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Gmail Intelligence

August 16, 2010, 2:26 pm

Everyone else may know about this feature, but I wrote an email today where I was going to attach some tax documents for my accountant.  The email said something like "see attached..." but I forgot to attach the files before I hit "send."  Gmail popped up a message that said something like "you had 'see attached' in your text but did not attach a file, did you mean to?"  Why, thanks.

Category: Blogging, Computers & the Internet
  • http://www.dailytechnology.net Brian D.

    This use to be an optional add-on, but it's nice to see they made this a default now.

    Other email clients, like Mozilla Thunderbird 3, also have this as a feature.

  • http://borepatch.blogspot.com Borepatch

    I'd encrypt the file before you send it. Google claims not to be evil, but the jury's still out.

  • Nick S.

    Yes- don't send any financial or confidential info via e-mail without encrypting it first.

  • Buddy Y.

    I'm not sure this is a good thing. What else are they scanning emails for? I think I'd prefer my email software to be stupid and not scan my text for keywords.

  • gn

    Does make you wonder what else they are scanning and storing. Knowing the keywords that appear in emails you send or your friends receive might be useful information for targeting ads, etc.

  • Eric Hammer

    Wow, this just makes me wish even more that the company I work for would switch to a Gmail based system instead of crappy Outlook. I don't know how many times I have started typing about the attachment I am sending and how to understand the data therein, only to forget to attach the bloody thing after a few paragraphs.

    It is a little creepy that they have programs to catch key words in email, but you could probably test how much by creating two accounts and sending lots of questionable content to yourself, and seeing what happens. I suspect you would never hear anything about it, or notice a difference.