At last we have all been blessed with the all new Gmail plugin for BlackBerry devices.  We were following along for months now seeing leaked details about it over at the Google forums.  The Enhanced Gmail plugin for BlackBerry gives you an advanced level of email capabilities as you now have the power to filter out spam and messages you do not want to receive.  Spam filters have been hot topics for BlackBerry devices for many years now, and it is incredible seeing Gmail go first with it.  It is of course absolutely optional and not mandatory, but it wouldn’t be a great idea not putting it in as it is an enhancement.

Requirements?  You must have OS 4.5 or higher to have this plugin actually work.  Also, don’t forget to set it up as IMAP rather than the traditional POP in order to function properly if you are doing a manual setup.  After deleting ur Gmail account and re-adding it, the Gmail account will automatically be in IMAP so it is not difficult at all.  After setting up your Gmail again, you will receive a download link to download the Gmail plugin or of course you can manually download it at blackberry.com/gmail from your BlackBerry.

So far, so good.  The Gmail plugin does everything it promises.  You can add and remove labels and stars on email messages.  Reporting spam emails and messages has never been easier also.  You can make local and remote searches through your whole Gmail account even if what you are looking for is not on your actual BlackBerry’s memory.  Options to archive emails is available and you can view related email messages as a single conversation, basically threaded views we all love.

Here’s some more in depth details on the plugin’s functions from RIM:

Archive a message

• Remove a message from the inbox by moving it to the archive folder.
• Messages that are moved to the archive folder will be hidden from view in Enhanced Google Mail, but will stay visible in the Messages application on the BlackBerry smartphone.

Add a star to a message

• Use stars to mark important messages.
• Stars can be combined with text labels.
• A star that is applied to a message in Google Mail after the message has already been received by the BlackBerry Internet Service will not be synchronized with the corresponding message on the BlackBerry smartphone.

Add a label to a message

• Categorize and organize email messages by clicking the Labels command from the menu.
• Apply multiple labels to a single message.
• A label that is applied to a message in Google Mail after the message has already been received by the BlackBerry Internet Service will not be synchronized with the corresponding message on the BlackBerry smartphone.
• Changes made to labels in Google Mail will not be applied to the corresponding labels on the BlackBerry smartphone. When a label is renamed in Google Mail, it is synchronized as a new label on the BlackBerry smartphone.
• Labels cannot be created, renamed, or deleted on the BlackBerry smartphone

Report spam email message

• Click Report Spam from the menu to remove a spam email message from the inbox, delete it from your BlackBerry, and move it to the spam folder in Google Mail.
• Messages in the spam folder cannot be searched using the BlackBerry smartphone.
• Email messages marked as spam on the BlackBerry smartphone will be synchronized with the Google Mail account.
• Email messages marked as spam in Google Mail will not be marked as spam on the BlackBerry smartphone if they have already been retrieved by the BlackBerry Internet Service.

Perform local and remote searches

• Perform a local search by searching email messages and conversations on the BlackBerry smartphone.
• Perform a remote search by searching the entire Google Mail mailbox.

View related messages as a single conversation (conversation view)

• Group related messages into a single conversation for easy reference. A conversation appears on a single line in the inbox. This is also referred to as the threaded view.
• Conversations in the inbox are marked with an envelope icon and include header information with the subject line and number of participants.
• To expand a conversation and view its individual messages, click the conversation or click Open Conversation from the menu.

So what do we make out?  It’s a great plugin you need to try out.  Many people download the BlackBerry Gmail app to get the full functions of Gmail. but that all becomes unnecessary as you can have that all in your push-enabled IMAP Gmail with the enhanced plugin.  Check it out and let us know how you like it.

-by Mac Jadalhack

Related Posts:

• RIM to release Gmail Plugin for BlackBerry