Gmail labs being retired – no more Quick Links!

Retiring several Gmail Labs: Gmail Labs serve as a great testing ground for experimental features. Successful labs graduate, and low usage labs often retire. With the announcement of Gmail Add-ons, enterprises will soon gain the ability to add modern integrations in Gmail, which in some cases will replace or improve the functionality provided by some labs. So in the coming weeks, we will retire the following Labs: Authentication Icon, Google Voice Player, Picasa previews, Pictures in chat, Quick Links, Quote Selected Text, Smartlabels, and Yelp previews.

Source: G Suite Update Alerts: Updates in G Suite to streamline Hangouts and Gmail

I’ve mentioned several Gmail labs additions for Gmail in the past, and one I’ve been particularly fond of is Quick Links. Unfortunately, with the retirement of several Gmail Labs due to the impending arrival of Gmail Add-ons, Quick Links is no longer available, Luckily, you can mimic the functionality of Quick Links with Google Bookmarks.

Although I will be showing the directions in Google Chrome, the same functionality works in any of the major browsers.

First, turn on the bookmarks bar under the settings menu.

Now, create a folder for your Gmail Quick Links by right clicking in the bookmarks bar and selecting New Folder.

I named the folder Quick Links. Perform a Google search, such as is:unread in:inbox.

After you click search, the address for the page changes. This is the link you will drag to your Quick Links folder.

Now, you can quickly see all of the unread messages in your inbox by clicking on the link. For other search ideas, read my original article on Quick Links.