How Gmail works on pc Windows 11/10/8/7 {Update 2023}

How Gmail works on –You recently bought a new Android device and during its initial setup phase, you were asked to create a new Gmail account . You completed the operation with some ease, but after that you never thought about the created account and continued to use your old e-mail address. But now things have changed, you’ve discovered that Gmail is a much more complete and efficient service than the one you currently use to manage e-mail and, therefore, you would like to know how it works.

Well, if that’s actually the case, I’m pleased to inform you that you’re in the right place, at a time that couldn’t have been better: in fact, below, I’ll show you in detail how Gmail works on the various devices with which the service is compatible : computers, smartphones and tablets (even in offline mode, therefore without an active Internet connection).

How Gmail works on pc Windows 11/10/8/7 {Update 2023}

So, without hesitating one more moment, make yourself comfortable, carve out a few minutes of time for yourself and read very carefully everything I have to tell you on this subject: I am sure that, at the end of this reading, you will be perfectly able to exploit optimally the e-mail service provided by “big G”. Having said that, there is nothing left for me to do but wish you a good read and have fun!

As I already mentioned in the opening bars of this guide, Gmail is the email service offered and managed by Google. It is compatible with most browsers and email clients for PCs, smartphones and tablets. Furthermore, in the mobile sector, it can be used through special apps for Android and iOS.

It has a large number of features aimed at optimal email management: extremely advanced spam filters , automatic detection and blocking of malicious / harmful emails , ability to set custom filters and blocks , integration with third-party add-ons and much more .

Owning a Gmail account, however, does not only mean having a functional e-mail box. In fact, the same profile can be used to access the entire range of services offered by Google: Google Drive and Google Documents, Google Photos, YouTube, Maps, Play Store, Play Music, Play Movies and so on.

In its free version, Gmail offers 15 GB of shared space between the various services, which can easily be increased by purchasing additional packages. Here’s how Drive Gmail works : the space I mentioned above is divided between Drive , Google’s cloud storage system useful for saving documents, Gmail which represents the part relating to e-mail and Google Photos , the cloud storage of images and videos, with no limits for one or the other. The 15 GB are in fact overall and then exploit them as you see fit among these three services.

There is also a professional version of Gmail, included in the G-Suite package, specifically designed for companies and which includes, among the additional features, collaborative tools and greater availability of storage space. In other words, Gmail is not just an e-mail account, but a real access key to the entire range of services provided by “big G”!

In the following sections of this guide, however, I will focus my attention exclusively on the functioning of Gmail e-mail on the various platforms with which it is compatible: Android , iOS (therefore iPhone ) and PC (Web and client).

If you don’t have a free Gmail account yet, you can create one in an extremely simple way, through the platform you deem most appropriate (smartphone, tablet, PC, etc.), by following the steps I have shown you in my specific tutorial on the subject.

How Gmail works on mobile

Let’s begin the explanation of how Gmail works starting from the mobile section, i.e. Android smartphones and tablets and iOS and iPadOS operating systems. Below you will find a description of how to proceed on these devices as well as on Huawei, given that these devices do not have integrated Google services and, consequently, do not have integrated Gmail despite being Android.

How Gmail works on Android

Have you really appreciated the potential of Gmail and would you like to configure your mailbox on Android right away ? Nothing simpler! In this regard, I strongly invite you to use the official app of the service, pre-installed on the most modern versions of Android and strongly integrated with the entire operating system. If it is not present on your device, you can download it for free from the Play Store.

After starting the app, tap the OK button located at the bottom and check that the Gmail account that you configured on Android when you first turned on the device appears on the next screen, then tap the Go to Gmail button to immediately access the mailbox associated with the specified profile.

If this is not available, or if you need to set up a second email account, tap on Add another email address and follow the simple instructions provided to log in using the credentials of your interest.

Keep in mind that, although the app works optimally with Gmail accounts, it can also be used to manage email accounts belonging to other providers (e.g. Outlook, TIM/Alice, Libero and so on), by setting the IMAP parameters.

Once the first configuration of the app has been completed, touch the OK button to immediately access the inbox : you will find some usage suggestions and the inbox screen. By pressing the icon of the three horizontal lines at the top left you can access the main Gmail menu, which includes several categories.

• Main — contains messages received from “real” people and those that do not fit into any of the following categories.
• Social — messages from social networks are grouped in this tab (new contacts, notifications about messages or profiles, and so on).
• Updates — This section contains messages about password and device updates, changes to terms of use, account suspension, termination, or activation, and the like, mostly from web services you subscribe to.
• Forum — this is a tab that contains notifications about new messages from forums, mailing lists, discussion groups, and so on.

