you want to move your message.

Depending on your
choice, the message is archived or moved to a label.

Return to
browsing through your messages by clicking on another message to select it. Use
the up and down arrows to scroll through the messages.

How to Reply to or Forward a Message

You can also reply to a message or forward a message from
within the Gmail Preview Pane, which is another time-saver since it lets you answer
your messages more quickly.

To reply to or forward a message, click on the Reply icon in the upper right of the
preview pane. Or click the arrow next to the Reply icon and select the Reply
or Forward option from the drop-down
menu.

You can also click the Reply or Forward
hyperlink at the bottom of the preview pane:

The Gmail New Message
form appears below the preview text in preview pane:

To respond to the selected message from the preview pane in Gmail,
type your response in the New Message
form. When you are ready to send your reply, click the Send button at the bottom of the New Message form. Your response is sent.

Continue to use the up and down arrows to preview other
messages in your inbox.

Step 4. Disabling the Gmail Preview Pane

If you change your mind about using the Gmail Preview Pane, you can easily disable
it. Click on the Settings icon in
the upper right corner and click the Settings
option from the drop-down menu.

From the Settings
screen, click the Labs option. The
following tab appears:

At the top of the list of Gmail Labs are the labs you
have enabled. The Preview Pane lab
should be on this list. If you have other Gmail labs enabled, they will appear
on the list as well.

To de-activate the Gmail Preview pane, click the toggle
button next to the Disable option to
the right of the Preview Pane lab. Scroll to the bottom of the screen and click
the Save Changes button.

The system returns to your inbox. The Toggle split pane mode icon is gone.
The Gmail Preview Pane feature has been disabled.

Conclusion

We all need to
make the most of our time. Depending on how much email you receive, reviewing
your incoming messages and deciding what to do with each of them can take a lot
time.

If you are looking for how to check your Gmail messages quicker, the Preview Pane in Gmail could be the answer. It's easy
to set up and use. And it can readily be disabled if you no longer need it.

Best of all, you can use the preview pane to respond to
or forward messages without ever leaving your Gmail inbox. You can also delete,
archive, or move messages to folders from the Preview Pane.

More Great Gmail Tutorials

To discover another great Gmail Labs feature, check out
the following tutorial:

• 
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  How to Create Email Templates in Gmail: With Canned Responses
  
  
  Laura Spencer

For other cool time-saving Gmail features to help you improve your productivity, study
this tutorial:

• 
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  27+ Quick Gmail Tips, Tricks, and Important Secrets
  
  
  Laura Spencer

For more basic information on other ways of setting up
your Gmail inbox, review:

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  How to Organize Your Gmail Inbox to Be More Effective
  
  
  Laura Spencer

Jump into another helpful tutorial to learn a few more Gmail tips and tricks, so you can work more efficiently, and save a ton of time every day.