Gmail is a fantastic email tool for personal and corporate use. One of the biggest drawbacks has been the inability to use the system offline the way you could with Outlook or Outlook Express. That has all changed with the introduction of Gmail Offline. Here is how to enable it.

Once this feature is activated, you can use Gmail as a regular service even when you are offline.

You can compose, star, delete, etc when you are offline, all of these actions are stored on your local computer and once you are connected to the internet these actions are synchronized with the Gmail server.

To enable this feature, log in to your Gmail account (personal or organization);

1. Click Settings and click the Labs tab.
2. Select Enable next to Offline Gmail.
   

1. Click Save Changes and Log out of your Gmail and restart your browser.

1. After your browser reloads, you’ll see a new “Offline0.1″ or a green beaker link in the upper right-hand corner of your account, next to your username. Click this link to start the offline set up process and download Gears if you don’t already have it.

The rest is automatic and will be seamless. However, please NOTE!!! that this is an experimental BETA feature an will most likely come and go until it is finalized, so please be patient.

Tags | gears, gmail, Google, offline