Galaxy Tab: The Missing Manual

Reading Mail in Gmail

Once you’ve got your Gmail account set up, it’s time to start reading mail. Launch the Gmail app by tapping it on the Home screen or App Menu. Gmail works slightly differently depending on whether you hold your Tab vertically or horizontally—and to make things more confusing, what you see when you launch Gmail varies depending on the last things you’ve done. Basically, whatever you were doing in Gmail the last time you used it is what you see when you next launch it—for example, browsing through mail in a particular location.

Note

While most email programs use folders to let you organize your email, Google uses labels in its web-based email, and that’s what you use on the Tab.

When you launch Gmail on your Tab for the first time, on the left-hand side, you see a list of every Gmail label (the term Gmail uses for a folder). The Inbox label is highlighted, and on the right side, you see a list of your most recent email in that label. So far, the horizontal view and vertical view are the same.

Now tap one of the email messages to read it. Here’s where things get different, depending on whether you’re holding your Tab vertically or horizontally. Hold your Tab horizontally, and in the left pane you see a list of all the mail with the same label as the email you just tapped. In the right pane, you see the email message.

In the left pane, mail you haven’t read is boldfaced ...