GmailThis!
What is GmailThis! ?
GmailThis! is an easy way to make a Gmail email without visiting mail.google.com. Once you add the GmailThis! link to your browser's toolbar, emailing will be a snap. Or rather, a click. Clicking GmailThis! creates a mini-interface to Gmail prepopulated with a link to the web page you are visiting, as well as any text you have highlighted on that page. Add additional text if you wish and then email or save as draft from within GmailThis!Big, Important News! Recent changes in Gmail have broken GmailThis! in Safari and Firefox (and possibly more, those are all I've tested in). I updated the script, delete the old one and use this new link the same old way!
GmailThis! <-- drag this link to your browser's Links bar, or right-click (ctrl-click on a Mac) and add it as a bookmark that way
The old, somewhat broken version: GmailThis! (Just keep using this if you haven't had any problems with it)
And if you find GmailThis! useful, please donate (uses PayPal)
How to use GmailThis! from dougward on Vimeo.
I created the GmailThis! bookmarklet with heavy, heavy inspiration from the BlogThis! bookmarklet.
Known issues:
- If you aren't already logged into Gmail, the log-in screen is displayed. You must log in and then re-launch GmailThis!.
- May not work properly in Microsoft Internet Explorer. (Thanks, a bunch of people.)
- In Opera, you must right-click and save as bookmark; drag 'n' drop won't work. (Thanks, Wendy.)
- Only Western encoding is supported. (Thanks, Wendy.)
- GmailThis! has a 1000 character limit for selected text. (Thanks, Roy.)
Edit: Thank you for your comments. However, if you're reporting a bug, I do need some more info so that I can be more helpful. Please post relevent info, such as:
- The browser you're using;
- The operating systen you're using;
- Whether or not you have a pop-up blocker in use.
Thank you for using (or trying to use) GmailThis!
Edit Two: If you'd like to link to GmailThis! on your website, copy and paste this code:
<a href="http://contrapants.org/blog/2005/07/gmailthis.html" title="GmailThis!: a JavaScript bookmarklet tool for Gmail"><img src="http://photos23.flickr.com/29699537_df65f68a13_o.png" alt="GmailThis!" /></a>Derivative works:
- Gianni Amato created YahooThis! for users of Yahoo! Mail.
- Tantrum created a version that supports IE and Chinese.
- Ken made a a version to open a blank compose window.
- Fake made a version designed for bookmarking.
- zZ made a a version meant to fix an encoding problem.
- benvalleck made Swiftlet, a bookmarklet generator
Labels: tech
posted by Dougie @ 09:48
158 Comments
Links to this post
158 Comments:
Why can't I drag the Link?
This is a very useful tool. Unfortunately, upon clicking the GMailThis! bookmarklet on my Links ToolBar, nothing happens. Am I doing something wrong ?
= Raj A Kapadia =
anonymous: It's possible that there's a compatibility problem with your operating system and/or browser. What software are you running?
Raj: Again, could be a compatibility problem, although it's more likely something within the browser... My vague, uninformed guess is that possibly you have a pop-up blocker that prevents GmailThis! from opening.
Thanks for the feedback.
1. I use Internet Explorer 6.0 SP2.
2. The Operating System is Windows XP SP2 Professional.
3. Windows XP's Pop-Up Blocker is turned OFF. I do not have any other Pop-Up Blocker turned ON.
Trust this info is what's required.
Hi...
I have exact same set up as Raj. Except I have XP SP2 Home Edition. I use Google Pop UP blocker and it didn't activate. But to be sure I turned it off. My issue is I can't even click on the link to drag it. I can click it and the window pops up, but I can't hold the mouse button down to drag it. Anyways... I thought it would be a useful thing to have. I don't expect you to spend loads of time just for me to get a free utitlity working. But if you know off thetop of your head it would be appreciated. Maybe it is a way I have an IE 6 option set up??
Thank you for the info... I'm afraid that it's difficult for me to debug it, as I use a Mac, but I'll see what I can do... Worse comes to worse, I can use someone else's computer.
Anyway, the ideas I've had so far:
1) Try right-clicking the link. I'm not familiar with IE 6's contextual menus, but hopefully there's a "Bookmark this link..." option or similar.
2) Sorry, I know you probably don't want to hear this, and it's the coward's way out, but... Ever think about switching to Firefox?
Anyway, until I can grab a 'dows unit to test, this is the best I can do... Sorry, and thanks for your patience.
Thanks for your suggestion. I loaded Mozilla and fixed the problem in about 1.5 minutes.
:)
Awesome, glad to hear it.
thanx for the tools, but is is safe?
Depending on what you mean by safe...
I would say it's safe. The only data that could potentially be intercepted via the URL would be the webpage you've used GmailThis! on and whatever text you have selected. Any other vulnerability would be accountable to Google.
