5 Little-Known Gmail tips and tricks

Think you've mastered your Gmail? Here are five Gmail tips and tricks that you may not know about:

Tip 1: Dots or no dots, it's your username

Did you know that Gmail doesn't recognize dots as characters within a username? That means that if your e-mail address is username@gmail.com, then user.name@gmail.com and u.s.e.r.n.a.m.e@gmail.com are also yours.

Tip 2: Select multiple messages

Tired of clicking individual messages but don't want to select all of them? Select the first message in the set, hold the shift key, then select the last message of the set.

Tip 3: Bypass the blank message prompt
Do you send messages where the subject is the entire message? Then you're familiar with the prompt asking you if you're sure you want to send the message without text in the body. To bypass the prompt, type "EOM" or "(EOM)" at the end of the subject to tell Gmail that it's the end of message. 

 
Tip 4: Use address aliases
Gmail doesn't offer traditional e-mail aliases, but you can add a "+" to the end of your username to create one. For example, messages sent to username+alias@gmail.com is sent to username@gmail.com. This can be useful for setting up filters or figuring out who's selling your e-mail address to spammers.

Tip 5: Send & Archive at once
If you send messages and immediately archive the conversation, you can save yourself a step by adding a Send & Archive button. Go to the Labs section of your Mail Settings and enable the Send & Archive button.