At this point, you can easily manage your mail using the app’s simple interface: tap on the preview of an email to open its content and use the buttons located at the bottom of the message to reply to the sender, reply to all ( if of messages with multiple recipients) or to forward the email. Furthermore, you can use the keys located at the top to perform other operations on the message: archive it (the square with the arrow ), delete it (the trashcan icon ) or mark it as “unread” (the envelope icon ).

By touching the button (⋮) , you can also access additional operations for moving the message to another folder, postponing it to another time by setting the date and time to view it again, changing the label , marking it as important , marking it as spam and so on. To go back to the previous folder, just tap the arrow located in the upper left corner of the screen.

To compose a new e-mail message “from scratch”, instead, press the Write button , located in the lower right corner of the screen, while if you want to access the Gmail folders (e.g. the additional tabs of the inbox , outgoing mail, trash, archived mail, spam and so on) or the app settings, you can use the ☰ button located at the top left and select the item of your interest from the menu that opens.

Finally, you can use the top search bar to quickly find the messages you want to view. Have you seen? It’s all really simple!

Note: if you are not satisfied with the official Gmail app, you can configure your email account in other clients, such as Microsoft Outlook.

How to use Gmail on Huawei

As I mentioned at the beginning of this tutorial, Gmail is not an app integrated into Huawei devices . For this reason, to download and use it on your device, you must first install the Google Play Store on your smartphone.

To proceed, however, it is necessary to resort to unofficial apps present on the App Gallery – such as Gspace – which allow you to use the Google Play Store. By doing so, you will then be able to download Gmail and all the other apps in the Play Store on your Huawei smartphone.

Before proceeding, since these are unofficial solutions, I advise you to create and use a secondary Google account, following the instructions in this tutorial, and then proceed by downloading the Play Store, as you will find explained in my guide on how to install the Play Store on Huawei .

Once Gspace is configured correctly, all you have to do is proceed with the download of Gmail via the Google Play Store present in the aforementioned app: type Gmail in the search bar, then press the Install button . In this way, the app will be downloaded within Gspace and you can create a shortcut to place it on the home screen of your smartphone, as explained in this in-depth analysis.

How Gmail works on iPhone

Undoubtedly, the easiest way to use Gmail on the iPhone is to install the official app of the service, which can be downloaded for free from the App Store. Once the installation of the app is complete, tap the Login item and follow the wizard that is proposed to you to add your email account: indicate the email address in the appropriate box, tap the Next button and enter the login password in the field shown immediately after, then tap the Login button .

If two-step verification is active, you will be asked to enter the one-time code received via text message or to confirm your login attempt using a known device.

Note : if another Google app with which you have already accessed Gmail is already present and configured on your iPhone, you may simply need to confirm that you want to use the account already used in the other app, by activating the lever corresponding to it (to then confirm the applied configuration by touching the Finish item located at the top left).

Once logged in, specify whether or not to allow the app to send notifications and indicate how to view e-mail messages, then tap the OK button and you’re done. If everything went smoothly, you should be logged into the main Gmail interface which, by default, shows the Inbox folder . From here on, the operation of the app is very similar to what has already been seen on Android.

How do you say? Don’t want to install the Gmail app, but prefer to check your email using the iOS Mail app ? No problem: in this case, what you have to do is access the iOS Settings , touch the items Mail> Account and Add account , then touch the item Google and follow the instructions proposed to finish setting up the account.

But be careful: by configuring Gmail in Mail, you will not receive push notifications for messages, so you will not be notified in real time when you receive new messages. For further information on this, I refer you to my tutorial on how to configure Gmail on iPhone.

As an alternative to Mail, you can use other third-party clients that support push notifications and allow you to easily configure Gmail accounts, such as Microsoft Outlook.

How Gmail works on computer

If you intend to use Gmail through your computer , know that you can follow at least two different paths: use Webmail, accessible through any browser, or configure e-mail in a special program.

To access Google e-mail via browser, connected to this web page, enter your e-mail address in the appropriate field, press the Enter key on the keyboard, then enter the access password and the game in the next field it’s done.

If all went well, after a few moments you should have access to your Gmail inbox. As you have surely noticed, the Gmail web interface is extremely intuitive: through the left navigation bar, you can access the various mailbox folders (e.g. inbox , starred messages , delayed messages , etc. Street).

