Gmail hits send on improved email search

Google’s cloud-based email service, Gmail, is rolling out an improved search experience that will help users locate emails in their mailbox faster.

Google's cloud-based email service, Gmail, is rolling out an improved search experience that will help users locate emails in their mailbox faster.

Enhanced autocomplete predictions will be customized to reflect the titles and content contained within an individual's mailbox, meaning Gmail users can type fewer letters to find specific emails quicker than ever before.

"For example, you might now get lax reservation or lax united as predictions after typing 'lax' if you have received an email with a flight confirmation for your trip to Los Angeles in your inbox recently," said Isaac Elias, a software engineer at Google in a post on the company's Gmail Blog.

A company called Xobni (inbox backwards) has made a business out of improving email and contact search. Xobni offers desktop, web and mobile apps for Gmail, Outlook, Android, iOS and BlackBerry and claims to make your inbox smarter with comprehensive contact relationship-management and advanced email search.

Gmail's improved autocomplete feature will be rolled out to English-speaking Gmail users over the next few days (however, the rollout will not be available for Google Apps customers just yet). Advanced autocomplete features will be available for additional languages over the next few months.