Offline Gmail

File this under “how did I miss that?” Looks like Gmail finally released an offline version this week (with Docs and Reader working offline it’s hard to believe it took so long — except, of course, it must be way more complex with the massive amount of email some people have). Anyhow, as the Gmail team explains: “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 you lose your connection, Gmail automatically switches to offline mode, and uses the data stored on your computer’s hard drive instead of the information sent across the network.”

January 31, 2009