Gmail Gets a New Contact Manager

Starting today Gmail users will be greeted with a new and much improved version of Contacts designed with two key functions in mind: simpler contact management and a Contacts experience that is consistent with the rest of Gmail.

New features include keyboard shortcuts that mirror Gmail’s keyboard shortcuts, a sort by last name filter, faster editing options, autosaving and custom labels so that users can add their own fields to contact records. Perhaps most notably, the Contacts section looks and feels exactly like the Gmail inbox.

In speaking with Project Manager Benjamin Grol, it became clear that the Contacts overhaul was a necessary upgrade for Google. He indicated that the new version of Contacts makes Gmail a viable cloud-based contact manager for professionals, and indicated that the simplistic feature set was specifically designed with Andriod… Continue reading →