I’ve been hearing that Google’s introduced a desktop notification system in Gmail where if you get a new chat or a new email, a little window pops up. Sounds cool, and I do sometimes miss timely messages because I’m not paying attention, so how do I download it and install it into my PC or Web browser? The great news is that there’s nothing to download or install: it’s built in to Gmail itself so as long as you have a Google Gmail account, you should now be able to enable it and have it help you ensure you don’t miss important messages.
Mia for Gmail is powerful email client and notifier for Mac OSX. It stands on your Mac's menu bar. Try to update OS X to 10.9.1 which makes Gmail-based accounts work better. Also, there was a stand-alone Mail Update for Mavericks which fixed the badge problem for my. You probably know but it's through the App Store or Apple menu ( ) > Software Update.
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However yeah, and there’s often a however, right there are some Web browsers that aren’t compatible with the Gmail desktop notifications window code, notably Apple’s Safari browser. Before we talk about that and some of the alternatives you have if you are a Safari fan, let’s have a quick peek at how to enable Gmail Desktop Notifications! If you’re lucky, next time you go to Gmail, you’ll find that it has a little yellow window inviting you to enable the notification system, kinda hard to miss: Easily done: Click on “Click here to enable” and your browser should confirm that you’re wanting to grant this permission to the app and you’re done! If that’s not present, you can check your Gmail settings by going to “Settings” on the top right: Then scroll down about halfway on this long page of settings, where you’ll see a new section for “Desktop Notifications”: Once it’s enabled, here’s the kind of thing you can expect to see on your computer desktop (yes, outside of the Web browser. Think Google Chrome OS) when a new message comes in: Similar notifications pop up for chats. It’s important to realize that you are going to really need to get comfortable with tabs: if Gmail isn’t running in one of the tabs or windows of your compatible Web browser, you won’t get notifications.
One possible solution is to launch a window in your browser just for Gmail, then minimize it on your Dock/Toolbar. And if you’re in Safari or another browser that doesn’t play well with the new code? Here’s what you’ll see: Ah well. The good news is that there are some cool alternative Gmail notification utilities for Safari, my favorite of which is, a simple extension that doesn’t pop up a separate window, but makes it pretty hard to miss new Gmail messages as they arrive. Really dying for pop-ups? On the Mac I recommend, a little menubar utility that pops up a little window when new mail arrives on Gmail.
Go for Gmail is the best and most powerful Mac app for Gmail, and is gorgeously designed to allow you to quickly access your Gmail account directly from your Mac’s menu bar. First Launch: The app functions as a menubar app. This means that as soon as you download the app and launch it, it’ll appear in the top menubar on your Mac’s screen as a small ‘envelope’ icon, and by default the app window will hover on your desktop as a floating window. Upon the first launch, you will notice that you will be presented with a login screen requiring you to sign in to your Gmail account.
Please enter your username and password and this will directly connect securely to your Gmail account. We do not capture or store any of your personal data. Using the App: Once you have logged on, you will be presented with your inbox. By default, the app launches for the first time in desktop view. This is the full fledged Gmail browser experience, but you have the option of running a condensed mobile mode as well. Within the app window, where you see your inbox, all functionality is exactly how you expect it, as you have been accustomed to on the Gmail.com website. We add a few buttons on the main app window on the top that allow you to run certain functions: Home icon: By clicking this, you are instantly brought to your main home screen, i.e., your Gmail Inbox from whichever previous page you may have been on.
Left/Right Arrow icons: These buttons allow you to go back (left arrow) and forth (right arrow) between pages you have previously visited. Refresh icon: Click this to refresh the current page you are on.
Mobile Phone icon: Click this to condense the desktop app window into a clean cut mobile Gmail window. This is a more streamlined Gmail view that you may be accustomed to on your smartphone, for instance. The app window should appear as follows: To return to Desktop view, click on the Desktop Computer Screen icon that now stands in the place of the Mobile Phone icon.
Gear icon: Clicking this opens up the option to enter the Preferences panel, along with the ability to Reset the App window to its default position, Quit the app immediately, etc. Preferences: Upon opening the Preferences panel, you are met with a small window offering a range of options: General Tab: This tab allows you to set a customizable hotkey to pop up the app window on your screen. By default, this hotkey is set to ^G (Ctrl + G). You can also toggle On/Off the ability to: 1.
Start the app at login 2. Have the app window Hide at startup/login (When this is set to On, the app window is minimized when your Mac is booted up) 3.
Keep tab running in the background as a visible app whose window is open 4. Keep tab above other apps, so it is always present on the forefront of your Mac’s screen 5. Show the app icon in the Dock so you can access the app from both the Dock and the menubar Notifications Tab: The Notifications preferences tab allows you fully customize the sounds, visual alerts and color coded alerts for all notifications served by Go for Gmail. Sound: By default, the system sound we use within our app for notifications is ‘Submarine’. You can choose from an array of sounds that suit your tastes from the drop down menu next to ‘Sound’.
Unread Notifications: Unread notifications are your regular alerts for any unread mails. By default, any unread mail will make the menubar icon turn from a black envelope to a red one. This colour can be changed to yellow or green as well. Show Unread Count: Along side your colour alert for any unread mail, you can also have the app show you the count for how many unread mails there are.
This count can show up both on your menubar as well as your dock icon, should you wish. System Preferences: Click on the ‘Notifications’ button to open the System Preferences for notifications on your Mac, and be able to customize them accordingly. Appearance Tab: Text Size: Click on this drop down to change text size that you seem within the app window to be Small/Medium/Large.
Window Opacity: Toggle the Opacity slider to make the app window translucent, in order to run the app with a stealthy appearance. Remove Ads: By default, any banner ads, if at all, are blocked out by Go for Gmail. You can untick the tick box to have these ads appear again. Extras: Full Screen Mode: To run the app in fullscreen, click on the green ‘maximize to full screen window’ button on the top left corner of your Go for Gmail app window. Resizing and Positioning the App Window: You can drag the app window from any corner to reposition it on your screen and also resize it as you desire.