Offline Gmail with Google Gears

We all know how Gmail Labs has been releasing new experimental features to enhance Gmail experience. Since the release of Google Gears, there has been rumors of Gmail adding support for offline mode, but nothing happened at that time.

Today, they released the most awaited feature “Offline Gmail” for US and UK users. You can now access Gmail in offline mode i.e when not connected to the Internet.

Once you turn on this feature, Gmail uses Gears to download a local cache of your mail. As long as you’re connected to the network, that cache is synchronized with Gmail’s servers.

When not connected to the Internet, you can simply point your browser to gmail.com and have access to your emails and be able to edit, read, and even write emails but they will not send until the user connects back to the Internet.

Currently, this feature is only for Gmail users in US and UK, and has been tagged as an experimental feature.

How To Enable Offline Gmail

Remember, to use this feature, you will need to install Google Gears first. Then follow the steps given below.

1. Login to your Gmail account.
2. Click Settings (top right) and then click the Labs tab.
3. Select Enable next to Offline Gmail.
4. Click Save Changes.
5. After your browser reloads, you should see a new “Offline0.1? link.
6. To browse in offline, simply click that link.

As this feature is still in beta, you might come across some bugs.