If you mean, is there a chance of spyware or anything, no worries, there's none of that.
hei dougie thanx for your quick answer..., i appreciate that, btw, can i link this tool to my blogs? if you permit it of course.
You're welcome!
Absolutely, feel free to link to this page.
Can I add this to the Firefox browser? Because it's not letting me...
You certainly can.
I just fired up Firefox 1.0.6, and it works all right... All I can suggest is trying to right-click it and adding it as a bookmark that way. Tiresome, but (hopefully) worth it.
Hey there. Im using it on:
Firefox 1.0.6 + Mac Os X
Its working fine!!!
Linking this page on http://oranjia.blogspot.com
Thanks again!
Awesome, it always makes me happy to see people using a superior operating system.
You might be interested in Camino. It's comparable to a lightweight version of Firefox.
Thanks for the link!
Wow! Thanks... Great tool. Exactly what I needed.
hey this is very cool y need this tool my e mail is aljeov14@hotmail.com invited me please!!!!
^^^^
eh?????????
Anyways nice tool
Hi there!
I just dragged the link to my Firefox browser. Works like a charm. Solves my biggest complaint about Gmail. Love being able to click an email link in my browser and have it open a Gmail box.
Very cool!
Worked in Firefox ,perfectly
Saw this while a different DIGG story
I have been waiting for this a while
It doesnt want to play with IE
but then who wants too anyway
Hurray for this awesome little app
JP
Found this via micro persuasion - it's great, thanks so much!
In Opera browser, you have to save the link as a bookmark. Drag and Drop doesn't work.
The bookmarklet doesn't support title that is non Western code or UTF code (i.e. Zh-ch GB3213)
Wow! This is great. Thanx for coming up with this. Pam
This is waaaay cool. Even works with Safari 2.0 which shows attention to detail. Very handy.
Also... you are listed in Hot Links today, so look for traffic to pick up even more. That's how I found this.
: )
So I am. Thanks for the heads-up.
As for Safari 2.0... I actually took the screenshot from within Safari. So it's less "attention to detail" then it is "testing the browsers already on my computer." ;-)
Might be why I didn't notice that it doesn't work with MSIE...
Anyway, thanks for your comments, everybody!
Doesn't work in IE. So goodbye to 90% of people. Nice utility if you use non-standard software.
Nice job. It works great.
Oh, dear me, Anonymous... 90%? Sadly, no. According to my most current stats, 23% of people coming to this site use one version of MSIE or another.
MSIE isn't "standard." MSIE is actually completely proprietary; if you'd ever designed a webpage, you'd know that you have to jump through hoops because MSIE refuses to adhere to web standards.
Convenience is not an excuse to use inferior software.
Awesome!
If by "standard software" you mean "the worst web browser on the planet - used only by people who don't know any better", then Guilty as Charged, eh?
Worked great for me in firefox 1.07, xpsp2 but i did have to bookmark the link - the drag and drop didn't work.
hmmm looks like a nice tool but i'll stay at my thunderbird ;)
I modified this to support UTF-8, GB2312, just change all 'escape' to 'encodeURIComponent'
:P
This would be great as an extention for firefox, like a right click gmail this extentions. Also would be great if you could edit it to auto put in the address you want. Like i have a "notes" lable, so if i type in username+notes@gmail.com it goes right to my notes lable.
FYI Posters,
Firefox doesn't do drag and drop ...
Excellent ! Runs good for me, firefox+XP
safari 2.0.1
osx 10.4.2
no pop-up blocking
works just fine.
input: after selecting a contact, the cursor returns to the front of the current contact. it should end up after the "," (comma) so that the next contact can be added without having to move the cursor.
thanks
Hot poop! Thanks for your work.
explorer x64 don't work
cool tho.
Anyway I could modify this to allow me to start a new Outlook email?
Drag and drop to the links bar worked in Firefox 1.5 beta 1. A very minor problem is the popup window for the new email is a bit small. It cuts off the top and bottom a bit. I can send sample screenshot if you like.
Worked great in MSIE 6.02 with WinXP SP1. Thanks!
it works fine in Firefox/1.0.6. Great, GREAT idea!!! tks !
This is really useful - working fine in Safari!
saw you as a popular item on del.icio.us today.
This works great on opera 8.5 and osx,Hold down cammand key and drag to any bar at the top of the page.Just what i needed thanks.
Works good in Camino on OSX too!
Works great with Opera http://www.opera.com/
Nice idea and works great, but still ther's a worry with browser security :D
i.paul
Works great. Any idea how to automatically insert text into the Subject line? "Backup", for example, if you were archiving the text of an article for future reference?
couldn't get to work either in firefox nor fast browser,
all i get is a link to gmail logon page.
in firefox, with or without adblock
any assistance available.
I already got the gmail extension which gets me to logon page.
exlaval
Thanks, Calon, for the tip.
