Gmail already does auto-complete for contacts when composing a message, and that functionality is now essentially what you get in the main search box. For example, if I start typing “Pete” in the search box, Gmail will instantly recommend Pete Cashmore and let me search for all emails between me and Pete. Further, if I start typing the word “documents” Gmail will recognize that I’m looking for emails between me and Pete that include attached Word or PDF files.
You could do this previously, but it was very clunky, as Gmail engineer Ibrahim Bokharouss explains in a blog post. “Normally, I would have to enter Chris' email address followed by filename:(jpg OR png), which I gladly admit is even a bit too geeky for me,” he writes.
Search auto-complete follows a host of recent useful additions to Gmail Labs, including options to “undo” sent messages and the ability to view videos from within email messages. As always, auto-complete can be enabled from the Labs link under “Settings.”
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