The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

Boomerang is a neat little plugin that can come in very handy for Gmail users. Frankly, I don't know exactly what a "plugin" is, even though I use several of them. As best I can tell, they add a specific feature to software or a pro- gram you are already using. But don't worry. You don't need to understand it to en- joy the benefits.

You do, however, need to use Gmail as your email client. If you don't already, you might consider it. I use Gmail and have my busi- ness and personal Charter.net accounts forward to my Gmail inbox so that I only need to check the one account. When I respond, I have it set so that it looks as if I'm responding from the same account the email was sent to. The benefits of using Gmail are enough to fill a separate column so I won't go into them here. If you're interested, just give it a try. It's free.

Boomerang for Gmail allows you to perform sev- eral neat tricks. I use it most often for scheduling emails. I have a tendency to work late at night when the house is quiet and I'm free from interruptions. The problem is, sending a response to a business email at 12:30 a.m. lacks professionalism. When you add Boomerang to your Gmail, you'll find a "send later" button next to the "send" button. I can click "send later" and schedule the email to send at 7:00 a.m. and the customer is left with the impression that I'm hard at work first thing in the morning, rather than burning the midnight oil.

Send times can be set anywhere from one hour, to a month, or even a set date in the future. Perhaps you want to send family members a reminder of what to bring for Thanksgiving dinner. You've planned the menu early, but are afraid that if you send an email now, the recipients are likely to for- get. No worries. Just type up the email now, while you're in the planning mode, and schedule it to send in a week or two.

You can even track re- sponses to make sure every- one read the notice When you compose the email simply check the box to "Boomerang if no reply". Set a time, for example "two days", and if the recipient doesn't respond, the email will show back up at the top of your inbox for follow-up.

Have you ever had an important piece of email get lost in your inbox? I have. Boomerang can help out here as well. Let's say I have some ad copy that I need to submit and the deadline is three weeks away. In the past, I would flag the email, and then forget to look back through my inbox to see the flag. With Boomerang I can set a reminder. When I "Boomerang" an email, the message is removed from my inbox, only to show back up at the top of my inbox at whatever date I set. This can also be helpful for "payment due" notices that arrive weeks before the bill is actually due. It's kind of like a "snooze" button for your email.

You can even add notes to your reminder emails. For example, if I have a specific graphic I want to use to go with the ad copy I click the note icon and add my information. When the email shows back up at the top of my inbox, it includes my note, reminding me what I'd planned to do.

In addition to scheduling basic emails and sending reminders, Boomerang also allows for sending recurring messages. Perhaps you send out meeting reminders each month. With Boomerang you can select "schedule a recurring message" and the same email will automatically be sent each month or week.

In all honesty, I don't use Boomerang more than a few times a month. But it's defi- nitely a neat feature to have access to when I do need it. You can download Boo- merang for free at www.boomeranggmail.com