Make Gmail Even More Full-Featured With Labs

If you are a regular Gmail user you are probably already familiar with Labs. Per Google, “Labs is a testing ground for experimental features.”

For you, Labs is a way to further customize your Gmail experience and can be very handy – especially for those who have favorite features of other email programs (I’m talking to you Outlook users). These features can help ease the transition into Gmail, plus they make using Gmail even better.

Here is my list of must-have Labs:

• Canned Responses – We’ve already established that I’m lazy – this is why I don’t lik
  e typing the same thing repeatedly. Canned Responses lets you save and send common messages using a button in the Compose form.
• Google Calendar gadget – shows your upcoming events in the left-hand column of Gmail.
• Inserting Images – Adds a button in the Compose form to allow you to insert images into the message body (good for recovering Outlook users)
• Preview Pane – I actually don’t use this one anymore, but this is a must-have for Outlook users who can’t live without the preview pane.
• Refresh POP accounts – Since I use Gmail as my “one email to rule them all” and I have several accounts that pull into Gmail, this enables the “Refresh” button to also fetch messages from all my linked POP accounts. [Update: Looks like this one was actually promoted to a feature. When you click refresh, your linked accounts are automatically checked.]
• Undo Send – Gives an “undo” option right after hitting the send button. Not exactly the same as full Outlook Recall Message, but at least a failsafe if you realize your mistake in time.

Learn more about Labs directly from Google

What about you? Do you have “can’t live without” features from Labs to share?