XYZ Executive Brief to Gmail Technical Manual

Introduction

This document serves to give the instructions of how to manage and use the Google Mail service (Gmail) for sending and receiving emails in the office. Gmail is a free web based email service that provides the unique advantages of being easy to use with lots of storage space, a conversation view that makes it easy to view a conversation stream, the ability to archive messages, and an integrated search system to look up past messages. Gmail has a wide user base and features an easy account creation process which makes it a useful mail service provider. While Gmail serves advertisements, it does so in an unobtrusive way without degrading the user experience. Gmail also features a great privacy policy, which eliminates most concerns about user data.

Background

Following the planned move from using Microsoft Outlook to Gmail for the corporate email within the company, there is a demonstrated need to create a document that will serve as a training manual for users who need to get up to speed with the new system. This document aims at providing such a background. It will cover how to use the Google Mail services, from the basics to the more advanced features. Care will also be taken to ensure it can be used by users of varying technical knowledge.

Features of Gmail

Gmail has a number of great features that make it stand out as an email service provider. The major benefits include but are not limited to the following.

Storage Space

Gmail features 15GB of storage per user, which is sufficient for most users’ requirements. In addition, it provides for each email having a maximum size of 25MB. If for whatever reason the 25MB message limit proves insufficient, the attachment can be inserted from Google Drive, another Google Service, and made available to the recipient. Google Drive provides a free plan that supports virtually all kinds of office documents and a storage space of 15GB.

Search, filters and labels

Gmail provides a comprehensive search functionality that makes it very easy to find any messages. The search feature makes it easy to find messages even when they are not adequately organized. Gmail search functionality also extends to archived messages, making it easy to search from among these. Gmail provides filter functionality that enables a user to select from the messages with additional criteria (Rutledge, 2015). The filter makes it easy to sort mail by date, user, or content and save this as a basis for future searches. Labels on the other hand help to organize mail in a familiar folder like interface that makes it easy to keep track of messages.

Spam Protection and Virus Protection

Gmail offers an effective spam detection and prevention mechanism that ensures that unsolicited email stays out of your inbox. Also, Gmail has a powerful real time anti-virus scanner that enables a user to scan a message before opening it. The added benefit of these two features is that they ensures potentially harmful emails which might have malware are kept out of your inbox and machine (Rutledge, 2015).

Importing Other Email Accounts and Multiple Inboxes

Gmail comes with the ability to import multiple accounts and integrate them within the same account view. The advantage to the user is that they have an easier way to monitor multiple accounts simultaneously. Additionally, one can create multiple inboxes for use for different categories of mail (Hammersley, 2006).

Starred Emails

Google Mail provides an easy way to keep track of important emails by adding a star to them making sure they will be noticeable (Rutledge, 2015).

Undo Send

Gmail provides a way to call back email sent which proves useful if the document sent has errors or was sent to the wrong recipient. The benefits of this feature are immense and it is very useful.

Additional features

A wealth of additional functionality can be achieved through extending Gmail using the Google Labs initiative. Through this feature, such extensions that improve Gmail and add onto the list of available features will be introduced (Hammersley, 2006).

Document Structure & Technical Expertise

The document will be divided into two parts, the basics and a beyond the basics (advanced usage) segment. The initial part of the document will include a basics segment which will cover basic features like how to create and setup a user account. The section will include easy to follow instructions together with screenshots that will outline the steps. An additional consideration is the embedding of links to short videos that cover select features of Google Mail. For advanced users, a beyond the basics section will contain more in depth features as well as links for more detailed instructions. Each section will be further divided based ion tasks, and each task into steps. As an example, the Basics segment could be divided into: Creating an Email Account, Sending Email, Viewing Sent Mail, Spam Control and the Use of Drafts (Adobe Press, 2013).

Exemplar

The instructions will be relayed through a technical document presented in Adobe’s Portable Document Format (PDF). The document will include textual step-by-step instructions together with screenshots that outline each of the steps involved. Clickable links will be embedded into the document to allow a user to navigate to online resources that will detail the instructions more comprehensively. The online sources may include official text Gmail tutorials and rich media for example in video format. The advantage of using PDF is it is portable, allows for insertion of relevant informative links and can largely remain unchanged, eliminating the chances of inadvertent changes to the instruction manual.

Example Task: Create User Account

1. Navigate to https://mail.google.com on your browser.
2. Select Create Account from the web page that is presented (Below sign in form).
4. Fill in all fields in the form by entering your primary details.
5. Pay attention to use a strong password as indicated by the password strength meter. Also make sure to correctly fill in the Captcha (Bot Prevention Image) into the text box.

• If successful, you will be redirected to a welcome screen.

References

Adobe Press. (2013). Adobe Acrobat XI : classroom in a book.

Hammersley, B. (2006). Hacking Gmail. Indianapolis, IN: Wiley Pub.

Rutledge, P. (2015). Gmail Tips, Tricks, and Tools. [S.l.]: Que.