How to set a vacation responder in Gmail

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge If you’re planning to take some time away from work, it might be a good idea to set up a vacation responder: an automatic reply that goes out to anyone who emails you, letting them know you’re out of the office and therefore not checking email regularly. (It’s also a good idea to let them know in that email...

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How to manage your new Slack notification schedules

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Slack is now letting you choose when you get notifications on a per-day basis, meaning you can finally stop getting Slack pings over the weekend. Previously, Slack let you set when you were “available” to receive notifications, but those preferences would also roll over to the weekends. That meant you could...

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How to change your inbox layout in Gmail

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Gmail offers you several customizable formats — so many that you can have multiple Gmail accounts and they can all look completely different. For example, you can have all of your emails in one long list, you can separate your messages into multiple tabs, or you can have your inbox split into unread and read...

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How to enable and use Gmail’s AI-powered Smart Reply and Smart Compose tools

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Leading up to Gmail’s 15th birthday last year, Google added a lot of productivity and machine learning tools to its email service. (It may also have been trying to make up for the disappearance of its Inbox email app, but that’s an argument for another day.) Additions included a way for Gmail to write...

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How to convert a PDF file for your Kindle

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Recently, a friend sent me a preview of a book that she was about to have published and asked me to read it. I was delighted — but unfortunately, the copy she sent was formatted as a PDF file. And as many of us know, reading a PDF on a smartphone or even on an ebook reader is a recipe for eyestrain. I...

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How to personalize your Google Chrome homepage with any GIF

I spend a lot of time trying to personalize every aspect of my laptop: pasting stickers on the top, separating all of my icons into folders on my desktop, and, thanks to a little trick I learned on TikTok, using my favorite GIFs as backgrounds on Google Chrome. It’s a super simple process that makes using Google Chrome feel a little more personalized....

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How to personalize your Google Chrome homepage with any GIF

I spend a lot of time trying to personalize every aspect of my laptop: pasting stickers on the top, separating all of my icons into folders on my desktop, and, thanks to a little trick I learned on TikTok, using my favorite GIFs as backgrounds on Google Chrome. It’s a super simple process that makes using Google Chrome feel a little more personalized....

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Google’s Pixel 3A is discontinued, but these retailers are still selling it

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Google has discontinued its excellent, midrange Pixel 3A and Pixel 3A XL phones, and so it’s getting tougher to find one now, especially if you’re looking for a specific size and color. This wasn’t an unexpected move, but the timing isn’t ideal since the long-rumored Pixel 4A isn’t on shelves yet to replace it....

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How to file and pay your 2019 taxes online

Back in March, when it was recognized that the COVID-19 pandemic was taking hold in the US, the IRS extended the filing deadline and the deadline for federal tax payments so that those of us who suddenly had to figure out how to work at home or handle homeschooling would get a break from dealing with taxes. The vacation is over. The new deadline for...

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How to watch videos with friends online

FG Trade / Getty Images Even a favorite stay-at-home activity like watching TV can get lonely sometimes, especially if you’re used to hanging out with your friends and watching together. Although you can stream and text, FaceTime, or share your screen on Zoom, sometimes that just doesn’t cut it. If you’re looking for a way to make your social-distancing...

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