Gmail on the iPhone and Web Revisited, Friday, July, 3, 2026

Workshop Introduction: Gmail Native App on iPhone

Ali formally opened the Techstravaganza Extra session, introducing the topic as a tutorial on the Gmail native app for iPhone. He outlined the session’s goals.

• Details
  • Ali: Introduced the session date as Friday, July 3, 2026, and outlined the tutorial topics: the purpose of the Gmail app, its advantages over the built-in Mail app, its features, navigating threads, and mail categories.
  • Ali: Noted that the Mail app’s categories feature was originally derived from Gmail.
• Conclusion
  • The session would cover Gmail app settings, thread navigation, attachments, and categories.
  • Questions would be taken after each section.

Gmail App: Navigation Menu and Labels

Ali demonstrated the Gmail app’s navigation menu, walking through the various sections available including inboxes, labels, and settings.

• Details
  • Ali: Showed the navigation menu containing All Inboxes, Inbox, Starred, Snoozed, Important, Sent, Scheduled, Drafts, All Mail, Spam, Trash, and custom labels.
  • Ali: Noted he had multiple accounts set up and had created several custom labels over time.
• Conclusion
  • The Gmail navigation menu provides access to all mailboxes, labels, and settings from a single location.

Gmail App: Settings Overview

Ali navigated through the Gmail app’s Settings, covering notification preferences, inbox type, conversation view, and other configuration options.

• Details
  • Ali: Demonstrated the Email Notifications setting, set to “All New Mail,” with options for High Priority Only or None.
  • Ali: Walked through available notification sounds including Welcome, Nudge, Snappy, Sweet, Whistle, Tones, Coms, Treasure, Piggyback, and Shrink Ray, noting Treasure as his favorite.
  • Ali: Showed Inbox Type options: Default Inbox, Important First, Unread First, Starred First, and Priority Inbox.
  • Ali: Highlighted the Conversation View toggle, which groups emails with the same topic together, noting it is similar to the Mail app’s “Organize by Thread” setting.
  • Ali: Briefly noted settings for Dynamic Emails, Vacation Responder, Signature Settings, Smart Reply, and Siri Shortcuts.
• Conclusion
  • Key settings to configure include notification type, notification sound, inbox type, and conversation view.
  • Conversation View is enabled by default and groups related emails into threads.

Gmail App: Navigating Email Threads

Ali demonstrated how to navigate email threads within the Gmail app, using a WordPress support thread with 67 messages as an example.

• Details
  • Ali: Showed that within a thread, messages are sorted oldest to newest.
  • Ali: Demonstrated that collapsed messages can be expanded by activating (double-tapping) each one individually.
  • Lily: Asked whether messages are sorted oldest or newest first; Ali confirmed oldest first.
  • Ali: Realized and confirmed that the newest message in a thread is always expanded by default when opening a thread.
  • Lily: Noted this is convenient for checking the latest reply, and that you can scroll down to the bottom if needed.
• Conclusion
  • Threads in Gmail app are sorted oldest to newest, with the most recent message expanded by default.
  • Users can expand individual messages by activating each collapsed message while flicking through the thread.

Gmail App: Handling Single Attachments

Hans asked about saving attachments from the Gmail app on iPhone. Ali demonstrated using a recipe file (Aaron’s Jambalaya.RTF) sent by Lily as an example.

• Details
  • Hans: Asked whether it is easy to save attachments, particularly multiple attachments, from a single message in the Gmail iPhone app.
  • Ali: Demonstrated that attachments can be accessed directly from the inbox message list without opening the full message.
  • Ali: Showed that once inside a message, activating an attachment opens it and presents options to Save to Drive or Share to another app.
  • Ali: Noted that Google Drive integration allows direct saving from within the Gmail app.
• Conclusion
  • Single attachments can be saved to Google Drive or shared to other apps directly from the Gmail iPhone app.
  • Attachments are accessible both from the inbox list view and from within the open message.

Gmail App: Handling Multiple Attachments (iPhone vs. Web)

Ali and Hans explored how the Gmail iPhone app handles emails with multiple attachments, and whether they can be saved simultaneously.

• Details
  • Hans: Specifically asked whether multiple attachments can be saved simultaneously rather than one at a time.
  • Ali: Tested with a two-attachment email sent by Lily and found that on the iPhone app, attachments must be saved individually.
  • Ali: Suggested that the Gmail web version likely offers a “Save All to Drive” or “Download All” option and proposed checking it live.
• Conclusion
  • The Gmail iPhone app requires saving multiple attachments one at a time.
  • The Gmail web version was identified as the better option for downloading or saving multiple attachments simultaneously.

Gmail Web (Mac): Downloading Multiple Attachments

Ali switched to demonstrating Gmail on the Mac (Google Chrome) to show how multiple attachments can be downloaded at once.

• Details
  • Ali: Opened the email with two attachments in Gmail on the Mac and found both “Download All Attachments” and “Add All to Drive” buttons.
  • Ali: Activated “Download All Attachments,” which created a zip file called “Attachments.zip” in the Downloads folder.
  • Ali: Opened the zip file in Finder, revealing both files: Notes from LinkedIn Workshop.RTF and RU Testimonial.RTF.
  • Hans: Confirmed this answered his question about saving multiple attachments.
• Conclusion
  • Gmail web provides “Download All Attachments” and “Add All to Drive” options for bulk attachment handling.
  • Downloaded attachments are packaged into a zip file saved to the Downloads folder.

Gmail Web (Windows): Downloading and Extracting Multiple Attachments

Siena took over to demonstrate the same process on Windows using JAWS, providing a Windows-specific walkthrough for participants.

