At last Google has come up with this much awaited feature of off line chat in Gmail. This functionality will allow people to use the Gmail interface when disconnected from the Internet. Google Gears is the platform under which Google is providing us the facility. Gears is currently used for offline access to several Web applications from Google, like the Reader RSS manager and the Docs word processor, and from other providers like Zoho, which uses it for offline access to its e-mail and word processing browser-based applications.

Google will begin to roll out the Gmail offline functionality Tuesday evening and expects to make it available to everybody in a few day. This is one app which even perfectionists from even Google are not so sure of. They intend to improve as the day progresses and with responses from people.

The Technology

PCWorld says,

Users have been able to manage their Gmail accounts offline via other methods for years, since Gmail supports the POP and IMAP protocols that let people download and send out messages using desktop e-mail software like Microsoft Outlook and others.

However, the Gears implementation will let people work within the Gmail interface without the need for a separate PC application. When offline, messages will be put in a Gears browser queue, and the desktop and online versions of the accounts will be synchronized automatically when users connect to the Internet again. This will come in handy for people who travel a lot and often find themselves without Internet access.

How to Activate

  • Click settings after logging on to Gmail account.
  • Click on the Labs tab, select Enable next to Offline Gmail and click Save Changes
  • A new Offline link will then appear in the right-hand corner of the account interface.

I am not sure about the functionality fully though. Will first see and tell you more. Till then ciao. By the way, this feature is gonna be implemented with Google Calendar too.