Earlier this month, Google announced that it would change the Gmail design on the desktop, and now, it has done it. the desktop design makes Gmail look more like its Android counterpart. The new design comes with new features centered around security and ease of use.
The main new feature in Gmail is the confidential mode which lets you set granular controls for sensitive emails. It also allows you to remove options to forward, copy, download or print messages, and you can also set the message to expire at a specified time. There’s also an option that lets you revoke access completely.
Google provides these controls by limiting access to the content itself. When you send a message in confidential mode, Gmail creates a link to the content and delivers that to the recipient. Upon clicking that link, the recipient will view the content as if it were a normal mail provided they are using Gmail. For other email providers, the link will redirect to a Google-hosted site in order to view the content until a specified date.
Google also introduces a 2-factor authentication (2FA) for individual emails, which will require recipients to key in a passcode delivered by SMS before they can open a message.
Google is hoping that the new additions like confidential mode and 2FA on a per-message basis will reduce to a large extent, a hacker’s ability to access delicate information particularly at large organizations. While speaking to one of our sources, the lead product manager at Google for Gmail Jacob Baker said:
“What we’ve seen, especially in business scenarios, is that lots of these leaks happen accidentally or near accidentally. They didn’t realize they weren’t supposed to forward the email, or they saw ‘Do not forward’ but they didn’t think it applied to them and hitting the forward button was just so easy.”
Other features include, email snoozing, integration with Calendar, Tasks, and Keep, a Gmail offline mode, and you can also open an attachment without having to load the message itself.
