I’ve had mixed feelings about Gmail for a while now. Sometimes it’s great, like when my bestie and I share links all morning as we chat on Gchat. But then other times, as my inbox fills up at lightning speed, it just becomes too much. However, after using these gmail hack tips and tricks, Gmail is transformed into something new–and way more manageable!

  1. You can magically fake the timestamp.

I never really gave much thought to the time I was sending my emails until one morning when I came into work and my supervisor asked me if I had been working at 2 a.m. That’s when I realized that it would be better for me to send my emails during normal business hours so that people would take me more seriously. And then I discovered Boomerang, which allows you to schedule your email messages in advance so that they appear to have been sent at a different time than they were.

Boomerang is a Gmail app that allows you to schedule emails, set up snooze messages, and get reminders. With Boomerang, you can easily schedule emails to go out at any time, so it’ll look like you’re sending something at 8 a.m. on Monday even though you scheduled it the night before. You can also choose to “boomerang” emails – meaning you can mark an email to leave your inbox and return it on a certain date. Say there’s an email reminder for a networking event next month, but you don’t want the clutter in your inbox. With Boomerang, you can choose to have the message leave your inbox and return automatically two days before the event. You can also ask Boomerang to remind you if nobody replies to an email, so following up is easy as pie.

A screenshot of a function of the email application

Tip: I always schedule my emails by BCC-ing myself to confirm that everything is being sent out.

  1. You can instantly pull up someone’s name, title, and mutual connections.

Next time you spend valuable minutes of your day double and triple checking an important person’s name before sending a cold email, save yourself the headache with Rapportive. This Gmail extension allows you to see LinkedIn profiles right from within Gmail so that you can quickly glance at key information (e.g., spellings of names) for both sender and receiver.

A screenshot of a function of the email application
  1. You can unsend a hastily written message.

Have you ever sent an email and then regretted it moments later? Well, worry no more! Gmail has come out with a new feature that allows users to unsend an email up to 30 seconds after hitting the send button. This amazing news was all over the headlines last week, and understandably so—this safety net will save many people from making embarrassing mistakes. If you’re interested in enabling this feature for your account, simply click on the gear icon in the top right-hand corner of your Gmail page, select Settings, scroll down to Undo Send, check the box next to it, and then hit save.

A screenshot of a function of the email application

After you send an email, a yellow bar will appear at the top of your inbox with the option to undo it. I think we can all breathe a huge sigh of relief that this magic button exists.

A screenshot of a function of the email application
  1. You plow through your inbox at record speed.

Though I was initially skeptical, I decided to try out the Gmail keyboard shortcuts my friend recommended. And boy, was I pleasantly surprised! These shortcuts are now a game changer for me. If you want to use them too, go to Settings (it’s the gear on the top right-hand corner of your main page), scroll down to “Keyboard shortcuts”, make sure they’re turned on, and save your changes. With this new Gmail shortcut, you can speed through your inbox without (almost) ever taking your hands off the keyboard. To draft a new email, simply press “c.” Need to mark something as important? Press “+.” And marking an email unread is as easy as hitting “Shift + u.” Get ready to shock (or at least impress) your coworkers with how quickly you get through the morning emails.

Photo: Cultura RM / Georgia Kuhn / Getty Images

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