Forgotten Attachment Detector In Gmail

Several months back, I was experimenting with several Gmail Labs features and how it would make my email experience better. I was pleased when I found out that they have a forgotten attachment detector, which is designed especially for amnesiacs like me. I often forget to attach a file and sheepishly send another email with the forgotten attachment. With said lab feature enabled, Gmail looks for phrases in your email that suggest you meant to attach a file and alerts you if it looks like you forgot an attachment.

Today, when I checked the Labs section again to see if they have anything new, I was bothered to not find my beloved forgotten attachment detector. What will happen to me now? I’ve become dependent of the feature already! So I Googled what became of it, and imagine my relief when I found out that it has merely “graduated”, meaning it came out of Labs to become a permanent Gmail feature.

Whew.

I tried sending a test email, with the magic words “I have attached” and sent it without an attachment. Sure enough, a pop up nagged me about forgetting to attach a file. Goodie! I didn’t lose it after all!

My only minor gripe is that it doesn’t detect phrases like “it’s already attached”. I wish they would, as it would be very useful not only for me, but for most Gmail users.