Since I use Google Chat to keep in contact with family and friends, I’ve used the desktop version of Chat to alert me when I receive new messages through my Gmail address.
While Desktop Chat is nice, it has yet to be updated for Windows 7 particularly for Windows 7′s best new UI feature, Jump Lists. If you haven’t used Jump Lists, do yourself a favor: right click on the Internet Explorer icon in your Taskbar.
You’ll not only see your most frequently visited pages you’ll see shortcuts for opening a new tab, browsing privately, and pinning IE to the Taskbar.
Wouldn’t it be great to have this feature for your Gmail account i.e., have a Jump List that support composing a new email, and viewing your most recent messages?
You can! Neowin.net member daty2k1, a software developer from France, has written Gmail Notifier Plus, a super-charged Gmail notifier with a handy Jump list available by right-clicking on its icon in the Taskbar.
Gmail Notifier Plus provides a jump display of your 10 most recent unread e-mails. Any message can be pinned to this list by clicking the pin icon that displays when your mouse hovers over an item.
In addition, the Jump List has commands for composing a new message, checking for new messages immediately, and opening Gmail in your default browser.
New mail notifications are more subtle than with Gmail Chat: you’ll hear a sound (default is the Microsoft Outlook New Mail sound), but won’t see a pop-up.
Place your mouse over Gmail Notifier Plus in the Taskbar, and you’ll see your most recent message, along with navigation controls that support browsing the first 20 messages in your Gmail Inbox without opening your browser.
A lot of thought and dedication has gone into this little app. Unlike its Google counterpart, Gmail Notifier Plus can monitor multiple Gmail accounts. daty2k1 has enlisted a team of volunteers to translate Gmail Notifier Plus into dozens of languages, so odds are it works for your native tongue whatever your locale.
Gmail Notifier Plus downloads as a bare executable file without a signed certificate. You’ll need to create a folder for it in your Program Files directory, and grant it permission to execute on your system.
Download it today, and see how an ambitious application developer leverages one of Windows 7′s best new features.
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