• Details
  • Siena: Opened the forwarded email with two attachments in Gmail on Windows using Google Chrome.
  • Siena: Used Insert+Z in JAWS to enable the virtual PC cursor to navigate the message body.
  • Siena: Identified the “Download All Attachments” and “Add All to Drive” buttons, as well as individual attachment preview and download options.
  • Siena: Activated “Download All Attachments,” which created a zip file named after the email subject (FWDAttachments.zip) in the Downloads folder.
  • Siena: Demonstrated extracting the zip file using Shift+F10 to open the context menu and selecting “Extract All,” which created a folder containing both attachment files.
  • Siena: Noted that pressing Enter on a zip file in Windows opens it without extracting, and that “Extract All” is needed to fully unzip.
  • Hans: Asked for clarification on the unzipping process; Siena walked through it again.
• Conclusion
  • On Windows, Gmail web allows downloading all attachments as a zip file via “Download All Attachments.”
  • The zip file must be extracted using the “Extract All” option from the context menu (Shift+F10) to access individual files.
  • JAWS users should use Insert+Z to enable the virtual PC cursor when navigating Gmail messages in the browser.

Threaded vs. Non-Threaded Email View: Participant Preferences

Ali opened a discussion asking participants whether they prefer threaded (conversation) view or non-threaded (individual message) view in their email apps.

• Details
  • Ashlyn: Uses the Mail app with the default threaded view, finding it acceptable though sometimes annoying.
  • Lily: Prefers the Mail app with threaded view (Organize by Thread), but noted a minor frustration when the app expands the other person’s message rather than her own sent message. She discovered the rotor’s “Messages” option in the Mail app allows flicking up/down to navigate between messages in a thread.
  • Ali: Confirmed that in the Mail app’s rotor, selecting “Messages” and flicking up/down navigates between individual messages in a thread, and that the Actions menu allows replying to a specific message within the thread.
  • Siena: Praised the Mail app’s Actions menu feature for replying to specific messages, but noted she is gravitating toward the Gmail app for its consistent interface across platforms. On Gmail web, she uses the semicolon key to expand threads and N to navigate to the next message.
  • Macara: Prefers Gmail and threaded view, finding it cleaner than individual messages despite occasional navigation complexity.
  • Jackie: Has been using non-threaded view in the Gmail app but expressed openness to trying threaded view after Ali explained its benefits.
  • Ali: Explained the benefit of threaded view to Jackie using a “coffee time” conversation analogy — grouping related messages together like a book so users don’t have to hunt for individual messages on the same topic.
  • Hans: Did not explicitly state a preference during this segment.
• Conclusion
  • Most participants prefer or are open to threaded/conversation view.
  • The Mail app’s rotor “Messages” option and Actions menu provide useful navigation within threads.
  • Gmail app’s threaded navigation (flick left/right to find messages, activate to expand) works consistently across platforms.
  • Jackie was encouraged to enable conversation view and explore mail categories.

Mail Categories Discussion

Ali briefly raised the topic of Gmail/Mail categories, noting he had previously disabled them but was reconsidering their value.

• Details
  • Ali: Mentioned that mail categories separate emails into different labels/tabs and could be useful for organization, though he currently has them disabled.
  • Siena: Enthusiastically agreed to demonstrate navigating Gmail with mail categories enabled in a future tutorial.
• Conclusion
  • A future Techstravaganza session will be dedicated to demonstrating Gmail mail categories navigation.

Feedback on Potential Switch from Zoom to Google Meet

Lily introduced a discussion to gather participant feedback on potentially switching Techstravaganza workshops from Zoom to Google Meet, citing issues with Zoom including file management and app glitches.

• Details
  • Lily: Explained the motivation for considering Google Meet — issues with finding recording files, uploading to podcasts, and app glitches in Zoom.
  • Hans: Expressed flexibility, noting Zoom’s familiarity (same meeting ID and password, history in client) but acknowledged Google Meet is usable. Raised concerns about different keyboard shortcuts and the need to tab back to buttons when focus moves.
  • Siena: Addressed Hans’s concerns, providing Google Meet keyboard shortcuts: Ctrl+D (mute/unmute mic), Ctrl+E (camera), Ctrl+Alt+C (chat), Ctrl+Alt+P (participants), Ctrl+Alt+H (raise/lower hand), and spacebar for push-to-talk. Confirmed shortcuts work without disabling the virtual PC cursor in JAWS/NVDA.
  • Hans: Asked whether shortcuts work in Brave browser; Siena confirmed they are not browser-specific and work across Chrome, Brave, Firefox, and Edge, though Chrome offers the best experience.
  • Jackie: Said she has no strong preference and is comfortable with either platform, having used Google Meet before.
  • Siena: Offered to set up individual one-on-one Google Meet orientation sessions for Hans and Jackie.
  • Hans: Accepted the offer.
  • Jackie: Agreed to try Google Meet on her next one-on-one with Siena on Wednesday.
  • Ali: Noted that both platforms offer similar features and controls.
  • Jackie: Asked about a shortcut to view participants in Meet; Ali confirmed Command+Control+P on Mac and Ctrl+Alt+P on PC.
• Conclusion
  • Participants showed general willingness to try Google Meet but some hesitancy due to unfamiliarity with shortcuts.
  • Siena will conduct individual Google Meet orientation sessions with Hans and Jackie.
  • A future Techstravaganza Extra session in August will cover Google Meet keyboard shortcuts.
  • The recurring Google Meet link will remain the same for each workshop, mirroring the Zoom setup.

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