The contents of the inbox folder are shown in the center of the screen which, as you can see, is divided into several tabs, which contain the various categories of messages (which Google is able to recognize thanks to an artificial intelligence). The functioning of the thematic cards is the same as I have already shown you in the section relating to Android.

If you don’t like this behavior and would like all messages to be shown, without any subdivision, in the Inbox , you can disable the division into tabs as follows: click on the gear icon at the top right, locate the Type section inbox in the menu that opens and choose the one that best suits you (e.g. First important email , First unread email , Multiple inboxes , etc.). For some options it is also possible to click on the Personalize item and go to indicate some preferences and various customizations to make everything smarter.

Again through the same settings menu , in the Reading Pane section you can go to apply changes relating to e-mail and, in particular, on the possible application of changes to the reading pane and, through the Theme section , go to choose a new graphic theme (you can also click on View all and scroll through the entire gallery or even upload your own photo to use for this purpose). By clicking on the View all settings button you can access the rest of the settings.

For the rest, the functioning of Gmail is extremely simple: you can compose a new message by clicking on the Write button located in the upper left corner of the screen, reply to an already present message by pressing the Reply button located at the bottom of the same and access the operations that can be performed on messages (deletion, archiving, transfer from one folder to another and so on) using both a practical menu, accessible by right-clicking on the preview of the message of your interest, or using the buttons in the Gmail window, displayed on top of already opened messages.

Furthermore , using the search bar located at the top of the page, you can quickly search for e-mail messages based on sender, recipient, subject, size and many other parameters. It is also possible to filter the results with the so-called “Search Chips” and have a panel available (located on the left), thanks to which you can quickly access the Chat , Spaces and Meet functions (as well as Mail , of course ) .

How Gmail works on PC

Do you prefer to configure Gmail email within the program you usually use to consult emails, such as Windows 10 or Windows 11 Mail ? No problem, you can easily add Gmail to your favorite email client!

To do this, however, it is essential to activate Gmail’s IMAP , i.e. the protocol that allows you to consult and manage e-mail from multiple devices at the same time, avoiding running into synchronization problems of various kinds. You can easily activate Gmail’s IMAP by using the option found in the Forwarding and POP/IMAP and IMAP section of the Gmail settings: for further details on this procedure, I invite you to consult the appropriate section of my thematic guide.

Once this operation is done, you can easily configure Gmail in your e-mail client, exactly as you would for any other account: if you have never done this operation before, I invite you to consult my guide on how to enter another e-mail , in which I explained how to add a new email profile within the most popular desktop email clients.

Note: If you have two-factor authentication enabled on your Google Account and you’re using an older email client, you may need to generate an application- specific password (from this page of your Google Account) and use that to log in to the client instead of your standard Google Account password.

How Gmail works on Mac

Also with regard to Mail on Mac , you can set up your Google account to redirect Gmail emails to the aforementioned client.

Once the IMAP has been set up in Gmail, as mentioned above, start macOS Mail, then press on the items Mail> Add account (top left) and wait for the appropriate panel to open. Then put the check mark next to the Google item, click on the Continue button and enter your email and password on the web page you see opening.

You just have to proceed with two-factor authentication, choosing one of the proposed verification methods and choosing which applications to synchronize, making sure that there is a check mark next to the Mail item . Once done, to conclude, click on the Finish button . Now the Gmail account is hooked to the macOS Mail client and you will be able to view the messages through it.

How Gmail Works Offline

Among the many features of Gmail, there is certainly the possibility of using it even in offline mode : in practice, you can ensure that the e-mail already received is made available even without an Internet connection, by intervening on the synchronization settings of the latter . In this way, it is possible to consult the e-mail (and possibly the attachments contained therein), carry out search operations among the messages and send new ones, even in the absence of a connection to the Network. If you intend to understand how Gmail works offline , then continue reading: below I’ll explain how to act on both PCs, smartphones and tablets.

How Gmail works on PC Windows 11/10/8/7 64 bits-32 bits

As for the computer, it is possible to use the Gmail web interface in offline mode only if the service is accessed through the Google Chrome browser , available for most of the most common desktop platforms (Windows, macOS and Linux). If you don’t have one, you can install it by following the instructions I gave you in my specific guide on the subject.

