A little while back Gmail added a feature to their labs options called Canned Responses. It is an extremely useful tool and I’m going to explain a few uses for this tool and maybe you’ll find it useful in your regular email use.
First off, to turn it on, go to your Google Mail (Gmail) account and click on Settings in the upper right corner. Then click on the Labs header. You can also click on the little green bottle next to Settings to go directly to the Labs page.
Next you’ll want to scroll down a ways until you find the Canned Responses options and then mark it as Enable and then click the Save Changes button either at the top or bottom of the page.
Now you are all set to start creating your canned responses.
The most common use is to create a draft of text that answers a common question. For example, I get the question about how to clean spyware off a computer regularly so I have a canned response with some recommendations on how to go about this. When I get the question I can just click on Reply and then click on Canned Responses and select my spyware cleaning response. It then automatically loads all the text, links, and formatting into my current message. I hit send and I’m done. Also, having a prepared answer means I’ve had a chance to go over it a couple times to make sure it’s clear and concise.
A similar option would be if you are the birthday maven of your family and you get the “when is Uncle Bob’s birthday” question regularly. You can have a canned response that has everyone’s birthday setup already. You can just hit that quick option and be done.
Let’s create a new canned response that we’ll use for another function – an email signature. Gmail has some automated signature options but sometimes you may want a different signature for different occasions.
First start a new email by clicking on Compose Mail on your Gmail page. Leave the details like To and Subject blank and just go to the body of the message. Here is a common format for a detailed signature:
--
First Last Name
123 Main St
Somecity, CA 12345
Phone Number
Email Address
Once you have the details written out, you’ll want to save it as a canned response. Click on Canned Responses in above the message body and below the subject line and choose “New Canned Response” under Save.
You will be prompted to name it so call it something you’ll recognize like “Detailed Signature” or something similar. Once you click OK you are done. You can click on Discard and you’ll be back to your message folder.
To test out your new canned response you can click on Compose Mail and then in the message area click on Canned Reponses and choose “Detailed Signature” from under the Insert heading. It will appear in your message body.
The nice thing about the Canned Responses is that it will appear wherever your cursor is located. So you can type out your entire message and then insert your signature.
As you can see, this allows you to not only have canned emails but saved snippets of text that you can insert anywhere you like. If you are often typing out a common phrase or bit of information you can save it as a canned response and insert it into your email wherever it fits best.
The last function I wanted to mention is that filters can use canned responses. This is useful for businesses who get frequent common questions and it’s also useful as a vacation reminder (so you can tell specific people specific information while you are away). This means that emails that come in with specific triggers can get a specific response from you without your direct interaction.
It’s a pretty neat function and can provide lots of options. Currently, I use it for many tech responses to common questions, as a vacation reminder to family, and to insert different signatures with different details depending on the situation. For some other ideas, check out Lifehacker’s article about how they and some of their readers use canned responses.
Good luck and as always, feel free to ask any questions in the comments.
