Thursday, April 30, 2009

Add Search Results to Gmail Messages

The most recent addition to Gmail Labs is a feature that lets you quickly add Google search results to a message. Instead of opening a new tab, typing the query and copying the results, you can now search directly from Gmail. The box that shows up lets you copy the results or just the web addresses, but you can also drag the links to your message.



The feature is useful for navigational searches, when the top result is usually the best answer and it's not necessary to click on the result. Gmail should extend the dialog for creating links with the option to pick from search results. Maybe a future iteration of the Gmail Labs mod will include results from specialized search engines: images, videos, local businesses, maps, products etc. The samples that are available for Google AJAX Search API illustrate some other potential uses for clipping search results.

How to enable it? Go to Gmail Labs, type Ctrl+F, search for "Google search", enable the feature and click on "Save changes". Use it when you compose a new message by typing your query in the left sidebar. If the keyboard shortcuts are enabled, type g and / to focus the search box.

{ Thanks, Sterling. }

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