Nathan: I've thought about making it into a FireFox extension, and I probably will, once I scrounge up the energy. ;-)
As for opening up new Outlook emails and such, I happen to know that there is a way. It would really not take too long. I'll work on it.
Florian: I know of this problem, and I haven't a clue how to fix it. I'll look into it a bit more.
i.paul: GmailThis! is pretty secure. The only way it wouldn't be is if somebody can already see what sites you're on, in which case GmailThis! is the least of your worries. Any other vulnerabilities would lay with Gmail.
Nick: Haven't got a clue. Sorry.
exlavai: Log in, then try it again. Let me know if it still doesn't work.
Using Firefox 1.07 on WinXP. This is cool like the other side of the pillow. Found this on Tipmonkies.com. Great job!!
This works in Firefox 1.0.7 with Win XPSP2 - fine here! I'll be looking forward to the Outlook version you're working on!
Thank You.
Very nice program.. I wrote up a little something @ Think-Mac.net
Thank you!
And (again) thanks to everybody for their support!
Very, very cool.
Thanks,
Allan
How do you use this with Netscape 7.1? Thanks.
Oh, gee, Netscape... I'm sorry, I don't know. I actually went to the site to download it but it seems like they've gone to version 8 and don't even make a Mac version anyway.
I would guess that you have to right-click it and save as a bookmark, but I honestly don't know. Sorry.
hello,
this is a great idea. I put the link in my links bar. but when i click on it, everything shows up fine in the popup window except for the area for the message text. It just displays a large blank space.
I'm using Firerox 1.07 on OSX 10.3.9
Excellent! Thank you for a very useful bookmarklet.
I am on a Windows XP box, using Fx 1.0.7
Thank you for providing such a useful bookmarklet. Works great on Ubuntu 5.04, Firefox 1.0.7.
Dougie, thank you for an incredible tool. This is just what I needed.
Nate
I use Firefox, but I can't seem to drag the bookmarklet to my links bar. what am i doing wrong?
Thanks a LOT Doug! Really. I'm in awe, I mean you wanted something so you just created it?!
Try holding down the control button (if you're on Windows) or the command button (if you're on Mac) and then clicking and dragging.
I am using Firefox 1.0.2 and the link works great. Maybe the folks that can't drag and drop don't have a links bar displayed?? I found this page through the Furl.com archive and furled it myself to push it up in popularity. Anyway, nice work, Doug!
thanks for this. Its very nice.
Too good .. thanx for it dude.
Works perfectly fine for Win xp sp1 + IE6 (with google popup blocker)
now i can have the peace of sending the links across rather copy-pasting in another window.
Excellent! This is what I've been looking for since I constantly have to copy and paste from Outlook to Gmail.
Thanks!
Works great on Safari. This is a great script
Looks like I'll be using this to send even more emails!
This is awesome! The only downside to using Gmail was not being able to use Send Link from Firefox. Thanks!!!
I've written a few other handy scripts based on this one for painlessly retrieving information from Wikipedia, Google Scholar, and the Amazon book collection. If there is text selected in the browser, "WikipediaThis!" will open a new window using the selected text as the query (similar for Amazon and Google Scholar). If no text is selected, the script just brings you to the respective home page.
Since the blog software doesn't allow inclusion of active javascript, I've just pasted the code below. If you create a bookmark for either of these links, just substitute the "Location" field with the script.
Wikipedia Script:
javascript:popw='';Q='';x=document;y=window;selectedText = window.getSelection(); if(selectedText!= '') {popw = y.open('http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/'+ selectedText,'wpForm','scrollbars=yes,width=680,height=510,top=175,left=75,status=yes,menubar=yes,toolbar=yes,location=yes,resizable=yes');if (!document.all) T = setTimeout('popw.focus()',50);void(0);} else {window.location.href = 'http://www.wikipedia.org';}
Amazon Book Title Search Script:
javascript:popw='';Q='';x=document;y=window;selectedText = window.getSelection(); if(selectedText!= '') {popw = y.open('http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-url/ix=books[RETURN]&fqp=power%01title%3A'+selectedText,'amznForm','scrollbars=yes,menubar=yes,width=680,height=510,top=175,left=75,status=yes,toolbar=yes,location=yes,resizable=yes');if (!document.all) T = setTimeout('popw.focus()',50);void(0);} else {window.location.href = 'http://www.amazon.com';}
Google Scholar Script:
javascript:popw='';Q='';x=document;y=window;selectedText = window.getSelection(); if(selectedText!= '') {popw = y.open('http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q='+selectedText,'gsForm','scrollbars=yes,menubar=yes,width=680,height=510,top=175,left=75,status=yes,toolbar=yes,location=yes,resizable=yes');if (!document.all) T = setTimeout('popw.focus()',50);void(0);} else {window.location.href = 'http://scholar.google.com';}
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Now if we can get one for yahoo mail, my e-mail life would be complete!!
