Want to access your Gmail without an Internet connection? There is now an app for that.
A Chrome app, to be precise.
Airplane passengers and wilderness hikers are rejoicing the world over, as
Google has announced the imminent return of Offline Mode to Gmail, Google Docs and Google Calendar. First
introduced in January 2009 for Gmail, offline mode was axed
following Google's elimination of Google Gears in March 2011.
Now, however, offline support for Google's email, calendar and
document editing services is coming back for users of Google's Chrome
web browser. Offline versions of Google Docs and Calendar will be rolled
out over the next week, while Gmail Offline is available today (August
31) by
installing an app that can be found in the Google Chrome web store.
With Gmail Offline users will be able to read their email, compose
replies and organize and archive their mail without an Internet
connection. Basically, you can do everything except receive and send
emails. Messages you compose are saved in Drafts and sent out the next
time you get an Internet connection; received email is similarly
downloaded whenever you are connected to the 'Net.
To use Gmail Offline,
download the Gmail Offline Chrome app here.
Open up a new tab (Ctrl + T in Windows, Command + T on a Mac) when you
are logged in to Gmail, and click on the "Offline Google Mail" icon
under "Apps." You are now looking at your offline Gmail account, which
has a design that resembles the Gmail interface for tablets. Read,
organize, archive and compose away, even if your wireless connection is
non-existent.
Google Calendar and Docs will be getting their Offline capabilities
some time this week, though, somewhat disappointingly, users will not
yet be able to edit their documents in offline mode (Google is working
on it)
Labels: Google
