Labs Spotlight: Attachment Reminder

Google Labs is a breeding ground for new ideas that need to be put to the test. Google does a great job of testing new products they think will make our lives easier, more efficient, or just more fun. They make it a new toy, stick it in Labs, and let us play. If we like it, we send them feedback and tell them so. If we hate it, everybody lets them know. When Google decides that we simply cannot live without whatever tool they have cooked up, they make it official by moving it out of labs into the general population of gadgets.

Otherwise, nails are driven into the digital coffin, and the gadget is forever done away with.

Our first installment of Labs Product Highlights is going to look at the attachment reminder, or what Google calls the "Forgotten Attachment Detector".

This handy little gadget aims to prevent you from going on and on about how cool what the document you are getting ready to attach is, and then smacking the Send button without actually attaching the file. I can't convey how many times this happens to me, or how many times I've groused at people who aren't around to defend themselves when they forgot to attach a document.

Here's how it works:

As best I can tell, you mention the word "attachment" anywhere in your email. If you forget to actually do the attaching, poof! A pop-up window alerts you that you're about to send that email without the attachment. Some might think it's a little Big Brother-ish, but I don't mind as long as I don't look like a fool when I'm emailing a client.

The only problem I see is that it really needs to key in on other forms of the word "attach" (e.g., attached, attaching, etc.). Currently, it doesn't work if, for example, you type "I've attached some photos..." instead of something involving the word "attachment" specifically. It is still under development, however, so hopefully we'll see that feature implemented soon.

So what do you think? How many times have you forgotten to send an attachment? Was it important or did your frat brothers not get to see some epic shaming of the first to pass out? Did it result in a miscommunication? If you are the type who often forgets to send attachments, this might be just one more helpful tool from Google. I wouldn't be surprised if it sneaks into all Google mail systems once its beta testing is complete.