Hi! This is a great bookmarklet!
But I have one "feature request" I have implemented the "BlogThis!" bookmarklet in my blog, you can see it at the end of each post, it's the link "blogger" (it's fairly easy to see even though my blog is in norwegian). Do you think it would be possible to implement the "GmailThis!" bookmarklet on a blog in the same way? If you could fix that that would really rock! I've tried by I don't know anything about javascript.
Thank you!
anonymous (you know who you are): Thanks for the other scripts - you should definitely post them somewhere.
børge: I'll look into it. Blogger seems to have written something specific -- there's a blog-this.g file that I can't for the life of me figure out.
Anybody know what .g stands for?
Anyway, I'll work on it.
Speaking of working on things -- I've been working on an alternative to GmailThis! that uses your default email application: Outlook, Thunderbird, whatever. I've got it working, I just need to test it a bit more, make sure it works with the majority of apps.
One way to get around the "won't drag" problem in IE:
1. Pick any old webpage and choose "Add to Favorites..."
2. Go to Favorites -> Organize Favorites
3. Move the new favorite (at the bottom of the list) to your "Links" folder (these are the favorites that show on your toolbar).
4. Right-click on the "GmailThis!" link ON THIS PAGE (up at the top of the page - the one you were trying to drag unsuccessfully) and choose "Copy Shortcut."
5. Right-click on the favorite you added to your "Links" toolbar and choose Rename. Then rename it as GmailThis!
6. 5. Right-click again on the favorite you added to your "Links" toolbar and choose properties.
6. Put the cursor in the URL field and press CTRL+V (paste). This pastes in the bookmarklet script (starts with Javascript:)
7. Click OK. and then click ok when it warns you that it is a script (or whatever it warns you about).
or, DUH! Just right click on the GmailThis! lick and choose "Add to Favorites..." and then put it in your "Links" folder.
Man, I sure do things the hard way sometimes.
Don't worry about that; it's how we learn.
Thank you for your work-around!
Good useful one.
I use opera so Its great!
THANKS!
using camino (firefox specifically for mac). couldn't drag link, however, i bookmarked the page and then opened my bookmarks and dragged that to the links toolbar. works great!
Thanks for the nice bookmarklet! - we posted a link at http://www.gmailtime.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=35
Thank you!
I made a new version which can support IE and Chinese.
Right Here:
http://blog.hexun.com/tantrum/1169579/viewarticle.html
Thanks, I put up a link.
Awesome tool! Works great on Deer Park as well :)
Great bookmarklet! Tested (and working) on Mozilla 1.7
Any idea why GmailThis! doesn't work on this site? I get the popup window that says "Loading..." but nothing else happens; and yes, I am logged into Gmail.
I truthfully don't know, but I'll look into it.
Here is another site GmailThis! doesn't work on.
After a recent article on Lifehacker I decided to modify GmailThis! a little bit so it's more sutable for bookmarking.
Check it out here.
Great tool! Give all props to the original creator :)
Cool. I put a link under derivative works.
Thanks.
Wow. Is there anything that he internet can't do? You guys and your super brains are making MY LIFE a breeze..
THANK YOU.
-Jenny
One of my favorite tricks - outstanding work, THANKS!!
Thanks for the great bookmarklet.
I've been using the modified version for bookmarking with great success.
However, I am hoping someone can answer a question for me.
Does anyone know if it is possible to modify the javascript to include a TO email address that is in the form of "username+abc@gmail.com"? It's possible to store your TO email address in the script. However, I would like to use Gmail's sub-address feature, which requires the use of a plus sign in your email address. Unfortunately, the javascript drops/ignores the plus sign, and creates a new email addressed to "username abc@gmail.com".
Any and all help appreciated.
It worked fine for me except when i used it with me logged on and then my girlfriend logged on with her account. It never came up for my girlfriend. Though when i log back on it works fine.
Works fine. I used Gmail Notifier for FF 1.5.0.1 and GmailThis! works as advertised.
I especially like being able to highlight to add text - well done!
Simple and easy to use even with NoScript.
Viru: That's weird. I've got no idea what's going on there.
Steve: I tried one way around it but so far I can't make it work. It seems like it just doesn't want to do it. Sorry.
This is a handy utility. I use it all the time. I have, though, found a site or two it doesn't work with. So I'd say try it first with this site to make sure it's not the other site.
That's a good idea. I've noticed that when it does fail, it is usually on websites with certain characters in the URL, especially ampersands (that is, &).
thanks dougie for this cutieee.
i manage to use "encodeURIComponent" to avoid the encoding problem of "escape" for non-ascii characters. my little modification was made at my blog here
Cool. I added a link under Derivative Works.