Mountain View, California — Adding attachments at times to Gmail can be quite annoying when the Internet connection is slow or intermittent. Google just this week began promoting its offline strategy with the announcement of the ability to include attachments in composed emails when offline. “Starting today, attachments work just the way you would expect them to whether you are online or offline (with the exception that when you are offline you would not be able to include in-line images),” Google wrote in a blog post. “Just add the attachment and send your message.”
Earlier this year, Google unveiled an offline version of Gmail, and since then has been regularly enhancing features in Gmail and has now added offline attachment support for it. Built on Google’s Gears platform, the feature downloads a cache of your mail to your PC. When you are logged on the Web, it syncs the cache with the Gmail servers. Google Chrome web browser users have Google Gears already installed.
“One of the most requested features for Offline Gmail has been the ability to include attachments in messages composed while offline. Just add the attachment and send your message,” Andy Palay, software engineer at Google, wrote.
“If you have already enabled Offline Gmail, you will discover that all your mail now goes through the outbox, regardless of whether you are online or offline,” says Palay. “This allows Gmail to capture all attachments, even if you suddenly get disconnected from network. If you are online, your mail will quickly be sent along to its destination.”
To get Offline Gmail, you have to go to the Labs tab in Gmail. Then select “enable” next to the offline Gmail option, and save you changes:
Once you refresh the browser, there will be an “Offline” link in the upper right-hand corner of your Gmail page, near your username. The link will take you to Offline Gmail’s set-up. And again, one needs to download Google Gears to enjoy the Offline Gmail functionality. With Offline Gmail now supporting attachments, all those working on netbooks and using low-speed Internet connections can send add large files (upper limit 20MB) to Gmail.
On a related note, Google, meanwhile, is calling upon Gmail users to send them photos of themselves using Gmail offline in “unusual places,” — from an igloo, a plane, a submarine, anywhere. They are planning a blog post showcasing the most interesting ones. This could be part of a bigger plan to show people different cases where using Gmail offline can be handy, considering Google’s big push for Google Apps of late.