Gmail has become one of the defacto free email services used for both personal and business email. But are you using it to its fullest potential? Here are 10 quick and easy efficiency-boosting customizations to turn you into a Gmail master who can save a ton of time.

1) Gmail Labs Optional Features

Gmail Labs is hard at work on developing optional features for Gmail. You can see their latest work by logging into Gmail and going to Settings (upper right) and clicking on the Labs tab (far right tab). Here you can enable and disable any of the features. Since it is a laboratory some things might break Gmail or make it act strangely, be sure you note how to fix it. Here's one of the best of the best from Gmail Labs:

Mark as Read Button – If you get a lot of newsletters and other things that you want to keep but not necessarily read right away, this is a great feature from Gmail Labs. It adds a ‘Mark as Read’ button to the top of the Gmail interface. Now you can highlight the loads of email you get and click the button. There’s no “Mark as Unread” button yet but requests have been put in to make this button a two-way button.

Firefox Browser Interface

Many people are avid Firefox users nowadays and there’s a robust development community for the browser. Many add-ons have been created to help you interface your browser with your Gmail box; here are five of the best.

2) Customize Google – This Firefox extension does a number of things to clean up your Gmail experience. Everything from removing ads, enhancing privacy and adding links to other search engines are here. It can also shape your entire Google user experience, not just Gmail, making it an invaluable tool.

3) Gmail Notifier – If you’re too busy with browsing with Firefox to check in with Gmail, make Gmail check in with you. This Foxfire plug-in sits in your status bar, automatically logs into Gmail and alerts you when new email arrives. Have multiple Gmail accounts? No problem, you can set up the latest versions to log you into each simultaneously. There’s also a Gmail Notifier desktop version of this tool from Google.

4) DragDropUpload – This add-on is a great customizing time-saver if you send a number of attachments on a daily basis using Firefox. DragDropUpload lets you attach files to emails by simply dropping them into attachment boxes instead of browsing for them. If you’re in your Gmail account, you can drop your files directly over the "Attach a file" link and they’re ready to go.

5) Gmailskins

With Gmail skins, you can efficiently do a ton of customizing with one download: change the colour of your inbox; view weather, google calendar and news headlines; insert smileys, images, tables and html in to your emails; and hide various page elements (invite panel, page footer, your email address from being displayed-may be useful for public computers).

6) Gmail Repository for Greasemonkey--Greasemonkey is an add-on for Firefox that allows you to change how web pages look and work. You can find a ton of Greasemonkey Gmail scripts that are freely available. A few examples of handy scripts from the repository include Macros, which allows you to add more keyboard shortcuts; Folders4Gmail that lets you organize your labels in a folder hierarchy; and MailtoCompose In Gmail, which opens the Gmail Compose window when you click on a mailtourl instead of the default email client. If you’re not too familiar with scripts, here’s Better Gmail 2, a simple download compiling a number of useful Greasemonkey scripts for Gmail.

Gmail as Remote Storage

Looking to put your massive Gmail storage space to use? Here are a pair of applications that allow you to use your Gmail storage as a remote storage area whether you’re on Linux or Windows.

7) GmailFS – Linux users rejoice. This application supports most file operations such as read, write, open, close, stat, symlink, link, unlink, truncate and rename. It can even be used with the Linux command line.

GmailDrive – Customize the way you use your Gmail storage space. This Windows application creates a virtual space on your computer which gives you drag and drop access to your Gmail space so you can quickly and easily use documents and files wherever you can access Gmail. The application requires Windows XP or Vista and Internet Explorer 5 or higher. Be sure to read the help before using.

Miscellaneous

For the Gmail user tips that just don’t fit anywhere else. Here are two more tips to customize and extend your Gmailing habits a bit further.

9) Gmail for Mobile – With the ever-increasing speed of life you might need to get your Gmail on the go. If your phone doesn’t have the settings or applications necessary to do it natively then you might be interested in checking this out. Versions include Blackberry, iPhone, Motorola, Nokia, Nokia S60, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, Windows Mobile and of course Google’s own Android. Never be without your Gmail again.

10) Gmail Keyboard Shortcuts—Using both the mouse and keyboard can slow you down. Just by investing a few minutes to learn a few keyboard shortcuts, you can increase your productivity. Customizing how you interact with your Gmail account is easy. Click on Settings in Gmail, and under the General Settings tab, enable the keyboard shortcuts option. Turningthem on will give you the ability to access to a host of quick Gmail key commands.

These tips should set you on the path to an efficient and productive Gmail experience. Although you might not need to use every one of them, hopefully one or two of them will go a long way to get your Gmail working exactly the way you want it to.