Gmail

Gmail is a free email service provided by Google. As of 2019, it had 1.5 billion active users worldwide. A user typically accesses Gmail in a web browser or the official mobile app. Gmail also supports the use of email clients via the POP and IMAP protocols. It was launched as a limited beta release on April 1, 2004 and exited beta status on July 7, 2009.

Storage
On April 1, 2004, Gmail was launched with one gigabyte of storage space – a significantly larger amount than competitors offered at the time.

On April 1, 2005, the limit was doubled to two gigabytes.

On April 24, 2012, Google announced the increase of storage included in Gmail from 7.5 to 10 gigabytes as part of Google Drive's launch.

On May 13, 2013, Google announced the overall merge of storage across Gmail, Google Drive, and Google+ Photos, allowing users 15 gigabytes of storage among three services.

Users can buy additional storage, shared among Gmail, Google Drive, and Google Photos, via a monthly subscription plan from Google One. Paid plans of up to 30 terabytes are available.

Users can receive emails up to 50 MB in size (including attachments) and send emails up to 25 MB; in order to send larger files, users can insert files from Google Drive into the message.

Interface
The Gmail user interface makes use of "labels" that replace the conventional folders and provide a more flexible method of organizing emails; filters for automatically organizing, deleting or forwarding incoming emails to other addresses; and importance markers for automatically marking messages as "important".

The inbox utilizes a tabbed interface for automatically categorizing emails by five general categories:
 * Primary
 * Social
 * Promotions
 * Updates
 * Forums

Spam filter
Gmail's spam filtering features a community-driven system: when any user marks an email as spam, this provides information to help the system identify similar future messages for all Gmail users. Google's mail servers automatically scan emails for multiple purposes, including to filter spam and malware.

Search
Gmail incorporates a search bar for searching emails, as well as contacts, files stored in Google Drive, events from Google Calendar, and Google Sites.

Language support
As of March 2015, the Gmail interface supports 72 languages, including but not limited to: Arabic, Simplified and Traditional Chinese, Croatian, English, Hindi, Spanish, Telugu, and Urdu.

History

 * Main article: History of Gmail

The idea for Gmail was developed by Paul Buchheit several years before it was announced to the public. Known by its code name Caribou, the project was kept secret from most of Google's own engineers until early 2004, when most employees were using it to access the company's internal email system.

Gmail was releases as a limited beta on April 1, 2004. In November 2006, Google began offering a Java-based application of Gmail for mobile phones.

Gmail exited its beta status on July 7, 2009.