Supposedly a Gmail Ninja Master

Official Gmail Blog: So, you want to be a Gmail ninja?

Silent please. I'm currently practicing a jutsu. :p

I finally had the time to take a quick peek at the Gmail Ninja tips. Since I'm curious as to what I would miss from the tips, I decided to take a good look at every single tips they had to offer. How far have I go? Here's a checklist of what I've achieved in the Gmail Ninja ways.

1. Kagebunshin no jutsu.
Like hell ... :p

OK. I'll be serious now. :)

WHITE BELT
1. Use stars to indicate a note is special.
Piece of cake!
2. Reply by chat.
Never bother to use this.
3. Organize your email with labels.
This is basic email management.
4. Clean up your inbox using "Move to" -- it works just like folders.
This is basically removing the "Inbox" label from a message. I don't need it.
5. Search your mail instead of sorting.
It's Google -of course I searched.
6. Archive messages to tidy up your inbox without deleting anything.
I prefer to let them all piled up in my inbox. :)
7. Import your email and contacts from your old address.
Unfortunately I'm still using my old Yahoo!Mail address.
8. Spice up your inbox with a theme.
The default theme should be enough.
9. Join forces to rid the world of spam.
Sure.

GREEN BELT
1. Talk face-to-face with video chat.
Not with a slow Internet connection like mine. :p
2. Use Tasks as a handy to-do list.
Ah ... Tasks IS a life savior.
3. Use filters to control the flow of incoming mail.
4. Highlight important emails using filters and colored labels.
Weren't these two supposed to be basic?
5. Send email from your phone.
My phone does not support Gmail. I wonder why.
6. Preview attachments without downloading them.
Another life savior.
7. Avoid email gaffes with Undo Send.
Let's just leave it to fate. :)
8. Tell your friends what you're up to with a status message.
Or in my case, a way to promote my blog.
9. Never forget an attachment again.
I've turned this feature on and never since then have I forgot any attachment. How fortunate. :)
10. Tell everyone when you'll be back with vacation responder.
I never need this.
11. Nothing says "I'm excited" like a bouncing happy face emoticon.
I guess I'll have a look at these new emoticons.

BLACK BELT
1. Get through your mail faster with keyboard shortcuts.
Only when using mouse is not faster.
2. Use search operators to find the exact message you're looking for.
I'm having a hard time memorizing the operators.
3. Filter your email with personalized email addresses.
This is new for me.
4. See which messages were sent right to you.
Totally forgot about this.
5. Make Gmail go where the internet doesn't.
Never thought about using an Offline Gmail before.
6. Quickly add multiple attachments to an email.
Ctrl+click to select. Done that. Forgot that.
7. Add "(EOM)" to the subject of one-liner messages.
I see.
8. Set up canned responses instead of typing the same reply over and over again.
But then it won't be personal. :p
9. Click less and watch more using YouTube, Flickr, Picasa, and Yelp previews.
Yelp?
10. Use quick links to get anywhere in Gmail with one click.
I've used this in conjunction to the "is:unread" search operators to create an "All Unread" link. I even made a small tutorial about it in Bahasa Indonesia. Yes, I'm promoting. :)
11. Send and archive in one step.
Never felt like archiving any conversation.

GMAIL MASTER
1. Bring Google Calendar and Docs to Gmail.
I want to, but I don't need it.
2. Forget to sign out of a public computer? Sign out remotely.
I know about it, but fortunately I never forgot to sign out. This is mostly because I've always clear cookies, authenticated session, and other personal data whenever I close my browser ... I mean my Firefox.
3. Personalize your RSS feeds in web clips.
Yes, I've used this. Now I don't have any web clips showing in my inbox. Hurray!
4. Access your mail via https.
There's an option to turn it off. I'm surprised.
5. Search for superstars by name.
Don't wanna use it.
6. Use Gmail on your own domain.
Although I've used this before, but I'm sure this feature is mainly targeted to groups or organizations.

That's all there is to the Gmail Ninja ways. That is if no new tips are added. So to sum it up, being a Gmail Master would be easy as long as we need it. Never force your way in the Gmail Ninja ways if you don't think it's worth the effort.

However, I think some tips should be up there. Things like Right-side chat or Right-side labels. I think this is quite important for those people who have a long list of contacts or labels -I'm one of them. Then there's the Inbox preview. This is quite helpful for people with slow Internet connection -again I'm one of them.