Gmail.com

Gmail (gmail.com) is the email service provided by Google. It also provides a webmail interface, accessible through a web browser, and is also accessible through the official mobile application. Google also supports the use of third-party email clients via the POP and IMAP protocols. As of 2019, it had 1.5 billion active users worldwide, making it the largest email service in the world."Gmail dominates consumer email with 1.5 billion users" - Petrova (October 26, 2019).
The idea for Gmail was developed by Paul Buchheit several years before it was announced to the public. The project was known by the code name Caribou. During early development, the project was kept secret from most of Google's own engineers. This changed once the project improved, and by early 2004, most employees were using it to access the company's internal email system. Gmail was announced to the public by Google on April 1, 2004, as a limited beta release."Google Gets the Message, Launches Gmail"
==Features==
===Storage===
*On April 1, 2004, Gmail was launched with one gigabyte (GB) of storage space, a significantly higher amount than competitors offered at the time.
*On April 1, 2005, the first anniversary of Gmail, the limit was doubled to two gigabytes of storage. Georges Harik, the product management director for Gmail, stated that Google would "keep giving people more space forever."
*In October 2007, Gmail increased storage to 4 gigabytes, after recent changes from competitors Yahoo and Microsoft.
*On April 24, 2012, Google announced the increase of storage included in Gmail from 7.5 to 10 gigabytes ("and counting") as part of the launch of Google Drive.
*On May 13, 2013, Google announced the overall merge of storage across Gmail, Google Drive, and Google+ Photos, allowing users 15 gigabytes of included storage among three services.
*On August 15, 2018, Google launched Google One, a service where users can pay for additional storage, shared among Gmail, Google Drive and Google Photos, through a monthly subscription plan. As of 2021, storage of up to 15 gigabytes is included, and paid plans are available for up to 2 terabytes for personal use.
===Interface===
The Gmail user interface initially differed from other web-mail systems with its focus on search and conversation threading of emails, grouping several messages between two or more people onto a single page, an approach that was later copied by its competitors. Gmail's user interface designer, Kevin Fox, intended users to feel as if they were always on one page and just changing things on that page, rather than having to navigate to other places."Kevin Fox of Gmail & FriendFeed on User Experience Design" - Lenssen, Philipp (June 2, 2008)
===Spam filter===
Gmail's spam filtering features a community-driven system: when any user marks an email as spam, this provides information to help the system identify similar future messages for all Gmail users."Mark or unmark Spam in Gmail" - Gmail Help
===Search===
Gmail incorporates a search bar for searching emails. The search bar can also search contacts, files stored in Google Drive, events from Google Calendar, and Google Sites.
In May 2012, Gmail improved the search functionality to include auto-complete predictions from the user's emails."Gmail workarounds for sub-string (partial word) search"
Gmail's search functionality does not support searching for word fragments, which is known as 'substring search' or partial word search. Workarounds exist for sub-string in Gmail."Gmail workarounds for sub-string (partial word) search" - Confluence.
==Platforms==
Gmail is available in any modern web browsers, which the modern AJAX version is officially supported in the current and previous major releases of Google Chrome, Firefox, Microsoft Edge and Safari web browsers on a rolling basis.Panchapakesan, Venkat (June 1, 2011). "Our plans to support modern browsers across Google Apps"
Gmail has native applications for iOS devices"Gmail - Email by Google on the iOS App Store" - iTunes, Apple (including iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch) and for Android devices.
==External Links==
*Gmail in Wikipedia.
==References==