![\"\"](\"http:\/\/tctechcrunch.files.wordpress.com\/2010\/04\/previewshot.png\")
<\/p>\nIf you live in Gmail all day, you\u2019re almost certainly going to want to activate a new feature that just want live in labs: Gmail Sneak Peek. The feature, as the name suggests, allows you to get a preview of the message you\u2019ve currently got selected, without actually opening it (it reminds me a bit of the preview pane you get in Mac OS X when you hit the spacebar).<\/p>\n
After activating Sneak Peak in Labs, either right click on a message or use the handy keyboard shortcut \u2018h\u2019, and the preview pane will pop up. You probably won\u2019t be able to see the entire message you\u2019re looking at, but it\u2019s definitely enough to figure out if the message is important or if it should promptly be sent to your archive. You can use the \u2018j\u2019 and \u2018k\u2019 shortcuts to scroll through your list of messages, looking at a preview of each. My only gripe (and it\u2019s a fairly significant one) is what Sneak Peek does when you actually act on a message.<\/p>\n
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Gmail junkies will know that \u2018y\u2019 is the shortcut for \u2018archive message\u2019, and it\u2019s key for anyone who is sifting through a lot of Email. Unfortunately, hitting \u2018y\u2019 while you\u2019re using Sneak Peek will archive the message as it should, but it also closes your Sneak Peek pane, so you have to hit \u2018h\u2019 again. This may not sound like a big deal, but when you\u2019re adding an extra keystroke to an action you have to make a few dozen (or more) times a day, it gets tedious fast.<\/p>\n
Alongside Sneak Peek, Labs is also launching a feature called Nested Labels. This allows you to put your labels in a hierarchy, which excites me less, but apparently is oft-requested. Here are the instructions\u00a0Google offers If you think this might be useful to you, go to the Gmail Labs tab under Settings, look for \u201cNested Labels,\u201d enable it and click \u201cSave.\u201d You\u2019ll then need to name your label with slashes (\/) to make it the child of another. For example, let\u2019s say you wanted to create a simple hierarchy with a \u201cHome\u201d label, and inside it a \u201cFamily\u201d and a \u201cVacation\u201d label. Just create three labels with the following names:<\/p>\n Home You can then create \u201cHome\/Family\/Kids,\u201d \u201cHome\/Pets,\u201d etc., to get something like the screenshot on the left. If you had the parent label \u201cHome\u201d before you don\u2019t have to create it from scratch.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/i.ixnp.com\/images\/v6.25\/t.gif\")
<\/a> for using the feature:<\/p>\n
\nHome\/Family
\nHome\/Vacation<\/p>\n