After opening the browser, therefore, connected to the Gmail website, log in using your account credentials, then click on the gear icon at the top right and select the item View all settings . Now select the Offline tab located on the top navigation bar, put the check mark next to the Activate offline mail item and adjust the settings as you deem most appropriate: indicate how many days of messages you want to synchronize using the appropriate drop-down menu and specify whether to download attachments or not.

Finally, define the behavior of Gmail offline if it is necessary to log out of the Google account: keep the email data on the computer, in the form of cookies, making them immediately available at the next access; or delete everything , thus making a new synchronization necessary later.

When you’re done, click on the Save Changes button located at the bottom and, without disconnecting from the Internet, wait for the Gmail data to be downloaded to your computer: depending on the number of days to synchronize and the presence or absence of attachments, this operation could take even a few hours. During this time, the e-mail service may seem less “responsive”: don’t worry, the situation should return to normal once the synchronization is complete.

Once the download of the data has finished, you will be able to access Gmail through Google Chrome even without an Internet connection: you will have the possibility to consult the emails already received, to search within them, to open attachments and to write new ones messages, which will then be sent as soon as you connect to the Network again (in the meantime, the emails to be sent will be kept in the Outbox folder ).

Of course, you can also access Gmail messages offline by configuring your account in any email client, as explained in the appropriate section of this tutorial.

Smartphone e tablet

The Gmail app for Android and iOS doesn’t need any additional setup for checking your email in offline mode, as it’s turned on by default: basically, you just need to open the app to view your email messages already downloaded and to compose new ones (which will then be sent as soon as the Internet connection is active again).

What you can do, also in this case, is to specify the days of messages to be synchronized : in this regard, after starting the app, press the ☰ button located at the top left, touch the Settings item and touch the account e-mail address on which you intend to act.

Subsequently, identify the Data usage section , check that the Synchronize Gmail box is marked with a check mark (if not, do it yourself) and touch the item Days of mail to synchronize to set the period that is most congenial to you; if you wish, you can define whether or not to download the attachments via Wi-Fi by acting on the appropriate box.

How to use Gmail at its best

You’ve done the initial setup of Gmail on all of your devices, as you’ve decided to use it as your primary email service. Now, however, you would like to exploit it to the best of its abilities, to make it congenial to your work. No problem! Now I’ll explain some of the most interesting functions of Gmail on which to go to act.

First you can change some of the Gmail settings: I suggest you do it from the Web service, where the customization allowed is greater. To proceed, connect to the Gmail web page, if necessary log in with your Google account, press the Settings icon at the top right, and press the View all settings button .

Now, via the General tab , you can start changing various settings. In this collocation I point out, for example, the Cancel sending function , which allows you to change the maximum time available (from 5 to 30 seconds) to cancel a sent email, rather useful in case of an error. Scrolling down the page, you can decide to activate the grammar suggestions , the automatic corrector and the writing suggestions , in order to avoid bad mistakes in your correspondence and speed up the process; with the Desktop Notifications feature, you can choose whether to display a notification for incoming messages in the Main tab or marked as Important; in the Signature section , on the other hand, you can add, using the Create New button , a signature to be placed at the bottom of each message which can contain your name, contact details or a phrase. Once finished, remember to press the Save changes button , located at the bottom.

In the Labels section , on the other hand, you can streamline the system labels and categories present by default, favoring those that are actually useful to you and hiding the others, or creating your own using the Create new label button . In this way you can organize your mail, dividing messages into well-defined categories (e.g. Work, University, Bank, etc.).

In the Filters and blocked addresses tab , you can go instead to set useful filters to block some incoming messages, such as spam for example. Just press on the item Create a new filter and fill in the form that is proposed to you with recipient, sender, subject, keywords, etc. then press the Create button . Alternatively, you can choose to import filters that have already been created and saved on your PC.

With the Add-ons tab , by pressing the Manage item, you can access the Google Workspace Marketplace , through which you can go and install the add-ons that may be useful to you. To proceed, in the box that opens, press the icon of the three horizontal lines, then choose one of the categories present (e.g. To work anywhere ), then press the add-on of your interest (e.g. Trello for Gmail , to integrate Trello in Gmail) and click on the Install button and on the Continue item : then log in with your Google account and press the Allow button and on the Finish item, after the installation is complete.

In Advanced , however, I point out the possibility of using templates, useful for saving frequent messages as preset templates to save time. To use it, put the check mark on the Enable item and then on the Save changes button .

These, of course, are just some of the more interesting features that can be found within the Gmail Settings; for this reason, in order to make the experience as good as possible, I suggest you take a look at all those present.